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November 23, 1999 10:08 AM, EST

As Americans prepare to consume 45 million Thanksgiving turkeys, among them will be thousands of truck drivers who will be dining with their families, thanks to creative scheduling on the operations end and co-workers who would rather be on the road during the holiday.

A few truckload carriers have arranged special scheduling and routing to ensure at least some of their drivers can spend the holiday at home. Some companies are giving their driving staff the whole day off. Still others are letting schedulers determine whether to give truckers a break from the highway.

Schneider National, a truckload carrier based in Green Bay, Wis., makes sure all 14,000 of its drivers get home during the holiday weekend. Bill Matheson, Schneider’s vice president of operations, said planning ahead makes this possible.

“Our difficulty is finding loads to keep drivers well-utilized during the short week and weekend period. Fifty percent of our customers are open the day after Thanksgiving, and there are more drivers than work.

For the full story, see the Nov. 22 print edition of Transport Topics. .