The Driver Helper

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Hey everyone, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. As we continue our series on job descriptions, task, and their opportunities, I thought we’d stick with transportation as a topic. Tonight, I want to dig into a position that doesn’t always get the spotlight but is absolutely critical across several industries, the driver helper. It’s one of those roles that can look a little different depending on where you find it: the moving industry, the furniture world, beverage distribution, and foodservice distribution to name a few. But no matter where you’re starting out, it’s a position that teaches you the fundamentals, sets you up for growth, and can really be a gateway to a rewarding career.

So, what’s a Driver Helper? Well, it’s someone who works alongside a driver to make sure deliveries are completed efficiently, safely, and often with a bit of customer service thrown in for good measure. The driver is responsible for the vehicle, the route, and the delivery paperwork, but the helper? They’re the hands, the muscle, and sometimes even the face of the company on the customer’s doorstep.

It’s a role built on teamwork too. A good driver and helper pair up like a well-oiled machine, each knows what the other is doing, they split the work, and they get those deliveries done.

Now, let’s start with the moving industry.

Think about it—when you’re moving from one house to another, or when a business relocates, it’s the moving crew that shows up. The helpers are the ones carefully carrying furniture, boxes, appliances, and loading or unloading the trailer along with the driver. He or she is also in charge of the paperwork, any manifest or paper work and knows the directions!

A few tools of the trade would be, dollies and hand trucks. We’ll be talking about several different types of dollies and hand trucks today with each industry’s take on each model. A moving dolly is typically a square platform with 4 caster wheels on it, where you can lay an item on it, office cubical, household item, bulky item and such, and roll it around, or use it to ease something around a corner. They may also use a hand truck with a wide upright on it with a rachet belt on it, it’ll hold things against the frame. Think of things like a refrigerator or desk credenza. Other typical tools are furniture pads and straps, shrink wrap, tie-downs, and sometimes ramps, but more often a box truck with a tommy lift on it, which is a hydraulic liftgate, a device that lifts heavy cargo into or out of a box truck or trailer.

Helpers here learn about proper lifting techniques, weight distribution, and packing skills, because if something shifts or gets damaged, the whole company hears about it.

From helper, you can move into being a lead mover, then into a driver role. Many who start as helpers in this industry eventually earn their CDL and become household movers or even owners of small moving businesses. It’s a great spot to learn both the physical side of the job and the customer service side.

Now, let’s shift into the furniture and appliance industries. Similar, but also a bit different. Here, the deliveries are often to the customer’s home or sometimes into office spaces. Think couches, tables, desks, beds, washers, dryers, and refrigerators and freezers.

Here we’ll use those furniture dollies, straps, and sliders. We’ll also have and know how to use tools for assembly or disassembly. Think wrenches, drills, screwdrivers, dryer vents, ice cube water lines, stuff like that.

We’ll need a little training on handling bulky but fragile items, no one wants a scratch on their brand new dining table. It’s a bit more of a team effort, we’ll work closely with the driver.

What makes this industry unique is the customer interaction. You’re not just dropping off a package at the door—you’re inside the customer’s home. That means training in professionalism, communication, and respect for someone’s space. Helpers here often learn to assist in assembling products, which gives them additional skills.

Here, from helper, you might move into driver, storage supervisor, or even customer service and sales. A lot of furniture companies like to promote from within, and that hands on experience with the product makes you valuable in roles beyond just delivery.

Now, let’s get into the beverage distribution world, one of the most common places you’ll find driver helpers.

This is the guy or gal riding shotgun with the route driver who’s delivering sodas, beer, or water to convenience stores, restaurants, or grocery chains. And each one of those end users bring unique differences and challenges along with them.

These Two-wheelers or hand trucks are a bit different. The frames are going to be a little narrower, the blades will be a bit longer and thinner, for scooping stacks of cases. This industry may also use lift gates. Sometimes special equipment for moving kegs safely. Depending on what there carrying and where there delivering you may see those truck mounted forklifts, sometimes called piggyback forklifts, and I’ve heard them called spiders, and a moffett. Moffett is actually a well known brand name for this type of forklift

We’ll want and need a little training in handling cases, stacking, and rotation of product.

And I want to throw in, since we mentioned a piece of powered equipment, to never touch or get on a piece of equipment you’re not trained on and certified to operate.

This is physical work—cases can weigh 30–50 pounds, and kegs even more, and helpers may move hundreds of cases in a shift. But it’s steady work, and it teaches you about time management, route efficiency, and merchandising. Again, teamwork and customer service come into play with this position.

A beverage helper might work into a route driver position, then into route sales, and even into supervisory or merchandising roles. It’s one of those industries where the helper role is really seen as a steppingstone. Many distribution companies even design it that way, you start as a helper, you show up every day, and when the company has an opening, they’ll put you through CDL school and you’ll have your own truck, routes and customers.

And now let’s talk about the foodservice distribution driver helper.

These helpers will be using ramps or lift gates as well, two-wheelers or hand trucks, breakdown hand trucks, hand trucks with brakes even. Maybe even small electric pallet jacks, designed to move around in the back of trailers, and run pallets on the delivery dock at hotels, hospitals, or on sidewalks at restaurants, schools, and nursing homes. Rolling carts can be used for things like breads and packaged products.

Foodservice deliveries can be one of the toughest helper jobs physically. These deliveries can be hundreds of cases per stop, often down ramps, through kitchens, or into storage rooms. Helpers learn quickly about organization, safety, and efficiency. Here again, helpers often become drivers. But from there, opportunities branch out, into warehouse, routing and dispatch, even into management.

So across all these industries, what’s common? Of course safety training. Proper lifting, PPE, hydration, and knowing your limits. Equipment use. Hand trucks, dollies, straps, lift gates, ramps. Customer interaction. Whether you’re in someone’s living room or a restaurant’s back door, you’re representing the company. Oh, and time management. Routes are tight, schedules are strict. Helpers learn to hustle without cutting corners.

Many companies also provide training in ergonomics, defensive driving awareness, and even customer service workshops.

Now, let’s talk about where this role can take us.

Being a helper can be the first step toward a CDL license. Many companies want to promote helpers into driver positions because they’ve already proven themselves. It’s easier to invest in someone who knows the product, the job, the routes, and the customers.

Helpers often move into warehouse roles like loader, unloader, or selector. Routing and dispatch positions. Sales and merchandising for beverage and foodservice industries. Supervisory or lead roles, eventually moving up into management.

I’ve seen helpers go from pushing a two-wheeler of soda cases to becoming route supervisors, distribution managers, and even regional VPs. That’s the power of starting in the trenches, you know the work, and you earn respect along the way.

The Driver Helper role might not sound glamorous, but it’s the kind of position that teaches you discipline, teamwork, and grit. You’ll learn tools, customer service, and efficiency. And if you stick with it, show up on time, and give it your best, it can absolutely be the launchpad to a long and rewarding career.

So, whether you’re helping a family move across town, delivering a new sofa, stacking cases of soda, or running foodservice deliveries, remember, helpers today can be drivers, leaders, and even executives tomorrow.

Well, we could go on for another hour talking about the driver helper positions, and transportation as a whole. But I need to get back to work! Thanks for stopping in again today and I hope you make it again next week. Until then, keep the freight moving and be safe out there.