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 pay, 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.

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