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Why Trucking Can’t Deliver the Goods
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Why Trucking Can’t Deliver the Goods

The yearly turnover rate among long-haul truckers is 94 percent. And you wonder why you’re not getting your orders on time?

Harold Meyerson
The Prospect, 2022
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Attempting to explain a particularly broken part of the supply chain, American Prospect editor Harold Meyerson takes a deep dive into the history of trucking in the 20th century. From the politics of the New Deal to the 1960 tensions between Ralph Nader and the Teamsters, he conveys a fascinating history that reveals a lot you likely didn’t know. His compelling insights will intrigue you, particularly if you’re waiting for your new furniture to arrive – by truck, of course.

Take-Aways

  • Since 1980, deregulation has eroded long-haul trucker wages and benefits.
  • As recently as 1980, unions and regulations sustained truck driving as a well-paid blue-collar job.
  • The Teamsters lost political clout throughout the 1970s, and were unable to stop crippling deregulation of their industry.

About the Author

Harold Meyerson is editor-at-large of The American Prospect. This article appears in its February 2022 special issue, “How We Broke the Supply Chain.”

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