The trucking industry relies on more than just the equipment that gets things from place to place. It relies on people – and this week is built to recognize them. September 13 through 19, 2026 marks the 38th National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, when the American Trucking Associations honors the roughly 3.6 million professional drivers who keep the country’s trucks moving.
At Booster, that recognition runs in three directions: fueling the experienced drivers already on the road, hiring and training the ones just starting out, and building internal paths from entry-level work to a licensed driving career. Every gallon of freight that reaches a shelf, a job site, or a delivery bay got there because someone got behind the wheel and drove it there. After all, more than 80% of U.S. communities depend entirely on trucks to get their goods – no port, no rail line, just a driver and a route. And it’s the part of the supply chain that’s easiest to take for granted and impossible to run without: not the trucks, but the people driving them.
Booster is proud to recognize the drivers who keep trucks moving across the country – from logistics and local businesses to our very own CDL-licensed drivers who deliver gasoline and diesel to customers across the country. These drivers are part of the reason Booster exists. So let’s take a look at the professionals who keep America moving in business.
Who Is Booster Celebrating This Week?
This week, we’re thanking our own Service Professionals, the drivers who safely steer our Smart Tankers to fleets across every community that Booster serves. Our internal message this week is simple: Same People. A Brighter Tomorrow. It’s a line that echoes something Booster says the rest of the year, too: People Fuel Progress. Booster frames that appreciation around four things its drivers do every day:
- Driving safer communities,
- Powering Booster’s customers,
- Keeping the business moving, and
- Making a difference every day.
But our appreciation for the profession doesn’t stop at Booster’s own team.
Why Booster Honors National Truck Driver Appreciation Week?
Booster’s customers are fleets, and fleets are made up of drivers. They are the same experienced, professional drivers this week is built to honor. Getting there isn’t simple: a commercial driver’s license requires passing both a written knowledge exam and a behind-the-wheel skills test covering vehicle inspection, basic controls, and on-road driving, on top of completing federally mandated entry-level driver training before that testing can even happen. For drivers hauling fuel specifically, there’s another layer on top of that: a HazMat endorsement, which adds a separate knowledge test on transporting hazardous materials safely and a TSA security threat assessment, including a background check and fingerprinting. Every gallon Booster delivers on-site is fuel that keeps those drivers on their routes instead of standing at a pump.
That relationship gives Booster a particular reason to pay attention this week – and a personal one. The same demands weigh on Booster’s own Service Professionals: long routes, tight windows, and the responsibility of handling fuel safely at every stop. Booster’s daily work is built around removing friction for people doing one of the most demanding jobs in the country, whether they’re driving a customer’s fleet or wearing a Booster patch behind the wheel of a Smart Tanker.
What Does It Take to Keep Experienced Drivers on the Road?
The true cost of fueling extends well beyond the price at the pump. Refueling trips alone can cost drivers meaningful time off-route over the course of a year, and that lost time compounds across a fleet. Removing that burden is part of why mobile fuel delivery exists – so experienced drivers can spend their time driving, not searching for a station.
That burden matters even more given how hard the industry works just to keep an experienced driver in the seat. Annualized turnover at large truckload carriers has routinely run above 90% in recent years, according to data tracked by the American Trucking Associations, meaning many fleets are effectively replacing close to their entire driver roster within a single year. Every one of those departures carries real cost: industry retention research has put the price of replacing a single driver anywhere from the low five figures to well over $20,000, on top of the $3,000 to $10,000 a driver typically spends earning a CDL in the first place. When a fleet loses an experienced driver, it isn’t just losing a seat behind the wheel – it’s losing an investment that took real time and money to build.
Recognizing that reality is easy. Building a workforce pipeline that supports it long-term is harder, and it’s where Booster’s own hiring practices come in.
How Is Booster Helping Train the Next Generation of Drivers?
On Tuesday night, Booster was named Santa Clara County’s CalWORKs Achievement Awards Employer of the Year, recognized for hiring and job creation for CalWORKs participants working toward self-sufficiency. So far, Booster has hired 10 people through the county’s Employment Connection Program, filling roles across the business – Service Professionals, Sales Development Representatives, Customer Success Specialists, and a Customer Success Manager. We don’t think of the cities we deliver to as “markets.” They’re communities of people we work and live alongside, and we’re proud to grow the Booster team – both in our office and among our driver teams – right here where we work.
This award connects directly with National Truck Driver Week. After all, the professional drivers being celebrated this week didn’t start their careers as experienced drivers. Someone gave them a first role, training, and a path into the profession. Booster’s CalWORKs hiring reflects that same idea: bringing new and early-career drivers into the industry, training them, and giving them a route into the same profession this week is built to honor.
How Does Booster Build Careers From Entry-Level to Licensed Driver?
The CalWORKs recognition reflects a hiring philosophy that runs deeper than a single program. Booster’s Sales Development Representative track is one clear example: reps get hands-on experience working alongside the sales team and account executives, learning how to sell Booster from the ground up. Two recent SDRs have already moved up out of that track – one into an Account Executive role, the other into a Customer Success Specialist position.
Our hiring and team growth approach extends specifically to drivers. Booster has a long history of hiring passionate people who are looking to improve, grow, and pursue a real career in fuel delivery. If that passion doesn’t come with the necessary licensing and certifications, we give them the road to get there. Booster has provided on the job training pipelines to full-time driving positions for years. At one point, that training happened through an internal program, the Booster CDL Academy and the underlying commitment – hire first, train on the job, and build a path to a licensed, well-paying driving role – has continued beyond that specific program.
For an industry facing a well-documented shortage of licensed drivers, that kind of internal pipeline matters. Booster is also developing new entry points into driving roles as the company grows. It’s one thing to celebrate the professional drivers already on the road this week. It’s another to actively build the on-ramp for the next ones – which is closer to what Booster means when it names Bold as one of its core values: being brave enough to create the future rather than just operate within it.
What’s Next?
Progress like that doesn’t start with a truck. It starts with someone deciding to become a driver – whether they’ve spent twenty years doing it or are just getting their first shot at the profession through a program like CalWORKs.
People fuel progress at Booster, and the company is proud to be growing alongside local members of its California community through CalWORKs. What started as a handful of positions has become full teams, with real opportunities for promotion that create the kind of momentum that lifts everyone involved. As Booster expands across the country, the goal is to keep hiring locally, partnering locally, and working with the communities where it operates to build more than jobs – careers that bring real pride to the people doing them, in the office, behind the wheel, and in the fleet yards.
If your fleet relies on professional drivers, Booster is ready to help keep them fueled and moving. Contact our team to see how we can help you support your drivers on the road and off of it.