More than just a thank you bonus. Singer Taylor Swift offered a check for 100,000 dollars (about 91,000 euros) to each of the truck drivers who accompanied her on her American tour “The Eras Tour”, learned CNN.
It was the boss of the transport company who confirmed it to the American channel. “Typically, these bonus awards are around $5,000 or $10,000. So such a sum is unimaginable, ”acknowledged Michael Scherkenbach, head of the company based in Denver, Colorado.
A sum to “buy a house”
The truckers employed by Michael Scherkenbach are notably responsible for transporting the stage and the adjoining structures, “the skeleton of everything that is installed at the concert”, he summarized. In total, fifty people received a check from Taylor Swift, bringing the total sum to $ 5 million.
The entrepreneur evokes a sum of money “which changes the lives” of his employees. “These men and women live on the road. They sleep during the day and work at night. (…) They leave their family, their young children, for weeks. For Taylor’s tour, they were away from home for 24 weeks,” Michael Scherkenbach insisted to CNN.
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Faced with a salary “which does not put them in a position where they can buy a house”, this sum will open up possibilities for them, whether for a real estate purchase or the financing of a child’s university tuition.
A special meeting to organize the delivery of checks
The truckers were called last Monday for what they thought would be a routine meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming concerts, as the star begins a series of six concerts this Thursday evening at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
At that moment came the singer’s father, Scott Swift, who explained to the team members that they had had a discussion and that they thought it was only doing them justice to grant them a all a bonus. “Taylor insisted on writing a personal note to each driver,” said Michael Scherkenbach.
The employees then discovered without believing the amount allocated to them. “The first who looked thought he read 1,000 dollars, the second 10,000 and the third thought it must be a joke,” joked the entrepreneur. According to him, other members of the tour’s technical teams also received bonuses for their involvement.