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The growing shortage of empty driver jobs impact everything from rate hikes to product prices. In other words, fewer drivers means it costs more to transport goods, resulting in a pricing increase for manufacturers that gets passed on to consumers.

Solutions and suggestions for how to fill empty driver jobs range from pay increases to more shared routes between drivers. Also, individuals talk about how exactly to draw millennials to the field. This would replace the retiring baby boomers and those uninterested in coping with recent ELD changes.

Writer and millennial Nicole Spector, took a ride as part of her assignment with an experienced UPS driver, Becky Ascencio. The pair shared a 12-hour shift, traveling from Sylmar to Fresno, Ca.

Ultimately, Spector won’t joining the 7% of women driving big rigs. However, she understood what the job requires. In addition, she also understood exactly how much work is involved. Lastly, Spector learned what it means to love your job.

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The driver shortage could be addressed by a progressive program for obtaining a CDL plus a lowered legal age for state line crossings. This could also help draw more millennials into driving for the freight transport industry, reports Nicole Spector for NBC in the following article.

In addition, low numbers of female drivers contribute to the industry driver shortage. Even seemingly popular companies like UPS struggle with this issue. UBS trucks generally pose no mechanical obstacles for women. However, the issue of personal safety continues to plague those tasked with uncertain delivery locales.

Finally, a fresh assessment of the future of autonomous vehicles and their impact on drivers.

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“With freight demand climbing and rates on the move, trucker pay should rise in the coming months”, says Gordon Klemp, a driver pay analyst and president of the National Transportation Institute. Klemp shared his prediction in a conference call with investors in early November.  Stifel, an investment firm, hosted the call and distributed a recap of Klemp’s remarks.

If carriers secure rate increases in contracts with shippers, they pass some gains on to drivers, Klemp told investors.

He didn’t forecast any percentage-based increases in driver pay. Instead, he noted that driver pay increases with freight rates. Not all of the gains in per-mile rates will translate to drivers’ paychecks, but “driver pay is moving up alongside the freight increases,” notes the conference call recap distributed by Stifel.

Though carriers consistently increased driver pay in recent years, driver wages climbed only 6.3 percent on average over the last decade. “For-hire drivers lost effective purchasing power over the past 10 years and adjusted lifestyles accordingly,” says Stifel’s report.  Looking even farther back, driver wages are in effect just half of what they were in 1979, before deregulation, said Klemp.

Klemp also noted that carriers face an uphill battle in recruiting younger drivers to the industry.

These drivers “disinclined to enter” trucking, “as they are often concerned with work-life balance”.  Nearly 60 percent of the current driver workforce is older than 45. That’s a good bit higher than 1994, Klemp noted, when just 45 percent of drivers were 45 years or older.  “However, with freight demand strengthening and the driver shortage becoming acute, the stage is set for drivers to realize driver pay increases over the foreseeable future,” says Stifel’s report.

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Although Drive My Way is relatively new to the trucking world, there’s one team member so immersed in the business she is considered an institution.

She’s Jamey Wozniak, Drive My Way’s chief matchmaker. If you are a driver or employer who has worked with Drive My Way, chances are you have crossed Wozniak’s path. Simply put, she personifies the brand.

“I am passionate about Drive My Way,” Wozniak says. “Probably because I’ve been with the company since the very beginning. I’ve been part of the problem solving and seen our progress. It’s amazing to see how much we have grown already.”

Making the Match

Jamey working with a driver

As Drive My Way’s chief matchmaker, Wozniak communicates with truck drivers and helps them clarify what they seek in a CDL trucking job. Wozniak’s conversational style puts drivers at ease. It helps that Wozniak truly enjoys what she does.

“Helping someone succeed always makes me feel great,” Wozniak says. “I help drivers work the system a little bit. I give them the tools and show them that you get out of it what you put into it. I’ve been here long enough that I can help drivers maximize their benefit.”

In addition, on the employer side, Wozniak serves as Drive My Way’s account manager. In that role, she helps onboard employers, enabling them to match with drivers and hire them through Drive My Way. Also, Wozniak revels in sharing with employers tips and tricks that help them use Drive My Way’s application to their full advantage.

