Snowplow driver shortage drives up price of snow removal

"A nationwide shortage of plow drivers could make for a lot of difficult travel this winter, as communities nationwide are desperately trying to fill positions before the snowfall," Chris Conte reports for KMGH and KCDO, stations owned by E.W. Scripps Co. that are branded as The Denver Channel.

The shortage is mostly a facet of the years-long commercial truck driver shortage that's hurting everything from supply chains to rural school bus routes, Conte reports. States and municipalities are trying to lure more drivers with high hourly wages and huge bonuses, but with limited success. There just aren't enough drivers, partly because there aren't enough instructors, partly because many commercially licensed drivers retired at the beginning of the pandemic, and partly because driving a snow plow can be lousy, iffy work. Paul Cohen, the town manager in Chelmsford, Mass., told Conte: "For drivers, you don’t know your earnings level because you don’t know the weather. You’re asking someone to commit to you and you don’t know if you’ll have a snowy winter or a dry winter."

Another factor making snow and ice removal more expensive this winter: "The price of road salt has skyrocketed by as much as 31 percent" from last year, Conte reports.