Waylon Buchan, Oregon Truckers Association

It is easy to celebrate National Truck Drivers Appreciation Week. What’s not to like? Truckers make our entire modern way of life possible! They bring us a bountiful variety of fresh food to urban and rural areas alike. They truck in our essential medicines and our motor fuel. They bring us practically everything we wear, use, eat, and rely on. Truckers are the reason many Americans can satisfy their Christmas shopping without even getting out of bed – and they can sleep soundly knowing their parcels will arrive on time because a trucker will get it there without delay.

Truckers haul 71.4% of the country’s total freight tonnage, according to the American Trucking Association. In the United States, nearly 6% of all full-time jobs are connected to the $796 billion trucking industry. Truck drivers are crucial to getting freight through the “last mile” and to the final destination. In fact, experts predict that most grocery stores are so dependent on long-haul trucking, that they would likely run out of food within three days if truckers stopped working. When you see a trucker this week, take a moment to thank them and let them know you appreciate their important contribution to our country and economy.

While it is great that truckers bring us stuff – they are also dedicated to their profession in ways people do not always easily notice. In my time working with trucking companies and truck drivers, there is one thing they all have in common: they all strive to meet the highest safety standards. Truckers work to ensure that they, and all those around them, make it home safely to their families at the end of the workday. I’m grateful to these hardworking men and women for their commitment to safety, and I’m sure you are too. So, join us in celebrating these professionals for National Truck Drivers Appreciation Week, because they deserve our support!

It is true that we owe so much to truckers across the country, for everyday conveniences. How else would we get those (almost) daily Amazon deliveries?

Can we travel back in the sequence of events for a second? If log truck drivers, chip truck drivers, or recycling truck drivers had not first driven the material to a box plant, we would not have the material to make the boxes in which so much of our everyday supplies arrive.

Take a few minutes to think of how much easier a truck driver makes your life – today and every day.

Thank one of the many you will encounter today.