Career Profile: Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators

Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 767,400 people employed as industrial truck and tractor operators in the United States. The median annual salary is $38,380. Entry level employees earn approximately $29,860 per year and senior employees earn approximately $53,040 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Move levers or controls that operate lifting devices, such as forklifts, lift beams with swivel-hooks, hoists, or elevating platforms, to load, unload, transport, or stack material.
• Move controls to drive gasoline- or electric-powered trucks, cars, or tractors and transport materials between loading, processing, and storage areas.
• Manually or mechanically load or unload materials from pallets, skids, platforms, cars, lifting devices, or other transport vehicles.
• Position lifting devices under, over, or around loaded pallets, skids, or boxes and secure material or products for transport to designated areas.
• Inspect product load for accuracy and safely move it around the warehouse or facility to ensure timely and complete delivery.
• Signal workers to discharge, dump, or level materials.
• Weigh materials or products and record weight or other production data on tags or labels.
• Perform routine maintenance on vehicles or auxiliary equipment, such as cleaning, lubricating, recharging batteries, fueling, or replacing liquefied-gas tank.
• Operate or tend automatic stacking, loading, packaging, or cutting machines.
• Hook tow trucks to trailer hitches and fasten attachments, such as graders, plows, rollers, or winch cables to tractors, using hitchpins.
• Turn valves and open chutes to dump, spray, or release materials from dump cars or storage bins into hoppers.

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