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Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((TITLE: TV Truck Driver Shortage – Prus
HEAD: America’s New Problem: Not Enough Truck Drives
TEASER:
PUBLISHED: 12/31/2021 AT 8:15AM
BYLINE: Mariia Prus
DATELINE: Washington
CAMERA: Dmitriy Savchuk
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: KE(1st), MAS
VIDEO FROM: VOA
COURTESIES NEEDED:
TYPE: VPKGN
TRT: 3:38
VIDEO APPROVER'S INITIALS: Holly Franko
UPDATE:))
((INTRO))
[[On top of many other difficulties the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the U.S., problems continue with the supply chain and the shortage of truck drivers. Mariia Prus has more in this story narrated by Anna Rice.]]
((NARRATION))
“Truck drivers needed. Flexible work hours. High salary.”
These ads are becoming more and more common in the U.S. where 70% of all goods are transported cross country by truck, according to American Trucking Associations.
According to local truck drivers’ associations, today there are roughly 80,000 job openings for truck drivers.
Yuri Shalak has been working in logistics for a trucking company for over 16 years – and he says the pandemic has made things significantly worse.
((Mandatory courtesy: Yuri Shalak))
((Yuri Shalak, Owner, Dispatch Crew Owner)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“The average age of truck drivers in the U.S. is 47. Those who are over 60 simply retire. And there are not as many younger drivers coming in.
((NARRATION))
Shalak owns a trucking dispatch company in Chicago and has about 150 drivers and truck owners working for him. He says in the last two years there’s been an increase in the logistics workload because more Americans are ordering products online. But the trucking industry hasn’t changed to accommodate a changing world.
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
((David Correll, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics))
“They are consistently underutilized by something like 40%. // The way we conventionally schedule our truck drivers for pickup and delivery, and then the way we treat them with a particularly low value on their time…”
((NARRATION))
A truck driver’s workday is strictly standardized – drivers are permitted to spend no more than 11 hours a day driving. They must move quickly to load or unload their vehicles, or they lose work that day.
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
((Steve Viscelli, University of Pennsylvania))
“There is a lot of frustration, a lot of sense of disrespect. Drivers talk a lot about respect.”
((NARRATION))
On average, U.S. truck drivers are paid a decent salary – about $25 an hour. So, it’s no surprise many try their hand at this job. But not that many end up staying.
((Mandatory courtesy: Yuri Shalak)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“Statistics in America show that every year a trucking company will have a totally new team of drivers. That means, those drivers who joined in January won’t be there in a year. So, owners of these companies need to try hard to make people stay.”
((NARRATION))
The Biden administration hopes to decrease the shortage of truck drivers by opening more training programs for drivers – for example, programs that target former military personnel. But experts say it is proving increasingly difficult to motivate people.
The situation is different for self-employed truckers. Dmytro Hnatyuk has been working as a truck driver for over 13 years.
((Mandatory courtesy: Dmytro Hnatyuk)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
((Dmytro Hnatyuk, Truck Driver))
“I’m self-employed, I drive my own truck, and for me the situation right now is actually pretty good. Compared to the last few years,
((Mandatory courtesy: Dmytro Hnatyuk))
this last year I had one of the highest transportation rates I’ve seen in the last decade.”
((End courtesy))
((NARRATION))
((Mandatory courtesy: Dmytro Hnatyuk))
And Hnatyuk adds – despite the potential difficulties,
((End courtesy))
he’s been happy with his work.
((Mandatory courtesy: Dmytro Hnatyuk))
((Dmytro Hnatyuk, Truck Driver)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“((04:52)) On average, our salaries are two to three times higher than the US median.”
((NARRATION))
Experts believe in the next few years the shortage of microchips needed to produce cars and trucks will not go away. So, in the near future, the price of transporting goods – as well as prices for these goods – will only go up.
((For Mariia Prus in Washington, Anna Rice, VOA News))
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