80,000 to 110,000 miles a year: that’s how much road an average trucker puts under their tires each and every year. That’s enough to go around the earth four times, and this year, it seems like truck drivers are the people bringing the whole earth to us.
At iGPS, we celebrate National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (Sept. 13-19th) every year. We know that truck drivers are essential to our economy, our businesses, and the quality of our lives. From coast to coast, truck drivers are delivering the goods that keep us going.
Truck Drivers Connect The World
We see and hear the work truck drivers do every day—every time a truck backs up an alley to a freight door, or pulls into an intermodal, or we hear the last-mile delivery door roll shut outside our home office. We know the importance of truck drivers, and the statistics back that up:
- Trucking is a $700 billion industry
- 71 percent of all the freight moved in the United States is moved by trucks
- In 2017, the industry moved 10.8 billion tons of freight
All of these numbers have both increased and been changed by the rise of ecommerce: there was a 50-percent increase in “last mile” service use between 2017 and 2018, and that demand continues to increase. Not only that, but even before the pandemic, 51 percent of retailers promised “same-day delivery.” New hubs have sprouted up all over the country. New routes are forming. Demand is changing. And truck drivers are adapting to keep it all moving.
Friends, Neighbors, and Underappreciated Heroes
More than one in 20 Americans with full-time jobs work as truck drivers. These people are our neighbors. They’re our friends. They’re the unsung heroes of our industry, manufacturing, and daily life.
- In 2019, there were 895,000 tractor-trailer truck drivers in the U.S.
- 2 million people work in trucking-related jobs, including as managers, mechanics, and dispatchers.
- More than 40 percent of full-time truck drivers are minorities, the largest percentage in any field.
- Trucking-related jobs make up 5.8 percent of all full-time jobs in the U.S.
Here’s one more statistic: if all truck drivers stopped delivering, it would take only three days for grocery stores to run out of food.
We’ve all seen a little of that this year. We’ve seen empty shelves and we’ve seen long lines. We’ve waited anxiously for deliveries. We’ve wondered what next week will bring. This year has been a challenge like nothing we have faced before.
But the shelves got filled up. Hospitals were stocked. We got the home deliveries—the books and sourdough starter and home office supplies—that kept us going. That’s because truck drivers kept driving, in the heat of the day and the dark of the night.
This year, more than ever, we owe truck drivers a debt of gratitude. We’re proud to support truck drivers from coast to coast, and this Truck Driver Appreciation Week, we hope you’ll join us.
Join Our National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Campaign
This year, let’s show our appreciation for the dedicated men and women in this field. They deserve our respect and gratitude, and we’re proud to help them feel it. Here are three easy steps to showing that appreciation.
- Head to the iGPS LinkedIn Page.
- Share our Truck Driver Appreciation post with your followers and friends. Let them know how important this industry is.
- Tag your favorite truck driver! Let them know they are valued.
- Let us know any reactions—we’d love to share them.
One way to support truck drivers is to make their jobs safer and easier. Here’s some of what we do to support truck drivers every day.
How iGPS Supports Truck Drivers
At iGPS, we want to make the entire supply chain safer and more efficient for truck drivers and everyone in the supply chain. Our rental pallets help make that happen by helping drivers prevent product damage, improving load stability, and making freight transportation more sustainable and fuel efficient.
Truck drivers support the economy. We should support truck drivers during this National Truck Driver Appreciation Week—and every other week.
iGPS is proud to celebrate Truck Driver Appreciation Week. To learn more and voice your support for drivers, visit our LinkedIn page. To find out more about iGPS plastic pallet pooling, visit our contact page.
