Alleged trucker shortage

[bogey21]

All you will do is create a non-cash black market. Probably silver based. An old silver quarter is worth about $4 today.

Non numismatic US silver Peace Dollars are worth about $25 today...

George

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

There is no way the IRS computers could handle the additional load of these types of reporting requirements. Many people that avoid taxes like it that way. And yes I do know people that make hefty incomes and do not pay their share of taxes. They are not relying on loopholes or fancy tax reporting. They just have income that is not categorized by 1099's, W-2's, or K1's They use banks and stay under the deposit limits. If they were to be audited, then there would be a problem for them. But the audit would have to be very extensive and match up their spending with their reported income. Not likely to happen in the current IRS. So they go blissfully on and other honest taxpayers subsidize them.

Several years ago I received a detailed IRS audit. As part of the audit I had to account for every deposit made into made into my checking accounts, my brokerage accounts, and payment services such as Paypal.

I was told by the IRS that the audit wasn't related to anything questionable on any of my tax returns. Rather that it was part of an IRS program to conduct detailed examinations of a certain number of accounts to evaluate overall compliance with tax rules.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

The regulators proposing banks (large and small) to report any transaction over $600.

Every cash withdrawal will become $ 599

 

[MrockStar]

There are already countries close to this. Sweden, Finland and South Korea come to mind...

George

Great, move there if you like only digital currency.

 

[emeryjre]

T_R_Oglodyte

Did you go out an buy a powerball lottery ticket as well!! Those audits happen but not very often. That audit would be very uncomfortable for several people I am acquainted with. You are the only person I have ever communicated with in my entire life that has had one of those audits. I have also never come across a big time lottery winner.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Nothing could ever go wrong/be abused with a cashless economy. On the plus side the entire 30 trillion of deficit could be erased with one keystroke. Sounds great !

" Nothing could ever go wrong " .........

- maybe we should put FB in control for a day & they can have an outage ( Oct 4 - see today's news)
poof - no more deficits anywhere in the world.
*******
Re : FB Oct 4 outage - on the plus side - at work productivity probably increase 20% today.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

There are many Businesses that operate with cash payments. I remember years ago when I was paying for my Son's Rehearsal Dinner on Long Island. ....X price if paying with Cash. My Son explained this was very common in the General New York area.

I wonder why ?
LOL

 

[troy12n]

I'm enjoying the discussion about trains and railroads, as it's a field I am COMPLETELY ignorant of.

But it did occur to me that the kludgy bottleneck in Chicago seems particularly vulnerable to a terrorist attack, either physically or on the software control system.

If the terrorists wanted to do a number on our transportation infrastructure, there's a handful of targets they could take out which would completely cripple both rail and road transcontinental transport. I'm not going to go into details, but you can figure it out if you don't think long. Also, only an idiot would think that they hadn't thought of these places already, so it's not like this is some big secret.

As far as "software control systems" as you refer to them, they are pretty redundant, but also a paper backup system exists if necessary. It would be slow going, but things would move.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

T_R_Oglodyte

Did you go out an buy a powerball lottery ticket as well!! Those audits happen but not very often. That audit would be very uncomfortable for several people I am acquainted with. You are the only person I have ever communicated with in my entire life that has had one of those audits. I have also never come across a big time lottery winner.

It wasn't that painful for us, because DW keeps very meticulous financial records.

About 25 years ago I was teaching myself Visual Basic programming, and as part of that I created an access database with user interface to track our finances, which we still use to this day. And DW is diligent about entering the data and using it. So we were able to give the auditor printouts of our deposits that he could compare directly with out statements. He then verified that any non W-2, 1099, or Schedule K income showed up in our tax return.

It all matched up except for one element. In 2016, more than 20 years after leaving California, I got a check from California that was some kind of refund on income. There was no explanation of what it was. I never received any communication from the Equalization Board about it; the check just one day. I deposited it and forget about it. The auditor nicked us for not including that as income, and we had to pay some back taxes, interest, and penalty, amounting to a couple of hundred dollars.

*****************

I'm also not sure it was entirely random. In one of the two years they audited there was a timing discrepancy on my 1099s. A couple of clients cut checks for invoices in late December, but didn't mail the check to me until after the first of the year. I'm cash basis, so on my Schedule C, my reported income from 1099s did not match the amounts that were reported to have been paid to me. But that evened out in my filing for the following year.

The auditor, to my surprise, didn't go into that in detail. But I suspect that my account got some kind of flat at IRS because of the discrepancy, which pushed me into that audit.

