JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – News4JAX has gotten a lot of feedback from our viewers after reporting that the American Trucking Association predicts a nationwide truck driver shortage will be worse than ever in 2024.
Truck drivers and logistics companies argue that’s just not true and explain that the truck driver shortage is more of a retention problem.
Derrick Cothron, a 15-year trucking veteran, says there may be a shortage of drivers, but it hasn’t affected his lifestyle much. He typically spends 11 hours of his day driving, loading, and unloading his truck.
“It’s not affecting is my workload it just stays steady throughout the year,” Cothron said. “So I mean, not much, you know, is affecting me. But when you see on a lot of new builds and stuff like that, then you know, it can be a shortage.”
News4JAX talked to local and out-of-state trucking companies offering incentives to drivers to help get them on the road earlier this week. One advertised $14,000-$20,000 a week in gross revenue for experienced owner-operators.
Cothron says there’s a lot more to those numbers. He used to be an owner-operator himself and says take-home pay is nowhere near that high.
“You got to pay for your insurance. You know, you got to pay if you got a truck payment, you got a trailer payment, you got to bills to pay at home,” Cothron said. “Then like I said, you still got to put 30%-33% for you know, for your taxes.”
Justin Martin with Freight Waves, an online leader in global supply chain news, also saw our story and reached out.
We asked him why he believes a market-wide truck driver shortage is a myth.
“It’s not just a myth. It’s what we’re seeing right now, in reality, freight rates and driver pay have been down,” Martin said. “Over the last few years, rates, especially too many drivers came into trucking during the COVID, boom, when there really was a shortage for a little bit. And rates went through the roof. So, everybody went out and bought a truck, and they were making money hand over fist. That only lasted for about a year. You could talk to anyone who’s bought a truck in the last two years or came into trucking in the last two years. They’re all struggling right now if they haven’t already gone out of business.”
Martin says the driver shortage narrative stems from larger trucking companies that find it difficult to recruit drivers into their fleet operations. He suggests companies struggling to find drivers consider paying drivers more, but he does acknowledge that finding qualified drivers can be challenging.
Still, trucking can be a lucrative opportunity for those willing to put in the work.
“It really is a golden ticket, it’ll open up a lot of doors for you, you’ll find things that you never thought were possible,” Martin said.
In Jacksonville, Cypress Trucking is offering to pay qualified drivers to get their CDL, with the opportunity to make $70,000 to $100,000 in the first year.
You can apply here.