A long-standing national driver shortage haunts the commercial transport sector, stemming from high driver turnover, an aging driver workforce, and increasing freight demand. Men have long been the backbone of commercial driving, but women are a vast and untapped group who are changing how freight is moved.
More and more, female truckers have been showing they are an extremely talented, safety-first, valuable commodity to be behind the wheel.
What Women Bring to the Commercial Driving Industry
Driving ability is typically at a consistently high standard in women. They, therefore, are the ideal drivers to be employed in transport and haulage companies. Logistical services, vehicle relocation and all fleet carrying services are also ideally suited:
- Excellent Road Safety Histories: ATRI’s studies showed a far more statistically likely occurrence of reckless driving, or moving, conviction for male operators compared to their female counterparts. Reduced accident rates directly correlate to lower insurance exposures and safer roads.
- Excellent equipment maintenance and care standards: Fleet managers frequently comment that women drivers are particularly adept at performing detailed PDIs, keeping trucks clean, and minimizing equipment wear.
- Solid Operational & Communication skills: The ability of female operators to manage ELD’s and freight documents, combined with the premier customer service at receiver locations, gives them excellent organizational skills.
What a Career in Trucking Offers Women
Having career stability and earning money while having independence along with flexible schedules is one awesome deal about driving a commercial truck.
1. Equal Pay and Transparent Earnings
The trucking industry has no gender wage gap, because compensation for professional drivers often pays you for load size, contract rate, or on a per-mile basis, rather than you based on whether you are a male or female. Your salary or percentage can be earned as equal pay in the trucking industry from day one!
2. Competitive Compensation & Growth
Median annual earnings for heavy and tractor-trailer drivers can go well into the $57,000 mark, and these salaries can go up for those in specialized positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S. Department of Labor has revealed. While hours vary, wages and benefits in commercial transport are more secure than any other type of hourly position, whether it’s in service or an office setting.
3. Career Advancement & Entrepreneurship
The truck itself can be used as a stepping stone. Many female owner operators eventually moved on to fleet management, dispatch, or starting and running their own contracting business.
Overcoming Unconscious Bias in Driver Recruitment
Unconscious bias in recruitment practices has been keeping women in supply and delivery professions from even looking at transport as a career – even though the profession comprises about 10-12 percent, with those numbers growing yearly.
By adopting new corporate cultures, increasing the availability of in-cab safety equipment, and enabling route flexibility, modern carriers are finding themselves increasingly accepting of women truck drivers. The future of freight relies upon a diverse, skilled workforce.
Explore Driveaway Driving Opportunities
If the conventional lengthy haul trucks and sleeping in sleeper berths do not agree with your life-style, then you should consider driveaway shipping instead. Driveaway drivers transport, each one, individual commercial vehicles-tractors, trucks, and utility trucks, on their own power, without hauling a huge trailer behind them.
Benefits of Driveaway Driving:
- No need for Trailer Towing: Just bring a vehicle. Don’t bother with extra trailer space.
- Scheduling flexibility: Pick your routes, decide how to fit in your deliveries, and enjoy a healthier work life-balance.
- Travel Opportunities: Explore the country on competitive pay with custom routes.
Ready to Start Your Driveaway Journey?
Driveaway employment is the ideal, flexible career that you’ve been searching for as an experienced CDL driver, or if you’re aspiring to be a driver, or want to enter the world of transporting only a single vehicle.
Get In Touch with ATC Driveaway! Call today to discuss nationwide driver opportunities and learn more about how you could benefit from a career in driveaway.
