For years, American truck transport associations (ATA) have prompted one of the most recycled headlines in transportation: “We are facing a historical driver shortage.” If you are following industry media, you have seen it. If you are a small owner or a young man, you may have posted a comment on X or Facebook in discussing a person recycling this message. And if you are in the game for a long time enough, you know the truth – we have no shortage of truck drivers. We have a lack of drivers ready to work under the conditions provided by the largest transportation companies in the country.
This is not only about indications. This narration is strong. It constitutes legislation, affects public opinion, and leads to a leadership policy that benefits huge transport companies at the expense of the small carrier community. In a previous article on Playbook, we put the reason why the driver’s shortage of “deficiency” did not contain water. Today, we are deeper. Because this is not only related to bad speech – it is related to control and strength and how it tells the stories that the great players tell the formation of the entire industry.
Exposing the legend of deficiency – a quick summary
Let’s start with the basics. FMCSA reports that more New 400,000 CDLS It is released every year. Even retirement and attrition account, this is more than enough to replace the workforce. Moreover, the CDL population has grown almost 30 % since 2020. If there is already a shortage of country, we will not see transportation companies cutting the rates of drivers. We used to see high wages and desperate employment in all fields.
Why does the story of the shortage continue to return every six months? Because it is useful. It is not for you, the small carrier who tries to build sustainable works. But for the huge transport companies that depend on the high rotation rate and a fixed flow of new drivers to keep their seats full of the lowest possible cost.
Why the huge transport companies pay the deficiency narration
For the largest ATA- I think the multiple truck fleet is thousands-it is the business model. mostly 90 % annually. This means that they are constantly replacing drivers. Employment becomes a lifeline. And nothing nourishes employment like fear. They need seats full of predictable costs.
By promoting “driver shortage”:
- They can justify lowering standards. Click on the younger drivers, foreign business visas, and comfortable training requirements under the slogan “We need more drivers”. If the drivers resign, the problem should be “no caffeine drivers”, and not “why they resigned?” This keeps attention from the time of detention, forced transmission, low effective wages after unpaid tasks, and home issues at home.
- They acquire a clear political crane. Legislative people who do not know the industry buy the crisis, and pass the policies that prefer Mega under the guise of “deficiency solution”. It opens doors for experimental programs, grants and organizational transformations designed to create more appointments.
- They easily distract it from the real issue – keep it. If you leave 9 out of 10 your company drivers every year, you will not have a shortage of deficiency. You have a problem with culture. However, the “driver’s shortage” turns blame from the company’s practices into some invisible labor gap. Easy for them …
How to narrate small transport companies
Now, let’s talk about what this means for you, the small carrier. Because although ATA does not talk about you, their story constitutes the conditions in which you work.
- Political pressure: When organizers hear “deficiency”, they are scrambling to find ways to add more drivers. This means often pushing programs for children at the age of 18 to cross state lines, independent trucks or expanded visa programs. On paper, this is the most “capacity” of the market. In fact, this means more downward pressure on rates.
- Prices: The continuous flow of new performers feeds the needs of huge transport companies, but it also maintains the fullness of the work gathering. The trucks and mediators know that there is no shortage of trucks, which makes it difficult for small transport companies to retract weak prices.
- General perception: When the audience hears the “shortage”, they imagine a heroic industry in a crisis. They do not see drivers sleeping in unpaid trucks for detention, or small transport companies are fighting to stay standing on his feet. They see large transport companies is the only solution, which enhances Megas dominance. When the “shortage” news pieces are repeated, the public assumes desperate truck transportation for “anyone who has a pulse”, not professionals running watches, equipment, compliance and risks. This perception flows. If “anyone can do this”, your service value is more difficult to justify.
- Employment competition: Small transport companies do not have marketing budgets or training schools by Megas. When every new driver hears the “industry needs you”, it is transformed towards large names, not towards building a profession with an independent operator.
The real danger – a broken stadium
The danger is not just bad mathematics. The danger is the way the field deficiency is restored for the largest transportation companies. We do not have people’s inability. We have a time deficit. Drivers are still spending a lot of unpaid hours waiting on the sidewalks, looking for parking, or running the phone mark that should have been presented the day before. You can dump the industry with the trainees, and you will continue to strangle the system in the charger gate if the detention remains free, and the time of stopping was “part of the job”.
- It creates a false sense of scarcity. If drivers believe they are in a shortage of display, they expect the industry to be more appreciated. But when they enter a Mega bearing job and find themselves burned in six months, disappointment pays them outside From truck transport. This haven hurts everyone.
- It legitimizes the legitimacy of weak working conditions. By blaming the “deficiency”, Megas avoids repairing wage structures, home and culture. Why improve conditions when you can only press more new drivers?
- Legislation tends. MEGAS politicians see the voice of industry. When they demand more clarifying standards or subsidies for CDL training, they get it – even if it is overwhelmed by the market with drivers who lack experience and erosion of payment through the board.
- Powering the bargaining power. If there is always a pipeline from new drivers, trucks and brokers know that transport companies cannot pull the capacity from the table. This weakens the ability of small transport companies to negotiate stronger prices or conditions.
The reality of the small carrier
Small transport companies do not face “shortage”. Many of you need to read this to 500 new drivers – you may need two good drivers you can trust. What you face is volatility: unstable prices, high operating costs, competition with fleets that play with different rules.
Here is Kicker – Small airlines often Do You have better retention. Drivers remain because they are treated like people, not seat numbers. They remain because they can build relationships, return home at the promise, and work with someone who knows his name. But nothing of this makes the addresses. ATA does not press your success.
An invitation to challenge the narration
Here where we challenge you to think. Every time you hear a “driver shortage”, ask: Who benefits from this story? Because it is not a 5-Truct operation in North Carolina or the owner of the individual intelligence that grinds to earn a living.
This narration is reported by Megas:
- Give them a cloak to a high rotation rate instead of accountability to focus on culture reform.
- Help them press the policies that expand their working group.
- Maintaining the audience alongside them while the prices remain pent -up.
For small transport companies, the result is more trucks on the road, more competition for shipping, and leverage less at the negotiating table.
What needs to be changed
If the industry stops the obsession of the so -called deficiency and focuses on keeping it, we will all benefit. This means:
- Pay drivers to some extent. It is not a cinema for every mile games, but the honest wages that reflect the value of the work.
- Respect for time. Displacement, housing, and unpaid waiting are more problems than “deficiency”.
- Building paths for small tankers. Not only is the support of the CDL factories that feed megas.
- Change the conversation. From “How do we get more drivers” to “How do we keep those we have already.”
Closing – Why are small transport companies to remain silent?
Small transport companies cannot ignore this. When Megas dominates the story, you end up playing the game on their terms. The truth is that there is no deficiency in the driver. There is a lack of good jobs, fair wages, and respect for the time of drivers.
Stop leaving the story of another person who determines its value. The major brands will continue to describe this deficiency because it maintains full funnel. You do not need to be repressed. You need drivers staying, customers who respect the watch, and a rate that covers reality. When your numbers are presented, tightening your promises, and pricing your time, you make their narration not related. You don’t have to win the press statement. You have to win the week.
ATA’s novel may work with advanced fleets trying to keep their shareholders happy, but it has declined for small transport companies trying to build sustainable business. Until more of us challenge us, politics and public makers will continue to buy legend.
Good news? The overwhelming data on your side. We have already exposed the theory of deficiency in numbers. It is now time to summon the reason for the story in the first place – and who really serves it.
Because if you don’t have the narration, another person will do it. And when it comes to the future of small transport companies, silence is not an option.
