4 ms·

No, you can't lighten the work load for trucking (without automation). Over the road truck driving doesn't benefit from reducing hours and hiring more, since OT

by sverige 10y ago

No, you can't lighten the work load for trucking (without automation). Over the road truck driving doesn't benefit from reducing hours and hiring more, since OTR drivers basically live in their trucks for three or four weeks at a time to maximize flexibility in moving freight. You would need more trucks to accomplish that, and there's already a driver shortage since there aren't enough Millenials willing to do the job. The other thing is that driver pay has declined considerably over the past 25 years (stagnant since the early 90s, minus inflation), so it would cost trucking companies more (more trucks, more drivers) while decreasing wages for individual drivers. OTR truck drivers are paid by the mile. Third, the increased costs for moving freight would end up increasing the costs to consumers for all goods moved by trucks, which is pretty much everything.

humanrebar 10y ago
> Over the road truck driving doesn't benefit from reducing hours and hiring more, since OTR drivers basically live in their trucks for three or four weeks at a time to maximize flexibility in moving freight. So give them three weeks on, three weeks off. Or have them drive shorter runs, handing trailers off to other trucks for 'long hauls'. To your other points, I wasn't commenting on the economics of pay levels for truck drivers. I was saying if everyone was happy with the wages, some tasks (leaving the concept of 'a job' to the side) can certainly be divvied up among more workers without a major loss in productivity... The only objection I could see to that hypothesis is that there's a shortage in the natural talent pool so that there aren't enough workers to allow a shorter work week. Maybe there aren't enough patient, healthy, and alert people (or whatever the other qualities of a good trucker are) to handle three times more truckers working one-third as much. That's an empirical question at the end of the day. With that in mind, it seems unlikely to me that makes sense to have three times more brain surgeons working one third as much.

by sverige 10y ago

humanrebar 10y ago

> Over the road truck driving doesn't benefit from reducing hours and hiring more, since OTR drivers basically live in their trucks for three or four weeks at a time to maximize flexibility in moving freight. So give them three weeks on, three weeks off. Or have them drive shorter runs, handing trailers off to other trucks for 'long hauls'. To your other points, I wasn't commenting on the economics of pay levels for truck drivers. I was saying if everyone was happy with the wages, some tasks (leaving the concept of 'a job' to the side) can certainly be divvied up among more workers without a major loss in productivity... The only objection I could see to that hypothesis is that there's a shortage in the natural talent pool so that there aren't enough workers to allow a shorter work week. Maybe there aren't enough patient, healthy, and alert people (or whatever the other qualities of a good trucker are) to handle three times more truckers working one-third as much. That's an empirical question at the end of the day. With that in mind, it seems unlikely to me that makes sense to have three times more brain surgeons working one third as much.