Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesTransportation

The People Business: Keep on Truckin’ & Earning A Good Income

Professional drivers can build stable, lucrative careers in an industry facing a persistent shortage of qualified talent

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Transportation teams put it to work with Partner & Channel Enablement.

By Business Services · · Brett HowroydChip StewartJill AppersonLead Ata Program
Share

Key takeaways

01

Professional drivers can build stable, lucrative careers in an industry facing a persistent shortage of qualified talent

Free workspace

Turn your Transportation expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

In this Career Paths episode of

The AppleOne Podcast

, host

Brett Howroyd

explores the essential—and often underestimated—world of trucking with two guests who know it well:

Chip Stewart

, VP of Service Operations at

Select Transportation Resources

in Houston, and

Jill Apperson

, Area Manager at

AppleOne

in North Carolina.

Together, they break down why trucking remains one of the most recession-proof industries in the U.S., contributing $940 billion to the economy and employing over 8 million people. They also shine a light on the LEAD ATA program, which develops future industry leaders and tackles the growing technician shortage—an issue that's already impacting operations across the country.

Chip shares how today's technicians are more like tech specialists with some earning over $200K annually thanks to performance-based pay.

Chip shares how today's technicians are more like tech specialists with some earning over $200K annually thanks to performance-based pay. Jill highlights how staffing pros can connect the right candidates to these stable, well-paying careers—and how influencers are helping reshape the image of trucking for younger audiences.

Whether you're a veteran, career changer, or just starting out, this episode reveals how accessible and rewarding the trucking industry can be—no STEM background required.

Whether you're a veteran, career changer, or just starting out, this episode reveals how accessible and rewarding the trucking industry can be—no STEM background required.

For more information or to connect about this episode click here.

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Transportation starts with a company putting its fleet managers, logistics engineers, and safety leads on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Fleet and logistics buyers compare quietly, and your operators become the evidence that settles it.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

BS
Business Services
B2B Weekly

The week in Transportation, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Transportation: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Transportation buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Transportation expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your fleet managers, logistics engineers, and safety leads into the articles, video, and social content Transportation buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Transportation Insights

Cold chain AI earns its keep when QA managers never log in

Cold chain AI earns its keep when QA managers never log in

PAXAFE lays out a four-stage maturity model for AI cold chain platforms, watch, answer, suggest and act, and says most products stop at a chat layer that answers questions. project44 and FourKites market agents that already act, FourKites claiming 75% of exceptions resolved autonomously, while Gartner estimated in June 2025 that only about 130 of thousands of agentic AI vendors are real.

  • 01PAXAFE sorts cold chain AI into four stages, watch, answer, suggest and act, and says most platforms today stop at a chat layer that answers questions.
  • 02Gartner estimated in June 2025 that only about 130 of the thousands of vendors selling agentic AI have real agentic capability, and predicted over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027.
  • 03project44 and FourKites already market agents that rebook freight, call carriers and close exceptions, so the sharper buyer question is which actions an agent may take without sign-off and who answers when it is wrong.

Oct 30, 2026

China's car market heads for a 22% drop this year, with only a 2% rebound seen for 2027

China's car market heads for a 22% drop this year, with only a 2% rebound seen for 2027

The China Passenger Car Association expects domestic retail sales of 18.5 million vehicles in 2026, about 22% below the 2025 peak, and 2027 growth of 0–5% with 2% central. Exports rose 65.8% through September while imports fell 49% in the month, and foreign brands’ share has slipped below 30%.

  • 01CPCA forecasts 18.5 million retail sales in 2026, below even the 2020 trough, with a 0 to 5% range for 2027 centered on 2%.
  • 02Exports reached 8.21 million vehicles through September, up 65.8%, while domestic sales fell 22.4% and September imports fell 49%.
  • 03New energy vehicles took a record 67% of September retail sales as the purchase tax exemption was halved for 2026 and 2027.

Oct 28, 2026

Coos Bay gets $204.8 million to build rail for its planned container port

Coos Bay gets $204.8 million to build rail for its planned container port

The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay won a $204.8 million federal CRISI grant to upgrade the Coos Bay Rail Line for double-stack container trains. The planned Pacific Coast Intermodal Port is designed to move nearly all landside cargo by rail. Construction can start once the necessary permits are in place.

  • 01Working with its partners, the port is still carrying out environmental review, permitting, engineering and design for the marine terminal, the navigation channel and the rail work. Permit decisions will affect when crews can begin construction.

Oct 28, 2026

Explore More Transportation Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Transportation.

Browse Transportation Hub

About the Expert

BS
Business Services

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Transportation and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512