Truck driver shortage could be solved by paying for all the work they do

© Dmitrii Kiselev | Dreamstime.com - Driver of the car is sitting thinking

This op-ed piece on Forbes from supply chain analyst Steve Banker suggests road freight providers tackle the growing driver shortage crisis by changing the way truckers are paid, from a per-mile/km basis to the number of hours they work, thus accounting for the time spent in traffic and waiting at depots and warehouses – one survey discovered that 77% of hauliers reported their drivers were being detained for more than two hours on at least one out of five loads. “Historically, there were good reasons why carriers were reluctant to pay for hours driven. A driver paid hourly could say there was an accident, spend a few hours at a girlfriend’s apartment and then get paid for hours u not spent working. But today, integration to smart phones or ELD/GPS devices provides robust real-time visibility.”