You don't have to be in the trucking business long to learn that not all driving jobs are created equal. Equipment, length of haul, and loading and unloading policies are just some of the differences that can make one job more attractive than another.

Then there are the pay and benefits. Those can also vary widely from carrier to carrier. As we reported in these pages earlier this year, driver pay has been flat over the last couple of years. Furthermore, pay is not always the primary factor in one's decision to sign on with a carrier.

But, for those who want to make more money, the general rule is that more miles and more time on the road equals more money in one's pocket.

There are exceptions to the rule. Specialized and dedicated hauling can bring in more money with fewer miles, but drivers still tend to be on the road for many days at a time.

"For the Jerry McGuire types who say, 'Show me the money,' we have platforms for them to make good money," says Bud Pierce, a recruiter with C.R. England, of Salt Lake City.

"Our leased owner operators tend to want to get plenty of miles and we have those kinds of long hauls," Pierce says. "You have the potential to make much more money."

Pierce says that C.R. England also has picked up more dedicated freight in recent years, which can also pay more for experienced drivers or owner-operators.

Experience is key. Many top-money driving jobs involve specialized or critical freight, which require more than just driving a truck from point A to point B.

HIGH VALUE
Most companies handling high value and specialized freight look for experienced operators who know about customer service and also have a track record of delivering their loads on time and in one piece. These operators must also be able to deal with the responsibility of having multi-million dollar loads in their trailers.

North American Van Lines, for instance, runs a specialized division for hauling high-value loads. These loads include hospital equipment, trade show exhibits, electronics, fine art and industrial equipment.

SPECIALISTS
These loads are typically given to "our more experienced" owner-operators, according to the company's recruitment literature. These operators are "specialists who are justifiably proud of their record of delivering billions of dollars in products, on time, without damage," North American says.

High value or specialized hauls require significant customer service. For instance, Horseless Carriage Carriers, Patterson, NJ, offers enclosed van hauling for vintage, new and antique cars and trucks.

According to the company, their owner-operators deliver new Rolls Royce, Bentley, Ferrari and other high-end vehicles to dealers nationwide. The company says they will often deliver the car to the end buyer. The value of any one of these vehicles can top $200,000 and must be handled with care. Again, experience in this area counts.

EXPLOSIVE WORK
In recent months, we spoke with a husband-wife team that hauls explosives. While not wanting to be quoted by name, the couple did say they earned much more than the average rate, but the job requires special handling skills and requirements from one end to the other.

The trucks are tracked via GPS and cannot be left unattended. Furthermore, following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, such haulers must pass federal background checks.

Still, even with the high-dollar loads, the old maxim tends to apply: lots of miles, lots of time on the road.

There are exceptions to the lots-of-miles rule, however.

Grover Garten and Bill Janz have driving jobs that "are like being on vacation every day," Garten says. Both drive for MB Network Towers, Sterling, OH, which supplies boom camera and antenna trucks for sporting events such as PGA golf tournaments or Winston Cup stock car races.

The drivers drive their Class 8 trucks with boom cranes attached to an event location, set up and then lift a cameraman a hundred or more feet in the air to take eye-in-the-sky shots.

VETERAN TRUCKERS
We spoke with both men last summer while they were working an LPGA event in Vallejo, CA. Both are veteran truckers. Janz says his father and father-in-law were truckers and that he's driven "about every kind" of truck during his 30-year career.

Garten, who also is a 30-year veteran, did mostly heavy-haul in his early career. "I hauled rice dryers, generators, stuff that always had escorts, permits and restricted driving."

Garten says he decided to make a change when he realized he could still make above average money and not have to deal with tarps and escorts. "I was getting to an age I didn't need that junk anymore," he says. "With this job, you come here, you set up and you're done until the tournament is over."

Garten and Janz don't get that many miles, but they stay on the road for extended stretches of time. Typically, they will arrive at an event on Tuesday; set up for the telecast and only move their truck once or twice until the event is over on Sunday. Then it is off to the next site.

SEVEN DAYS
"It's a seven-day-a-week job," Garten notes, but much of the work is watching over their crane trucks during the run of the event. While at the event, the drivers man their trucks during event telecasts, making sure cameras and relay antennas are in the correct position.

Generally, the drivers are on the road from the first week in January until early December. Once or twice during the season, they will fly home for a week or two of vacation while another driver spells them.

Although they are away from home for weeks at a time, the job has its perks, such as getting to play golf at some of the great courses in the country. As Janz puts it, "You can't beat this job. It beats the hell out of regular trucking."

ICY DUTY
Another type of job where drivers don't get a lot of miles is running the famed ice road in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The road—which is runs over frozen lakes and portages—is open roughly from late January to March and runs from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to two diamond mines and a gold mine about 240 miles to the northeast.

"The haul essentially begins in January or early February, depending upon the weather," says Janet Robinson, of Robinson Truck Lines, in Yellowknife.

During the rest of the year, the only access to the mines is via airplane, so the trucks haul as much as they can during the ice road season, according to Robinson.

During the peak of the ice road season, RTL will run from 450 to 500 trucks, about two-thirds of which are leased operators, owner-operators or subcontracting fleets.

Driving over frozen lakebeds in the middle of winter sounds dangerous, and it can be, if rules aren't followed. But Robinson says it is not a high-risk job.

"I've gone to extensive lengths to make sure drivers understand that this is not a high-risk enterprise," she says. "It's very calculated. The trucks aren't to drive too close to each other; there are rules to follow. When the rules are followed and the ice is monitored and the drivers are attentive, it is not a high-risk operation. I'd say it's a calculated risk."

In fact, monotony may be the biggest risk. A run to the farthest diamond mine—255 miles—takes two and a half days round-trip. To run to the closet mine, which is 220 miles from Yellowknife, takes about two days.

Nice work if you can get it.

"It's not very far, but northbound loads can only run 30 kilometer per hour (about 19 mph). Southbound, if they are unloaded, they can zip along at around 40 kilometers per hour (about 25 mph).”

As for pay, Robinson would only say that the work is "lucrative. We've released pay information before, but I'm not going to do that. It's an intense period of time when there is a lot of work for the drivers. That's what makes drivers want to come back season after season."

EXPERIENCE COUNTS
As with other top paying jobs, experience counts. "We'd like a new guy to have at least a couple of years under his belt," Robinson explains. "Experience driving in winter conditions is also good to have, but we provide a lot of training that is specific to winter road driving. We provide that for each driver with new drivers getting a more intensive course."

Robinson notes that the cargo into the mines can be very high-value, including fuel, machinery, construction equipment, etc.

But the cargo from the mines is not trucked. "We don't know what they do with the diamonds," she says. "I think they fly those out."