30 Years on the Road: Why Raul Drives for Laufer

Raul has been driving trucks for the better part of 30 years. He got his CDL in December of 1995, drove for a couple of years, took a hiatus, came back. He has been at Laufer for almost nine of those years now. Before any of it, he worked in a hospital as a genetic lab assistant. Trucking pulled him out of that life, and nothing has pulled him back.

Why Trucking

"I used to work in a hospital. I used to be a genetic lab assistant. I was washing my hands all the time, and it drove me crazy," Raul says. "I was always confined in one space, dealing with the same people. Day after day, it drove me crazy."

"Being a truck driver, I like the idea that I can go to places I've never been to, meet different people. And I like being alone. I work well with people, but given the choice, I'd rather be on my own doing my own thing. That way I'm not hindered by anybody."

That is the temperament trucking selects for. A lot of people who try the work imagine it as freedom and find solitude instead. Raul came looking for the solitude.

The Eighth Day

His eighth day out on the road on his own, after he had finished orientation, Raul was in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. The other driver did not survive.

"The company sent me home and said, if you feel like coming back, give us a call," Raul says. "Three days later, I called them up and said I want to come back to driving. They said, are you sure? I said, if I don't do it now, I never will. I cannot let my fears dictate my decisions, because otherwise it probably would have crippled me. And I made the right choice, because I love what I do."

"A traumatic event can make you or break you. In this case, it made me a safer driver. A more cautious driver. More grateful that I wasn't killed in that accident, even though someone did lose their life. I think about that all the time."

The Way Raul Drives Now

Almost three decades later, Raul has a philosophy he has earned rather than borrowed.

"The worst accidents I have ever seen have been on beautiful, clear, sunny days. Seventy-five to eighty-five degrees. That is when people let their guard down."

His partner Jeanette tells him he is nuts for liking the rain and the snow. He has an answer for that.

"That is when the people in their cars are actually paying attention to their driving, instead of being on their phone."

When another driver brake-checks him on the interstate, and it happens, Raul does not engage. He puts on his four-ways, pulls over on the shoulder, takes the next ramp. Whatever it takes to separate.

"Situations like that are not about you. Something else is going on with this person. You just happen to be the outlet."

These are wise words, truck drivers encounter road rage regularly. A truck driver's job is to be a defensive driver, anticipating and preparing for the actions of other drivers, even when irrational.

Why Laufer

Before Laufer, Raul was driving for another carrier out of Lemont, Illinois. He was burning out. He had a partner at home, a daughter with special needs, and the home time the previous job promised was not what it turned out to be.

"I would come home Friday night, leave Sunday. That left me less than twenty-four hours to do anything," Raul says. "I had to cram whatever I needed to do into that little window."

He started looking. Then a Laufer truck passed him on the road one day. He looked the company up online, called the office, and ended up talking to Eric, who was working in the office at the time.

"He said, we don't run weekends. You guys have weekends off. I said, I have heard that one before."

Hartford, Wisconsin, was close enough to home that the commute worked. Raul came in, sat through the interview, met the team, and saw what he needed to see.

"I told them, just give me the keys and leave me alone. I know what I'm doing. I know the policies. I'll adhere to them. But I'm self-sufficient that way."

Sometimes what appeals to truck drivers most is the ability to be somewhat autonomous. You get your assignment and then you get out there and get it done. Trucking is team work, but with a solid amount of independent work.

What Made It Stick

The weekends-off thing turned out to be true. So did some other things Raul did not see coming.

When a family medical situation pulled him out of the truck for stretches at a time, Laufer worked with him.

"A lot of companies would say, take a week or two off. You guys said, whatever you need. We're working on your schedule. You let us know," he says. "That meant the world to me."

"You don't get that from a lot of these companies. They say, family-owned, we treat you like family. Yeah, like a stepchild. Here, you call to see how we are doing. How the family is doing. That kind of personal attention is what makes the difference. Because you make the driver feel like he's actually part of something."

What He Tells Other Drivers

Drivers from companies Raul left a decade ago still call him for advice. Newer drivers at the dock ask him to back rigs in for them. Raul serves as a mentor for drivers with less experience at Laufer.

Raul's secret to staying happier on the road, and sometimes getting in and out of shippers and receivers faster:

"You walk in, you say, I'm at your service. Whatever you need. They react very positive to that," Raul says. "Because you're not putting any pressure on them. I'm just happy to get here."

When he sees a driver struggling, Raul helps. He has parked rigs for rookies and taught them to move their tandems back for a better reference point. He has unloaded pallets himself when an older receiver had only a pallet jack and the load would have hurt the man trying to handle it alone.

"You should do it because you can do it. That's it."

For drivers thinking about getting into trucking, Raul is honest. The job is harder than it looks in the movies, the days are longer, the dock waits are real, the home time is whatever the carrier actually delivers, not what they say in the interview.

"You have to be wired for this. It has to be in your blood."

Almost nine years into Laufer, Raul is one of the drivers other drivers call when they need an answer. He stayed because Laufer kept the promises it made when they hired him, and because when life intruded the way life eventually does, the people in the office showed up.

Laufer hires experienced CDL-A drivers out of Hartford, Wisconsin. If that sounds like the work you're looking for, call (262) 673-6810 or learn more at Laufer Careers.