Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/671356
FEATURE STORY 14 // COMPANY DRIVER // MAY 2016 turnover rate of 14 percent each. "The difference is huge," Klemp noted. One of the private fleets pay drivers on average $66,000 a year. The other pays its drivers an average of $82,000. Owner-operator and company driver pay has climbed since 2013, bucking the over- all U.S. trend of declining household in- come in the same span, Klemp said. The looming regulatory snare Although carriers have trouble finding and keeping drivers now, the industry may be "at the lull before the storm," Klemp said, effectively issuing a warning about the po- tentially major impact that coming federal regulations may have on trucking. "The big issue is: How many drivers are going to wash out just through regulations?" Klemp asked. "We know we've got a bunch of them retiring, but we don't know what [the] regulations will do to productivity." Klemp cited three key regulations yet to take effect that could cut driver and fleet productivity by as much as 15 percent. An electronic logging device mandate, set to take effect in December 2017, could re- duce productivity by as much as 5 percent, he said. A speed limiter mandate, likely to take effect after the ELD mandate, could cut capacity by another 3 to 5 percent. Efforts to make hair testing the standard method for drug testing truck operators will likely take a big toll on the driver pool too, Klemp said, potentially as much as 6 percent, given hair testing's more effective than urine analysis at detecting substance use. CD