Originally published at: We have a long-haul problem and Hirschbach proved it - FreightWaves
The American trucking industry built its workforce narrative on a myth, and the modern driver, who wants to be home by Friday and isn’t interested in sleeping in a cab for two weeks, is the one exposing it.
I am a driver with 18 years experience. I absolutely love long haul loads. Had to swtch to regional because loads were not paying well, according to my company. I like my company alot, don’t want to change. In 18 years, I’ve only been with 6 companies. But, if they would start doing long hauls again, I’d be all over them.
1 Like
Legend of Bubba Jenkins by the All Clear 2024
Poor Bubba Jenkins has had enough
Bein’ a rough an’ ready trucker
Drones really rub him rough.
So he’s takin’ matters into his strong hands
Gonna give them drones a taste of his commands
Gonna ease that mother over, that driver-killin’ sonnuvabitch
Gonna push that automaton over into the ditch.
Out on the highway, he’s king of the road
But them techy contraptions are a heavy load
Every time he sees one flyin’ by
He gets a look of steel in his eye
“You’re no match for a man who’s tough as nails,
I’ll send you back where technology fails.”
Singing right on, Bubba you mother-trucker, ride on!
He’s got his rig and a plan so grand
To reclaim the roads of this great land
With a mighty roar, his engine starts to growl
As he sets out to make those drones foul
Bubba ain’t the type to back down, you see
He’ll ■■■■■ for truckers’ dignity.
Singing right on, Bubba you mother-trucker, ride on!
So here’s to Bubba and his iron will
A man who won’t be beaten by a techie thrill
He’s the spirit of the open road, wild and free
Keepin’ our highways just like they ought to be
Ain’t no drone gonna take his place
Long as Bubba Jenkins is settin’ the pace.
Singing right on, Bubba you mother-trucker, ride on!
Singing right on, Bubba you mother-trucker, ride on!
1 Like
Until a 100 percent guarantee, can provide unhackable software, there is no way that having autonomous trucks on the road is an intelligent alternative to real people. People. Since nothing is unhackable on this planet right now, that means the Crux can start hijacking autonomous trucks with very little problems if any problems at all. Also, someone could hack the autonomous trucks and use them to crash into different things because of ideological beliefs or whatever. And they believe that it’s okay to ■■■■■■ innocent people to make their points. Again nothing is unhackable on this planet to date. Plus there’s another. The other question is who’s going to fuel these trucks when it’s time to get fuel? Are you going to have a deal set up with truck stop so that the truck can pull in and they will have attendance go out and fuel them? It’s just all not so ridiculous and totally unrealistic. You’re going to find it out the hard way unfortunately and that that’s the way it is in the real world.
I seriously don’t think we have a shortage of any type of driver. Its a narrative spun up by companies that cant get those drivers. Long haul isn’t dieing or short on drivers. The pay is 45% of what it use to pay. Of course very few is going to stay out for 1.85 a mile. Thats financial suicidee, it cost more to maintain the truck, fuel and legals without even paying the driver than the current long haul rates and Thats considering he truck is paid off. Theyre not going regional, theyre joining the ones taking the biggest piece of the pie from a phone in their living room, sitting in their boxers watching tv while the few drivers kill their equipment for scraps. The rate went down as the price of fuel and maintenance went up. While 50%+ of the rate never makes the loadboard. Look at the rates over the last 72hrs. Blitz showed what those loads can actually pay.
Mexico has taken over OTR trucking. Im from South Texas along IH 35. Its none stop Mexican trucks running all over the US. There’s no longer a need for American truck drivers. We have been replaced. Come spend some time in south Texas . These new rules for foreign drivers is a joke! Very few of them get affected. With Prepass they fly by the weight stations, while we wait to get inspected. That’s the reality of it.
We do not have a shortage of drivers. We have a driver PAY shortage. That’s it. The autonomous industry does not concern me. The foreign low wage earners are what drove American drivers out this industry, brought rates to the toliet, tripled insurance premiums and took saftey to the toliet with it, not self driving trucks. Let’s stay on the problem at hand. It isn’t AI. Not yet.
It was a loose border policy and no restrictions on who could get a CDL. Let’s get to a finality on that topic. It’s not a self driving truck that you should be reporting on, or concerned with. It is cheap, un- trained, un- vetted, low wage earners from foreign countries. They are not out yet.
One problem is outdated dinosaur technology, the UA (■■■■■ analysis) drug testing. According to Clearinghouse, the new nation wide tracker, 300,000 drivers are out of work because of testing positive for ■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■■■■■ can stay in your system for over a month, thus penalizing folks that may have toked 2 weeks ago while not driving. Many legal states use cheek xwabs for much more accurate recent use. Example is i have not smoked in over 3 weeks, but cannon go to work cause the dinosaurs are still using ua.
I have no problem with drug testing, my problem is the method used with thc. Alcoholics and speedsters can pass in a couple of days, thus the most dangerous ones are still driving, while the sober drivers are waiting weeks on end.
