Recession creates a load of problems for truckers
The US trucking industry has felt every negative event in the recent economy, and all compounded by last summer's record high diesel fuel prices. Truckers across the country are having difficulty finding steady work. 785 trucking companies, comprised of about 39,000 trucks went out of business in the third quarter, and a total of 127,000 trucks were idled in 2008. Thousands of drivers, formerly company employees, have been forced to compete for a smaller and smaller number of comissions, and approximately 100,000 truckers lost work altogether, though clear records have not been kept. Some companies have been able to survive by finding niche markets but newly-independent drivers have trouble dealing with sleep and environmental regulations and fuel prices. With so many new independents, trucking frequently becomes a vicious game of cutting the other guys' rates. 2008 has been claimed as the worst year ever in the history of modern trucking.
See "Recession creates a load of problems for truckers", Ron White, Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2009