Samsara launches free driver perks program with 50+ brands

Samsara launched Driver Perks in September 2024, a free rewards program giving professional drivers access to discounts from more than 50 brands spanning food, fitness, wellness, and travel. The program costs nothing to drivers or their employers. Partners include 24 Hour Fitness, Audible, Truck Parking Club, Pit Boss Grills, and Better Sleep.

Tens of thousands of drivers visited the perks site within weeks of launch, and redemptions ran at a high clip, according to Kelly Soderlund, Samsara's Head of Insights. The company shaped the brand lineup using driver surveys and input from a standing Samsara Driver Council that includes short-haul, last-mile, commuter, and long-haul operators.

What perks did drivers ask for?

Driver feedback drove the category mix. Soderlund said the team expected convenience items to top the list but found that fitness memberships, audiobooks, and travel ranked highest. Drivers prioritized off-road well-being and family time. One unanticipated finding: strong demand for portable grills and outdoor cooking gear, prompting the Pit Boss Grills partnership.

The business rationale for focusing on individual drivers rather than solely on the fleet customers who pay Samsara's bills is straightforward, Soderlund said. "They're the ones who are gonna have to, at the end of the day, be adopting the technology," she said. "They're on the front lines." Fleets deploying new telematics tools depend on driver buy-in, making satisfaction a direct factor in product stickiness.

Driver Cup competition scored on telematics data

Alongside the perks rollout, Samsara ran the Driver Cup, a competition scored on actual telematics data measuring safety, compliance, and efficiency. Winners represented the top 1% of drivers nationally. Samsara staff traveled in person to award recipients, first to the Tillamook factory in Oregon, then to Crum Trucking in Indiana, where roughly 60 team members gathered to celebrate their drivers. The company also placed driver recognition advertising in Times Square in New York.

Samsara framed the September initiative as the start of a sustained effort rather than a standalone campaign. The company noted National Truckers Day on October 4 as an immediate next milestone and said it plans to continue in-person recognition events, expand the perks marketplace based on ongoing driver input, and incorporate appreciation features throughout its core product, including in-app kudos and safety milestone competitions that already run year-round.

Why retention programs matter for small fleets

Driver retention remains a top challenge for fleets of all sizes. Small fleets competing against large carriers for qualified drivers face pressure to offer benefits beyond base pay. Free perks programs like Samsara's demonstrate how technology providers are expanding their value proposition beyond compliance tools to address workforce stability.

Fleets struggling with turnover can take a lesson from the driver feedback Samsara collected: drivers value wellness, family time, and recognition as much as or more than convenience perks. Reserved parking costs $150 a month and solves driver turnover by addressing a daily pain point. Fitness memberships, audiobooks, and travel discounts address off-duty quality of life, a retention lever small fleets can pull without adding payroll cost.

What small fleets can do this week

If you run a small fleet and want to improve retention without raising pay, ask your drivers what they actually want. Samsara's survey results show that assumptions about convenience often miss the mark. Drivers want family time, wellness support, and recognition. You don't need a 50-brand marketplace to deliver that. Start with one or two partnerships, a quarterly safety competition with public recognition, or a simple in-person thank-you event. The cost is low. The signal to your drivers is clear.