On the eve of wrapping up the US
leg of her wildly successful Eras
Tour, Swift thanked crew members who were in charge
of heavy lifting on the road with her with a hefty bonus.
Swift stunned the tour’s trucking
staff by giving each trucker a check of $100,000, said Michael Scherkenbach,
founder and CEO of Denver, Colorado-based Shomotion trucking company.
A total of nearly 50 members of
the trucking crews received the six-figure bonus.
The typical amount is $5,000 to
$10,000 each. So this large amount is unbelievable. But more than that,
Scherkenbach said
“It is a “life-changing” amount of
money. These men and women live on the road. They sleep during the day and work
all night.They leave their families, young children for weeks. For Taylor’s
tour, they were away from home for 24 weeks. $100,000 is a down payment on a house or
college tuition for a child. Look, fair wage doesn’t put you in a position to
buy a home. But this opens up that possibility.”
Scherkenbach said his drivers were called into
what they thought was a routine production meeting on Monday. It was anything
but that.
Then Swift’s father, Scott Swift, made a
surprise visit.
“The Taylor family is always present and kind
to our drivers but Scott generally doesn’t lead the meeting,” said
Scherkenbach. “Scott gave a speech saying that he had discussed this with
Taylor and they thought that it was only right that everybody received a bonus.
Taylor insisted on writing a handwritten note to each driver and added a wax
seal on the envelope with her monogram.”
Each envelope stated the amount of the bonus.
“The drivers didn’t want to be rude and look at it. But one looked and thought
it said $1,000, another driver saw it as $10,000 and then the third said ‘Well
this has to be a joke!’”
In addition to his staff, other tour crew
members, including those in catering, video, audio and lighting, also received
bonuses.
As of June, the tour raked in more than $300 million. At that time, more than 1.1 million tickets had been sold at an average price of $253.
Forbes estimated Swift herself grossed $110 million from the first 22 performances of the tour. The publication projected the Eras Tour will gross $1.6 billion.
Swift's net worth is an estimated $740 million, making her one of the richest self-made women in the U.S., according to Forbes.
The Eras Tour – during which Swift performs hits from all of her past "eras" – kicked off in March and ended its U.S. leg in Los Angeles this weekend.
She will embark
on the international leg of
the tour later this month, starting in Mexico.
From CNN and CBSNews (adapted)
