Auxilary Power Units (APU)
The last time I passed through Cleveland, Ohio I parked at a Walmart and ended up speaking with a seasoned professional Walmart driver who was parked there as well. He was a talker and was a very nice gentlemen. I have always been impressed with the cleanliness and appearance of the Walmart trucks, trailers, and drivers. The opportunity to chat with this fellow gave me some insight into the Walmart drivers experiences.
This gentlemen had originally worked his own trucking company that hauled garbage in/out of New York City, Manhatton, Queens, Bronx, etc. He knows New York inside/out. He finally decided to move on after a friend who worked for Walmart convinced him to come to work for them. It was not an easy decision to make, but he figured he was not getting any younger and was tired of dealing with the stress of running his garbage collection company.
He has driven for Walmart for 16 years now and is making close to $100,000 a year. He still drives national but gets his weekends off. He has been married/divorced a couple of times and talked proudly about his kids. One of them just got his masters degree and is working in an engineering position at a large company out of Chicago.
He took the liberty of showing me the Auxilary Power Unit that Walmart has been installing onto their tractors in order to prevent fines for idling tractors in New England. The only time I had ever been exposed to APUs was in the military, on aircraft that I maintained. What a novel idea to put them onto tractors.
The APU runs like a reefer on a refrigerated trailer. It uses diesel fuel and runs to keep the tractor cabin temperature at a comfortable level during any season. It also provides sufficient electrical power for any electronic devices that a driver may want to use, i.e., TV, VCR, DVD player, microwave, coffee pot, etc. These devices run on battery power until the batteries reach a certain level. When the batteries get so low, the APU automatically kicks on to charge them back up again and to run any electrical devices that may be in use in the cabin of the tractor.
It would be nice if Schneider were thinking about putting APUs onto their tractors, however at this point I have not heard anything to indicate they are going to do this. It would save them a lot of money and wasted diesel fuel from idling engines. It would also be a perk for drivers that will be available from other companies in the near future.
This gentlemen had originally worked his own trucking company that hauled garbage in/out of New York City, Manhatton, Queens, Bronx, etc. He knows New York inside/out. He finally decided to move on after a friend who worked for Walmart convinced him to come to work for them. It was not an easy decision to make, but he figured he was not getting any younger and was tired of dealing with the stress of running his garbage collection company.
He has driven for Walmart for 16 years now and is making close to $100,000 a year. He still drives national but gets his weekends off. He has been married/divorced a couple of times and talked proudly about his kids. One of them just got his masters degree and is working in an engineering position at a large company out of Chicago.
He took the liberty of showing me the Auxilary Power Unit that Walmart has been installing onto their tractors in order to prevent fines for idling tractors in New England. The only time I had ever been exposed to APUs was in the military, on aircraft that I maintained. What a novel idea to put them onto tractors.
The APU runs like a reefer on a refrigerated trailer. It uses diesel fuel and runs to keep the tractor cabin temperature at a comfortable level during any season. It also provides sufficient electrical power for any electronic devices that a driver may want to use, i.e., TV, VCR, DVD player, microwave, coffee pot, etc. These devices run on battery power until the batteries reach a certain level. When the batteries get so low, the APU automatically kicks on to charge them back up again and to run any electrical devices that may be in use in the cabin of the tractor.
It would be nice if Schneider were thinking about putting APUs onto their tractors, however at this point I have not heard anything to indicate they are going to do this. It would save them a lot of money and wasted diesel fuel from idling engines. It would also be a perk for drivers that will be available from other companies in the near future.
posted by RickSmith | 11:19 AM
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