Keep truckin’
July 25th, 2007Factoid from Newsweek: 50+ Boomers are jumping into second careers as truckdrivers in record numbers. At some trucking companies, older Boomers now account for a third or more of personnel:
These numbers are good news for trucking companies. A 2005 study showed the industry has a shortage of 20,000 drivers—many workers have been lost to better-paid construction jobs—that will likely increase to 111,000 by 2014, out of about 3 million drivers total. By tapping into the baby-boomer market—largely empty nesters, or second-career seniors who have experienced burnout or layoffs—carriers hope they will be able to keep their rigs running.
Truckin’ Boomers quoted in Newsweek include a former IBM engineer and a laid off healthcare worker. Both said they don’t want to be tied down to desks anymore, and that they love the freedom of the open road.
July 25th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I, and more than a few commenters, have a response: bunk.
July 30th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
It’s not happening just in trucking, though I do understand the allure for many men and women who have been cubicle-dwellers for decades, making the sacrifices they had to make to raise their families.
Many of these boomers go into trucking because it combines freedom with a degree of security.
Makes sense: We’re retiring earlier than ever before, while we’re living longer than ever before. Many of us are healthy and not ready for that front porch rocking chair at age 60, or 70, or even 80.
And they don’t want to be Wal-Mart greeters, but start new careers or businesses, employing their incredible breadth and depth of life experience.
– JRIngrisano (The Freestyle Entrepreneur)