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It turns out that $20/hr is really good for blue collar work in most of the US. It beats e.g. serving at Applebee's (except the bartender) by probably about a

It turns out that $20/hr is really good for blue collar work in most of the US. It beats e.g. serving at Applebee's (except the bartender) by probably about a factor of 2, especially if you're not young and charismatic. If you're in a big city, you might be able to demand a bit more than this. Most truck drivers aren't, and don't want to be.

blamazon 5y ago
Truckers largely give up their ability to be firmly located in any one place. If you're willing to do this it stands to reason you might be willing to move to a high growth area somewhere like Cincinnati where the cost of living is low and the floor wage for simple warehouse work is legitimately 25/hour. Businesses in Ohio are begging for workers.
- datavirtue 5y ago
  Turn around. No homes left.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  "Businesses in Ohio are begging for workers." If the pay is so great and the cost of living so low, why aren't more people flocking to work there?
  - chestnuttrees 5y ago
    Presumably the pay is great if you already live there, but not good enough to convince people to move there? Personally, it would take a 50%-100% raise before I would even consider consider uprooting my family and leaving my current city. But I’d switch jobs locally for half that.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - blamazon 5y ago
    It's a circle: 1. People flock there 2. Those people need services 3. More jobs needed to provide those services 4. Return to 1. Aside from this, Ohio is a convenient place for logistics and commerce owing to a centralized location in the US, strong infrastructure, and a business-friendly regulatory climate. Hence, warehouses and factories serving the rest of the US which means the economy isn't self-dependent and this raises the minimum wage floor for everyone. But, to answer your question directly, I imagine not everyone is eager to uproot their current lives and move to a suburb of an exurb of a suburb in Ohio.
  - vgeek 5y ago
    Have you ever been to Ohio? Cincinnati is arguably the most interesting of Ohio's cities and is still kind of boring (I say this having lived in the 4 largest cities within Ohio). It is logistically important and is undergoing an Amazon boom (plus some UPS/Fedex locally, UPS Worldport is ~100 miles away in Louisville) with multiple new 1MM+ sqft warehouses being opened each year for the last ~5 years. Cincinnati's airport also has multiple daily direct cargo flights to various Chinese cities to shuttle inventory. Housing is moderately cheaper, but the $20-25/hr jobs aren't really the types that people are willing to relocate for-- they're physically demanding with super high turnover because they are probably a bad deal relative to the wear put on your body. Mostly there have just been more bus routes to transport people from exurbs to work these jobs. Nobody really chooses to live in Ohio if given other options (besides even worse states like the Dakotas or Mississippi), they're just born there or familial obligations cause them to move there.
CPLX 5y ago
Not only that but anyone who’s actually worked blue collar or front line jobs knows that the ability not to be in the same room as your boss and/or customers all day is a huge selling point.
alasdair_ 5y ago
The problem is that it isn’t really $20/hr. That’s the claimed rate but they don’t pay you for the many hours a day spent waiting or unloading or doing anything other than moving.
- olyjohn 5y ago
  Right and you're not at home every night sleeping in your own bed. So you're effectively working 24 hour shifts. Your hobbies are limited, you can't really exercise, your diet is shit, you have to shower at a truck stop... You can't really even take your truck and go exploring the area you're in. No place to take a shit, pissing in bottles.

blamazon 5y ago

Truckers largely give up their ability to be firmly located in any one place. If you're willing to do this it stands to reason you might be willing to move to a high growth area somewhere like Cincinnati where the cost of living is low and the floor wage for simple warehouse work is legitimately 25/hour. Businesses in Ohio are begging for workers.

datavirtue 5y ago
Turn around. No homes left.
pmoriarty 5y ago
"Businesses in Ohio are begging for workers." If the pay is so great and the cost of living so low, why aren't more people flocking to work there?
- chestnuttrees 5y ago
  Presumably the pay is great if you already live there, but not good enough to convince people to move there? Personally, it would take a 50%-100% raise before I would even consider consider uprooting my family and leaving my current city. But I’d switch jobs locally for half that.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- blamazon 5y ago
  It's a circle: 1. People flock there 2. Those people need services 3. More jobs needed to provide those services 4. Return to 1. Aside from this, Ohio is a convenient place for logistics and commerce owing to a centralized location in the US, strong infrastructure, and a business-friendly regulatory climate. Hence, warehouses and factories serving the rest of the US which means the economy isn't self-dependent and this raises the minimum wage floor for everyone. But, to answer your question directly, I imagine not everyone is eager to uproot their current lives and move to a suburb of an exurb of a suburb in Ohio.
- vgeek 5y ago
  Have you ever been to Ohio? Cincinnati is arguably the most interesting of Ohio's cities and is still kind of boring (I say this having lived in the 4 largest cities within Ohio). It is logistically important and is undergoing an Amazon boom (plus some UPS/Fedex locally, UPS Worldport is ~100 miles away in Louisville) with multiple new 1MM+ sqft warehouses being opened each year for the last ~5 years. Cincinnati's airport also has multiple daily direct cargo flights to various Chinese cities to shuttle inventory. Housing is moderately cheaper, but the $20-25/hr jobs aren't really the types that people are willing to relocate for-- they're physically demanding with super high turnover because they are probably a bad deal relative to the wear put on your body. Mostly there have just been more bus routes to transport people from exurbs to work these jobs. Nobody really chooses to live in Ohio if given other options (besides even worse states like the Dakotas or Mississippi), they're just born there or familial obligations cause them to move there.

CPLX 5y ago

Not only that but anyone who’s actually worked blue collar or front line jobs knows that the ability not to be in the same room as your boss and/or customers all day is a huge selling point.

alasdair_ 5y ago

The problem is that it isn’t really $20/hr. That’s the claimed rate but they don’t pay you for the many hours a day spent waiting or unloading or doing anything other than moving.

olyjohn 5y ago
Right and you're not at home every night sleeping in your own bed. So you're effectively working 24 hour shifts. Your hobbies are limited, you can't really exercise, your diet is shit, you have to shower at a truck stop... You can't really even take your truck and go exploring the area you're in. No place to take a shit, pissing in bottles.