SUNBURY – You may have heard the phrase, “If you got it, a truck brought it.” That was mentioned on a recent WKOK On The Mark Financial Friday interview Rebecca Oyler, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association.
Oyler pointed out how difficult it is for drivers to afford high diesel fuel costs and find rest areas for mandated breaks, which she said is a growing problem. Additionally, there is a near crisis, a shortage of drivers – she says they need 80,000 more drivers in Pennsylvania right now.
“As you can imagine, if you can’t get raw materials to your factory or goods to your store, that sort of pyramids throughout the supply chain. It exacerbates the supply-chain issues we know we already have,” she said.
Oyler said trucking companies will look to recruit high school students and graduates to help end the shortage. She said training to be a driver or mechanic is an alternative to college.
The topic of self-driving vehicles came up as a possible solution, “We have Pittsburgh in our region which is a big development area for autonomous vehicles. Carnegie Mellon and Pitt are big development areas and there a lot of jobs here working on autonomous vehicles.”
You can hear Oyler’s entire On The Mark interview HERE, or wherever you download your podcasts.
