Let’s stop repeating the same industry fairy tale.
America does not have a truck driver shortage.
What we actually have is a leadership shortage.
Because if this were truly a shortage of people who want to drive, fleets would be doing everything in their power to protect the drivers they already have. Instead, drivers are leaving. Not because they hate trucking. Not because they hate the road. But because they are tired of being undervalued, underpaid, overworked, and unheard.
And now the drivers have spoken. Loudly. Clearly. With numbers behind every word.
More than 800 veteran truck drivers were surveyed, most with decades of experience, and they delivered a message the industry can no longer ignore:
Pay matters.
Respect matters.
Support matters.
Home time matters.
A future matters.
That is not emotion. That is evidence.
The Pay Gap That Keeps Fleets Stuck in Turnover
Drivers ranked compensation as the number one issue facing the industry today. Not electronic logs. Not regulations. Not parking. Pay.
At the same time, when carriers were surveyed about their top concerns, driver pay barely showed up.
That disconnect alone explains most of the turnover problem plaguing fleets right now.
Yes, operating a truck is expensive. Industry research shows the average cost to run a truck now exceeds $2.26 per mile. Yes, payroll is already the largest expense for most fleets. But drivers do not live inside accounting spreadsheets. They live inside real life.
Drivers measure pay by:
• Whether the bills get paid
• Whether their family feels secure
• Whether one breakdown will wreck their finances
• Whether they can breathe financially at all
If drivers feel financially trapped, your pay model may look good on paper but it is broken in reality. And reality is what determines whether your trucks roll or sit.
Respect Is Not a “Soft Skill.” It Is a Retention Strategy.
Pay leads the complaints. But respect is right behind it.
Over one-fifth of drivers said fleets struggle to hire because they do not respect drivers or treat them like real team members. Nearly one-third said lack of respect is a top reason drivers leave.
That should make every fleet leader uncomfortable. Because respect costs nothing. But its absence costs everything.
Respect shows up in:
• How dispatch speaks under pressure
• How mistakes are handled
• How violations are explained
• How home-time requests are treated
• How leadership reacts when a driver pushes back
Drivers will tolerate long hours. They will tolerate bad weather. They will tolerate tight docks. What they will not tolerate is being talked down to like a problem instead of treated like a professional.
Disrespect does not just hurt feelings. It empties driver seats.
Support and Home Time Are No Longer “Perks”
Two other frustrations appear again and again in the data.
Lack of support.
Lack of home time.
More than 15 percent of drivers said their fleets do not support them when dealing with shippers, law enforcement, or high-pressure on-the-road situations. More than 12 percent said they simply do not get home often enough.
Those numbers may look small on paper. They are massive in reality.
What those drivers are really saying is:
“I feel alone when things get hard.”
“I feel stuck on the road too long.”
“I feel like the company forgets I have a life.”
You cannot demand loyalty from someone who feels abandoned the moment dispatch hangs up the phone.
The Career Path That Barely Exists
A smaller percentage of drivers cited lack of career path. That does not mean it is less important. It means many fleets do not offer one at all.
For countless drivers, there is:
• No leadership ladder
• No trainer development track
• No safety-manager pipeline
• No mentorship program
• No clear path beyond the driver’s seat
Ambitious people do not stay where growth does not exist. Many drivers leave not because they dislike driving, but because they see no future inside the company fence line.
If Drivers Ran the Company Tomorrow
When drivers were asked what they would change if they ran a fleet for one day, their answers were refreshingly simple and brutally honest:
★ Raise pay
★ Shift to more regional operations so drivers get home more
★ Guarantee minimum income or miles
★ Guarantee monthly home time
★ Improve health benefits and retirement plans
★ Offer real safety and performance bonuses
★ Upgrade trucks and sleeper comfort
Notice what is missing.
No one asked for free hats.
No one asked for pizza parties.
No one asked for hype videos and culture slogans.
They asked for stability, dignity, health, equipment, and time with their families.
That is not entitlement. That is maturity.
Have Fleets Actually Responded?
Now comes the part the industry avoids talking about.
In the last 24 months:
• Nearly 20 percent of drivers saw zero pay increases
• About 25 percent received one
• About 31 percent received two
• Fewer than 5 percent saw more than two
All during one of the most expensive cost-of-living eras in modern history.
That is not a driver shortage problem.
That is a leadership decision.
