CCJ Symposium Panel Discusses How to Obtain and Retain Drivers

On June 24th, a panel at the CCJ Summer Symposium in La Jolla, CA openly discussed the current state of the pool of commercial drivers.  Gordon Klemp works at the National Transportation Institute and  tracks driver pay and benefits and participated in the panel, along with Steve Branch, the director, marketing with C.R. England as well as the president/CEO of Mountain Valley Express, Scott Blevins.  The symposium panel was moderated by CCJ Editor Jeff Crissey. According to Gordon Klemp, the pool of qualified truck drivers is the smaller than ever and there are three reasons for that - Generous unemployment benefits, stricter qualifications and fear of technology. In additition, the older drivers are retiring at a faster than the drivers are being hired. The general consensus of the panel is that more incentives, better pay and ulitmately, more respect, are needed for career drivers. You can read the different thoughts, suggestions and perspectives of the panel here.