“As a former employer myself, I respect what they do and how they do it, because I’ve been there,” Wozniak adds.

An Accomplished Businessperson

Drive My Way matchmakerAs the owner of Joe’s Hitch and Trailer, a company that designed and installed custom trailer hitches and truck accessories for the outdoor market, Wozniak nearly doubled the company’s business, to $1.5 million.

“Joe’s was really my baby, the place where I evolved as a business owner,” Wozniak says. “I had my own radio show. Several newspapers and magazines featured me. Overall, I represented the brand.”

Being written about in the local press was a testament to her demonstrated leadership within the industry and as a female entrepreneur. “Overall, I was a woman in a man’s world, and I realized I could do it,” Wozniak says.

The Woman She Is Today

Currently, Wozniak still serves as a woman in a man’s world, but this time it’s trucking. Her direct, friendly personality serves her well at Drive My Way, just as it did at Joe’s. A graduate of automotive school, Wozniak has an affinity for fast cars. She’s a roll-up-your-sleeves, get-down-to-business type of gal who gets her point across with a smile on her face.

Wozniak draws as much from her entrepreneurial success as she does from her background in human resources and recruiting. A former recruiter and human resources generalist at Sony and Helene Curtis, Wozniak also worked her way up to VP of HR for Schindler Elevator. Her HR experience now plays an essential role when Wozniak communicates with recruiters. “Traditional HR and recruiting processes are so cumbersome and time consuming,” says Wozniak. “It’s easy to see what a game changer Drive My Way’s technology is by comparison. Educating recruiters on how our technology can save them time and money is one of my favorite aspects of my job.”

Overall, when Wozniak puts her mind to something, there’s nothing she cannot do. “I’ve been with Drive My Way since the beginning. So, it’s in my heart, it’s part of me,” she says. “I look forward to seeing where we go from here.”

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We don’t have to tell you that trucking is a tough job. Life on the road has its benefits, but there are drawbacks. TheJobNetwork.com published a helpful story about why drivers leave CDL trucking jobs for other careers. Here are the top 6 reasons truckers get out of the trucking business.

1. Pay and Perks

Roughly half of drivers surveyed say that making more money was their number one consideration when leaving one job for another. Also, Benefits are a huge consideration. 34% of truckers surveyed succumb to the lure of better health coverage.

2. No Time at Home

This is another big factor—roughly 41 percent of drivers say more time at home becomes a huge priority. Even if money is a major motivating factor for most people who do leave, only about 20% leave for that reason. Overall, time at home is often much more of a factor.

3. Not Jiving with a Supervisor

People leave people—not companies. Therefore, if a driver doesn’t mesh well with his supervisor, that can be a very difficult situation to sustain. Personalities are important and finicky, but the workplace is surprisingly about relationships. Make these work, and drivers often stick around.

4. Dispatch Dissatisfaction

If a driver is not getting dispatched or scheduled the way they prefer, it can be a huge annoyance. However, a lot of this can be solved with new computer technologies that streamline the process.

5. Not Getting Paid Fairly

Perhaps a driver didn’t get paid for detention time or other “duties.” If not, it can really drive an employee to frustration—even quitting—especially if it happens multiple times per month.

6. Over-regulation

Service rules for when a driver is allowed to drive, sleep, etc. can really put a cramp in a trucker’s style. Single rules don’t always universally make things better for truckers. When these get too onerous, even experienced veteran doctors can turn tail and leave—and the profession suffers.

Overall, these are just the main reasons drivers leave CDL trucking jobs. Sometimes truckers just want to retire or leave the transportation industry for something else. What would make you leave your job, drivers? Connect with us here and share your thoughts.

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If you’re on the market for a new CDL trucking job in 2017, now is a good time to brush up on your networking skills. Several avenues exist to help you take control of your next career move, like these touted by Mary Sherwood Sevinsky of the noted career site Work It Daily.

1. Use LinkedIn

I can’t say enough about LinkedIn. Many professionals are coming to have a better understanding of the platform and how it can benefit them. But most don’t recognize what a powerful skill and knowledge building tool it can be.

