95 Percent Turnover Rate - What The Truth Is Behind Shortage of Trucking - by Kevin Douglas Berg

In the past, I have written about the value of two decisions. One was to go to college, and the other was to get your CDL. If you are not getting a higher education for a higher pursuit like going to Med School, Law School, CPA, or something of that nature, the CDL will hold more value to you in the long run as a career if you were to stick to it. It seems easy enough, no work in another sector, go to a different industry where they need workers.

Ah, that caveat, 'sticking to it.' As you know, I have pivoted times in my life more than others, and sometimes more than two others would have. Don't hate; that is just how I roll. You can blame the ADHD or it on something that has nothing to do with it, but I need to be challenged and learn something to focus on doing what the role is.

Where There Is a Need - Possible Opportunity

You can knock another tick off the bucket list, I tried, and I went through and found out that it was not what it seemed to me on the outside. What is it, you may ask? Getting a CDL class A license. It is weird to think that I have been batting around the idea for a year and a half or more, but I finally committed because I wanted to have a more 'guaranteed income source.' I am sure, as is anyone out there, you have seen and repeatedly seen all the different ads looking for a CDL driver.

It seems simple enough like I was saying before.

There is a pit in your stomach when you pull out with a 70-foot rig into a 4-way traffic stop; you have to go way wide into the lane past the window before you start turning the wheel. It feels unnatural and downright bizarre, but that is the only way to get 70 feet through the intersection. Also, please refrain from allowing your desire to complete the turn to influence the amount you want to floor it.

(you can't go any faster than ten mph; do it slow and steady. Did I mention you have to activate the Dump Valve before making the turn by turning on the turn signal and switch as well) are you keeping up...........what about the lane over to your left? Do I have a clear path if you need to get over there in a split second?

Please try to keep up your life, and others depend on it.....

(But that is just one part of it. I might be getting the horse before the cart. Ahh, but that is different from what it takes to get and what you must do once you do.)

Let me ask you all a question: try to be honest with yourself

1. How often are you on your phone in your car?
2. How often are you texting now and then? Just real quick?

If you say you don't ever and have never, I am sure you have never peed in the shower. We always do it now and then.

Sure, we don't mean to, but it happens as much as the sun rises in that one direction and sets in the other. Okay, let's say you are behind that one person, or just about frickin everyone, because if there were not enough distractions in a car, then the pope is not Catholic, if you get what I am saying.

Distractions - Truckers Hell on Earth

When you think about the distractions in a car, any car starts with another person with you; if you have the radio on, you have the climate controls on, then if you have your phone connected to something that you have to adjust, well, you get the picture. Okay, your semi moves about 300 feet in just a blink or two of your eye. Think about this: that truck you cut off at the last minute to exit; would take over a football field to stop at 55 mph. Yes, that is at 55 mph; imagine at a higher speed.......imagine with in-climate weather......what about at night? Did I make you think twice? Good, that is why I am writing this =)

Welcome to the world of trucking. Now, you are behind the wheel of 80,000 lbs or as they 80 tons; you are looking at your mirrors every 8 to 15 seconds, watching both sides of the lane and your trailer wheels, then all the while, you are looking at the windshield. You have your foot over the break when you go thru any intersections; you are slowing down and listening for any trains when the signals are not up and when there are no signals to speak of. Not to mention every turn you make, you have to block off a lane to stop traffic from going on the side of you as you have to turn wide right.

All traffic that is the turning lanes, at the side of whatever business is trying to get out, yeah, absolutely, all potential hazards. Coming up on a turn, a bridge, or a construction site, watch your speed and watch your trailer wheels; curve to the left; you have to stay right. Bend to the right. You have to stay left. On a windy day, watch out for debris; on a sunny day, watch out for glare; on a rainy day, watch out for oil; regular day, watch out for everything.

What about that car that you could see and was not there, is it in the blindspot, or did it go off somewhere? Remember the construction on the road's edge, people crossing the road, and the dead animal you must run over, no matter what you feel about animals. On a right turn, you have to get into the left part of the lane, and right turn, you must get into the correct position. When you park, you have to turn the wheel in the opposite direction of where you want to place the trailer, (ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?)

