* Tennessee - 100% driver turnover hurts trucking industry: Correct M&A approach can fix it
-- The American Trucking Associations’ count, annual driver turnover runs nearly 100% at so-called large truckload carriers, also known as long-haul truckers. And if it costs $3,000-to-$5,000 to recruit and hire one driver (I’m told that estimate is conservative), keeping the million or so long-haul driver jobs (1) filled every year represents a $3 billion-to-$5 billion toll on an industry that already suffers from narrow profit margins and an enormous need for capital... The turnover is disastrous for drivers, too. Many are never at a single employer long enough to accumulate any retirement savings. They typically live paycheck-to-paycheck while employed, and then suffer a big step down in income when they retire with only social security... This article will examine the decade-old ESOP at Paladin Capital Inc. (formerly Quickway Distribution Services Inc.), a 1,000-truck operation based in Nashville. The company’s driver turnover – 20% voluntary, 15% or so initiated by Paladin as it enforces lofty quality standards – sets it apart from the industry... The ESOP, however, has turned many Paladin drivers into evangelists for the company. They refer nearly 40% of new drivers and are paid a $2,500 bonus for every hire they bring in. Kendall Ray, a Louisville driver for Paladin, has brought in three successful recruits. Once, while shopping in a Dollar General store, Ray was talking up Paladin to a fellow truck driver he ran into. That guy didn’t come aboard, but another driver who was two aisles away and overheard the conversation introduced himself and did join Paladin. “I approach ‘em where I see ‘em,” Ray says. “A lot of the time they’re not satisfied” at their current job...
(1) The Labor Department says, as of 2014, there were 1.8 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the U.S. A large minority of those work for companies like UPS that have low turnover. But the majority are at independent trucking firms where turnover runs very high...
(Photo: Quickway Carriers trucks) -- Nashville, TENN, USA - Forbes, by Mary Josephs - JAN 6, 2016Labels: drivers' shortage solutions, truckers' turnover
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