Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/671356
FEATURE STORY 12 // COMPANY DRIVER // MAY 2016 incentive-based pay as growth areas. In- centive pay, he said, "is a catalyst not only for higher wages, but for cost reduction. Safe drivers are a lot more cost efficient for carriers than one who has an average or less than average safety record," he said. Moreover, he says, fleets are shooting themselves in the foot financially if they can't shore up their turnover rate. "I can't come up with a model that comes up with driver turnover costing less than $5,000 a driver," he says. Klemp's colleage, Leah Shaver, says fleets need to embrace those costs at a core level. "Everybody [should] know what turnover costs," she said. "Shippers, employees — everyone needs to know how vital a driver is and focus on retention." Shaver said the industry needs to focus on drawing more women into truck driv- er jobs, potentially even truckers' spouses, and make trucking an aspirational career for children. The 30-year decline of driver wages Klemp noted in his presentation that truck- er pay has seen a dramatic drop in the last 30 years relative to inflation. Klemp's slide on driver pay's failure to keep up with inflation. Annual driver pay averaged $38,618 in 1980, he said, which, if adjusted to 2015 dollars, would be north of $110,000 a year. Klemp also presented a chart that overlaid driver turnover rates with average driver pay at three fleets, one for-hire and two private. Trucker pay at the for-hire fleet averages $54,000, and the fleet has a 100 percent turnover rate, per Klemp's chart. The two private fleets, which have more highly paid drivers, posted a driver [ Klemp's slide on driver pay's failure to keep up with inflation. ]