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Truckers Hauling Produce * USA - Deal with job related stresses
Barstow,CA,USA -The Desert Dispatch, by Aaron Aupperlee -February 21, 2008: -- A week ago, oranges were scattered across Interstate 40. A month ago, it was eggs and mushrooms on Interstate 15. The roadways and interstates criss-crossing Barstow have been covered in many different types of produce and other food items. Last year, a banana truck flipped over on Barstow Road, and a truck hauling tomatoes caught fire outside of Hinkley. While some in the business of shipping fruits and vegetables across the country say drivers are not under extra stress to deliver their loads on time, others disagree. Don Dunkel has been driving trucks since 1998 and said the years he spent hauling onions and potatoes out of California kept him on edge. Outside near truck stops in Lenwood, he admitted to driving six to seven miles over the speed limit just to get loads to their destinations on time. On top of that, Dunkel said he constantly worried about damage to the tomatoes or other fruits he carried. Any bruises cost Dunkel his own money. Once, he lost a load on the road. It cost him $2,000, he said. Dunkel’s pedal-to-the-floor solution is not shared by other drivers... Bill Madewell, who sat at the same stops in Lenwood on Thursday, drives perishable goods and said he would much rather drive produce over other loads. He drives for a large trucking company and drives on a team, two drivers to one truck. And even though he knows his loads are time-sensitive, a day longer on the road and the cargo might spoil, he does not speed or feel pushed on the road... (Photo by Aaron Aupperlee - Trucks sit at a truck wash on Lenwood Road Thursday afternoon en route to delivering or picking up loads. Some truckers say that perishable loads put truckers under undue stress, some say they have plenty of time to deliver fruits and vegetables)Labels: truckers' stresses
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