The weekly data on truck driver turnover reveals trends happening in the industry. According to an article in Heavy Duty Trucking, Stay Metrics looked at this data shortly before and after the pandemic arrived. The data revealed, “…while turnover rates spiked early in the first quarter of 2020, they soon began trending down and dropped to all-time lows in March.” Check out the first quarter driver turnover results by haul type.
Dry Vans
Stay Metrics reported a spike in dry van driver turnover in late February. But, when pandemic-related shutdowns started to happen in March, the turnover rate dropped to 53% and remained about the same through the month.
Flatbeds
There was a notable spike in turnover of flatbed drivers in January. In the third week, the rate went, “…from 94.6% to 124.3%…”(June 2020, Heavy Duty Trucking). But, the rates decreased in March reaching 57.2% by the end of the month.
Reefers
While the turnover rate for reefer truck drivers spiked in the middle of February, it started to go down in March. Reefer trucks deliver food items that were especially in demand as grocery stores ran low near the start of the pandemic. Many of these drivers stayed busy with their carriers.
Tankers
According to Stay Metrics, the tanker driver turnover rate was 107.1% in week 2 of January. Then, “…in the third week of January, oil and gas haulers saw a sudden dip from 106.1% to 62.9%.” But, like the other commercial trucks, the rate of turnover stabilized in the month of March.
