This week is Truck Driver Appreciation Week, and there are plenty of reasons to say thank you.

Every day, truck drivers move the products that keep our country running. Food, medicine, building materials, fuel, equipment and just about everything else we depend on has probably spent some time in the back of a truck.

But appreciation should mean more than a post on social media once a year.

At MyStandard, we have been thinking a lot about what it would actually look like to give truck drivers more control over their careers.

One of the biggest problems we hear about is something that seems simple, but has become a major frustration for drivers: their data.

A driver’s experience, employment history, qualifications, certifications and other professional information can be incredibly valuable. Yet drivers often have very little control over who gets access to that information, how it gets used, or how many companies can contact them once their information is out there.

We think there should be a better way.

That is why we are working with organizations in the trucking industry to bring MyStandard to drivers.

The idea is pretty straightforward. A driver creates a profile that belongs to them. They can build out their professional information, verify their experience and credentials, and decide when they want to share that information with a company.

Instead of putting their information into another database and hoping the right employer finds them, the driver has a say in the process.

And when a company wants access to information, the driver can choose whether to engage.

That matters because finding a better job should not mean opening yourself up to endless calls, texts and messages from recruiters.

Drivers should be able to engage on their terms.

We are also working on something that we think could fundamentally change the relationship between workers and their professional data.

When a company requests information from a driver through MyStandard, there is an opportunity for the driver to be compensated for the value of that data.

That is an important shift because companies have built enormous databases around workers and their professional histories. The people who created that information rarely received anything in return.

We believe the person creating the data should have a say in how it is used and should have the opportunity to benefit from its value.

Our work in trucking is still getting started, but we are already working with organizations that share this vision. We are focused on building something that can actually be useful to drivers, carriers and the broader trucking industry.

And we know that technology by itself is not the answer.

Truck drivers do not need another complicated platform or another company telling them how to do their jobs. They need tools that respect their time, their privacy and their experience.

That is what we are trying to build.

So during Truck Driver Appreciation Week, yes, we want to say thank you.

Thank you to the drivers who spend long hours away from their families.

Thank you to the people navigating highways, loading docks, traffic, weather and impossible schedules so the rest of us can get what we need.

And thank you to the drivers who have made trucking their career and continue to keep this industry moving.

But we also want to go a step further.

We want to help build a future where drivers have more control over their professional identity, more control over who gets access to their information, and more opportunity to benefit from the value they create.

Because appreciation should not be limited to one week in September.

It should show up in the way we build the future of work.

To every truck driver out there, thank you for keeping America moving.

And when opportunity knocks, we think you should get to decide whether you answer.

MyStandard

Get paid when opportunity knocks.