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Trucker Shortage

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Trucker shortage? Really? Does this mean we get to dictate a little more of our future now? How about demanding higher wages, more respect, or more say in the outcome of rules and regulations that affect us?



As drivers we’ve been listening to this line for about 20 years now and I’m sure most of you are sick of it. 20 years of burning yourselves out working almost twice the average hours of a normal job. Waiting for things to change for the better, but watching the industry progress downhill instead of uphill.

I’m not going to get into the same old stuff that’s been regurgitated 1,000 times. That’s not who we are. I’ve been fortunate in my career to have made a good living working for some great companies, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware of what was going on, or that I didn’t go through a few struggles myself.

We’re going to take a different approach on the truck driver shortage issue. Don’t worry if you don’t agree with anything I say. Just hold your thoughts, and you can have your say at the bottom. That’s why we’re here. We want to hear from you.

Part of the trucker shortage can be blamed on the increased demand from the fracturing boom in the last 15 years

In the past 15 years there’s been a large shift of drivers to the western provinces where Ice Road Trucking, oilfield trucking, and oil sands projects have been enticing drivers with much higher wages than the typical pay per mile. Drivers have the ability to live out of their trucks for months at a time to take advantage of the higher pay.

I’ve read a number of articles regarding the trucker shortage and have come to one conclusion. There isn’t one. Don’t over think it, or try to make it more complicated than it is. The statistics we’ll get into don’t lie. Don’t believe the mainstream media reports either. They’re rarely in touch with the reality of the trucking industry, but they don’t miss an opportunity to make us look like the bad guys when given the chance.

Think of the trucker shortage this way. We have a shortage of truck drivers that are no longer willing to be exploited.

One article from February 25, 2013 in the Halifax Chronicle Herald, Driver shortage leaves trucks sitting idle, is a great example of how out of touch the media is. Economic exploitation is finally catching up to trucking companies that have been playing the numbers game with drivers for many years.

The fact that this industry, or any company can place blame a trucker shortage on an aging driver population is ridiculous. (This is what the media reported.) If you knew something was going to cause you grief in 20 years and did nothing about fixing the problem, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Suffering the consequences of your own (lack of) action is what you deserve. Drivers should have no remorse for a single trucking company in this position. Truckers have covered the industry while missing out on their kids lives and their own for 20 years. They’ve been pushing hard, working hard, dealing with forced dispatching and guilt to get the job done for companies that skimmed them for years.

Many drivers are so sick of the industry they had to get out of it. Some were so run down and burnt out their health wouldn’t allow them to do it any more. The fact that companies used and abused so many hard working men and women is a shame. It’s a slap in the face they’re now being replaced by immigrant drivers willing to work for lower wages.

Many drivers have been tossed aside into the rag pile like a worn out shirt. (It served it’s purpose, but may still come in handy to wipe up some dirt).

This has nothing to do with discrimination in any way. It’s just calling a spade a spade, but unfortunately in this politically correct society we’re no longer allowed to do this. The minute you mention another race, culture, or question immigration policies from the no side, you’re labelled a bigot or racist. As a tax paying citizen, you have every right to question how your money is being spent.

If this isn’t your situation, that’s OK too, but a little bit of empathy may help you understand both sides. Remember we write and it’s our job to strike controversy.

Continue reading Trucker Shortage…..


The article from the Chronicle Herald barely made mention of the “true” key factors that are responsible for the trucker shortage, including the biggest one of all for drivers…

Economic Exploitation:

“The act of using another person’s labour without offering them an adequate compensation.”



If you’ve never heard the term “Economic Exploitation”, it’s a polite way of explaining how drivers are skimmed every day with certain aspects of their job they’re not paid for. We’ll get back to this later in the article, but it’s one more thing creating a trucker shortage.

I recently saw a response to an article about the so called “driver shortage” from a driver that’s been doing this for over 40 years. He summed it up in a way we can all relate to.

“Over worked, over regulated, and underpaid.”

This is a far less desirable of an industry to be in then it was 30 years ago.

The trucker shortage is partly due to not wanting to be away for extended periods of time. It’s not a desirable occupation for attracting new drivers.

Supply and Demand

In regards to the truck driver shortage, simplify things with basic principles that you already know.

Supply and demand almost always dictate the value of products or services. When there’s a shortage, the price goes up. When there’s an excess, the price goes down. There are few exceptions to this basic rule of economics.

Wages have increased only marginally in trucking over the last 30 years, unless you’re in a more specialized segment. This is why many people have moved into oilfield trucking. When they need drivers in the oil patch, they pay the wages needed in order to get them.

“Hey, what the heck is he talking about? I only made $15/hr 20 years ago, and I make $20/hr now.” Yes, you may be making $5/hr more than you did 20 years ago. But how much more does it cost you to live today? Gas was roughly 1/3 the price 20 years ago as it is today.

