I've felt that the growing need for truck drivers could be handled by other means, namely pushing rail and more regional driving using smaller trucks. Think those big rental trucks that don't need special licenses, coupled with smaller containers that they could fit on them and swap relatively easily. Of course rail has fallen so far behind in the US its pretty stupid so it'd need some serious infrastructure work that I don't see governments doing, but that megahighway in Texas is more or less the idea (major rail corridors between major population centers) so maybe they will. Do more train freight and then disperse it using a mix of smaller trucks and typical semis.
Right now it wouldn't really even butt in on the current big rig markets, there's just that much of a need for freight shipping that some innovation/shakeup to the way things are could make a big difference.
More or less its the FedEx/UPS model with larger "packages" and trains instead of planes.
Driving a truck is an awful job. You sit 8-12 hours a day, sleeping on the side of the road in a tiny cabin, eating crappy food, being away from home for days at a time. No thanks. There's a reason a typical trucker has a giant belly and smells like depression.
Most of that is due to truckers being fat lazy slobs to begin with. There's a lot of jobs that involve that much sitting or standing. The "tiny cabin" isn't that big of an issue (you can buy a mattress topper for not that much so its not like comfort is unattainable), its not like you're locked into it and you actually are forced to take a lot of breaks now. Crappy food is actually probably the easiest aspect to manage. If they were smart they'd figure out how to eat healthy and cheaper than eating truck stop food. You can get plenty of healthy food at Wal-Marts and other chains. The pay isn't a problem if you figure out it doesn't make sense to be paying for a large mortgage/rent when you're not there 2/3+ of the time (and its pretty stupid to try to raise a multi-kid family if you're a trucker). Plus if they're smart they'd stay away from the drugs and disease riddled skanks/whores. That's actually what does most of them in, being gone causes so much strain on relationships which leads to all sorts of shit. Frankly, most truckers are just lazy morons (speaking from experience dealing with a lot of truck drivers). Yet there's tons of them that make a living that way, and yet they wonder why their life sucks. Its the same as burger flippers/people working in shitty retail jobs and all the other shitty jobs. Be smart about things and you'll be able to move on from it and it'll just be a footnote in your work history.
No I'm not saying its easy work, it certainly isn't, but a lot of the problems are due to the generally ignorant people that end up working those jobs not willing or perhaps able to keep from making mistakes that put them in serious financial/personal/physical strain.
People act like the commoditization of labor is something new. Its not, at all. Hell its always been this way in trucking, which is why I always roll my eyes when hearing the lamentations of truckers about their plight.
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