By following influencers, channels and individuals as well as engaging themselves in groups, members can keep current in their industry and sharp on business in general. Discussions with those from similar and dissimilar backgrounds can broaden your horizon and give you a different perspective.

2. Join Professional Groups

Sometimes you need to see like-minded people in a different venue and in person. Online groups are fine, but nothing can replace the impact of a smiling face, warm handshake, or appreciative nod. Find or create a group near you. Meetup is becoming a great way to create and manage in-person groups.

Chamber of Commerce or industry groups in your area are likely to be accessible to you and can be a good way to learn and build your network. Networks can help you by allowing you to feel connected, but they can also help ensure you find out about opportunities in a timely way.

3. Volunteer

Yes, you can learn a lot through volunteering for charity or civic groups. Big Brothers Big Sisters, Rotary, your local hospital or church can all be great places to learn and grow. Sometimes, you learn how well-off you are. Sometimes you find that you have the best social media skills (even if you consider yourself technologically challenged). Before you know it, you might be improving a skill you never knew you needed and that will benefit others as well as yourself.

4. Get Additional Education

You can take a class or go back to school to pursue a degree or certification. There are plenty of online options for formal training, but don’t forget about the brick and mortar facilities as well.

5. Schedule Downtime

You may miss learning opportunities, or at least insights, if you don’t set aside time to process your work day. Make sure you allow enough time to think about what you did and how you did it. What did you learn? Whom did you help? What did you accomplish? What could you have done better?

Think about these things – keep a work journal to capture even further opportunities to learn.

Are you looking for a CDL trucking job in 2017? Follow Drive My Way on social media here and stay up to date on the trucking companies hiring!

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trucks.comThis fact won’t come as much of a surprise to people with CDL trucking jobs. But, the data is out and it shows that truck driver remains one of the deadliest occupations in the country. 745 drivers died in 2015. Trucks.com wrote about the report put out by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Work-related fatalities for trucking jobs dropped slightly in 2015 from 2014, when 761 drivers died on the nation’s streets. Despite the drop, trucking transportation occupations accounted for slightly more than a quarter of all work-related fatalities last year.

What’s more, the Trucks.com article says, CDL trucking job fatalities rise.

Over the past five years, truck driver fatalities rose 11.2 percent. Increased reliance on trucking to transport goods. This includes demand for rapid delivery created by the rise of online shopping, putting more truck drivers on the road. This contributed to higher incident rates for accidents and driver deaths, according to trucking industry experts.

Unlike many occupations, drivers don’t have total control of their work environment – public roads and highways – so there’s always danger, said Steve Viscelli, an economics sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream.”

But because of the way drivers’ compensation is structured, they’re often asked to choose between productivity and safety, a tug of war that leads some to keep driving when they should be taking a rest break, Viscelli said.

Long hours, low pay and tough working conditions also play into annual turnover that “hovers around 100 percent and puts inexperienced drivers on the road,” the article states.

Michael Belzer, a transportation economist and associate professor at Wayne State University, said he blames carriers for creating pay issues that lead to chronic turnover and driver shortages. And the lack of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration standards for crashworthiness of heavy-duty trucks plays a role in fatality rates, said Norita Taylor, director of marketing and public relations for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, in the Trucks.com article.

Thanks, truck drivers, for the sacrifices you make for others. Does the fatality rate in CDL trucking jobs concern you? Join our community here and share your thoughts.

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long-island-expressway-welcome-center-renderingThe $20.2 million NY welcome center on the Long Island Expressway in New York between exits 51 and 52 is set to open as early as this week, state officials said, providing a stop for motorists—but not for drivers with CDL trucking jobs.

Residents remain upset at the thought of having trucks near the center, Transport Topics wrote.

Residents opposed expanding what had been a pullout area with no services. They shared concerns of pollution from idling trucks and quality-of-life issues, such as noise and crime. However, as a compromise with residents and local officials, New York Department of Transportation officials banned tractor-trailers and buses at the welcome center. This exchanged for the community agreeing not to sue or impede sewer and water district approvals for the project.

Alternate rest areas for trucks and buses exist farther east.

One on the westbound side of Exit 56 and another eastbound between exits 65 and 66. Those stops have been renovated with improved lighting and portable restroom facilities, DOT officials said.

