Truck driver and trucker advocate Gord Magill delves into the problems with the North American trucking industry and carnage that has resulted from decades of poor decisions.
The Motor Carrier Act of 1980, passed by President Jimmy Carter, introduced sweeping reforms to how trucking was regulated, who could become a motor carrier (literally anyone), and removed government control and oversight of rates that carriers could charge their customers. This piece of legislation has been blamed by many for all of the woes in trucking for decades now, and one of the most infamous scholarly works on this change, that ought to be read by everyone, is called Sweatshops on Wheels : Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation. I interviewed the author, Dr Michael Belzer, an economics professor at Wayne State University in Michigan and former trucker, for my podcast, which you can listen to here.
In what should have been a surprise to no one that understands economics, the opening of the market to anyone with a pulse lead to an immediate environment of cut-throat competition which exists to this day, and is one of the reasons why truck drivers in 2024 are earning, on average, in inflation adjusted dollars, 50% of what they earned in 1980.
I love this line: “the decisions of the worst people on Planet Earth, the Canadian Ruling Class”
Fact check: TRUE!
Though “Canadian” could be swapped for a bunch of other nationalities.
So, calling for more gov’t regulation.
Perhaps some kind of…supply management…scheme, to keep wages high?
Lord know dairy farmers are happy.
The peons don’t mind being forced to pay more, in fact, in Canada, they seem to like it.
Eff off, Trent.
If immigration regulation had been set to somewhere around zero instead of swamping the labour market then there would have been no need for trucker regulations, employers would pay up.
Our whole economy would look very different, it is difficult to imagine what life would look like if wealthy liberals and their politicians actually cared about anyone but themselves.
So, as the gov’t used mass immigration to drop the price of labor through the floor, your answer is to get the gov’t to regulate yet another industry to the hilt, instead of addressing the root cause, which is mass immigration.
Canadians are such rubes, so easily played like a fiddle by their owners.
I suppose you’re one of the $20.00/hr minimum wage types, as well?
No I’m saying if immigration had been set to near zero, regulated at least minimally in other words, then employers would be competing for labour and wages would be higher, no need would exist for regulating truckers or a lot of other things. Liberal racists use immigration to gain power over others in a lot of areas and fools cheer them on while they get rich.
There’s no need regardless. There is no requirement for a particular set of workers to keep earning the same elevated wages ad infinitum.
Y, have you noticed that at least 65% of Canadians are socialists and vote the socialist line every time. Even the conservatives are socialists.
Is government the solution to the problem?
Canadian conservatives seem to love their big daddy gov’t.
The Canadian flag should replace the two red stripes and a maple leaf with two yellow stripes and a buttercup.
What you don’t like the libdip rag for Quebec?
Never.
Conservatives don’t want government to regulate their behaviour. They want the government to regulate the other guys behavior.
// 50% of what they earned in 1980 //
They couldn’t farm out trucking to countries with low wages, so they had to
turn the screws at home.
Just another aspect of the neo-liberal revolution. After what the French called the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trente_Glorieuses, we had another thirty years of “globalization”,
bringing us to the present sorry state.
Canada is cooked, and not so much by the gov’t as the people.
The Turd is just a symptom of the terminal illness that Canada is infected with.
There you are, hitting the nail on the head, the damn people are the problem, they are stupid.
Trucking regulations were set up as a cartel arrangement no different in principle from supply management or taxi cab licensing. They needed to go.
100% correct. The current issues aren’t related to deregulation and the free market. It has to do with unregulated immigration and very low standards.
Even with the new MELT program initiates after Humboldt there are still dozens of shady trucking schools operating. A few phone calls to Ontario based schools -.or better yet talk to them in person – can confirm this.
Then you have the TFW/PR abuse. Drivers are “locked in” to their employer until they get their papers. This opens the door to abuse. Drivers that don’t get paid at all. Those carriers can cut rates to the bone yet still make money.
Then you have the “Drivers Inc” scam where employers force drivers to incorporate. The immediate increase in cash flow is more than offset by paying in both halves of CPP and losing any EI eligibility. It is good for drivers to get per diem over the TL2, but the way most carriers do it is a scam.
There is lease purchase scams where the people borrowing you the money for the truck are also in charge of how much you make. This isn’t as persistent in Canada as it is in the USA. All they do is cut back your revenue near the end of the lease then take their truck back after you quit and lease it to the next sucker.
There is no ‘unregulated’ immigration. If it was unregulated ie we had freedom, drivers wouldn’t be locked in to their employers.
I had my own experience about 25 years ago when I was almost T-boned at an intersection in Mississauga when a truck blew through a red light. I was only saved by a trucker beside me in the left hand turn lane who saw what was about to happen and blew his horn alerting me to hesitate into entering the intersection. The perp – Johal Truck Driver Training School. I called to complain – the phone was answered by Bindi herself who just shrugged me off. The Peel Regional Police were equally useless about pressing any charges. A cop I spoke with later on though had some good advice, contact the police and request the company’s insurance provider. They would be more likely to act as they don’t care who the driver was, only the company.
Reregulation to “fix” other regulation, lack of law enforcement, or state-caused imbalances such as identity politics pimping is wrong in any language. Truckers, like any other pursuit have no claim on consumers for a higher pay scale than what they can fetch from the laws of supply and demand. Left entirely to the mercy of the insurance industry and the “owners” of the roads (unfortunately, provincial or state governments in most cases) on which they operate, safety standards for drivers should be fairly rational. I used to be involved in all aspects of private industrial roads where such was the case. The idea of allowing a driver on our roads lacking any experience or who couldn’t speak English would not have been tolerated.
