During the worst months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when families were buying products while confined to their homes and supply chains were clogged, Arnesha Barron saw an opportunity to fulfill her dream of starting her own trucking company.
The 39-year-old single mother of three teenagers worked for six years driving a truck across the country as an employee for a transportation company. But in 2021, after the increase in wages due to the shortage of drivers, she decided to become independent from her. She took out a loan to buy a truck for $175,000 and soon began earning up to $20,000 a month.
“It was unbelievable. I was a teen mom, having my first child at 15, and all the odds were stacked against me,” she explains, “all three of my children graduated high school while I was on a truck, and still I managed to do it.”
But like thousands of truckers across the country, Barron’s bonanza didn’t last long. In the past year, freight rates have plummeted, leaving her and many other drivers who bet big on the trucking boom now struggling to make a living.
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