Average salary is almost $70k but they are having a hard finding people to

[theking]

...fill the position as the older ones are retiring.. If they can't fix the shortage, the increase cost of shipping goods will be passed on to the likes of Amazon and then trickle down to most of us...:


Congress mulls lowering age requirement for truck drivers to prevent national shortage

When Juwan Mack turned 21, one of the first things he did was carry out his dream. The South Carolina resident applied for, and received, his trucking license.

“I remember as a kid always being at my grandma’s house. Her house was right next to a main highway,” Mack said. “So, I remember being on the side of the road and a truck would come by and I would pull my hand down for them to beep the horn…childhood dreams.”

But Mack, now a truck driver for CCC Transportation, had to wait years for that dream to become a reality, thanks to a law that requires drivers of commercial vehicles to be over 21 to cross state lines.

Now, Congress is considering a new piece of legislation proposed by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., called the Developing Responsible Individuals for a Vibrant Economy Act, also known as the DRIVE-Safe Act. It aims to allow 18 year olds with their commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs, the ability to drive commercial vehicles across state lines in an attempt to help prevent a nationwide driver shortage.

...The American Trucking Association published a report in October of 2017 showing that last year’s national shortage of 50,000 drivers may increase to 174,000 drivers by 2026.

“The truckers would need to hire close to one million truckers over the next 10 years. You have a lot of people retiring,” Hunter said.

...The average salary for a Trucker is $67,010 according to indeed.com

[DuMa]

I understand the need for shortage but statistics have shown that kids drivers insurance premiums are high for a reason.  Now we put them in an 18 wheeler and sharing the road with us. 

I just heard earlier on my local 740am station that the average kid's driver distraction rate is about 8 second.  That means while driving, they are ph-ing for 8 seconds away from the road. 

Like anything else, only way to know is to allow then monitor to see.  Yeh if it works and nah when I told you so. 

[Gucci K]

a majority of these truck drivers own their own semi's...the shortages isn't the age limit but the expensive trucks that costs as much as a house, the salary does not cover the insurance, the maintenance and gas of these semi's. 

more importantly, being on the road almost 24/7...they don't have rest areas where hookers are legal...ha!

[Yebleng]

Nobody wants to be away from home and family. Traffic these days are not the same it was 30 years ago

[theking]

did it for 6 years...over the road...okay did it for 6 months...could n't hang after that. lols...paid close to 6k at the time..only to find out later I could had sign up for a government fund for school..it wasn't really the being away part....it was more of just honestly, it was just because of immaturity at the time and not having enough pubic hair too at the time...lols it's scary for anyone to first drive a semi in harsh weather ....but now days, a lot of the trailers are automatics.... it should help attract more drivers, esp. women...haha I can imagine it being hard to deal with for someone with children and a spouse. but for someone single, and over that "full of testerornes" stage...it can be the perfect career...for me my hands will start punching walls and possibly people if it's not doing anything after 5 minutes...so trucking is cool, but if you're the type that got to be physical...or in other words have ADD....it won't last very long fo ryou....lols

67k average sounds about right....for experience drivers.....be ginners, or first year rookies only average around 32-34k....and actually majority drives for a company. the minority owns their own semis and those are the single folks who intend to stay single and not buy a house until they retire with a huge stash of cash in thebank.... it's not such a bad idea to get one year under your belt, then drive the class B's box truck locally and get paid just as well depending who you drive for. but a tracter/trailer/diesel mechanic..that's where you want to go if you're into the trucking industry.....t hey make bank...with little to no driving at all and no formal college degree required... not bad.

I know a couple of Hmong dude Truck drivers in CA. One only drive within the state and the other does cross country. Both have wife and kids. They've been doing it for over 10 years and love it. It does take a special type of person to love it though...