![]() ![]() In addition to having someone to talk to, they can cover more ground by having one person sleep while the other drives. Some operators pair up with a partner to help combat the loneliness of long-haul driving. Having a driving buddy isn’t always a great idea. “I sometimes see a truck with weird add-ons, like an 8-inch chrome duck or a weird paint job, and that’s the trucker telling you, ‘I own this truck, not some mega-carrier.’” 7. As truckers own it, no one can tell them otherwise. Some truck drivers mount giant chrome ducks on their hood.Īccording to Simpson, drivers who step away from working for major carriers and go into the hauling business for themselves like to signal their independence by customizing their truck. When I got my own truck, I got a Crockpot and kept it on the floor.” 6. “I’d be driving and he’d hand me a plate of food. “When I was with my driving trainer, he had a Foreman grill,” Keith said. (This could be good to keep in mind if you are looking for truck driver gift ideas.) In addition to sleeping quarters, many have outlets or power sources that can accommodate small appliances like refrigerators, microwaves, and cooking gear-all valuable resources when drivers want to avoid the greasy, calorie-heavy food at restaurants and rest stops. “That happens all the time.”įor a driver, truck cabs are like mini-apartments. “When that happens, we might park a quarter-mile away and then call an Uber if it’s an urban area,” Simpson said. Depending on the layout of the local roads, though, there might not be a place to park a 53-foot trailer. And while it’s true that drivers have to stick to a routine to get freight where it needs to go on time, they can still make stops at tourist attractions if they're ahead of schedule. You’d assume that the biggest perk of driving for a living is the ability to transport yourself anywhere you want to go. Truck drivers might have to call an Uber. I had a freezer on board, thankfully.” Another time, a company Keith was delivering to refused a 25-pound box of chicken with damage to the box. “ Ben & Jerry’s, for example, gave me a pint of ice cream. “Some of the bigger ice cream or candy companies, when you pick up or drop off a shipment, someone might give you a sample,” Keith said. If the delivery happens to be tasty, sometimes drivers can get lucky and get a free (authorized) sample of their cargo. ![]() Long-haul trucking involves transporting practically every kind of consumer good or material you can think of. Truck drivers can sample the goods, occasionally. “I’ve been capped at 62 miles per hour.” The limit is often programmed into an engine’s computer, making it impossible for a truck to go faster even if the driver felt it was necessary. “Most companies limit the speed of their trucks,” Keith said. If you’ve ever been stuck behind a truck that seems to be moving at a glacial pace, don’t blame the driver. Truck engines are programmed so drivers can’t speed. “A lot of people get into trucking because they see it as a way of making decent coin and they’re preyed upon by companies who just churn them out,” Simpson said. At smaller fleets (those earning less than $30 million a year in revenue) it was about 72 percent. At the end of 2020, the annual turnover rate for drivers at large truckload fleets was 92 percent, according to the American Trucking Association. Gather 10 truckers in one place and odds are that eight or nine of them won’t be around a year later. There's a high turnover rate for truck drivers. To get a better sense of what truckers experience behind the wheel, we asked two drivers-Simpson and Keith, who preferred not to use his last name-about life on the road. “It’s a lifestyle.” Truckers sleep in their cabs, see their families only intermittently, and sometimes find themselves at risk when perilous roads or aggressive drivers make for dangerous conditions. “It’s not just a job,” Jim Simpson, a seasoned driver, told Mental Floss in 2018. To do that, they make considerable personal sacrifices. We might not often stop to think about it, but these long-haul truckers are key to keeping our economic infrastructure running. At any given time, more than 1.7 million truck drivers snake through our country’s arterial highways, delivering everything from potato chips to construction materials to electronics. ![]()
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