River Page of The Free Press sits down for a candid conversation about End of the Road
Two Drinks with . . . a Very Angry Truck Driver
Truck driving is the most common occupation for young men without a degree. Yet, says Gord Magill, today they are forced to contend with shrinking wages, exploited migrants, and constant surveillance.
By River Page 04.10.26
I meet Gord Magill at Fall Creek House in Ithaca, New York. It’s a dive bar, a real one, cash only, with a bathroom door that doesn’t lock and Miller Lite ads taped onto the wall. Across the street is a towering red brick smokestack with the words ITHACA GUNS inlaid in white stone, the last remnant of a firearms factory that shuttered in the 1980s.
Although he has lived in Ithaca, his wife’s hometown, for about 10 years, Magill has been everywhere. He was born in Canada and began trucking as a teenager, following in his dad’s footsteps. He spent nearly three decades driving all around North America, as well as Australia and New Zealand, hauling just about everything you can imagine: logs, produce, waste-oil sludge. Magill, who’s 47, tells me he lost his last trucking job two-and-a-half years ago. He still has his license, but he’s spent the last few years working construction; he hasn’t found a trucking company that’ll pay him enough to deal with the bullshit.