If you have a chance, try to park a 70-foot semi into an 85-foot space by parallel parking it...It will make you grow more neuron connections because it's a learning process, to say the least, and hard as all get out to tell the most me anyhow

Questions like

1) But I am turning this way, and it should be going that way

2) How can I stop turning this way and get it going that way

3) How can I be this far off? This makes no damn sense

Your Ass Is On The Line Too

But it is indeed all Your Fault = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

*Let's not forget that you have

• Watch your hours on the road
• Could you do your load securement checks if you do flatbed? "Don't forget always to wear your safety gear!"
• Take the recommended DOT stop breaks
• check your truck at every stop, and in the morning, do the Pre-Trip, and make sure no one has pulled your secure bar that unhooks your trailer to your car when you go for a quick stop. Why? Because it happens more often than not.

You have traffic, weather, breakdowns, detours, loading, and securement of coils, freight, and whatever you may think of doing to the DOT, plus your mandatory trucking firm calls for.

(Did I mention that sometimes you are going to have little time to get home or the best loads and the best routes, as well as the best equipment that was assigned to you?)

Showers, if you are lucky, routes where you get home more than a few days after a week on the road if you are the same. Being sick, tired, and not up to doing the long routes take you out of the picture when it comes to better loads. What do you think about keeping your hours within the Standards? If you get pulled over by the DOT, it is your company's reputation and yourself on your record. Sure, they might talk regional and get your home at night with a 'dedicated route,' but the truth is where they need you, they need you. Right now, they need anyone and everyone to be anywhere and everywhere; get the drift?

In flatbeds, you have tarps, chains, and ratchet bars that are not the lightest or safest to put on to ensure the load is secure. Things snap, break and come back at you; remember to wear your hard hat, safety glasses, pants, and a long-sleeved shirt. (This is not the most dangerous type of truck driving for just shits and giggles, it can be lethal) A tarp that weighs 120 lbs dry will weigh over 200 lbs or more when wet and covered with dirt and snow. Wrestling with this for about an hour when it is cold or hot is the wake-up call because now you have to drive 10 hours or more to get it there and do it all over again.

Sleep comes courtesy of being exhausted, so you can get up at the crack of your ass to get there first, unload, and get going for the day. Hotel, shower, a place to sit down and not have to inhale whatever food is in front of you; forget it; if you wanted all these luxuries and made decent money, you should have done something other than trucking. Get a bucket and a hose and get something a kin to the settlers when they first came here.

At night, it is not about the facilities but about if you have a place to park. As my instructor said,

"You want to have a shitter, but you really want a place to park! The shitter is a box, 5 gallon bucket, bascially anything you can make it! Welcome to the glamorous life of trucking boys!"

Animalistic, primitive, yes, after about four days of 14-hour days and 5 hours of sleep each night, you forget about what you were and think about what you are becoming. No matter the truckstop, you see the same fatigue, guys, and gals coming in and going out of the road, looking like a daze. I was there already; I was feeling like that already. I was having my transformation into an almost walking zombie state.

Oh, they want you to get 8 hours of sleep and constantly tell you that is what you need and get into your circadian; rhythm. If you are getting 5, you are doing as good as you will get when you get on the road. Those that get eight are going to be familiar drivers learning everything.

I was there nine days, which was weird; if I had gone the whole time for another week and a half, I have no idea how I would have been in my psyche. To say that Truck Drivers work hard would be a gross understatement. You love Amazon Prime; that is why they are constantly pushing through. Think about this, the driving part is the easiest thing about it, well, minus people not paying attention, people blowing through lights, and others will not let you get through because they are A-holes.

My instructors were all hardcore; they have been there and done that. The roads and the loads made them what they became. All of them were badasses in their way, the road does that to you, hell I had a taste of it, and I can only imagine, after five or years on the road, what would have done to me.

Being a truck driver would be an excellent job for those who want to be out and about all the time and have a particular trait that they will not feel bad about missing all that was at home. Maybe in the past, it was me, it could have been ideal, but at 50 and experiencing a small taste of what is and what is not, I have decided not to go this route.

I will always look back at my short time fondly because it was something I did not have for a long time. It was a male camaraderie as well. I made some great friends and learned a lot about who I am and what I can do when the marketplace limits my aspirations and kills my inner chakra by devaluing me due to my age and past work history.

With the truckers, the persistence, the grit, and the grind they go through daily, we are where we are in the Nation. Even with a 95% turnover rate, the draining hours upon hours of driving, and the constant worrying about being the most defensive driver all the time, they get the job done day in, night out, week after week, year after year, and so forth and so on.

I have a higher respect for them than ever, and the world should also have one. You can look around anywhere. All you can see, touch and find came by truck.

It's fucking incredible that we can have those that do this for such little in return!