IT’S NOT (JUST) ABOUT THE MONEY Here at NTI, we’re pretty big on driver wages. I mean, come on. Obvious statement of the year, right? It’s our job to help carriers maximize driver pay, in a sustainable, non-painful way for their company. We talk about it every day. It’s what gets us out of bed
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AB5 ROLLS ON We warned you about this piece of legislation a few months ago, and unfortunately, it’s still going strong. Last month, a 9th Circuit Court panel reversed a California Trucking Association injunction that would have exempted truck drivers from this law. As a quick background, California’s Assembly Bill 5 requires companies to treat
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DECLINE OF DRIVER SUPPLY CONTINUES Drug tests are a topic that we don’t love talking about. A positive test can feel like a lose-lose situation – you’re down another worker, and a driver is out of a job. But this year, there’s no way around that elephant in the room. FMCSA requirements mean that more
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TRUCK TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYMENT Jason Miller, PhD, Michigan State University Much has been written about the difficulty in finding truck drivers. Detailed employment data released as part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics program helps shed some light on the challenges trucking firms face regarding attracting workers. Comparing employment figures in March 2021
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INFRASTRUCTURE TROUBLES MEAN A BUMPY ROAD FOR TRUCKERS In May, Arkansas’ Hernando de Soto I-40 bridge was closed after inspectors found a crack in a steel beam. Authorities shut down the bridge until it could be repaired or at least deemed safe, which at this point, means an indefinite closure. Truckers are bearing the brunt
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CANADA’S ELD MANDATE GOES LIVE After lingering in the shadows for years, it’s finally here. The Canadian ELD mandate will go into effect on June 12, 2021. There’s just one problem – none of the electronic logging devices that are currently on the market meet the criteria established by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport
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AMAZON IS HIRING 75,000 NEW LOGISTICS POSITIONS In what is likely a sign of things to come, Amazon announced in May that it will hire 75,000 new fulfillment and delivery positions across North America. According to Amazon, compensation for these roles starts around $17 per hour with a $1000 signing bonus. The hiring package includes
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STIMULUS SPENDING WILL INCREASE DEMAND FOR DRIVERS The U.S. economy is getting close to firing on all cylinders again. With a combination of stimulus payments and robust economic indicators in the works, economists predict that Americans are going to rev up their spending. Of course, those purchases need to get moved on a truck. Carriers,
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CAREER ADVANCEMENT: IT’S NOT JUST FOR OFFICE JOBS When you’re thinking about driver retention and recruitment, a challenge that may come to mind is competition from other roles. Warehousing, welding, and construction can pose challenges to finding and keeping drivers. Rising wages in truck-competitive fields can pose challenges to retaining truckers. But it isn’t always
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GETTING GEN Z BEHIND THE WHEEL There are a few issues out there that seem to constantly haunt trucking executives. Driver recruitment and retention is a big one, but an offshoot of that is truckers’ age. New entrants start out at 38, on average. The mean age of an experienced driver is 54. With statistics
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