Driver Wages and Regulation: A Losing Battle

So we have established that driver wages have dropped over the last 20 years. (see "WOULD YOU WORK 168 HOURS PER WEEK FOR $1200.00?") But what are the reasons? In many cases, it has to do with restrictive regulation and cumbersome policies, with the two primary culprits being speed governors and electronic logs.

The first part is speed governors on trucks. As a truck's maximum speed goes down, so does the number of miles that truck can be driven during a driver's shift. When driving hours are limited, and they must be, slower trucks means fewer miles per day. For example, in an eleven hour driving shift, a driver can cover about 715 miles in a truck governed at 70 mph. It is impossible to average the maximum speed, but in an over the road setting, getting within five miles per hour is doable. However, when we set that truck at 62 miles per hour, his daily mileage goes down to 620. That loss of 95 miles in a day, at 40 cents per mile, equates to $38.00 per day in lost wages. Over a six-day work week of driving, our driver has lost $228.00 per week or $11,856 per year. Since drivers are almost always paid by the mile, when miles go down, so does the driver's pay. In any other industry, a drop of nearly 20 percent in annual income would surely be met with anything other than tacit acceptance by both employers and employees.

Now, hours of service regulations and speed governors both improve safety. The problem is that as they have gone into more widespread use, they have decreased driver productivity. Because driver wages have long been based on productivity, as driver productivity has decreased, so have driver wages. This is not to say that we need to reverse the gains we have managed to make in highway safety. But if we are going to limit a driver's productivity while paying them based on productivity, we need to improve the rate they are paid to keep overall wages at or at least near current standards. The drop in actual wages paid to drivers over the last 20 years has been a significant factor in worsening the driver shortage.

The second part of the equation is electronic driver logs. As these have become more and more common, they have made it impossible for drivers to make adjustments in how they log activities. Again, this is an important advance in safety and has had many positive effects. It has, however, also caused a decrease in driver productivity that dovetails with the one caused by speed governors. Again, we have reduced the driver's ability to earn wages without offering any other form of compensation.

So, as we have made great strides in safety, many of the things we have done to bring this about have effected the driver's ability to be productive. Because we have made these strides at such a cost to productivity, carriers have been unable -- or unwilling -- to increase driver pay to offset the loss of income caused by regulation over which the driver has no control. To be fair, a loss of productivity costs carriers a great deal more than just driver productivity. Still, many of the new regulations concerning e-logs as well as the increased use of speed governors on trucks have reduced the driver's ability to make a living. Until freight rates increase, there will be no way for carriers to effectively offset these changes and until carriers can offset these losses, we will continue to see driver wages drop, causing a further increase in the driver shortage.

But falling wages are only one part of a very big picture when it comes to driver recruiting and driver retention. There are many other factors, including harsh and sometimes hostile working conditions and too much time away from home. We will address these next time in, "Can You Control How Your Customers Treat Your Drivers?"