Truck Driver - Job Categories

Job Categories

Both owner operators/owner driver and company drivers can be in these categories.

• Auto haulers work hauling cars on specially built trailers and require specific skills loading and operating this type of specialized trailer.
• Boat haulers work moving boats ranging in size from 10-foot-long (3.0 m) bass boats to full-size yachts up to 60 ft long (18 m) using a specialized low boy trailer that can be set up for each size of boat. Boats wider than 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) wide or 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m) high have to have a permit to move and are an oversize load.
• Dry Van drivers haul the majority of goods over highways in large trailers. Contents are generally non perishable goods.
• Dry Bulk Pneumatic drivers haul bulk sand, salt, and cement, among other things. They have specialized trailers that allow them use pressurized air to unload their product. - Commonly known as Flow Boys among truckers.
• Flat Bed drivers haul an assortment of large bulky items. A few examples are tanks, steel pipes and lumber. Drivers require the ability to balance the load correctly.
• LTL drivers or "less than truck load" are usually local delivery jobs where goods are delivered and unloaded by the driver at multiple locations, usually involving the pulling of double or triple trailer combinations.
• Reefer drivers haul refrigerated or frozen goods.
• Local drivers work only within the limits of their hometowns or only to nearby towns. They return home nightly.
• Household Goods drivers, or Bedbuggers haul personal effects for families who are moving from one home to another.

• Regional drivers may work over several states near their homes. They are usually away from home for short periods.
• Interstate drivers (otherwise known as "over the road" or "long-haul" drivers) often cover distances of thousands of miles and are away from home for a week or more. To help keep drivers, companies can employ team drivers.
• Team drivers are two drivers who take turns driving the same truck in shifts (sometimes husband and wife), or several people in different states that split up the haul to keep from being away from home for such long periods.
• Tanker drivers (in truck driver slang tanker yankers) haul liquids, such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, milk, & crude oil, and dry bulk materials, such as plastics, sugar, flour, & cement in tanks. Liquid tanker drivers need special driving skills due to the load balance changing from the liquid movement. This is especially true for food grade tankers, which do not contain any baffles and are a single compartment (due to sanitation requirements).
• Vocational drivers drive a vocational truck such as a dump truck, garbage truck, or cement mixer.
• Drayage drivers move cargo containers which are lifted on or off the chassis, at special intermodal stations.
• Bullrack haul livestock locally around their hometowns, or haul regionally all over the USA. The term bullrack comes from a double deck trailer used strictly to haul cattle.