People can down the union when 99% of them have never had any association with the teamsters. When I drove union for a couple of decades I never saw a problem with drivers not showing up or doing the wrong thing, they sort of policed their own, because they were paid a professional wage.
As far as finding good quality drivers, most have retired or gone on to other things because frankly the owners of large trucking company's have thrown away the older quality drivers for young, non ethical, sloppy, with work ethics of a worm. Young people in general are just sorry. Sorry to say but it's the truth. Another sad thing is it isn't actually their fault, it's their parents.
Carriers won't get together and systematically raise the rates so no one company suffers more than the other. It takes most large carriers about $5k to get a new driver up to speed so they can turn a profit for the carrier. Trucking company's in general are their own worst enemy.
What most recruiters don't even realize is when a driver quits and goes to another truck load carrier all their doing is changing colors of their truck. It takes a couple of weeks to get up to speed for a drivers pay so they don't gain anything because they don't stay on board long enough to make a difference in their end of the year pay. Why? Because most can't figure it out. Sorry but this is generally the truth.
It's really sad how this industry has gone steadily down hill in the last 40 years. Their are more professional drivers driving Expedite rigs then in all of general trucking. Recruiters generally are trying to paint their carrier as the best thing since slice bread when in fact that loaf of bread has mold all through the center of the slice.
When I was searching for my last team to hire, I had a couple come to me six months out of school. I have nothing bad to say about the school but these two were completely lost. The lady only had a permit because she couldn't pass the CDL drivers test. She tried to tell me the reason she failed was because the examiners couldn't take their eyes off her T's. I ran her out of my office and told her not to come back. That's the quality you get.
Sorry had to rant.
