Examining the trucking industry's rapid shift from thriving to unstable in just one year, termed a 'freight recession' by industry experts.
As truckers struggle to keep up work, the industry battles declining freight and ocean trade and a cooling market.According to the American Trucking Associations, trucks move nearly 75% of the nation's freight compared to planes or railways and generate over $940 billion in revenue.
With less inventory getting moved and less demand for trucks, drivers can struggle to make a profit, dropping quickly from $20,000 a month to a little over $3,000. "It's certainly doom and gloom; some have described it as bad as the great recession, and I've even heard statements from folks that believe it will get worse than the great recession," said Craig Fuller.
"We normally have like 55–60 students; we've got 82 right now. A lot of the companies are experiencing shortages; they call us constantly for drivers," said Larry Scott. This coincided with a spurt of social media posts with millions of views, spotlighting truckers making hundreds of thousands of dollars and urging others to get their own truck."I started a trucking company from scratch, and in three months we did $159,000 in revenue," said Mikael Sant.
Smaller companies and startups could compete for lower wages; union participation declined, and by 1998, drivers were making between 30 percent and 40 percent less than they had before the act was passed.
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