Letters: Distracted Driving, Wages and Turnover, Clean Port Trucks

Distracted Driving

I recently had the opportunity to make an informal survey on in-cab distractions.

I have been restoring an old Willys Utility Wagon, and I wanted to see if I could find a couple of leather bucket seats for it. I went to a local junkyard, and they told me to walk around and look in the vehicles and see if I could find a pair that I liked.

I was stunned by the number of vehicles I looked into that had coffee cups and soda bottles on the floor of the driver side. Coffee or soda was splashed all over the driver side of the dashboard and floor.

I cannot say for sure that drinking coffee or soda while driving played a part in the accidents that brought these vehicles to the junkyard, but the sheer number of vehicles in this condition was an eye-opener.

Ronald Novrit
President
Ronald Novrit Transportation Consultants
Flanders, N.J.

Wages and Turnover

The dynamics of driver recruiting and retention are about to change. Your recent article about driver turnover for truckload fleets quoted the president of a carrier saying that because the economy is improving, his company soon would be “running ads in papers, having the sign-on bonuses again, having drivers jump for truck models” (3-29, p. 5; click here for previous story).

The trucking industry as a whole anticipates increased demand for qualified drivers as we emerge from this protracted recession. What many of us will fail to anticipate, however, is the significant effect the “survival” activities of individual carriers during the recession will have on their ability to meet postrecession driver demand.

To illustrate the point, let’s look at it from the driver’s perspective:

As a result of the recession, your employer has cut your wages by 7%. In terms of annual effect, you now are making about $2,300 less per year. Adding to your frustration is the fact that several of your driver friends working for other trucking companies did not have their wages cut. They work for carriers that, at worst, froze wages and in some cases actually gave out small increases. You tried to hire on at those companies, but there are hundreds of applicants for only a handful of jobs.

Fast-forward six months: Increased freight levels and CSA 2010 concerns have made experienced, safe drivers a valuable and much sought-after commodity. You can hire on anywhere you want.

While your current employer has returned wages to prerecession levels, you wonder if hiring on with a carrier that didn’t reduce driver compensation might be the smartest long-term move. After all, there will be other recessions, and you need to plan for your family’s financial future.

Reducing driver wages during the recession will be a turnover issue for many carriers. According to the National Transportation Institute, about one third of fleets cut driver wages by an average of 7%.

In terms of driver retention, those carriers now will be at a distinct disadvantage.

Carriers wishing to minimize the effect of wage reduction on future turnover need to act immediately. Unfortunately, turnover solutions aren’t generic: To be effective, they must be developed based on each carrier’s recession activities and current profile.

The phrase “recession activities” refers to the total effect on driver compensation, i.e., how deeply wages and benefits were cut and total miles were reduced and to what extent layoffs were used. “Current profile” refers to a carrier’s fiscal health and ability to find funding to return wages and benefits to prerecession levels as soon as possible.

With these considerations as a foundation, carriers can build and strongly communicate a solution that defines seniority-based wage, benefit and layoff protections; explains the survival necessity of the reductions that were imposed; and explains what is being done differently to reduce the potential for future reductions.

Carriers that reduced driver compensation will find that having an effective “recession damage-control turnover solution” will mitigate, but not eliminate, increased driver turnover rates.

Carriers that didn’t reduce driver compensation during the recession will find that it was one of the best investments they ever made.

Joe White
CEO
CostDown Consulting
Grayson, Ga.

Clean Port Trucks

I am writing in regard to the March 22 article about the Port of New York and New Jersey clean trucks implementation: “Industry Opposed to Quick Implementation of Clean-Truck Plan at Port of N.Y./N.J.” (p. 5; click here for previous story).

I think a lot of times, those opposed to port clean-air initiatives forget that the reason behind these programs is concern for the well-being of people, particularly those who live near the ports.

Let’s face it: Whether in a good economy or a bad one, there never will be a time when companies will say it is now “OK” to spend money and that long implementation periods are no longer needed.

From a business perspective, it makes perfect sense — making money is more desirable than spending it. Yes, it is painful and hard to devote resources to equipment upgrades and replacements, but I can guarantee that if company execs and high-level officials were required to live next to a major port in current air conditions, a 2017 implementation date wouldn’t be an issue — even in this economy.

Marshall Cammack
Transportation Industry Associate
Redlands, Calif.