Leave out all the terminology of inflation, cost-of-living increases, allowances, indexes, CPI (Consumer Price Index), COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) and just keep it simple.

As far as over the road trucking goes wages have barely (if at all) kept pace with the cost of living increases we’ve seen.

I always felt a “raise” was something you either earned, or were given because of an increase in the value of what you do. (In our case a shortage of drivers should have helped). Any other increase in wages are just a cost-of-living increase.

This is basically what a “COLA” is. Increases in income based on the rising cost of living. They are more common with fixed incomes (pensions), unions, government employees etc…

So please, tell me where the shortage or “demand” is, when our pay has been little more than stagnant?

Enough flogging of that, we only included it to prove this following point from the first line in this article.

“If there’s a huge trucker shortage, shouldn’t we have received more pay, respect, better benefits, or even pensions?”

The trucker shortage continues as many drivers leave the industry altogether for fly-in, fly-out high paying oil sands jobs.

Continue reading Trucker Shortage…..

Is importing drivers a solution, or a problem?

Why are we importing drivers from other countries when we have drivers graduating from trucking schools that can’t find work now? (Not to mention our unemployment situation). It was astonishing to see how many ads I viewed when researching this topic.



I was also shocked at how many people wanting to get into trucking couldn’t get the funding required through the limited amount of government or company programs available.

I often wonder if the PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) is worth it? Is the cost of training, expenses and other costs associated with importing a driver cheaper than the alternative?

The alternative I’m referring to is working with the resources and driver pool we already have here in Canada. Pay more money, improve conditions, make it a more attractive industry. This is the start of addressing the problem. Everybody is aware of this, but few companies actually act on it. Maybe they’ve been manipulating statistics and the situation to avoid doing what they have to do? Pay more money and pay for hours worked.

With the turnover rate as high as it is, larger companies are spending thousands of dollars training and orientating new drivers every month. Can this money be redirected to higher pay, retention bonuses, or full training programs that including licensing?

To combat the trucker shortage, many fracturing service companies offer on-the-job training to obtain a truck licence.

What happens to an imported driver that loses their license? What happens if they commit a crime or become an “unqualified” driver? Do they get deported, or do they stay in the country? Later we’ll discuss the health care burden to the taxpayer as an example of another real cost of this program.

It may be a solution to the company, but another burden to the tax payer. We should be exhausting our existing resources first.

CTA Blue Ribbon Task Force on driver shortage

Take a look at the study done by the CTA (Canadian Trucking Alliance), that was released in 2012. (I’ll post a link at the bottom.) I advise you to read it. They’re pretty clear about making the points we all know as drivers are true. If you do a little “reading between the lines” you’ll pick up on a few other matters.

Here’s an excerpt outlining the Task Force Members.

“In 2011, a Blue Ribbon Task Force comprising selected members of the CTA Board of Directors from across Canada was formed to try and provide leadership in the daunting task of developing a coherent direction for moving forward on the driver shortage issue. The members of the task force include:

I had this picture in my head of the meetings being like a parliamentary battle in the House of Commons. East against West, party against party. This was probably a difficult study to put together given the difference of opinion that would exist among members. Especially the western companies against the eastern ones considering the west pays higher wagers. If you do read it, you’ll see what I mean.

The report actually hit the nail on the head probably due to certain Task Force Members on this Board. There are some companies that truly know the value of a driver, and pay them accordingly. These companies are fighting hard to improve things for drivers. You know who these companies are right away if you are working for one, or have worked for one in the past.

I’m sure most of us have seen both sides of this fence?

And here’s their summary:

“The root causes or underpinnings of the driver shortage can basically be categorized as follows:

  1. Driver demographics;
  2. Driver compensation;
  3. Driver quality of life; and,
  4. Driver qualifications.

Here’s the link I promised to post for the for the taske force study from the Canadian Trucking Alliance

The most recent statistic I could find show that Canada has well over 600,000 class one operators and just over 250,000 employed behind the wheel. There are far too many conclusions that could be manipulated from this statistic, so I’ll leave this one for you to ponder. Now do you think there’s a shortage?

The bottom line is there’s no shortage of drivers, but a shortage of “qualified” drivers no longer willing to be exploited for their efforts. This statement is based on the root causes found by the CTA’s own findings.

If you fixed number 2 (Compensation), do you think the other 3 would be as big of an issue?

I have an underlying question regarding the study, the CTA, and the members.

If they’re aware of the problem and have identified the solution, why are so few of them acting in a way to fix it?

When the better companies pay more money, do the others cry “Sour grapes” because they’re stealing drivers?

As a driver, do you feel companies importing drivers are just deferring the real problem?

By manipulating the short term supply of drivers, are they continuing the economic exploitation to profit just a little bit longer? Are companies using PNP programs doing the best thing for the drivers, the taxpayers, and the Country?

Continue reading Trucker Shortage…..

