Every time you look at the business section of a newspaper these days, you’ll see plenty of articles about economic recovery in this post-COVID world we now live in.  This “new” workplace has spawned an abundance of one specific type of industry in my local area.

Warehouses.

Now I’m not talking about your typical Mom & Pop trucking company with three bays and a forklift, I’m talking about mammoth complexes, sporting hundreds of shipping bays, millions of square feet of storage space, an army of forklifts, and thousands (yes, I said thousands) of tractor-trailers filled with goods to be transported and delivered.

My local area has the unique geography of having two major interstate highways intersect within the county.  I-70 goes east-to-west, and I-81 goes north to south (we’re also only about an hour or so away from the I-95 corridor).  This major roadway hub allows easy transport of products to anywhere along the Eastern seaboard.  In fact, Proctor & Gamble recently built a new mega-manufacturing complex nearby (I briefly worked there for a time), and one of their main draws was that they claimed to be within two day’s driving distance of over 85% of the entire U.S .population.

Every Fortune 500 company you can think of has gigantic warehouse hubs near me.  Target, Macy’s, Amazon, Fed-Ex – the list goes on and on.  Construction announcements for new facilities are becoming routine.  Last month, plans for two new mega-structures (1 million and 600,000 square feet, respectively) were just revealed, which will add to the growing roster of warehouse acreage that now dots our local landscape.

For now, my local area can’t seem to find enough warehouse employees, truck drivers, local delivery drivers, and other support positions.  It’s definitely a “worker’s market”, where one can get lucrative signing bonuses, healthcare benefits, and even 401(k) retirement plans as part of their employment packages.  Starting pay is at $15/hr and up, so it’s a “boom time” for the warehouse industry.  If you want a job in my area right now – there are plenty available.

While these complexes create jobs, add to the local tax base, and provide valuable supporting economic activity (such as truck stops, truck repair shops, hotels, diners, and other support businesses), they also create their own share of problems.

The idyllic farmland and rolling hills of my local area is being replaced by long corrugated rooftops, massive concrete buildings, paved parking lots, and dozens of light poles (for night work).  All of these additional tractor-trailers traversing local roads not designed to handle the load (either by width, lane size, or even bridge weight) creates infrastructure and traffic issues.  Yes, for the most part, these are decent paying jobs, but as someone who has worked in a warehouse unloading trucks in my time, I can tell you that this type of labor is back-breaking, constant work where deadlines and 100%+ capacity for the movement of goods is not only expected – it’s a requirement.  Trust me, these “warehouse warriors” earn every penny of their paycheck.  Next-day delivery of your Amazon order doesn’t happen by itself, you know (think about that the next time you hit that “click to buy” button on your favorite retail site).  This type of hard, repetitive work sometimes leads to injuries and long-term medical issues that can leave a twenty-five year old with the body of a senior citizen, enduring a lifetime of aches and pains. 

Lastly, what is the future of these jobs?  There is the continued automation of warehouse positions and transportation systems – even in my area.  That P&G plant I mentioned?  Its entire warehouse has automated forklifts (dozens of them), that only require a fraction of the personnel required to staff a similar sized facility that requires actual “human” drivers.  Automated, self-driving big-rigs are also starting to make appearances on European routes, and their eventual import and adoption to American roads seems like a certainty.  Drone delivery is becoming more and more prevalent in urban areas.  Someday soon it could possibly be “bye-bye”, long-haul truckers and short-haul delivery drivers.

So, how long will the “boom times” last?  Only time will tell, but I only hope that once the dust has settled, our local area still retains its rural charm and heritage.  The last thing anyone wants twenty years from now is to drive along long stretches of road littered with abandoned, empty, concrete and steel buildings decaying across the landscape.

I guess we’ll see.