Keep on Truckin’ - Without Compliance Breakdowns

The Freight Problem: Turnover in Trucking & Logistics

The U.S. trucking and logistics industry is hitting a speed bump in 2025—and it’s not fuel costs or freight delays. It’s workforce turnover.

According to a report by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) Foundation, long-haul carriers are reporting annual turnover rates exceeding 90%, with some large fleets experiencing rates over 100%. That means companies are replacing their entire driver workforce every year—and sometimes more than once a year.

But the problem isn’t limited to drivers. Warehouse staff, dispatchers, and logistics coordinators are also cycling out frequently, driven by job dissatisfaction, long hours, and tough working conditions. And with each exit comes another onboarding process—and another Form I-9 to complete.

In a fast-moving, decentralized industry, this creates serious compliance risks. Errors in I-9 completion can lead to audits, fines, and even DOT-related operational disruptions.

What’s Fueling the Turnover Crisis?

The high turnover in trucking isn’t just about long hours or tough conditions—it’s deeply rooted in the economic structure of the industry.

Following deregulation under the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, the trucking industry became highly fragmented. Thousands of new carriers flooded the market, creating fierce price competition and slashing profit margins. As wages stagnated, turnover became a built-in business strategy, not just a side effect.

In 2025, that churn model is still going strong:

• Slow Hiring Processes are typically paid by the mile, which excludes time spent loading, waiting, or doing paperwork, leading to significant unpaid labor.
  
• Drivers are exempt from federal overtime protections, working up to 70 hours a week without overtime pay.
  
• Many fleets rely on a constant flow of new, inexperienced drivers, made possible by subsidized training programs and non-domiciled CDLs. Roughly 800,000 new CDLs were issued in 2022 alone.
  
• Indentured training agreements trap new drivers in low-paying jobs, while misleading job marketing fuels unrealistic expectations, driving more churn.

Even technological adoption reflects this reality. Fleets are investing in tools like driver-facing cameras, collision avoidance systems, and automated transmissions—not just for safety, but to compensate for undertrained, transient drivers.

Meanwhile, Owner-Operators, once seen as a path to independence, often fall into predatory lease-purchase programs that strip them of earnings and stability, further contributing to the cycle of dissatisfaction and exits.

The result? In the Over-the-Road (OTR) sector, turnover rates hover between 90% and 100%, compared to the single digits in private fleets and LTL carriers that offer more stable conditions.

Until these systemic distortions are addressed, turnover will remain the industry standard, and so will the compliance risks that come with constant hiring.