Consider this and we’ll look at some more questions:

In 2013 there was an unemployment rate in Nova Scotia of 9.3% , which is approximately 46,700 people out of work. Let’s go back to an article from the Halifax Chronicle Herald and the interview with Paul Easson, (A Chair of the Canadian Trucking Alliance during the study). Here’s the excerpt,

“To combat this shortage, Paul Easson, President of Easson’s Transport Ltd. of Berwick, said he brought in four drivers from Jamaica last summer and anticipates bringing on at least a dozen more this year.”



Maybe I’m missing something here, but does this seem right to you? And why are members of the CTA that are aware of the problems and solutions not setting an example to lead the way?

Another cost of importing drivers

If we import 16 people and their families. (Let’s say roughly 50 more people including spouses and children), what are ALL the costs?

Do you feel as a country we should be looking at our own resources first to deal with the trucker shortage?

So, what we asked all 46,700 unemployed people in Nova Scotia if they’d be interested in driving a truck under a sponsorship training program? Do you think we wouldn’t at least get 16…30…or 100, to say yes? Being a one time resident of Nova Scotia myself and knowing how hard they work, I know people that would jump at this chance.

How about the additional burden of the new workers and their families qualifying for health care benefits after they’re eligible?

So after the families are eligible, the additional cost is roughly $300,000/year for 50 new immigrants in health care costs? (Based on average health care costs of roughly $6,000/year per person.)

Let’s say a truck driving school cost around $8,000. The taxpayer could have trained another 37 drivers at a one time cost of $300,000. The health care burden for the new immigrants will be a yearly cost of $300,000 and will actually increase each year. I’d be scared to do the full math on this one, and I’m sure you would be as well.

As a taxpayer, this concerns me. I believe in immigration as it relates to the cultural and economic growth to this country. Many of us were there once, but shouldn’t immigration be set to the economy and other obvious employment (or lack of) situations? We’re still in a recession, and have been for a few years now.

Truck driving is still considered “unskilled” labour in Canada so companies must sponsor immigrant drivers through PNP (Provincial Nominee Programs) instead of the regular Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) channels.

To make this simple, the government has special programs for what they call “semi-skilled” occupations that are not very desirable, or high paying jobs for Canadians.

Here are a few more questions to think about again.

Other Factors

The industry also has a lack of “qualified” drivers, partially due to “disqualifying” a large percentage of the drivers we currently have. Insurance companies haven’t helped much by increasing their requirements for a driver to be hired.

Many companies can’t hire you if you’re under the age of 25. I’d think that most people have chosen their career path long before then. A ticket, driving infraction, criminal convictions, and even credit checks can also eliminate you from certain job opportunities.

There are so many factors as to why people are leaving the industry and very few others who want to get into it like: log book rules, regulations, fines, lack of pay, benefits, respect, home time, no pensions and other factors.

How can younger people be attracted to an industry with so many negative qualities?

The trucker shortage has had little effect on ice road trucking. TV shows are increasing the supply with so many drivers adding it to their bucket list.

Ice road trucking pay is actually quite low compared to the oil and gas industry. I’ve worked in both industries and the difference in pay per hours actually worked is substantial. The only benefit I saw on the ice roads was the amount of hours you could work in relation to regular highway work. The hours of service have allowances for northern and winter road operators.

Continue Reading Trucker Shortage…..

Is trucking pay the biggest issue regarding the Trucker shortage?

I recently posted an article about Truck Driver Pay on our site so I’ll add a few paragraphs as it relates to the reason trucking isn’t a desirable industry.




It’s not really the amount of compensation drivers receive as much as it is what they’re being compensated for.

Truck drivers in North America subsidize freight costs over one billion dollars a month.

Many drivers don’t have to deal with issues like this, but unfortunately there are thousands of others that do. Companies that utilize PNP programs are involved in corporate bullying.

Do you think this is the double edged sword of the corporations? Even if all the drivers fought to be paid for all they do, would the corporations eat this loss, or increase the costs of goods and services?

Do you honestly think corporations would cut into their billion dollar profits in order to subsidize the general population like drivers have been doing for years? Would the media further portray us as the bad guys and blame truck drivers when the prices went up?

Trucker Shortage. Many drivers have moved to the Alberta oil and gas sector to avoid the economic exploitation of the trucking industry.

In the end, everything flows downhill to rest on the driver’s shoulders.

Large corporations have been turning out record profits through a recession, while more working families are struggling just to feed themselves.

The corporations continue to grow stronger. With that strength comes the ability to dictate how business is done, how much they’ll pay and the rules of the game. The corporations squeeze the trucking companies, the trucking companies squeeze the drivers and the trucker shortage is created as drivers leave the industry behind.

So how do you like Capitalism now? Don’t get me wrong, I believe in Capitalism, but I also believe in some form of balance or control to keep a somewhat level playing field.

So what do you think about the trucker shortage? Your comments are always welcome.

Thanks for reading Trucker Shortage