The Trucking Industry
America Moves By Truck
Trucking is one of America's most important industries, moving the goods that you use every day: food, furniture, books, clothing, automobiles, and medicine. Because America moves by truck, the trucking industry is huge, employing over 9.6 million people in all areas of employment &endash; as drivers, mechanics, dispatchers, computer programmers, personnel, fleet management, accountants, etc. Together, these workers generate over $372 billion a year, or over 81% of the nation's freight bill, to haul 6.7 billion tons of freight, or 60% of the total domestic tonnage (our numbers are based on 1997 revenues). That figure includes both merchandise traveling from producers to retail outlets as well as raw materials moving from farms, mines and mills to primary processing plants. By comparison, the railroad industry employs only 213,000 people and generates only $35 billion a year in revenue.
Every product used by American consumers travels by truck at least part of its life. The trucking industry utilizes over 4.5 million trailers and over 1.7 million tractors (excluding government and farm vehicles) which travel more than 118 billion miles annually. Trucks come in all sizes, from local step van delivery vehicles, which weigh 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, to the large tractor-trailers, which weigh up to 80,000 pounds GVW. Trucks supply freight to every city, town, and village &endash; any place there is a road. In fact, trucks pay $28 billion in federal and state highway user taxes and over 38% of all Federal highway taxes to pay for those roads.
Trucking Companies Come in All Shapes and Sizes
There are over 458,000 trucking companies in varying sizes from the largest, with thousands of vehicles, to companies with only one truck. In fact, 70% of the companies operate 6 trucks or fewer and 88% of all trucking companies can be classified as small businesses. A few trucking companies are large, publicly-traded corporations that usually operate throughout North America. Some trucking companies are medium-sized, closely held businesses, but most are small partnerships or sole proprietorships that own only one or two tractors and trailers. The smaller companies might operate only within a certain region or state. Trucking companies refer to themselves as "carriers" because they "carry" freight. For-hire carriers offer their services to shippers and receivers, while private carriers, like some food stores, retail hardware stores, and mattress companies, haul only their own products.
CONTENTS
The Trucking Industry
America Needs More Drivers
Driver Qualifications
Truck Driver Training
Checklist for Quality Programs in Tractor-Trailer Driver Training
North American Schools with PTDI-Certified Entry-Level Truck Driver Training Courses
Further Information on Careers in Trucking
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