Nowadays I don't do that. I now include all income reported on my 1099s for a given tax year in that years receipts, even if I actually didn't receive the money until the following year.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

It looks like the thread has moved from the Trucker Shortage myth to currency. First off, no one is against having 18-20 year old kids drive trucks. It is the training companies (earlier in the thread) who will exploit them by paying near-poverty pay (low pay per Mike coupled with being on the road weeks ago a time but only working 30-ish hours per week). You can listen to a podcast from OOIDA that talks about the myth.

 

[Bucky]

What happened to the trucker and backlogged port discussion?

 

[troy12n]

It looks like the thread has moved from the Trucker Shortage myth to currency. First off, no one is against having 18-20 year old kids drive trucks. It is the training companies (earlier in the thread) who will exploit them by paying near-poverty pay (low pay per Mike coupled with being on the road weeks ago a time but only working 30-ish hours per week). You can listen to a podcast from OOIDA that talks about the myth.

Um... I have a 20 year old son, one who had no interest in driving at all, and actively had to be forced to take drivers ed, and get his license at age 16 (because we were tired of driving him around). Then he discovered he could get laid if he left the house, and suddenly had an interest in driving. But here 4 years later, he's a horrible driver, got into an accident already, ran a curb and blew up a rim.

I hear from peers my age, same thing, kids these days have no interest in driving, can barely drive, don't drive well. I can attest when I was his age, I probably wasn't the most safe driver, I sped a lot, but I was technically superior to kids these days. It helped I had been riding a motorcycle or ATV since age 8, but no, you can register me on the "no 18-20 year old CDL's please" list...

 

[geist1223]

The lack of interest is not new. My now 33 year old Daughter had no interest in getting her Driver's License until she was half way through college.

 

[emeryjre]

It is all about the person, not the age. In North Dakota, we have several nieces and nephews who are between 12-15. The boys can drive 18 wheelers and help driving the big rigs in the fields. As soon as they are legal for the road, they will be hauling the harvest to the elevators or processing plants as needed. The young ladies can also drive the big rigs, but they really do not want to.

They all want pickups as soon as they are legal to drive on the road. They are also very good drivers, do not have music on while driving, phones are used for communication only when stopped.

They are doing this while going to school and pulling very good grades.

 

[geekette]

I am talking about eliminating CASH all together. Only have electronic payments.

It would eliminate the underground economy. Stop people from double dipping by working off the books and still getting paid on the public dole.


Few examples....

- When I was in college I worked at a cash checking/welfare distribution/pawn broker business. Every Friday, a man would come in first thing in the morning and cash 1 or 2 $9000 checks made to cash. It was for payroll. We always tried to take care of him as he tipped $20. Many times he would be there before we opened and we would chat for a while. He said most of these employees were either illegal aliens or on welfare, so they worked off the books.

- I have had contractors in the past working on my home and they have asked for a portion of their job to be paid in cash. Some of them have said they need it to pay the guys working. Many of them mentioning that they make a ton of cash and then get every benefit available.

Anyone hiding their wages does not get every benefit available. can’t say as for others but SS will be a healthy chunk in my monthly cash flow. Don t build a wage record, forgo this benefit.

 

[geekette]

All you will do is create a non-cash black market. Probably silver based. An old silver quarter is worth about $4 today. Gold might also be used, for big transactions.

Not a gold bug, but remember, prohibition didn't stop alcohol consumption, invisible cash demand is never going to go away either. . .

Yes. Barter is already alive and well.

 

[dioxide45]

Anyone hiding their wages does not get every benefit available. can’t say as for others but SS will be a healthy chunk in my monthly cash flow. Don t build a wage record, forgo this benefit.

Given that many will pay more into social security than they get out, it certainly isn't a loss of benefit. It would be better to simply invest that money yourself and come out ahead.

 

[joestein]

Anyone hiding their wages does not get every benefit available. can’t say as for others but SS will be a healthy chunk in my monthly cash flow. Don t build a wage record, forgo this benefit.

Not really. There will still be able to get benefits of one sort or another later on in life.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

Given that many will pay more into social security than they get out, it certainly isn't a loss of benefit. It would be better to simply invest that money yourself and come out ahead.

That door would also be closed. Can't invest in the "white" markets without showing where you got the money. . . And with ever deposit less than $600 dollars tracked. . .

 

[joestein]

That door would also be closed. Can't invest in the "white" markets without showing where you got the money. . . And with ever deposit less than $600 dollars tracked. . .

They dont have to invest. They can just use their off the books earnings to support themselves and/or their family.

Also.....Why, would they not be eligible for welfare or other "poor" benefits in their elder years. Plus if one person of a married couple is "on the books" the off the books spouse would still get 50% of their SS.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Again, bringing the thread back to what it should be (myths about shipping and the trucking industry), here is a great interview on CNN with OOIDA President and founder Todd Spencer, who lays out the problem. Essentially, Fredricka Whitfield talked about the myths, but in the end, she realized everything she - and most news organizations in the country - are 100% wrong! I do not fault CNN, but when practically every media outlet is saying there is a trucker shortage, it drowns out the reality.

