If you’ve logged in a few hours on the freeway, then it’s likely that you hardly notice the semis and trucks that dot the landscape. How many of us actually stop to think about how important these trucks – and their drivers – are to the logistics of a company, or to the economy as a whole?

As it turns out, truck drivers are not only important to business logistics, but to business. And if the old phrase “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” means anything, a shortage of truck drivers has revealed exactly why they are known as the unsung hero of logistics.

How Truck Driver Shortages Impact the Economy

Last year, we at Dupre highlighted an article in USA Today that talked about a shortage in truck drivers with specific numbers. For example, the article found:

• The shortage of truck drivers pushed up freight rates and delayed deliveries
• The annual driver turnover rate at large carriers rose to a four-year high of 90% in the first quarter of 2012 from 75% in 2011

In other words, truck driving has become a position with high expected turnover – and if you can’t fill empty positions, your costs and your delivery times are going to go up. Without good truck drivers, you simply can’t offer quality logistics.

The Dupre Difference

With a truck driver turnover rate closer to 20% than the numbers quoted in the USAToday article above, the Dupre difference is simple: our logistics specialists stick around. While other companies scramble to find drivers at higher rates, Dupre has understood their value from the beginning – and incorporates their pay