02.16.2008
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| Life of a truck driver
Life of a truck driver 2/16/08 Beloit Daily News, WI Quote:
“We're like wallpaper,” said Dave Burwell about truck drivers.
People hardly ever notice truckers unless, that is, they are trailing behind one on the passing lane of the interstate.
But Burwell, a Beloit truck driver for the past nine years, recognizes something they all seem to know that everyone else is alienated from; behind all the products Americans use there is a truck driver bringing it to consumers.
According to the Department of Labor, there are 3.4 million truck drivers in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site projects that the number will grow by 8 percent - about 258,000 jobs - in the next eight years.
For Burwell and most truck drivers, every day is a little bit different. A light day might be a little over nine hours of work total, a heavy day being 14 hours, the maximum a driver can work at a time by federal law.
Sometimes he unloads the trailer and other times he just does a “drop and hook” run, lingo in the industry for transferring a trailer from one location to another and picking up a different trailer to be taken from there. Burwell, 50, said the physical work keeps him invigorated and in shape.
Burwell was a police officer for the Beloit Police Department for 15 years before he got his commercial driving license (CDL). During the drive, he takes advantage of the development of the audio book that has allowed him to be more informed about the world than he ever was as an officer. He listened to both of presidential hopeful Barack Obama's books on CD, leading him to decide on Obama as his candidate. And right now Burwell is working on wrapping up “Imperium,” a historical novel about Cicero.
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