The Clearinghouse drug national programs, heavily flawed when the numbers are examined. Unfortunately it is operated my the same outta touch knuckleheads who are not using modern testing technology.
Our government is to blame too much control, not enough understanding.
Bring back great benefits, great pay like the teamsters had. Trucking. Long haul and short haul used to be a really great paying blue collar job. Then the government deregulated it. If. Long haul had a pension. Good benefits and great pay like it used too. I’d consider doing it. But what kid or young man wants to work 70 hrs a week for peanuts. The A. T. A. Got what it wanted. Big mega carriers that don’t want to pay for an experienced driver. Reap what you sow! Autonomous vehicles sound great. But that’s not the answer. Paying your people a great pay and benefits package is the answer.
I’ve only been OTR for 8 years now, but since day 1 I have been all about the long haul. I go home 3 x’s a year; but then my children are all grown and living their lives, I’m happily single, and my dog rides with me, so there isn’t much pulling me back home. I get that this life isn’t for everyone, but I think the problem lies with bs schools that promise CDL’s in 3 weeks but don’t actually teach them anything except how to pass the test, the mega carriers who take those same rookies put them on a trainers truck for a week then push them out on the road. They never tell them exactly how they need to run to “make the big money” they expect them to “run your hours out” daily then tell them they need to run recaps hours. Can’t do both legally. They run those rookies until they burn out, frustrated and confused, then the company brings in a new batch of rookies and starts it all over. Not everyone is made for this life, but those that could be, are burned out before they even really get started.
2 Likes
We don’t have a long haul problem we have a pay me problem and working 3 weeks straight for less than 50 cents a mile is not enough. If you are an owner operator getting only 2.25 per mile with gas at these prices is not enough
Just like the lie that there’s a truck driver shortage, this narrative that there aren’t enough American truckers willing to go OTR or that we all just want to stay local so they can justify autonomous trucks is laughable.
Trucking used to be a decent profession in America. Then slowly but surely, the powers that be started nickel and diming us, bureaucratically overregulating us to death, and treating us like Big Brother subjects instead of professionals.
To add insult to injury, everyone looked the other way while massive numbers of non-Americans entered the country illeg@lly, were allowed to stay and work, and received non-dom CDLs that have not only been involved in deadly crashes all over the roads, but have also severely driven wages down to almost nothing.
Finally, we have an administration that started cleaning up some of this mess, but at the same time it’s also bringing in more burdensome regulations. So if they couldn’t get us with sl@ve wage competition from illeg@ls, now they’re going to try to do us in with automated self-driving trucks.
And this is despite the technology not being anywhere near flawless. Just look at the Waymos. They’re constantly running traffic lights, stop signs, running into things, or just stopping in confusion and blocking traffic until emergency services have to move them.
The biggest difference is that when those things glitch out, it’s usually on residential streets at low speeds. When semis glitch out on the highways, we’re talking about potential mass casualty events.
But if a human truck driver messes up, he goes to federal prison. Who goes to federal prison when these automated trucks mess up? Therein lies the caveat.
I propose, and I believe we all should support this, that because this technology is not 100% proven safe, if anyone loses their life due to a malfunction involving these automated trucks, then the people pushing this technology forward, corporations, CEOs, executives, and anyone else in positions of authority, along with the lawmakers who allowed these unproven automated semis onto our highways, should be subject to criminal charges for those deaths. And if found liable and culpable, they should face stiff federal prison sentences.
Just like everybody else.
Hello i am a newer driver who works for a large carrier. I signed up for OTR but i havnt been used like an OTR driver. I still average around 2k miles a week but i live on the west coast and work on the east coast. I am OTR but it seems like my company has deligated me to East Regional what i didnt sign up for. I thought once every few months i would be home. Also the pay sucks. I am averaging about 400 bucks a week after deductions. I keep asking to go west but there excuse is that there is no loads or money west. I am not the only one complaining about this. I do have a feeling my company is doing this intentionally due to they want to make a narrative what supports AI trucks. Once my year is up i have decided to move back home and find a regional job what i can actually make a living on. I am highly disappointed.
Rob Carpenter:
You need to do your research. You’re patting Hirschbach on the bach for automating jobs. The reason isn’t that people don’t want those jobs, it’s because companies like Hirschbach don’t want to pay a fair wage to do those jobs. In 2023 or 2024, Hirschbach DROPPED starting wages for drivers by 10%. At the same time, they installed not one but TWO pickleball courts in their corporate headquarters. Who wants to work 100 hours a week (yea, who logs on duty hours), not get home and then pocket $700 for the effort while the office employees have their own massage parlor? No, I am not joking.
1 Like
Hirschbach doesn’t pay very well. I’ve thought about applying to them but they have bad reviews on indeed. And they pay 1099s to boost their pay but that just tells me they aren’t serious about their drivers. It’s too bad because I live really close to their HQ but they just don’t want to pay a living wage worthy of supporting a family; with benefits.