Business Insider Edition
One of the world's most ubiquitous beverage companies is powered by people like Miguel Santiago, a 66-year-old from the Bronx. Santiago has worked for Coca-Cola for 20 years.
Every weekday, Santiago drives a truck full of Coca-Cola products to New York City's Penn Station. Along with his helper Louis Gonzales, who has worked for Coca-Cola for 18 years, he unloads the truck and stocks shelves.
As a Liberty Coca-Cola spokesperson told Business Insider, each truck can hold up to 600 cases, and a case contains 24 bottles. That means that on any given day, they could be handling up to as many as 14,400 bottles.
I followed the two around for a day to see what a day in their lives is like.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
New York is a bit eerie at 3:30 a.m. on a Tuesday. For the city that never sleeps, my neighborhood was surprisingly desolate.
The trip from my apartment near Prospect Park to the Bronx took 30 minutes by car, but by public transit at that hour it would havetaken more than an hour and a half.
I arrived at 4 a.m. to meet Santiago outside of his truck. He has a car and it only takes him about five minutes to drive to work.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Turns out, he loves the morning shift because it lets him spend time with his family after work.
He's on the quiet side, but he was keen to talk about his granddaughter, who just celebrated her 16th birthday.
"She never misses a day of school, even when she's sick she goes to school," Santiago said. "We want her to go to college. I know she has to take some tests."
There's only one problem with his schedule: He has to go to bed at 8 p.m. and misses watching sports. His favorite sport is baseball and follows the Mets. "They stink,"Santiago admitted.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
By 4:30 a.m., Santiago had received his truck assignment and was checking that all of the stock was there, in addition to checking the engine and loading the truck with carts.
The whole process took under an hour.
He sees a different set of customers every day. Mondays and Tuesdays are the busiest as customers are stocking up for the week. Fridays are busy too, because they're stocking up for the weekend.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
There are more than 100 delivery drivers at Liberty Coca-Cola in the Bronx. Santiago is the 13th most senior driver at Liberty, so he gets his first choice of route, which is delivering to outlets in Penn Station. That's been his route for 10 years.
This route doesn't require much driving, which is why Santiago likes it. You park and unload your goods, making deliveries by foot to a few different outlets.
Inside the Liberty building,Santiagogathered with the other drivers to hear the announcements of the day and to do some stretches together.
He received his printing and scanning machine, which was loaded with information on all of the customers needing deliveries that day.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Those in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, or Delaware have probably bought a Coke product through Liberty Coca-Cola .
With 10 distribution centers and three manufacturing plants, Liberty Coca-Cola serves a population of 28.3 million.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Santiago listened to Spanish music on the way to Manhattan an energetic choice for an early morning.
When he's driving in his personal time, he listens to the news. But he said that if he listens to the news for too long during the workday, the stories start to repeat.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
He had a few more customers that opened by 8 a.m., but most of them opened at 11. That meant he had time to unload the truck, and take a quick break.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
By 7:20 a.m. Santiago had been at work for more than three hours, so it was kind of his lunch break.
I'm usually not even awake by this time. I got a large coffee and a sandwich to reach normal energy levels.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Gonzales is also a 60-something man who lives in the Bronx. He gets up even earlier than Santiago: 3 a.m.
He helps Santiago and two other drivers during his day. It's a 12-hour shift.
"I like it, so I don't mind. That's the best part, if you enjoy what you're doing, it doesn't bother you," Gonzales said between bites of a Tupperware of Doritos he snacks on during the day. "I think that's the best thing, enjoy what you do."
Google Maps Screenshot
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
This happens pretty frequently, Santiago said. It's stressful driving in New York, as, year over year, there are fewer and fewer parking options. He's noticed over time that the streets have also gotten more narrow due to the addition of bike lanes and bus lanes.
Those lanes are good for the people who use them, but they complicatethe lives of delivery drivers who need to park in one of the most denselypopulated cities on earth.
"Ten years we're all gonna be on the sidewalk the cars, the people," Gonzales joked. "It's horrible when it comes to parking."
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
I'd been out and about for more than five hours. Usually, I wake up at this time.
While they made another delivery at a building that wouldn't allow me to get in (I needed a certain kind of insurance), I grabbed a cup of black tea.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
By the time they wrapped up the delivery at the vendor I couldn't get access to, it was already 9:20. That left nearly two hours to unload dozens of cases, each with 24 bottles, and several carbon tanks full of the gas that gives soda its fizz. Then, they have to push the carts with the beverages through the underpass of Penn Station to get to each vendor.
As they unloaded, I chatted with Gonzales. He said he plans on retiring in 2019 and moving back to Puerto Rico, where he lived until he was 5.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Gonzales said these carts sometimes fill up the entire sidewalk, but fewer folks are buying cold beverages as the weather gets chillier. Business will pick back up in November and December for the holiday season, then slow down again until the springtime.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Santiago told me later that one benefit of his job is staying in shape so he can practice sports with his granddaughter. She's a Taekwondo champ who has competed around New York City.
"She's good at everything," Santiago said. "She's a black belt in Taekwondo. She plays softball in the summertime and now she's playing soccer. Everything she does, she's good at. She also plays the trumpet and the drums and a little bit of the piano."
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Santiago noticed there were two missing cases of Sprite, sohe went into the system to make sure the customer wasn't charged for them.
Gonzales entertained my question of how many bottles in total they're about to deliver. He sketched out the hefty multiplication problem on a piece of plastic.
"Not exact, more or less, about 4,000 plus," Gonzales concluded.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
The freight elevator holds up to 16,000 pounds. A normal passenger elevator, for comparison, maxes out around 2,500.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
I expected them to be exhausted, but they remained in high spirits.
I ask them for a quick photo shoot before Gonzales took off again.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
He hung up his printer and scanner. One of the vendors had paid cash for their beverage delivery (nearly $900!), so he gave that cash to the manager.
He also told someone about the two missing Sprites.
Rachel Premack/Business Insider
Santiago told me that he usually goes home and eats lunch with his wife. Lunch changes every day the day before was Chinese food.
By then, it was just one more hour until his granddaughter would be coming home from school.
Are you a truck driver with a story to share? Email the author at rpremack@businessinsider.com.
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