There was a shortage of truck drivers in this country before the pandemic. Now that shortage is critical, said Don Schaefer, executive director of Mid-West Truckers Association, a Springfield-based group that supports the state’s trucking industry.
“Some trucking companies have trucks parked. They can’t find drivers,” said Schaefer.
“Shipping rates are going up and salaries are going up for drivers. The economy’s hot right now. People are waking up from covid. Last year it was gloom and doom,” he said.
Some companies are offering incentives to attract drivers, said Thomas Nestler, program coordinator for the truck driving training school at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby.
One of the incentives I’ve heard of is a $5,000 signing bonus for a driver. You don’t get the $5,000 at once; it’s paid in increments. Companies might also offer a bonus to a driver for getting a clean report on a roadside inspection,” said Nestler, who spent 45 years as a trucker before becoming a trainer.
Nestler said his truck-driving school that’s located some 60 miles from Peoria is busy. “We’re currently swamped. I’ve got classes booked all the way to September,” he said.
While the age of students in class range from 18 to 65, Nestler said he’s lately seen more younger students applying—“some right out of high school.”
You can be as young as 18 and drive an over-the-road truck but, until you’re 21, you can’t go out of state, he said.
Qualifying for a Commercial Drivers License in Illinois, the license needed to drive a tractor-trailer, requires 160 hours of training—40 hours in the classroom and 120 over the road, said Nestler, adding that truck mechanics are also needed by the industry.
