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[Draxxalon]

I'd like to see "hauling" become a profession, with the related skill gains etc.

Or a series of professions, for each hauling job.  (There are nuances for transporting different types of materials, so a series of professions could make sense)

Hauling is the lifeblood of the fortress... yet the haulers get paid 1 per job, and never get any better at it.    The only way to make "good haulers" is to make a dwarf skill up on another skill (I use detailing), and then turn them into haulers once they have gained enough strength/agility to make them effective.

We've got hauling professions (couriers, garbage men, delivery men, etc, etc) in our world, it makes sense for the dwarves to have them too!

[John]

I generally start setting up my lower-level masons and the peasants who aren't drafted, as haulers after the first few migrations anyway - I turn off all activities but hauling jobs and change their profession title.  As a skill, this would be really nice, though.

[w]

And for anyone doubting that "experience" matters in hauling:

I got some friends to help with moving.  My piano - not a particularly big one - took something like five of us, and was a big production, with everybody getting in each other's way, taking an immense amount of time, and everybody winding up dog tired at the end.

Years later, when I moved again, I hired professionals.  Two guys - not particularly big and in fact smaller than some of us - picked up my piano like it was no big thing, and zip zip zip, it was moved, no problem.

[mrshirt]

Making it a skill would be nice, at least insofar as allowing them to gain attributes.

[Aquillion]

Once detailed item damage is in, there could even be a chance of fragile items suffering minor damage in transit, based on skill...  Smooth, clear floors and clear corridors could reduce this chance, while rough corridors or bridges, cluttered pathways, and crowded areas could increase it.  Objects could get spilled from carried barrels, too.  It'd logical to assume that carrying a glass box or a barrel of seeds through a crowded, rough-hewn corridor would require skill and practice.

Although perhaps that would be too irritating...

[Cerej]

I don't think that barrels should spill.  Buckets definitly, bags possibly, backpacks not often at all, and barrels only when the cosmos aligns to spite you.

Seriously, barrels come with lids.  Sure, there is gradual evaporation from a barrel (we're talking years here) but until a barrel is tapped they're water and alcohol tight.  And a tapped barrel can be resealed.  Not every new feature has to come with a jab to the face.  Some things can just be good with no drawbacks.

I agree with the general sentiment that hauling could use a profession.  I'd like to add that once (if) multi-dwarf jobs are implemented hauling should be the first task to benefit.