A trucker with almost 50 years of experience and a picture perfect driving record retired from CRST International this week.
86-year-old truck driver Joe Scherbring drove for CRST International out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for 47 years without ever getting in a wreck, but now, he says it’s time for him to retire.
Scherbring’s retirement party was held on Monday, December 18th as a way to celebrate his more than 5.2 million miles driven without a single traffic violation or crash, reported KCRG.
“It wasn’t easy some days,” admitted Scherbring.
“[Sometimes] getting close to a wreck, but I always made it.”
Scherbring says he has always loved driving and found happiness in paying attention to the road during his long hauls.
“You got to keep your eyes on the road, and the sides, you never know what can be along the sides,” he advised.
Although Scherbring still loves trucking, he says he knows that now is the time for him to step down and spend some time with his family.
“There comes a time where you need to retire. At my age it’s time to go,” said Scherbring.
However, with Scherbring’s retirement comes an onslaught of others, leaving the trucking industry with somewhat of a shortage of drivers.
“There are a lot of people getting out of the industry, so we’re trying to attract a new generation into a truck driving position… We’re not hiring as many as we want, I’ll tell you that honestly,” said CRST President Cameron Holzer.
Although Scherbring did not specify the new ELD mandate as a reason for his retirement, CRST says that several of their employees have chosen to leave the industry because they “can’t keep up with the technology changes.”