Every day for a truck driver is different and it is one of the most exciting parts in the trucking industry. When you’re a truck driver, many aspects can be changed very often – the hours you keep, the routes you get to travel, the places you get to see along the way. Each trip for a truck driver is a new experience on the open road.
One more thing that might vary each day for a truck driver is the type of cargo to haul. A truck driver has an opportunity to deliver many different types of hauls since most trucking companies service numerous other industries.
Most truck drivers haul different items – liquids, food, construction materials, products for retail, or farming goods. In addition, they can haul items that are more specialized. It is difficult to find an industry that doesn’t not in some way depend on the trucking business to transport its goods. Any truck driver is responsible to deliver a wide variety of goods and raw materials to companies or individuals.
Typical Hauls
Here are some types of common hauls that truck drivers can deliver.
- Retail goods – One of the common types of truck haul is retail goods that include products sold in stores and do not have a short shelf life. Truck drivers can haul such items as non-perishable food, clothes, toiletries, or any other consumer goods that are available in retail stores. These retail goods are transported in what’s called a dry van truck.
- Raw materials – Truckers are not always required to transport finished products to individuals or companies. Sometimes they need to deliver raw materials like metal pipes, steel frames, and others. These construction materials are typically transported on flatbed trucks because the shape of these goods often does not fit neatly into a semi-trailer.
- Perishable items – Some items need to be delivered with great speed because they can expire quickly, for example, packaged meat, flowers or some medications. Truck drivers often call them “hot loads” because they require delivery to be on schedule. Not to let these perishable goods expire while on a route, they are usually transported in refrigerated trucks.
- Liquids – All across the country truck drivers transport many different kinds of liquids such as milk or molasses. In addition, they can carry liquid petroleum gas, oil or even cement. These liquid products are transported in a tanker truck.
- Farming materials and animals – Truckers can transport many types of hauls related to the farming industry: oversized loads with equipment like harvesters or bailers; grain, hay and feed for farm animals; or even the live animals themselves. Truck drivers are often required to have experience in farming first before being entrusted with this type of job. For example, a feed hauler needs to know how to work with silos and grain bins.
Unique Hauls
There are other types of hauls that truck drivers may transport although they are less common.
- Niche hauls – Sometimes people need to ship all kinds of unique, strangely shaped cargo across the country. Such strange goods can be living tropical fish, twenty-foot balloon dolls, or fossils.
- Sensitive cargo – Sometimes, truck drivers can transport goods for different organizations related to national security such as military or research institutions. Truckers may not know exactly what they are hauling. Your trucking company, responsible for this type of cargo, is required to have undergone extensive security clearances and vetting procedures.
- Dry bulk goods – Truckers can deliver mass quantities of dry goods such as sand, sugar, or flour. This type of cargo is transported in a dry bulk tanker.
- Hazardous materials – Hazardous materials can cause great damage to the environment or humans that’s why they must be transported with great care. Hazardous materials are transported in tanker trucks because they are most often in liquid form. As with transporting any liquid, truck drivers need to know ahead of time how to act in case of a leak or spill.
New Sound Truck Driving School Will Get You Hauling In No Time
As we’ve mentioned, the most common types of hauls are retail items, food, liquids, farming-related things and construction materials. Nearly every industry requires transporting their goods, that’s why there is also a huge need in hauling more niche or unusual items.
If you’re interested in hauling livestock, raw materials, or sensitive cargo, New Sound Truck Driving School can help you make that a reality. We have trained many truck drivers to haul every type of load imaginable. Call us today at (253) 210-0505 to learn more about how our trucking school can help you in hauling loads of all sorts across the country.