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Stories - USA - Truckers on road less traveled
No one looked over his shoulderBradenton,Fl,USA -Herald Today, by LAURA FIGUEROA -Mar. 05, 2006: -- It was just Charles White and the open road. A blur of destinations from Florida to Texas, from the Midwest to the West Coast... The lure of being his own boss, seeing the country and the camaraderie among truck drivers, all attracted White to enter the trucking industry 50 years ago. Now a broker with Landstar Trucking in Palmetto, White finds those incentives often fall short of what trucking companies nationwide are doing to lure drivers... Satellite televisions inside truck cabins, health-care benefits, and stock options are just some of the incentives being offered by trucking companies today. In Manatee and Sarasota counties, companies have adjusted their business practices to recruit and retain truck drivers. Local fruit and vegetable growers are also feeling the strain of the declining number of truck drivers nationwide... According to a May 2005 study conducted by the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry is facing a nationwide shortage of 20,000 truck drivers. By the year 2014 that number could increase to 111,000 drivers, the study said... "I think the decline has been a definite trend for the past 10 years," said Craig Cappello , regional transportation broker for Target Interstate, a national trucking company with an office based in Bradenton. "It's harder to retain drivers. There's a lot of aggressive recruiting going on."... After working in the trucking industry for 17 years in Germany, Bart Luczynski, of Poland moved to the United States to pursue a career as a driver... Five years ago he opened up his own trucking company based in Chicago called Megasystems. His company works with Target Interstate. About 95 percent of the company's 30 employees are Polish... When he came to the United States in 1995, "the money was an important part" of what attracted him to truck driving, Luczynski said. "But also for the opportunity to travel and see this beautiful country... In Europe you average 250 miles per day. In the United States it's about 800 miles. But the highways are different, they are bigger, and you get to see more. In Germany the roads were smaller . . . it was like sitting in traffic in L.A."... The influx of European drivers has almost warranted the occasional need for a translator, White said. The incentives now being offered go way beyond what he was offered when he started his career... "A heater in the truck," said White laughing. "That was pretty much it. If you had a heater and a radio you were set."...
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