Optimizing for Truck Driver Utilization & Quality of Life

Driver utilization is a key to the efficiency of the entire supply chain. If we can reduce wasted driver time, more shipments can happen in less time with fewer drivers needed.

MIT Researched

The MIT Center for Transportation Logistics posted an informative interview with a couple of truck drivers here.

The focus is on factors impacting driver utilization. In other words, what percentage of time that a driver is working; driving, unloading, loading. Rather than the time which a driver waiting for a load at a distribution center, or figuring out where to park, or some other low value activity.

Without further delay, the two findings by MIT researchers were that driver utilization times can be most improved by these two factors:

1. Repeated stops at the same node by the same driver. Familiarity is very important.
2. Drivers stopping during peak hours at a node. This may seem counter-intuitive. Most likely, the shipper is staffed properly with their best people at peak hours.

Researchers found that almost nothing related to the drivers themselves, including demographics, impacted their utilization times. Utilization is always dependent on their carrier’s dispatcher or the shipper’s behavior at the node. Is the dispatcher making the drivers schedule sensible and consistent? Is the shipper making good use of the driver’s time spent on site?

For the carrier dispatcher, they also find that there is a bell curve relationship between utilization and retention — too much utilization causes retention declines as much as too little utilization. So there is clearly a human factor there.

The episode concludes with interviews of two truck drivers. They represent the reality on the ground. Their findings are not based on research but on their actual experiences, their intuition, and their known stories from others in the know.

Here’s a few notes which are worth highlighting:

1. New drivers typically do not understand their way around the country for a year.
2. New drivers do not know where to find parking. Eventually you find “secret hiding places everywhere”, said one driver.
3. Logistical moats exist even on large interstates. “Parking deserts should be in the national lexicon”, said one driver.
4. New drivers don’t understand how to use their hours. Planning around Hours of Service is a skill. (Hours of Service is a federal restriction on time which a driver may spend driving and working).
5. Hours are also underutilized because a) many drivers are lazy and don’t plan ahead, and b) driver training is quite poor.
6. Drivers are often treated poorly. Some facilities of them don't even have a bathroom available to drivers.
7. Food deliveries cause even more slow downs for drivers. When they unload, they make a mess and the driver has to clean up the trailer. You have to wait at a wash to get this cleaned out. Our driver doesn't get the next load until this is done and doesn't get paid for time spent to clean out the truck.

Driver Turnover

Another key point is that drivers get paid by the mile, not by the hour. In my opinion, this calls into question the incentive structure for carriers. If a driver’s time is wasted on activities other than driving, that’s only the driver’s problem. In this case, the carrier can simply hire more drivers to fill the gap in miles needed.

All of this contributes to a very high driver turnover rate each year. Between 72 and 92 percent depending on the fleet size.

Given the low wages, the low quality of life, and the wasted hours, it’s not surprising that there is a driver shortage in the United States. The interesting question is whether there’s a solution to it that anyone is willing to invest in.