>>> work is dangerous, comes with low pay and and that the hours are unbearable.
All of which is true for the majority of drivers. If the industry wants to attract people they need to get off the "per mile driven" pay scheme where truckers can spend hours, or even days unpaid waiting at terminals, docks, etc...
Trucking today is a terrible job, with low pay if calculated on a per hour worked basis. Combined with most of the regulations being placed on the driver, not the company, with most of liability for violating the regulations born by driver not the company. There is a continual battle between doing what the company says, and doing what the law says. Drivers are stuck in the middle because it is perfectly legal for a company to have a driver break the law or drive an unsafe rig, the only person that has to pay the fine is the driver.
Also programmers. Walmart is a massive Clojure shop, puts out some very good open source libs, and very much views their IT department as a competitive advantage and not a cost center.
The companies are very careful in the language and punishments. If a driver refuses a load because the trucks turn signals are out as an example, well the company will not come right out and say "You must take the load" but that driver will likely find himself sitting for possible days unpaid waiting for the next dispatch as punishment or they will be assigned the less profitable routes, etc
I know personally more than a few drivers that would pay out of their own pocket to buy parts to fix trucks themselves so they would not end up in this dispatch punishment.
All of which is true for the majority of drivers. If the industry wants to attract people they need to get off the "per mile driven" pay scheme where truckers can spend hours, or even days unpaid waiting at terminals, docks, etc...
Trucking today is a terrible job, with low pay if calculated on a per hour worked basis. Combined with most of the regulations being placed on the driver, not the company, with most of liability for violating the regulations born by driver not the company. There is a continual battle between doing what the company says, and doing what the law says. Drivers are stuck in the middle because it is perfectly legal for a company to have a driver break the law or drive an unsafe rig, the only person that has to pay the fine is the driver.