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Vocational trucks have always been rather spartan, but many operations are realizing the value of upgrading trucks with creature comforts. With skilled drivers in short supply, a heavy emphasis is being placed on attracting veteran drivers and retaining current ones.

It can be hard to track a return on investment in upgraded features, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Consider the cost of replacing a driver who leaves to work for someone with a newer and more highly spec’d truck fleet. “It is basically going to cost you in excess of $1,000 to hire a driver,” says Randy Goecke, maintenance manager, Rinker Materials.

Rinker runs a fleet of 58 dump trucks in the Portland region, and another 60 mixer trucks. These are primarily Freightliner FLD SD models. All of these trucks have been spec’d with operator comfort in mind. “If a driver is comfortable, he is going to fatigue slower,” says Goecke. “By reducing driver fatigue, they are much safer and more productive.”

Rinker has a particular interest in retaining its dump truck drivers. “About half of our trucks are transfers,” says Goecke. “A little over 25% of them are trucks and pups. A little less than 25% of them are belly dumps.” It takes a fairly skilled operator to drive a transfer dump. “Very seldom do you find one who is trained and has any sort of a background. We usually train them ourselves. We bring a driver in who has a lot of [general dump truck] experience and put them through a pretty extensive training program. We want to keep them, that is for sure.” To that end, the dump trucks are pretty much loaded with A/C, AM/FM and tilt and telescoping steering wheels.

Traditionally, the dump trucks were spec’d with more creature comforts than the mixer trucks due to the time spent in the cabs.