The contribution of the truck industry in America’s economy is immense. As an average citizen, your day to day activities is affected by the truck industry. You might be wondering how; I’ll share some of the reasons.
- Without the movement of trucks, most grocery stores, marts, malls, etc. will not get an adequate supply of goods. These trucks travel miles to supply stores the ordered products straight from the factory.
- Trucks also move goods from industries to warehouses. Some industries have their warehouse located some miles away from them. The services of trucks are needed here; it makes transports easy.
- Another way trucks help is that they provide door to door services for consumers, in the case of an online store. A store will have multiple deliveries to do in a day around the same city, so trucks should do the deliveries considering the space they have.
There are facts about the US truck industry you need to know.
Truck drivers go thousands of miles per year
According to FWA, an average driver travel as long as 14000 miles per year. When I mean average drivers, there are short term drivers and long term drivers.
The short time drivers travel 3000-5000 miles per year while long term drivers go as far as 100,000-300,000 miles per year. The massive number of drivers in the country means that millions of miles get covered in a year.
Ideally, no matter how perfect the build of a truck is, those long miles are detrimental to the service of the trucks. They increase the probability of breakdowns and so many mechanical issues.
Regular checks and proper maintenance increases the productivity of the truck for the drivers.
Trucking Provides Opportunities
The use of flights and aero routes have enhanced some people’s disregard for the trucking industry.
The trucking industry is undoubtedly a significant source of success in the US. There are over 3 million truck drivers active in the country presently. That is, one out of every 20 workers belongs to the truck industry. Another fact is they employ the masses, which boosts the economy. These employment opportunities are not just for drivers, other sectors in the industry need workers, and the space is open for people to apply. The county has over 7 million workers attached to the truck industry. That’s quite a lot of working class.
In contribution to the country’s economic stability, the truck industry provides 5% of the country’s GDP. The figure is staggering when you compare it to the thousands of jobs available in the country. In recent years, the estimated amount of revenue generated in the truck industry alone is more extensive than some country’s total revenue for a year. That’s surprising!
The Major Delivery Method
Trucks account for the bulk of US shipping. The ATA reported that trucks moved about 11 billion tons of goods some years back. That massive amount transferred is about 70% of the whole number of products moved in the US in a year.
For transports and deliveries majorly, the truck industry handles quite a lot. In the opening paragraph, I gave some ways in which trucks assist citizens in their day to day life.
You might be wondering how trucks transport 70% of goods in a year. The reason is, bikes mainly handle deliveries of petty products (dispatch riders), cars are primarily for personal and family purposes. So trucks do most of the transport of goods.
Neat and Comfortable Means
The truck industry has recorded some improvements in recent years. They have produced cleaner and more efficient trucks. The recently made trucks reduce fuel consumption and gas emission, unlike the ones made in the early 2000s.
Records show improvement in the engines of trucks. The emission of sulfur contents, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon has reduced. By calculations, the emissions of 50 trucks made recently are equal to the discharge from a truck back in the ’80s.
Despite the consumption of fuel (15% yearly) in the truck industry, the cars still contribute nearly 65% of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere today.
Everyday citizens do not recognize these facts. It takes some studies and research to understand how much the truck industry contributes to the country at large.