TS

 

[Sugarcubesea]

It's been in the news constantly, there is a trucker shortage! Facts are, there is NOT a shortage of drivers. Instead, it's a shortage of drivers willing to be paid less than $0.53/mile. In 2004, I had 365 days of experience as a truck driver, I moved from Werner Enterprises (aka slave-driver, they paid the least while worked the most) to Shaffer Trucking (aka Crete Carriers). I went from $0.30/mile to $0.36/mile. In 2021 money, that is $0.52/mile! Training carriers like CRST, Werner Enterprises, CR England, etc are screaming that they need drivers, so they got the American Trucking Association to petition Congress to allow 18-20 year old kids to drive nationwide AND to allow drivers who only have a temporary CDL permit to drive without a trainer in the passenger seat. All so they can pay drivers so little, which also saves shippers (distribution centers, factories, etc) money. As a side note, I was delivering a trailer full of Sparkling Ice to a distributor in Deerfield Beach FL the other day. I talked with one of the receiving managers, he said they ordered a trailer full of product 2 months ago, the broker who they are working with can't find a truck (who is willing to be paid low wages) to bring it down. I told him we have plenty of drivers who can haul it, but obviously we charge more. I drive for Heartland Express, I make real good money regardless of miles, inexpensive benefits, and I am home every weekend.

So, any time you hear "trucker shortage", know that it is a shortage of drivers willing to be paid little. Or, it is like a person with experience in cashier/restaurant, they have a choice of $12/hour at one or $16/hour at another, both with 40 hour work-weeks and benefits.

TS

My cousins husband was the plant manager in a bio-med plant that gets rid of medical waste and had to quit his job when his wife (my cousin) was offered a great opportunity in Charlotte, NC and he had to quit his job at that plant to move with her... He was burnt out from making low wages and basically being on call 24/7, so was happy to quit that job and move for his wife. After not being able to get a good paying job in his new town, he looked into becoming a truck driver and because he is a vet, the school he attended used his benefits. It took him eight weeks to get his CDL (commercial driver's license) attending a full-time driver training program.

He got multiple offers upon graduation but he found that this industry was worst then the one he left...

• low pay
• lack of respect
• poor working conditions

So you're right there is not a shortage of drivers there is a shortage of drivers willing to be paid low wages

 

[emeryjre]

Just a question from me. Not trying to be argumentative. Many jobs require putting in "newbie" time. Have to work your way up the ladder to better wages, better working hours, better working conditions. Isn't this the case for truck drivers as well?

 

[Passepartout]

He got multiple offers upon graduation but he found that this industry was worst then the one he left...

• low pay
• lack of respect
• poor working conditions

So you're right there is not a shortage of drivers there is a shortage of drivers willing to be paid low wages

No surprise there. All one needs see is that industry-wide, there is 90-95% annual turnover. Drivers are treated as 'disposable'. They are paid as little as they can be to attract enough of the 'churn', and clearly entry-level working conditions are abysmal. Now, as a driver achieves a certain amount of seniority, s/he can get into a 'dedicated run' (out and back from home) where s/he can take their forced down time at home rather than in Timbuktoo. The pay does get better, the equipment gets newer and more comfortable.

Back when I had a position with the Nat'l trade group that covered road transport, I suggested some changes- like bonus pay based on longevity, or ever-increasing vacation pay, meaningful family health insurance plans, but the industry leaders I talked to were about as welcoming as ARDA leaders would be on January 19th in Orlando's Golden Corral.

Jim

 

[Passepartout]

Just a question from me. Not trying to be argumentative. Many jobs require putting in "newbie" time. Have to work your way up the ladder to better wages, better working hours, better working conditions. Isn't this the case for truck drivers as well?

This is very much the case. Problem is even at top levels, even passing through ALL the revenue, for some, it is not enough. Freight just doesn't pay all that well, and drivers are catching flak at home (Bring more $ home!- Be home more, I miss you!) and from their dispatcher who wants you to work more 'What'd'ya mean, you're out of hours, it's only a hundred miles'! And the truck that needs an oil change or tires and there are 3 rigs ahead and just one mechanic.

Yup. That's how it works. Oh, and you bust your heinie to get to some receiver out in the middle of nowhere, not a restaurant or even a c-store in miles, and the guy on the dock says, "There's nobody here to unload you, labor shortage, y'know'. If you want to get going you can fingerprint (hand unload) those 3,000 cartons of widgets onto those pallets over there." And he doesn't care that you've already worked 15 hours that day.