Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water

Please enjoy the thoughts and musings of our friend, supporter, and long-time contributor Art van Bodegraven Jr., who passed away on June 18, 2017. Art was a prolific writer and had amassed a collection of unpublished blog posts he had planned to run well into the future. To honor his memory, we will continue to post these remaining blogs as he had intended. If you’ve been a fan of The Art of Art blog, check out our tribute.

 

Mitch Mac Donald wanted, in the December issue of DC Velocity, to bridge the gap to help cope with the driver shortage in trucking.

He cited today's persistent challenge, and went on to quote Traffic World, which closed its doors over 15 years ago, and lamented "difficulty" in finding competent drivers who would handle freight some 13 years past.

Reality? Half the population, women, make up less than 5% of drivers.  An opportunity to fill a void, satisfying basic laws of supply and demand.  Even though driver pay increases are better than average, simple logic suggests that even higher pay might attract greater numbers.  Supply and demand, again.  

Driverless rigs might someday reduce the gap, requiring fewer drivers.  Supply and demand, once more.

It's pretty clear,  More women, paid more, with fewer needs could bridge the gap.  A few centuries  ago, supply and demand were well-understood.  Time to go back to school, perhaps . . .