Say What?

Question: Why do so many drivers quit or fail to make it in this industry?

Larry Hobbs, 57, Corbin, KY 
Professional driving experience: 24 years   
“Poor management. They don’t put anything away for a rainy day. When they get their check, they immediately go out and spend it all. You can’t do that and expect to survive the ups and downs in this business.”

Richard Bollenbach, 51, Lake Ariel, PA  
Professional driving experience: 32 years  
“The costs have gone up drastically. You have to keep track of the nickels and dimes in your operation, otherwise you’re just not going to be around. I feel that a lot of them fail because they just don’t know the business end of it. They really don’t know their costs, and that gets them in trouble.”

Cathy Kendall, 48, Lake Ariel, PA 
Professional driving experience: 21 years     
“I started driving my own truck in 1987, and I used to be able to run my truck and have my meals on $500 a week. Today, it costs me $500 just to fill up one time. I haven’t been an owner-operator for 10 years. There were a lot of reasons I got rid of the truck, but rising costs were certainly part of it.”

Wesley Yoder, 44, Stuarts Draft, VA  
Professional driving experience: 20 years   
“As an owner-operator, you have to stay away from the cheap freight. Fortunately, I work with a good company that gets good freight. A lot of owner-operators haul broker freight. The brokers take money out of the transactions that they shouldn’t, so there’s less money for the driver. With today’s fuel prices, there’s no way you can afford to haul cheap freight.”

Paul Reynolds, 60, Williston, FL   
Professional driving experience: 20 years   
“I can think of plenty of reasons. It could be unreasonable expectations. There are some drivers who want to be home every three weeks. If their company doesn’t get them home every three weeks, they quit. They may have an issue with the dispatcher and that’s it, they’re gone. There’s too much me, me, me. We’re in a service industry. We’re here to serve the customer. If you have to go the next mile, do it. There’s a lot of them who won’t go that extra mile.”