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[return to "How America's "truck-driver shortage""]
1. cs702+E7[view] [source] 2025-12-06 12:27:32
>>ilamon+(OP)
Interesting.

The OP claims that deregulation efforts from 2016 to 2022, originally meant to address the truck driver shortage, actually led to many minimally trained drivers joining small truck fleets that pay below-market salaries and routinely run 14- to 20-hour days using tampered hardware for logging mileage. These poorly trained drivers, according to the OP, would not pass the vetting of large, compliant carriers. Freight brokers, which now "control" a third of all loads, typically award them to the lowest bidder, pushing spot rates "below the cost of legal operation." The consequences, according to the OP: legitimate carriers are barely breaking even, cargo theft is more prevalent, and roads are less safe.

Hmm... maybe? I'm not sure I agree. There's an alternate narrative that is also compelling. Could it be that the rise of freight brokers and the adoption of new technology by small fleets enables them to compete more effectively with large fleets, making this market much more competitive than it ever was? Could it be that shippers now have more viable truck-shipping options at a lower cost, thanks to less opaque freight pricing? Could it be that society as a whole benefits from less expensive truck delivery services? Won't this market, sooner or later, be dominated by self-driving trucks, bringing prices down much further, benefiting society as a whole even more?

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2. lrem+m9[view] [source] 2025-12-06 12:45:14
>>cs702+E7
Society might care about cost _including externalities_. A truck running on discarded frying oil might offer a lower price and there’s no way to account for the resulting health outcomes. Exceeding capacity lowers unit price and usually doesn’t lead to an accident. Many industries around the world have shown that without functioning enforcement of reasonable rules you immediately get the tragedy of the commons.
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3. cs702+ra[view] [source] 2025-12-06 12:54:49
>>lrem+m9
I agree. The OP claims that small fleets are cutting costs to extremes that are bad for society, but the OP provides no evidence of it. By evidence, I mean data. Do you have data on this?
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4. Sabinu+hk1[view] [source] 2025-12-06 23:05:57
>>cs702+ra
From the article: "Despite billions spent on safety technology, fatal truck-involved crashes are up ≈40% since 2014—almost entirely because of untrained, overworked, and inexperienced drivers now operating 80,000-pound rigs."
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5. edmund+xG1[view] [source] 2025-12-07 03:03:52
>>Sabinu+hk1
Miles driven are up ~20%, and there was an accounting change in 2016, and the NHTSA says <2020 shouldn't be compared to after.

Directionally this still looks accurate, and give thousands of truck driver deaths per year, its significant.

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