---
title: Spec the Truck Your Drivers Want to Drive
description: Driver turnover costs building centres time and deliveries. How smart truck specs on visibility, access, controls and cab comfort help retain good drivers.
image: https://trinitytrucksales.ca/hubfs/Completed%20Deliveries/Roll-Offs%20(Kargo%20King)/HHDS%20Photos%20%20(A4%20(Landscape))%20(37).jpg
---
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# Spec the Truck Your Drivers Want to Drive
 **Phil Aitken**, President, Trinity Truck Sales • Oct 7, 2026, 5:09:21 PM • 3 min read
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If a building centre loses a good delivery driver, the exit interview usually talks about pay or hours. Sometimes that's the whole story. But I've talked to enough drivers over the years to know the truck is often part of it too.
A driver spends more hours in that cab than anywhere else at work. If the seat is worn out, the heater barely works, the mirrors don't show what they need to and every load means fighting the crane controls in the rain, it wears on them. Eventually someone down the road offers a nicer truck and a similar wage.
## The driver is part of the spec
On a spec call, we talk about loads, decks, cranes and weight ratings. We should also be talking about the person who has to run it nine hours a day.
That doesn't mean leather seats. It means a list of practical things that make the job easier and safer.
Visibility comes first. Good mirrors, a backup camera, and side cameras if the deck and crane block the view. Building centre trucks back into tight yards and job sites all day. A driver who can see what's behind them backs up faster and hits less.
Getting in and out matters more than people think. A delivery driver climbs in and out of the cab, onto the deck and down again dozens of times a day. Good steps, grab handles and deck access save knees and shoulders, and they cut down on slips in the winter.
Crane and forklift controls matter too. Controls that are easy to reach and easy to read speed up every drop. Remote controls on a crane let the operator stand where they can see the load instead of where the levers are.
Then there's the cab itself. A seat that adjusts properly, heat and air conditioning that work, and enough room for a driver's gear. These are small costs on a truck you'll keep for ten years.
## Easier to drive means more people can drive it
Some spec choices make a truck easier to staff as well as nicer to drive.
An automatic transmission means you don't need someone who learned on a manual. Hydraulic brakes, where the weight rating allows, can mean your drivers don't need an air brake endorsement. In some provinces, a two-axle truck can be driven on a regular licence where a tandem can't. [I covered the provincial licence rules in a recent post](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/same-truck-different-licence-how-provincial-rules-should-shape-your-fleet), and they can change who on your staff is able to drive.
Every one of those choices widens the pool of people who can take a truck out. In a small town, that's often the difference between a truck that runs and a truck that sits.
## Ask your drivers before you order
The simplest thing you can do is ask. Before you order your next truck, sit down with the people who'll drive it. Ask what they'd change about the current truck. Ask what slows them down, what hurts by quitting time, and what they've seen on other trucks that they wish they had.
You won't be able to give them everything. But they'll notice that you asked, and you'll learn things a spec sheet won't tell you.
## The cost of turnover
Replacing a driver means recruiting, training, and weeks of slower deliveries while the new person learns your customers and your routes. In a tight labour market, it can mean a truck sitting idle until you find someone.
A few thousand dollars spent on the cab and controls is small next to that. It's one of the cheapest retention tools you have.
If you want help building a spec that works for your drivers as well as your loads, give me a call. Bring your best driver's wish list.
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### Phil Aitken
President of Trinity Truck Sales. For 18 years Phil has spec'd, sourced and delivered work trucks for Canadian building centres. [Read Phil's story](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/our-story?hsLang=en) or call [(289) 527-4345](tel:12895274345).
Have a truck decision coming up?
## Send me your daily load and delivery radius
I'll come back with a spec, price and sourcing plan. No obligation, no lot-pushing.
[Get a Quote](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/contact-me-global?hsLang=en)
## Keep reading
[](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/your-truck-is-heavier-than-you-think-payload-after-the-deck-crane-and-moffett)
## [Your Truck Is Heavier Than You Think: Payload After the Deck, Crane and Moffett](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/your-truck-is-heavier-than-you-think-payload-after-the-deck-crane-and-moffett)
Oct 6, 2026, 10:47:23 AM
[Read the article →](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/your-truck-is-heavier-than-you-think-payload-after-the-deck-crane-and-moffett)
[](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/fewer-houses-more-apartments-what-that-means-for-your-delivery-fleet)
## [Fewer Houses, More Apartments: What That Means for Your Delivery Fleet](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/fewer-houses-more-apartments-what-that-means-for-your-delivery-fleet)
Oct 4, 2026, 9:54:33 PM
[Read the article →](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/fewer-houses-more-apartments-what-that-means-for-your-delivery-fleet)
[](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/the-2027-emissions-rules-what-s-changed-since-i-last-wrote-about-them)
## [The 2027 Emissions Rules: What's Changed Since I Last Wrote About Them](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/the-2027-emissions-rules-what-s-changed-since-i-last-wrote-about-them)
Oct 2, 2026, 9:06:18 AM
[Read the article →](https://trinitytrucksales.ca/phil-aitkens-bi-weekly/the-2027-emissions-rules-what-s-changed-since-i-last-wrote-about-them)
Trinity Truck Sales Inc.
Phil Aitken — President | (289) 527-4345 | [phil@trinitytrucksales.ca](mailto:phil@trinitytrucksales.ca)
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