Showing deep gratitude for those who make trucking possible
By Chris Spear, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations
Every so often, it’s important to stop, take a moment and acknowledge the employees in your industry who make it run and succeed. During Employee Appreciation Day, I want to take the time to thank our industry’s employees and tell them how grateful we are for their dedicated, tireless work every day.
The trucking industry moves America every day with a unified effort from the drivers, mechanics, suppliers, partners, dispatchers, company managers and much more. Whether large or small, each industry organization and individual serves an important role. It’s important to remember that small companies who own 20 or fewer trucks are actually 97% of our industry.
The trucking industry is supported by an incredible workforce that is 7.5 million people strong. The daily business operations, such as accounting, marketing, human resources, logistics, and maintenance, happening in offices around the country, support and supply our nation’s truck drivers out on America’s roads.
I’m especially proud to highlight on our professional truck drivers, the public face of our industry. There are 3.5 million professional truck drivers that travel a collective 462.5 billion miles a year — that’s 63 roundtrips to Pluto! — to deliver the goods that Americans rely on each day. Making daily deliveries to communities across the country is not an easy job. Our drivers deliver everything from the food in our refrigerators, medicine in our cabinets, clothes on our backs, and fuel in our cars. We recently introduced a new class of America’s Road Team, a group of truck drivers who serve as industry ambassadors, and one of the new Captains recently delivered petroleum-based drilling fluids from Illinois to Fairbanks, Alaska. Our drivers truly deliver everything, everywhere.
While the job is very rewarding, I know it is not without sacrifice. Some drivers may spend days or weeks on the road without seeing their family or friends, including during holidays and weekends. Our drivers are also out on the road making their deliveries regardless of weather conditions or heavy traffic. They operate with patience and sound decision-making during polar vortexes and debilitating congestion. During these times, our drivers’ dedication and commitment really shine through.
70% of all freight in the United States is transported by trucks. Trucking touches every critical industry in America, including manufacturing, trade, transportation, public utilities, construction, agriculture, services and mining. The fact is, if there were no trucks on our roads, our stores wouldn’t just run out of the goods we need, our whole country would be impacted. Our personal lives and businesses would be disrupted, and our economy would come to a near-sudden halt. Trucking is critical to our country’s economic success on a daily, weekly and yearly basis.
A few weeks ago, I heard from one of our members that they deliver all the vegetable oil to one of the country’s biggest ramen noodle makers and another member delivers all the cake pops for one of the major coffee shop chains. Having a son in college and a daughter starting college in the fall, I can’t begin to describe how much they appreciate the trucking industry’s contributions to the ramen noodle and coffee shop markets.
Trucking is truly a team effort. I’m thankful for the great employees throughout the industry who work together to keep our country rolling forward and in a safe, reliable manner. Today, we celebrate and say thank you to the employees who make trucking possible.
