When thinking about the trucking industry, the first thing that comes to mind about its drivers is that they tend to be older — industry experts say the average trucker is 54 years old. But given the nationwide truck driver shortage, that's now changing.

A high school in California is now training teens to enter the industry through its truck driving school program.

Patterson High School in Patterson, Calif., is one of the first non-vocational high schools in the country to offer a truck-driving program for students.

The elective course, which is open to seniors, is a part of the school's Career Technical Education Program — helping students learn workplace skills through hands-on training.


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"A lot of [students] who enroll in the course have never considered trucking as a career," instructor Dave Dein told NPR. "Trucking doesn't have a great reputation and it comes with a lot of misconceptions about what exactly a truck driver is."

Those misconceptions include that the work is dangerous, comes with low pay and and that the hours are unbearable.

"If we don't start promoting trucking to our youth, they only can make decisions on the information that they have," Dein said.


Dave Dein began his career in the trucking industry in 1988 as a way to support himself through college. Now, he's teaching the industry's newest truck drivers at Patterson High School in Patterson, Calif.
Dave Dein/Patterson High School
Guiding students through the basics of the trucking industry and trucking safety, Dein teaches not only the regulations to get a commercial driver's license, but also real-world scenarios that truckers face while on the road.

Dein, who has been in the trucking industry since 1988, says his career in trucking began as a way to support himself through college. But after earning his degree and working for a few years, he says he was "called to teaching."

"... but I never left trucking," he said. "I would always either drive on the weekends or part-time not because I had to, but because I enjoyed it."

The industry is suffering from a shortage of workers
As the supply chain continues to suffer due to the pandemic, a truck driver shortage factored into the mix is adding to supply and shipping delays.

And within the past decade, the trucking industry has constantly struggled with a driver shortage.

According to the American Trucking Associations, trucks move roughly 72.5% of the nation's freight by weight — carrying items such as oil, food, clothing, paper products and vehicles to name a few.

An ATA study found that in 2015, there was a need for 48,000 truck drivers.

As of 2021, the industry is short 68,000 drivers that are needed on the roads — as 25% of current truckers have reached retirement or are close to the age of retiring, according to Lindsey Trent of the Next Generation in Trucking Association.

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Trent, who serves as co-founder and president of the nonprofit trucking association, says that if the shortage of truckers continues to grow, by the year 2028 the shortage could exceed 100,000 drivers.

But hiring teens to get behind the wheel of the big rigs could potentially solve this issue.

"We need good, safe drivers. Instead of [trucking] being a second or third career choice for people, we're trying to be the first choice and really attract talent in our industry at a younger age," Trent said.



Is There Really A Truck Driver Shortage?
Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the trucking industry, says adding young drivers won't solve the industry's biggest problem: retention.

"There is no reason to think we'd have any different outcome. We'd simply chew through another cohort of even younger drivers," he told NPR.

It's not a first-choice elective for most students
While hiring teenagers may help with the nationwide truck driver shortage, it's probably hard to actually imagine them driving an 18-wheeler.

In the program, students are undergoing 80 hours of classroom training along with 30 hours of lab sessions outside the classroom as they get first-hand experience in trucking. Those who want to pursue a trucking career must undergo further training once they're 18 years old. Currently, truckers must be at least 21 to haul goods across state lines.
For some students enrolled in the program, the thought of actually having their commercial driver's license right before graduation is something they didn't imagine would happen.

President of truck driving school says driver shortage is causing supply chain issues
"It was not an elective I would've chosen because I didn't think that truck driving was for me," said Patterson High senior Eduardo Dominguez-Sotelo.

But after scoring high on a job assessment test during his junior year, Dominguez-Sotelo says Dein contacted him and suggested he enroll in the course.



"In the end, it actually ended up being a good fit for me," Dominguez-Sotelo said.

After graduation in 2022, he says he is interested in pursuing a career in computer engineering, hoping to make use of his commercial driver's license to go into trucking part time. Dein says he wants all his students to consider trucking as part of their career.

"I hope [the students] will come away with an appreciation for what truck drivers do, seeing the bigger picture and how they can fit in the industry," Dein said.

LINK; https://www.npr.org/2021/10/13...rtage-of-truck-drive

Good for these guys. I see little downside.

We have gotten away from VOTECH type training for young people.

Nice to see we are finding our way back.

Perhaps the .gov should look into lowering the interstate CDL age requirement from 21 to 18.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of money would an entry level truck driver expect to earn driving a company owned truck ?

My cousin parked his semi earlier this year. the contracts wouldnt cover his fuel expenses. I imagine things are going to get bad.

CA requires a 2011 or newer rig and they are mandating electric by like 2035. So operators there are bailing in record numbers.

The downside will come when autonomous trucks take over.

Can be a good short term job. They're not going to get a career out of it.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
Good for these guys. I see little downside.

