A Day in the Life of a Local Driver

I had the pleasure of spending the day with one of our local drivers, Garry Corker. He is a veteran driver for Cox and has been just about all over the country. Garry’s day starts between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM when he arrives at Cox. There is one of 2 ways that he learns what he is going to be doing for that day, because it is hardly ever the same thing every day. There will either be paperwork in his locker for a delivery that he has to make, or he will check in with the local dispatcher to see where he is needed for that day. On this day, there were going to be multiple stops.  

The day started with a delivery to a regular location. Once we were backed in to the door to get unloaded, it took about an hour to an hour and a half to get the trailer completely unloaded. Once we completed the first delivery, we had to make a stop at a repair shop to get something adjusted on the tractor. It is very important that drivers know their equipment well so that they can recognize an issue if one arises. Lucky for us, it was an easy repair so we were back on our way in under an hour. 

Next, we had to go to another warehouse and pick up a trailer that had been pre-loaded with freight to bring back to Cox. This was one of the quicker stops because we just had to go get the paperwork and hook up to the trailer and be on our way. Once the trailer was dropped back at Cox, we had to hook up to an empty trailer and take it to another warehouse. We dropped that empty trailer at the warehouse and had to bobtail to a different location. Bobtailing is driving the tractor without a trailer hooked up to it. Once we got to the final location that would wrap up our day, our job there was to find another loaded trailer and bring it back to Cox.  

I am sure that many people think that being a driver is just driving, but there is a lot more to it. I will be the first to admit that after that day, I was exhausted! I had the opportunity to lower/raiser the landing gear which is done by cranking the landing gear handle. I also attempted to pull the king pin lock to unhook a trailer from the tractor, but I was not strong enough to do it! After spending the day with Garry, I tip my hat to all truck drivers and am grateful to them for the outstanding work that they do. 

– Sydney Smith, Brokerage Load Coordinator at Cox Truck Brokerage