On a recent afternoon at the Exit 56 rest area, longhaul truck drivers said they had mixed feelings about the new setup, which requires them to turn around from the eastbound side to get to the rest stop on the westbound side or drive another 20 minutes east — longer in traffic.

Bruce Maze of Lewisburg, PA avoided driving to Long Island during his 36-year career.

His reasoning is it’s not very accommodating for truckers. He said the new stops show improvement, but give and take from residents must exist to make it work. “I understand residents’ concerns,” Maze said. “But at the same time, businesses need supplies, and truckers need and want a safe, well-lit area to pull over.”

Rick Caetano, who has been driving for more than 20 years, called the need to turn back west to use the rest area a “hassle” and said he would prefer to be able to use the new welcome center.

Caetano also shared his opinion on how the lack of truck parking impacts the new welcome center.

It’s not always easy when you have a CDL trucking job. Join the Drive My Way community here to keep up with all the latest industry news and make your voice heard.

Welcome center rendering by New York Governor’s Press Office.

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trucking service dogWhen Frank met OTR truck driver Richard Ferguson that momentous day, both were in tough spots. Frank was skin and bones. Open wounds marred his fragile and raw frame. Ferguson, too, had encountered trouble many times, the result of his wild temper.

“Frank found me,” recalls Ferguson of the dog who turned his life around.

“I got up that morning and turned on my wipers to clear off the windshield. A dog sat in the road looking at me. I said, ‘Where did you come from?’”

Ferguson coaxed Frank into his truck. “Want some food?” he asked. Frank jumped into the truck, as if he’d done it countless times before.

That was a year-and-a-half ago. The truck driver and Labrador-pit bull mix have been a team ever since.

Ferguson, an owner operator leased to H&M Trucking, has struggled to manage his anger his whole life. As a boy, he endured nightmares and got into trouble in school. As he grew older, he became more aggressive, often confronting strangers. Through it all, he tried counseling and anger management classes. Nothing helped, until Frank came along.

“We both tame each other,” says Ferguson, 49. “I keep him calm, he keeps me calm. Since Frank’s been with me, I feel better.”

In fact, Frank, short for Hobo Frank, has officially been certified as Ferguson’s service dog.

Since Ferguson began traveling with Frank, he has not had a single confrontation.

“Frank keeps me mellow,” Ferguson says. “If I get loud about something, Frank investigates. He puts his head on my lap and calms me right back down. Because of Frank, I have learned to control my anger, learned to hold my lip. As a result, my arguments don’t progress like they used to.”

richarddog-2

Lasting Impact

For those with CDL trucking jobs, life on the road can be dangerous—especially at truck stops, where crime ramps up at night. For Ferguson, Frank serves as more than an anger management tool. He’s also a security system, a confidant, a constant companion.

“What impact has Frank had on my life? A big one,” says Ferguson. “I can do this without Frank, but I don’t want to do it without Frank. I don’t want a replacement. There is no replacement for him.”

When Frank can’t get into the truck anymore, Ferguson says, he’ll probably give up trucking. “Until then, we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. Up north, down south, we’re going to keep traveling.”

Have a companion like Frank or want to read about others who do? Join our community here to learn more.

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A new app for people with CDL trucking jobsHaulHound officially launched a new app that connects shippers to owner operators. They released it at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, Texas. The launch took place Aug. 26, when HaulHound released an app- and web-based platform that allows owner-operators to upload their truck and routing information and shippers to search for carriers that fit their load parameters. Overdrive wrote of the launch:

The service is free to both parties, as the system is advertiser supported.

Traditional loadboards feature shippers and brokers posting loads and truckers searching for them. However, HaulHound effectively flips the script. Owner-operators and carriers post details about their truck, their capacity, and desired lanes. Then, shippers and brokers search for capacity.

HaulHound says the system focuses on owner-operators who work the spot market.

In addition to listing their equipment type and specializations, owner-operators list price points. So, any calls they receive from brokers or shippers are legitimately priced, says HaulHound’s Andy Kim.

The company says it plans to release routing tools and automated freight-matching in coming iterations.

Read more about this product on Overdrive.com here.

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