I don't think too many would like the reality of commercial driving. 60 to 70 hours a week, eating, showering and sleeping in truck stops. Time away from home and missing a lot of family functions. And it is a dangerous profession. IMHO

A buddy of mine retired a few years ago and got a job training new drivers. "Troops to truckers" or something. He says they are slammed. Can't get them out fast enough.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
My cousin parked his semi earlier this year. the contracts wouldnt cover his fuel expenses. I imagine things are going to get bad.

CA requires a 2011 or newer rig and they are mandating electric by like 2035. So operators there are bailing in record numbers.

This.
CA commercial vehicle standards are constantly getting updated, resulting in operators basically having to get new vehicles every 4/5-years. There's fewer and fewer owner-operators anymore as what remains are big corporate structured freight companies. Patterson was a small agricultural community in the Central Valley, nearby Tracey has see distribution centers growing like crazy along with housing developments sprouting up, which is now working its way into nearby Patterson.

One of my best friends is a commercial vehicle inspector for CA DOT, the Tesla electric tractors have been going through testing along with all the other major manuf up in Sacramento and the DOT facility in SoCal. Autonomous software is making progress as companies like UPS, FedEx, WalMart, CocaCola, etc are salivating at the possibilities.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
My cousin parked his semi earlier this year. the contracts wouldnt cover his fuel expenses. I imagine things are going to get bad.

CA requires a 2011 or newer rig and they are mandating electric by like 2035. So operators there are bailing in record numbers.

This.
CA commercial vehicle standards are constantly getting updated, resulting in operators basically having to get new vehicles every 4/5-years. There's fewer and fewer owner-operators anymore as what remains are big corporate structured freight companies. Patterson was a small agricultural community in the Central Valley, nearby Tracey has see distribution centers growing like crazy along with housing developments sprouting up, which is now working its way into nearby Patterson.

One of my best friends is a commercial vehicle inspector for CA DOT, the Tesla electric tractors have been going through testing along with all the other major manuf up in Sacramento and the DOT facility in SoCal. Autonomous software is making progress as companies like UPS, FedEx, WalMart, CocaCola, etc are salivating at the possibilities.

Meanwhile, the port of Long Beach and LA have shitpiles of 10,000 can freighters that they can’t unload off the ships let alone move out of the terminal.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
Meanwhile, the port of Long Beach and LA have shitpiles of 10,000 can freighters that they can’t unload off the ships let alone move out of the terminal.

Lazy crane operators making $250,000 a year exacerbating port crisis, truckers say

I work for a large LTL carrier. We used to have a 5 year experience requirement. Now we have our own driving academy, free training with no commitment.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
Meanwhile, the port of Long Beach and LA have shitpiles of 10,000 can freighters that they can’t unload off the ships let alone move out of the terminal.

Lazy crane operators making $250,000 a year exacerbating port crisis, truckers say

When I was in the freight business a few years back, Long Beach had adopted some automation for part of the terminal. It would be nice to see more of this to fight the union nonsense but they’d probably strike or sabotage the terminal.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
We have gotten away from VOTECH type training for young people.

Nice to see we are finding our way back.

Remember the push in the Clinton Presidency to get Americans into technology jobs and away from those nasty dirty trades jobs. The chickens are coming home to roost.

The lazy crane operator thing is nothing new.

I ran an intermodal 3rd party logistics depot back 20 years ago at a CSX yard in NJ. Our agreement with the Union there was 3 containers per hour on pre-scheduled inbounds. Operator would offload and spot the first 3 containers in about 20 minutes and then go on break for 40 minutes.

The logistics problem started decades ago.
We needed a master plan involving more rail and hubs then the trucking doing the local delivery part.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
The logistics problem started decades ago.
We needed a master plan involving more rail and hubs then the trucking doing the local delivery part.

IF, the national economic strategy is to continue supporting a global supply chain, then certain infrastructure needs to be updated.

On the West Coast, container terminals have not expanded; when Long Beach Naval Shipyard closed, the city jumped all over it to expand its container terminals, that was 20+ years ago. All the major ports have purchased new cranes twice in the last 25-years, providing faster movement and the ability to service the new larger ships but, there's been no expansion of ports. Alameda Naval Air Station sits adjacent to the Port of Oakland, the City of Alameda could easily built a container terminal in its place but, refuses to consider such a long-term investment and the monetary benefits to its coffers.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
We have gotten away from VOTECH type training for young people.

Nice to see we are finding our way back.

Bingo!

Soo many of the younger people that work for me have no clue about simple stuff like how to change a faucet, a light switch, change oil in a car.

And I also don't see too many 20-somethings working as plumbers, carpenters or electricians.

(They can pour you one hell of a frappa-lappa-crappa-chino, or whip up a great omelette, but other stuff... Not so much)