Walmart's Supply Chain Plan: Pay Its Truck Drivers $110K

For the past two or three generations, youth have been told if they don't go to college and get a degree they won't ever find a decent paying job. Parents almost force their kids to go to college and those kids are strapped with thousands of dollars in loans. Many get degrees in low paying fields or saturated fields and even have trouble finding a job.

OTOH, the trades have gone lacking. Truck driving, construction trades, plumbers, HVAC techs... the list is long. Many trades pay starting wages higher than people with a masters degree can make. Businesses are finding they have to pay high wages because the candidate pool is slim. Walmart can't fill their shelves if they don't have the goods. Pay truck drivers high wages and give them good benefits and they will haul your goods before hauling someone else's.

Daughter is Director of Risk Management for a global logistics firm. There are goods to move from Point A to Point B... but no truckers to haul those goods. She is involved in many discussions about the advent of self-driving trucks and the liability issues when they crash. Companies are beginning to assess the cost of that liability vs. not being able to move goods due to driver shortages.

Things ain't what they used to be........
 

The really good money to be made with a top level company such as Walmart is as a owner/operator. The O/O owns their own tractor, and pulls company trailers. The O/O is a small business owner, who has a significant financial investment in that tractor ( a new one could be worth upwards of $250,000 ) The O/O gets paid by the miles driven, and of course the O/O has a number of business deductions that help to reduce their tax situation. Company drivers are Walmart employees, who get paid by the mile, and get company benefits.

The problem with the transport industry worldwide is the large number of poorly operated trucking companies, who try to beat each other on the prices they offer to their customers. This results in a "race to the bottom " with all kinds of short cuts on safety, a lack of proper vehicle maintenance, and hiring drivers who are inexperienced and dangerous. Its not JUST an American problem. JimB.
 
`I think the impression that any turkey can drive a truck is totally wrong. My brother drove new car rigs. He drove $100s of thousands in the cost of the truck, and carried $100s of thousands in new cars. An accident can cost $25O,000 to 500,000. He did it for 40+ years without an accident. Truck driving isn't something a turkey can do, It is a profession, and it's time they got paid what they are worth.
 
Walmart Canada is paying much higher salaries here. This has left a shortage of truck drivers. My daughter’s SO has ordered a new truck. It’s ready to go but can’t leave the lot which is only an hour away. The company, for legal and union reasons, has to have the truck delivered to the dealership where he purchased it and it has to be delivered/not driven there. The new truck just keeps getting older.
 
My son is an experienced trucker working for J.B. Hunt, one of the biggest trucking companies in the U.S. I told him about what Walmart is paying and he wasn't falling for it. LOL He feels there'll be a catch in there somewhere.
 

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