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TRUCK DRIVER STORY * USA - UPS driver Bob Gragg is in it for the long haul
For him, every day is a 486-mile trip - He has logged nearly 3 million miles accident-free
Charleston,WV, USA -The Charleston Gazette, by Bob Schwarz -May 9, 2008: -- Bob Gragg drives a tractor-trailer 486 miles a day, but he's not complaining about the high price of diesel fuel... He reports to work at 6:15 a.m. and doesn't finish up to 5:30 or 6 p.m., but he doesn't complain about the hours... As a union driver for UPS, he earns more than $90,000 a year. "That's what keeps us here," he said during a 6 a.m. interview at the UPS package-handling center in the South Charleston Industrial Park off MacCorkle Avenue... He knows he has it better than owner-operators who drive back and forth across the country, often sleeping in the cabs of their trucks. "I don't have to pay for fuel; all I have to do is drive. I'm home every day, too."... He rises at 4:30 a.m. By the time he arrives at work, the truck he will drive has arrived from New Stanton, Pa., and is sitting at the fuel pump. "We check tires, lights, springs, oil, make sure it's full of fuel."... He drives to Troutman, N.C., where he drops off his two trailers, picks up two coming in from Atlanta, then heads back home. As he drives down the highway, he listens to satellite radio, usually to a station playing '50s and '60s music... By the time he gets home, he has put in a full day. "Read the paper, get a bite. I'm in bed by 9 usually."... Gragg has logged nearly 3 million miles accident-free with UPS, which is the brand name for a company still officially called United Parcel Service... Gragg hopes to drive another three years, when he'll have 35 years in and qualify for full retirement. "I don't mind doing what I'm doing," he said, "but I look forward to retirement."... His cautious driving carries over to his private life, when he drives a Chevy pick-up... "My kids and grandkids call me an old man because I'm always driving slow and checking things out."... (Lawrence Pierce - UPS driver Bob Gragg sits in his truck after completing his daily 486-mile run to North Carolina and back)Labels: truckers' stories
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