Heavy lifting

Couple of drivers posted on here they got box truck jobs right out of cdl school with Florida Beauty Express in Miami.
Expediter companies have lots of cargo vans and box trucks. Google : Expediter companies in St. Louis and also South Florida and see what pops up.
There's dozens of them:

 

Some larger cargo vans have a bunk behind the drivers seat.

 

84oz Big Gulps can be quite cumbersome.

Most jobs don't require any lifting.
That's evident by just looking at how out of shape most drivers are.
Some areas of the industry DO go hands on, and are quite physical.

Just make certain that you have a job profile lain before you before you accept a position.
You should have no problems finding one that is NO TOUCH.

 

The heaviest thing I lift are Dolly's to connect two pups. If you do have to lift anything all the time you and are clever about it you will figure out ways to make it easier. Work smarter not harder.

 

If it's food and reefer etc or van you will increase your odds of working physically. My back is proof of that. Ive done more work faster than is smart in my time. That's why I have some of the wear and tear on me.

If you are very careful and do nothing but drop hook loads or run a particular kind of freight such as McKesson medicine where you don't get to enter the warehouse anywhere (They unload and then reload bales going back to memphis) The second issue is winding trailer landing gear, if the ground is bad and the trailer has sunk you will be lifting loaded trailers with that landing gear half a foot maybe more.

Certain kinds of trucking such as Tanker work, the heaviest lift you will do is the hose and connections and the product will either unload itself or be unloaded under pressure which you will be in control of. I actually gained weight in tanker work. Not much, but enough to cut back on the food.

The absolute worst for lifting is less than truckload food service. You will find that box of beef or seafood approaches 130 pounds at times and you have bout 500+ to move off the floor in a few hours. That's a touch over 45000 pounds to move yourself. If that thought hurts your back and body, don't get involved with this type of trucking.

 

These kinds of topics have always bothered me. Everybody talks about normal situations when it comes to lifting, pushing or pulling things. Generally speaking drivers don't do heavy work. However with few exceptions you can't say for a100% fact you won't. You might be placed into a position when you will have to do some VERY heavy lifting. I've seen this with my own eyes!

 

Most of that's done with fork lifts unless your doing flat top / bed you may have to lift tarps and chains etc etc unless you doing furniture removals or coke not much effort required at all apart from opening back doors coupling and un- coupling trailers.

 

Has a I gotta tell you from experience. I've done both. Food service is easy (We call it child's play) compared to being a mover.

 

Meadow as one "older" person to another. I can tell ya. It depends on the company.
At some there will be next to no lifting. (I say next to cause you might have to put up a loaf lock, or use a strap).
At other companies thier will be some every now and then.
Still at others there will be more than you care to think about.

At my present company, the more and harder the work, (lifting, pushing, stacking, loading, unloading) the better the pay. But years ago I hired 1 or 2 guys to help. Then it was 3 or 4. But now I hire how many it takes. To make the hardest thing I do is carry the clipboard.