The Loyalty Myth Drivers Are Done Believing
“Drivers will leave at the drop of a hat.”
We asked drivers what they think when they hear that line.
Nearly 60 percent said if fleets paid drivers what they are worth, loyalty would not be an issue at all. Another 17 percent said drivers do not change fleets nearly as often as the industry claims. Another 17 percent said fleets show no loyalty to drivers, so why should drivers show loyalty in return?
That is not rebellion. That is reciprocity.
Loyalty does not disappear. It erodes when trust disappears first.
Why Drivers Actually Leave a Fleet
When drivers were asked what would realistically make them change companies, the answers were consistent and revealing:
★ More money
★ Better routes and hauls
★ Feeling appreciated and part of a team
★ More home time
★ Sign-on bonuses
★ A clear career path
★ More consistent miles
★ Newer equipment
Drivers are not chasing luxury. They are chasing balance, respect, and predictability.
These Are Not New Drivers Talking
This survey was not dominated by rookies.
Most respondents:
• Are over 55 years old
• Have more than 30 years behind the wheel
• Run over 100,000 miles each year
• Love the open road
• Keep driving because responsibility does not retire early
These are the backbone of the industry speaking. Not influencers. Not new graduates. Veterans.
And they are all pointing to the same leadership failures.
The Uncomfortable Truth for Fleet Owners
Here is the truth many leaders do not want to admit:
Driver retention is not a recruiting problem.
It is a leadership and culture problem.
You can recruit your way into a crisis with bonuses and ads. But you cannot recruit your way out of broken communication, broken trust, broken schedules, and broken leadership habits.
Drivers do not quit companies.
They quit environments.
The Compliance Domino Nobody Wants to Acknowledge
Here is where things get expensive.
Underpaid drivers rush.
Overworked drivers cut corners.
Unsupported drivers skip inspections.
Fatigued drivers miss defects.
Stressed drivers make bad decisions.
That is how violations stack up.
That is how crashes happen.
That is how audits unravel fleets.
That is how authority gets suspended.
Compliance is not just paperwork. It is a culture outcome.
Strong compliance flows from stable, supported, respected drivers. Weak leadership always shows up later in violation reports.
The Fleets That Will Win the Next Decade
The next decade of trucking will not be dominated by the biggest marketing budgets. It will be dominated by the most disciplined leadership.
Winning fleets will:
★ Pay drivers realistically and consistently
★ Speak to drivers with respect every day
★ Support drivers aggressively when things go sideways
★ Guarantee predictable home time
★ Build real leadership pipelines
★ Treat compliance as protection, not punishment
★ See drivers as partners, not expendable assets
Those fleets will not beg for drivers.
Drivers will line up for them.
The Question Every Fleet Leader Must Answer
Here is the only question that cuts through the noise:
If your best driver took this survey today, would their answers match these results?
If the answer is yes, your turnover problem is not random. It is predictable.
If the answer is no, your culture is something rare and valuable. Protect it relentlessly.
Retention never lies. It simply reflects leadership behavior.
Final Word From Eclipse DOT
At Eclipse DOT, we see the damage of weak leadership long before most fleets do.
We see the audits collapse.
We see safety scores spiral.
We see compliance failures multiply.
We see fleets shut down not from one big mistake but from thousands of ignored small ones.
And nearly every time, the root cause is the same.
Burned-out drivers.
Broken communication.
Underpaid professionals.
Reactive leadership.
The opposite is also true.
Strong leadership builds strong compliance.
Strong compliance builds strong retention.
Strong retention builds strong fleets.
The industry does not have a driver shortage.
It has a leadership shortage.
Drivers have spoken. The evidence is clear. The only question left is whether fleet leaders will listen before the next round of turnover, violations, and shutdowns forces the lesson.
If your fleet is struggling with turnover, safety scores, or audit pressure, the most expensive decision you can make is pretending nothing is wrong.
Leadership review. Compliance assessment. DOT micro audit. That is how you see the blind spots before regulators or attorneys do.
Because the driver shortage is not real.
The leadership shortage is.
Sources & Data References
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ATRI’s 2025 analysis: average cost of operating a truck — $2.26 per mile.
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Highest non-fuel marginal costs ever recorded in 2024: $1.779 per mile.
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Federally authorized study from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering
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Industry-wide chronic turnover: as high as 90% annually at many large long-haul carriers.