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.