“truck drivers in 2024 are earning, on average, in inflation adjusted dollars, 50% of what they earned in 1980.”
Not so good if you are a truck driver but great if you want low delivery charges on all that stuff that gets moved around. Question is – do we think that government (or union) mandated increase in truck driver pay back to 1980 + inflation (i.e. Double) would be a “Good Thing ™” ?
Imagine the increase in margins for trucking companies if we address some things being ignored here.
1- price of fuel – driven up by carbon tax, federal and provincial taxes, and other
2- mandatory environmental initiatives – DEF and the like
3- insurance, I must plead ignorance but imagine its an astronomical cost
and the other point on unfettered immigration diluting the labour pool
We’ve had abysmal leadership for the past few decades and the long game consequences are finally starting to bite our hindquarters.
We get the government we deserve.
I’ve been daydreaming about moving to Argentina lately. I like what the new guy is doing there.
If those cost factors concern you, wait until the Tractor units are mandated to be EVs. You ain’t seen nothing yet. Not only are those units stuck with a limited range, but more of them will be required to keep the shipments on schedule due to battery charging delays if transfers are also a requirement at intermediary terminals.
Costs will also increase due to the sheer cost of these new rigs being more expensive than a typical Tractor unit.
Nothing about the EV industry is efficient or cost effective. There is always a loser in the process, the manufacturers and the owners, today.
BigD, I was involved in distribution in Ontario decades ago. The fleet I was responsible for was quite large. Our insurance did not cut in until damage exceeded $25,000, we paid all damages up to that level not our insurance. I imagine it must be even worse these days.
By the way, EVs will never haul freight efficiently, only an idiot would try that.
Right before he posted this, I emailed Trent;
I drove to Winnipeg on the 26th (and back yesterday in the nastier stuff) and observed something unusual. The roads were wet but clear, and most of the time I was able to drive at 110 – 130, until I hit ice fog near Brandon. But even that wasn’t that problematic until it got dark.
It was the behavior of the trucks that was strange. Few were driving over 90, a direct contrast to previous decades in which they’d be blowing along at normal speed. I’m not sure if I should feel better about this new conservative approach to trucking … or worse.
There was also a TransX rig buried 60′ into the ditch at Wapella (I think) and no good reason to explain it, unless they caught the snow on the shoulder and were pulled in. Likewise, the trucks yesterday were all going slower than in my previous experience, but that at least could be explained by changing conditions.
Few were driving over 90…
I’ve seen a lot of that this summer. Along Hiway 3 between, say, Lethbridge & Med Hat, more & more truckers driving sub-100 speeds. Most of them in turbans…
So govt regulation kept trucking rates at double the competitive rates. And truckers want a return to those costly times????
Speaking as a Californian … the defacto deregulation of Class C (basic) drivers licenses has turned our highways and byways into a gauntlet of death. Anyone … in any language … can get a Class C drivers license. Yeah … mostly because it automatically enrolls you as a voter … despite your non-citizen status. Hence the State hands out DL’s like free government cheese.
I grew up being told that driving was a “privilege”. Ha! That canard flew the coop decades ago, as our supermajority leftist government now considers driving a “right”. I’d say HALF the 27 million drivers in CA haven’t earned that “right”.
Under Magna Carta, the use of the King’s roads is a right.
“In what should have been a surprise to no one that understands economics, the opening of the market to anyone with a pulse lead to an immediate environment of cut-throat competition which exists to this day, and is one of the reasons why truck drivers in 2024 are earning, on average, in inflation adjusted dollars, 50% of what they earned in 1980.”
Good. This is completely a good thing. Incumbent protection is bad.
Lower the wages, get lower ability. You see it every day with the carnage on the highways.
Oh bull. There’s less not more road accidents: https://www.statista.com/statistics/448234/fatalities-caused-by-road-traffic-collisions-in-canada/
I was just getting involved in trucking when deregulation was going on. It took several years for it to happen in Canada but the slack was quickly taken up with hours of service and safety regulations. Equally restrictive but easier to ( politically)sell to the average citizen. It initially made sense but with the erosion of ethics combined with the lack of balanced enforcement, we have a situation where the guy trying to earn a living honestly will quickly be pushed to the curb by the operations
that don’t value life, workmanship, and respect of others on the road. I’m on the t/c regularly and the level of driver skill is being eroded at a fast pace. One little weather event and the Tupperware torpedoes are laying on their side everywhere .
You don’t even need bad weather, they kill themselves and others regardless of weather, time of day, or anything.
You have to be stupid to long haul truck now.
Would you work anywhere that told you to sleep on a cot in the back room? With no toilet, or washup facilities? Very basic dining facilities? On your own time, unpaid?
The truck sleeper is the cot in the back room.
To say nothing about shippers that are dishonest, brokers that price loads at a loss, and a bureaucracy that grinds everyone down to a snails pace.
“…who could become a motor carrier (literally anyone)”
I can only imagine the boost that gave to human trafficking.
Everyone loves competition increasing market efficiency which lowers prices.
Except when competition get applied to them.
Truckers get paid low wages because enough of them are content with those low wages … in comparison with their alternatives.