| Looking to become a tucker? There are tons of | | | | privately-owned truckload carrier in the United States |
| carrier companies out there to work for, but most | | | | and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. |
| likely, you'll be working for one of the really big | | | | Schneider National operates 14,000 tractors, 40,000 |
| companies that represent the backbone of the U.S. | | | | trailers, and has partnerships with over 6,000 carriers. |
| trucking industry. To familiarize yourself with the | | | | Schneider drives more than five million loaded miles |
| business, here are the top five largest carriers in the | | | | per day, and provides services to more than |
| U.S. as of 2003. | | | | two-thirds of the companies in the Fortune 500. |
| 1. United Parcel Service - You may know them best | | | | 4. Roadway - Through its full-service network, |
| as UPS or, as "The Brown Machine." UPS is | | | | consisting of 349 service centers, and with its 32,119 |
| headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia and UPS | | | | trailers and 8,426 tractors, Roadway is able to deliver |
| delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 | | | | over 49,000 shipments per day. Roadway employs |
| million customers in more than 200 countries and | | | | over 23,000 people and their trucks are easily |
| territories around the world. Ironically, this massive | | | | recognizable by their ROADWAY logo that is printed |
| company was started in 1907 by two teenagers as | | | | boldly across their trailers. |
| the American Messenger Company. They capitalized | | | | 5. Yellow Transportation Inc. - Originally founded as |
| the start-up with a $100 loan and grew it into a | | | | the Yellow Cab and Transit Company, a bus and taxi |
| multi-billion dollar company. | | | | company that served central Oklahoma. Why are |
| 2. FedEx Ground - This shipping juggernaut was | | | | Yellow's vehicles actually orange, you may ask? |
| created to take advantage of new bar code, material | | | | Because in 1929, a study was done for safety |
| handling and computer technologies and has | | | | concerns which determined that the color of the |
| expanded to cover the entire United States. As of | | | | swamp holly berry would be most visible from the |
| 2009, FedEx ground employs over 70,000 people. | | | | greatest distance. Swamp Holly Orange became the |
| 3. Schneider National - It is the largest | | | | color used on all company tractors. |