But one group of Americans that had to adjust on the fly while still showing up to work every day like normal was truck drivers. Working from home was not an option, so they had to deal with restaurant closures and other changes while out on the road throughout the year.
Even before the pandemic, truck parking was one of the top concerns for truck drivers, and according to several drivers and small business owners at the Kenly 95 East Coast Jamboree truck show in Kenly, North Carolina, last week, that problem only got worse during the pandemic.
Jeff Walters, who with his wife Nancy own J&N Trucking out of Bath, New York, said parking issues are exacerbated by many truck stops adding more paid parking to their lots.
“There’s nowhere to park half the time,” he said, "and you go to most truck stops, there’s more paid parking than there is regular parking. Which, they wouldn’t have their stuff if we didn’t deliver it…I just don’t go there. There’s times you get to a spot where you have to pay for one. It is what it is. You gotta have a place to park, and I’m not going to just park anywhere because I don’t want my truck and trailer to get hit.”
Another independent owner-operator, Robert Davis of Pittsfield, Vermont, primarily hauls Cabot Cheese under his SnoCountry Transport authority in a big-bunk 1988 Freightliner FLC120. He said finding parking is an even bigger problem for him with a 110-inch sleeper.
“I have to try to get an end spot where I can get out because people like to double park,” he said.
