What does a truck driver do on a typical day?

Answer 1

That depends on their exact job function. Not all truck drivers are long distance, line haul drivers, and not all drivers are limited to only driving (and, in some cases, driving may actually be a minor part of their job function).

One example, when I worked the oilfields, driving was a secondary function. I'd typically pull a winch trailer or tool trailer to the site, work as a floor hand with the derrick crew, then drive it back at the end of the day. When I worked in the road building industry, driving was my primary function, but sometimes there wasn't enough equipment needing to be moved to keep me working all day, so I'd sometimes have to act as an equipment operator or a laborer on the job site, or I could be tasked to drive a dump truck or water truck for the remainder of the day. Working for a municipality's streets division, truck driving was also a secondary function - my primary function was as an equipment operator, but I'd also work with the asphalt patch crews, concrete finishers, crack seal and slurry crews, etc.

For an over-the-road driver, they'd typically start their day with a pre-trip inspect, ensuring their vehicle's roadworthiness. Then they'd drive. If they were picking up on that particular day, then they'd go to the shipper. From there, what they did would depend on a number of things. If they did no-touch drop and hook, they'd drop their empty trailer, pick up a loaded one, check the seal, get their bills of lading and any other necessary paperwork, and be on their way. If they were keeping the same trailer, they'd do what's called a live load, and how involved they were in that is dependent. For someone with a dry van trailer, doing a live load could allow them to just sit in the truck while it's being loaded. For someone with a flatbed, they'd have to direct the shipper where to put the load on the trailer, then they'd have to secure it (either with straps or chains), and they might have to tarp it, as well.

Of course, a logbook would be kept for each day's work (many carriers now use electronic logs which do it for you).

That's pretty much a nickel tour. Again, the jobs of truck drivers can be quite varied, and someone running, say, a dump truck on a construction site isn't going to do the same things that someone running over-the-road in a tractor-trailer would.