While “experts have long imagined that blue-collar workers like truckers or factory workers would be the first to lose jobs to artificial intelligence,” with even former presidential candidate Andrew Yang suggesting that it could cause a truck driving industry catastrophe of epic proportions, it seems that many have overlooked that Artificial Intelligence could blight non-blue collar workers first, such as writers and creatives. Read more…
With the pandemic wearing tons of people out, especially mothers and women in the healthcare profession, many of them are turning to the truck driving industry as a break from the grueling day-to-day of their previous professional lives. For example, Chelsea Ferguson was feeling burned out as “she was doing strenuous work cleaning patients and turning them over. She was on her feet some days for 16 hours.” As a result, Chelsea turned to the trucking industry, as have many other women, making females in the trucker workforce at 18%, an all time high. Read more..
Though Harley Davidson has announced that Florida-based Comprehensive Logistics will replace their current Logistics company Syncreon, the roughly 600 employees who had handled third-party logistics for Syncreon in New York will remain in their jobs nonetheless. Paul Forberg, Comprehensive Logistics’ vice president of sales and marketing, claims: “we expect to transition 100% of them… I would say it’s more of an administrative function just to get them converted over to Comprehensive Logistics.” Read more…
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has “rejected a petition from several agriculture groups asking for more Hours of Service flexibility for drivers hauling livestock and other animal goods.” The petition had asked for the FMCSA to allow truck drivers “hauling livestock, insects, and aquatic animals, after 10 consecutive hours off duty, to drive through the 16th consecutive hour after coming on duty, and to drive a total of 15 hours during that 16-hour period.” Read more…
Challenging stereotypes, Clarissa Ranking, a 36-year-old mom from Charlotte, North Carolina, is a professional truck driver transporting all kinds of goods across the East Coast. From hauling diapers to TVs to canned goods, Clarissa is making $144K a year while loving her job. Ranking exclaims: “people always have this image in their mind of a truck driver being a man with a big old stomach, big old beard and wearing overalls… I love to get that expression on people’s faces like, ‘Can you really drive that?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I got this honey.’” Read more…
Logistics companies, such as C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., have recently laid off countless workers, as there is a slower demand for freight transportation. The layoffs “come amid signs of slowdown in consumer spending and other activity after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates to combat inflation. CNBC reported last month of big declines in warehouse shipments and ocean freight orders.” Read more
With a shortage of drivers “impacting the ability to get goods, merchandise and other items shipped around the country,” the American Trucking Association believes the country needs at least another 80,000 more drivers on the road. On the bright side, requests to enroll in trucking schools have increased due to the desire of applicants to have a guaranteed job if a recession hits. Read more..
While many truck drivers and economists no longer believe there is a truck driver shortage, there are many lawmakers in Washington who do. Recently, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona introduced a bill that would “do away with certain requirements for obtaining a commercial’s driver license.” There are lawmakers who believe such a law would help ease the purported shortage by “helping hardworking Americans and slashing costs for all.” Read more…
Harry G. Broadman, a leading consultant in the logistics industry, exclaims that workers should not fear the rise of digitization in the global logistics and supply chain operations. He insists that “there can be harmony between logistics technology and job creation,” and that while the jobs in a digital-logistics world may not be the same positions workers are used to, there will be jobs nonetheless. Read more…
With the trucking industry in dire need of workers, high schools such as Williamsport High School are introducing trucking courses as part of a nationwide push to steer young drivers towards the industry. As the American Trucking Association “projects that trucking companies will need to hire nearly 1.2 million drivers over the next decade,” it is imperative that an aging workforce is supplemented with more youthful recruits, including teenagers. Read more…
