Crete Carrier Corp. boosts drivers’ pay ($2,800 more each year versus the old rates)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140314/MONEY/140319306/1697#crete-carrier-corp-boosts-drivers-pay

Published Friday, March 14, 2014 at 1:00 am / Updated at 5:22 pm

By Cole Epley / World-Herald staff writer

Once April 1 rolls around, drivers with Crete Carrier Corp. and subsidiaries Shaffer Trucking and Hunt Transportation will enjoy a 2-cent-per-mile pay increase.

The new wages equate to a pay increase of more than 4 percent. The average national fleet driver at Crete Carrier would earn up to $2,800 more each year versus the old rates, excluding benefits and other incentives.

The move to higher wages comes as the Lincoln-based carrier attempts to meet freight demand and attract drivers from a shallow talent pool. And it could signal an increase in the rates carriers are paid for transporting freight.

“Despite the driver shortage and lack of capacity, our customers have given us the opportunity to haul more freight,” said Richard Snyder, director of recruiting for Crete Carrier Corp., “but we can’t do it without expanding.”

FULL story at link.

[Skeeter Barnes]

1. Crete is known for being among the best paying truckload carriers. They are also among the

pickiest about who they hire. And there is NO SUCH THING as a truck driver shortage in the United States. There is only a shortage of people who are Class A licensed, willing to run illegal and put up with wage theft.

[Brickbat]

2. "There is only a shortage of people who are Class A licensed, willing to run illegal and put up with

wage theft."

Word.