Jeez, what a mess! Latest polling shows the US is short almost 50,000 truck drivers at the moment nation wide. Gonna' be awhile to get outta' this mess.....
I CALL B/S,. its all in politics man. control of man is the problem. they have created a bad environment. trucks dont run # 1 fuel prices # 2 the states require trucks to be newer trucks that meet STUPID emissions (that alone drives COST way up) truckers can not afford these . all the ports people make WAY TOO MUCH MONEY and they dont work half the time. again driving the cost os goods up. cost of new trucks is out side of what the trucker can buy. $500,000 for a truck and thats low ball. then there is emissions they have to pay for (ie all that stupid crap they have to have on them rigs ) every so many miles they have to taken in and cleaned out $1500 a pop if not more . oil prices up 10 gallons of oil is not cheap. its all in the politics . stop the B/S in the first place and things will get better...................... by the way do you know what 600 gallons of fuel cost maybe 2 times in on trip???? truckers just cant afford it . so they park them rigs......
I grew up in Southern California, 40 miles away from The Angeles National Forest, and the tallest mountain in that range is Mt. San Antonio at 10,064 Ft. It was a RARE day in the 1980's to see it from Long Beach, and I remember days where we were not able to go outside for recess due to the air quality. Today, you can see the mountains without any issue, and I have have not had an issue with my asthma since the 1990's, so say what you want about emissions controls, but I do like to breath.
Several years ago the longshoremen at Long Beach went on strike for more pay. They wanted a raise from $100,000 to $120,000. Seriously?
You realize how much it costs to live near their place of work, right? 120k in SoCal isn't like 120k in many other parts of the US. Not only that, 120k anywhere in the US doesn't go as far now as it did even a couple years ago. 120k could buy a house in my neighborhood 20 years ago. Five years ago it would take almost twice that. Now the same house is nearly 300k. About 15 years ago I worked with a woman whose husband was a lineman for a power company. He made upwards of 120k per year back then. It's a skilled job that not everyone wants to do for a variety of reasons. Part of the appeal of jobs like longshoremen or railroaders or linemen is the good pay, but it comes at a cost to your life. For example, most people get two weekend days off per week. On the railroad I'm allowed two weekend days per month and I usually have to call in "sick" to get them. Then there's the weird hours, crazy schedule (or lack thereof), inherent danger in some tasks, working in all types of weather, and so on, all of which are offset by pay.
Personal choices. Due diligence is requisite, before even seeking a job position. You hire on, you take that lifestyle which comes with them. For better or worse. Including it possibly controlling where you live... The option for changing an occupation is available to all folks, almost any time. Especially right now. As to housing costs, many people I have known, far too many, bought more than they really needed... But that is starting to drift...
You're absolutely right about personal choices. I'm not looking for sympathy or understanding, I'm just explaining what I traded away for higher pay in what many would consider an easy job. I worked way harder in the wonderful world of civil engineering than I ever have on the railroad. But I never made as much designing a storm sewer system or a grading plan as I ever did running a switch engine in the yard and nowhere near as much as running trains back and forth between Texas and Oklahoma. I do miss the weekends though! It's the same thing for longshoremen or long haul truckers or any other job where you trade lifestyle for pay. People love to hate the high pay yet there's never enough people to do these jobs.
Ryan, I agree with you ten-fold. We all make choices. I spent many years putting in 6-12s, 7-12s many weeks to get Apollo Saturn-5 boosters to the Moon, let alone into orbit. My wife was a saint raising two boys and maintaining a home. Though she and the boys were as excited as I was when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Lunar surface.
