Walmart Will Now Pay Starting Truck Drivers $110,000, Could It Backfire and Make the Nationwide Trucker Shortage Even Worse?

Trucking gained broad interest thanks to the big screen in the late 1970s. As Hollywood produced movies like “Smokey and the Bandit,” the trucking industry was widely talked about. Today, the tune has changed, and it’s a job that doesn’t boast the glamour it once did.

“We don't have a ton of young people or other people just dying to get into the trucking industry,” says Kelly Krapu, safety director and compliance officer for TrueNorth Compliance Services. “It's no longer a glamorous gig that people really want to get into anymore. So, we are going to continue to see shortages.”

Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic brought some businesses to a halt, supply chain issues continue to play out. A lack of drivers currently plaguing the trucking industry is one of those factors still impacting the supply chain.

“We're currently about 80,000 drivers short in the trucking industry,” says Krapu. “In 10 years, they're thinking it's closer to 250,000 to 300,000 jobs that we're going to be short in the trucking industry.”

As safety director and compliance manager, Krapu helps truck drivers and trucking companies navigate the regulations that have a tight grip on truckers today.

“I think we're losing drivers not only to those short-haul drives or short-haul careers, but other careers that they can be in a more controlled environment and a little bit safer and more conducive to a family life,” she adds.

Walmart recently announced it’s upping starting salaries for the company’s truck drivers to between $95,000 to $110,000 a year, which is up from the current average starting salary of $87,000. The Wall Street Journal reports Walmart will also offer workers in other departments training to become a certified truck driver.

“It’s the latest sign of how big retailers are using their size to take greater control of their own supply chains as bottlenecks, capacity constraints and rising prices roil logistics operations,” reports Farm Journal Washington analyst Jim Wiesemeyer.

Training is another hurdle for attracting new truck drivers into the industry. In February, a new federal CDL requirement hit the trucking industry, which will require anyone obtaining a new CDL to go through weeks of training. The course will cost you up to $10,000.

Krapu says the rule was actually passed in 2018, but the industry kept seeing extensions until it actually went into effect this year. Without either the current Biden administration or the previous Trump administration stepping in to halt the new regulations, it could now cost those looking to get a CDL or upgrade to a Class A license, both time and money. The amount of time and course fee will vary by what type of license an individual is trying to obtain.

“If you need a Class A and all of the endorsements that would go with it, that's 21 days of training and larger amounts of money at $8,500 to $10,000,” says Krapu.

Krapu says agriculture is exempt, as long as the driver stays within the 150-mile-radius air bubble. However, if you travel outside that zone, even for agricultural purposes, that’s when the new regulations could be stifling.

“If you were to go outside that 150 air miles to take corn to a grain elevator that's outside the 150 miles, all of the federal regulations would apply to you. And that would include the commercial driver's license requirement,” she says.

From new CDL requirements to vaccine mandates that impact truckers going across the border to Canada, Krapu says some truck drivers are finding better paying jobs that also allow better work-life balance. 

“We're losing drivers to non-truck driving jobs that are local,” says Krapu. “They can go work in a warehouse pulling packages for the same amount of money and very little risk.”