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What Are Those Things on the Back of Your Trailer?

Trailer tails and skirting are just one way drivers like Robin help us maintain our EPA SmartWay High Performer status year after year!

It’s a question our drivers are asked all the time, and our favorite vlogger Robin is here to tell you all about them.

As Robin mentions in her vlog, she gets asked about the “crazy things hanging off the back” of her trailer all the time. Another question is about the panels on the lower portion of the trailer between the wheels.

Mostly everyone in the trucking industry knows, but the questions come up from drivers of passenger vehicles, and even by forklift drivers at shipping and receiving yards.

Simply put, they’re called trailer tails and trailer skirting, and they’re aerodynamic add-ons designed to reduce fuel consumption. They’re one key to how Midwest Carriers has been repeatedly named an EPA SmartWay High Performer for reducing its carbon emissions.

For Robin, who spends a lot of her free time outdoors, driving for a carrier that places high importance on the environment is essential. But as those of you in the industry know, the only way to benefit from trailer tails is for the driver to set them up every time they close the trailer’s back doors. Sometimes trailer tails are difficult to use, and they’re prone to breaking, so drivers at other carriers don’t often take the time to use theirs. (We’re proud to say ours almost always do!)

We took notice and decided to make a change that makes reducing fuel consumption (which also leads to fuel bonuses!) easier on our drivers. We’re in the process of replacing our trailer tails with ones that are shorter, stronger, easier to use, and safer! The Rocketails we’re installing have no moving parts to maintain or break, and they open and close without driver involvement.

Think about the number of semis out on the road and how much cargo is transported daily. Nearly every item in your home was once in the back of a semi trailer. The trucking industry, as Robin points out, isn’t going anywhere. So the small steps we take as a company and you take as a driver are what lead to big change!

Watch Robin’s vlog today to find out why joining our care-minded team should be the next career move you make! Don’t forget to subscribe!

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Contact our Driver Employment Specialists today or call 920-462-5037!

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