From The Driver's Seat: Uniform Program Enhancements

Welcome to From the Driver Seat, the Averitt podcast for all Averitt drivers to keep up with news and information across our network. Make sure to subscribe on your preferred podcasting app to make sure you're notified as soon as every episode drops. And now hosting from the driver's seat, director of driver services, David Royals. Hey, everybody. It's Dave Broyles. Got a great podcast today. Got a great guest today. She's been in here several times with us before. I've got Dana with us today. How are doing, Dana? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing great. And obviously, we've got you in here. We're gonna probably gonna talk about uniforms. Right? Uniforms. Yes. Uniforms are so important to our culture. That first impression goes a long way. It does. It really does. And I guess earlier in the year, we had you on earlier in the year, I guess, when we switched from somebody we'd been using, CentOS, for a long time, we switched to a company called Ooby. But I think it was a good move at the right time and a lot of things. But there's been a few little kick ups here and there. Right? Drayage: Yes, there has. We're working hard to get all that ironed out, though, and make that just as seamless as possible for Drayage: The biggest issue I think you and I have heard when we've been out there talking to drivers has been the pants and the hemming issue and things like that. I think you've got some things going with that, right? Drayage: We do. We have a solution. The last time you and I spoke, like you said, we mentioned that pants were coming from a partner. So what we are going to do is bring large quantities of pants into the Ooby warehouse. By doing so, this will give us, more control on ensuring that, pants are hemmed on order Right. On demand. They are labeled and tagged properly. And then this will also allow orders to ship complete, altogether from the Ooby warehouse. And because it leaves the Ooby warehouse, we will be able to access return labels if needed through the Ooby portal. So there's a lot of positive there as far as the solution on the experience so far. Yeah. Think you worked through all the processes between I think you've good partner for you, right? Of course, yes. I think you looked at all that and looked at the processes and said, Hey, what can we change to make this work better for our drivers? I think you've done a good job with it. They've been an excellent partner so far. We've different kinds of pants coming out too. Right? We do. This is our long term goal. These particular pants that's coming. Brand new pants, they will have reflective stropping down the the leg of the pants. It will accommodate the LTL tablet, securely. The the flap will come over all the way and secure the tablet. Then I think we will see shorts this fall. The pants will be later this year. Are the shorts going to have reflective striping Yes. That's really a good thing for safety on the yard. Safety on the yard is a big deal. Making sure when you're walking at night, especially going through the yard, trucks are going in and out. If you get that striping on there, it's easier to see people. Right? It is. It sure is. And just as soon as our shells are stocked with this, we're rolling out with what we're familiar with as being the ultimate cargo fabric, that dry fit. Oh, really? So those are coming. Those will go right into production as soon as we get this rolled out. So a lot of good things coming. Yeah. You know, we did some things too. I I don't I don't think everybody understood. You know, when we when we switched and we, you know, we switched from Cintas to Ooby. What uniforms that Cintas had, we owned those at Averitt. We, Averitt, owned those uniforms that were in stock. Right? We do. I mean, they weren't nobody made them on demand. They they had a bunch of sizes and different shirts and all that stuff. And we owned that inventory, so it was important to, you know, the profit that we had. We worked that we worked through that inventory first. Right? And we're about there. We're getting close. Right? We are. They're especially the popular sizes is sold out. I want to encourage if if you are out there and had a favorite, log in, get it ordered this year because after this year, they're gonna be gone. And, you know, if if, let's say you wear a size large and that large is gone in in your preferred style, I wanna suggest large tall. It's constructed the same way, but it's only three inches longer in length. So that could be a a good alternative, to be able to get some of that product if you had a favorite. It's not me. I like tall shirts. I tall. All the shirts I own are tall. So I like that. I know there's a lot of folks that drive about as tall as me or close to it. I know they appreciate having the opportunity to get tall. You and I have been out there a lot. Drivers seem to really like the quality of the Oovie shirts and the material and all that. Think everybody likes them. Don't you think so? I've heard a lot of good feedback. Was the feedback from visiting the sites that persuaded us to go look in a different direction to begin with. You know, we we would hear this is hot or, you know, they would snag easy or whatnot. But we've we've got a good solution. I think there's great fabric. It's gonna keep the drivers cool. We've got good solutions to keep associates warm in the winter. Since the catalog has went out and been distributed, we've even added thermals Oh, really? For extra warmth. We have bib overalls. That's something brand new. Oh, yeah. Dryer. I've heard a lot of people on the dock and said they want the bib overalls And then we have a reflective, road belt. It it's, a belt that's got reflective Really? Very sharp. The uniforms I've seen, I just think they look good. With the striping they've got and the way the Ubis put them together, I think they really look professional. They're really good looking uniforms, think. Aren't you? Yes. They're very up to date, so to speak. You know more than I do, but there's still a considerable amount of folks that haven't spent their allotment this year. Right? Yeah. We're over halfway. I would say we're three fourths of the way as far as unused allotment. But, we'll be calling at the end of the year. We'll be sending out postcards and offering assistance. And, we go to the cookouts and try to make it easy, for associates to spend that allotment. We encourage everybody to go do it now. Right? Oh, yes. Spend their allotment now. It makes it easier than wait till the end of the year because you're going to forget it. And when it comes December thirty first, once that clock turns over, that allotment goes away. It does. It's use it or lose it. That's what I was thinking. Use the allotment now. They call you, right? They can call their leader and say, Hey, who do I need to talk to about uniforms if they don't know how to get to you? Or they can call our driver services folks. But call somebody if you haven't used all the allotment. They need to call somebody and use it, right? Yes. Reach out. I'm sure Driver Services and I are happy to help. Oh, yeah. And then we also have Oovie customer service where you can go online and order twenty fourseven. Well, just need to make sure everybody's doing that. Right? Yes. And you're keeping a list, so toward the end of the year, you're going be calling folks. I'll be calling. Hopefully, there won't be any left. Maybe this year, we'll have everybody all done before the end of the quarter and that would be nice, I think. That's my goal. That would be nice and get us round up and get us ready for next year. Right? That's right. Well, I appreciate you being on and kind of clearing up some of the things that we had going on. Dana, I know it's a great program. You've done a great job with it. I think the Oovie was a great move for us. But anything you want to talk about to say to the drivers while we're still? Know, we're speaking about uniforms. Don't forget we have the recycle program Oh, yeah. Where you can turn in five shirts, get a brand new one. We've added the opportunity to turn in three outerwear pieces, get a brand new jacket, a coat. So that's another way to stretch that allotment and stretch that benefit. They don't have to wait to see you at a cookout to do that, though, right? How can they do it? You can download the form, print a form, from insideaveritt dot com and then you would just fill it out, put it in, a bag or box with your your shirts, and truck mail it to corporate. That's all there is to That's it. We received that form, and I placed the order. And if anybody's got any questions, they can reach out to driver services. Those folks will help them. Anybody that's out in the field, one of the driver services specialists out in the field, they'll take care of it too. Yes. I see that all the time. They they're a great resource for our drivers. Well, I appreciate that. Well, thank you so much for being on and talking to us. Look forward to next time. Yeah, thank you. Get out there and spend your allotment if you have a bunch of uniforms. It's really important that you look sharp. The professional look is really what's core to our culture. It's part of Averitt. When you've got that uniform on, like I said at the beginning, it makes you feel good. But you look good to the people out there that you're meeting, and the opportunity for you to make a referral goes up when you've got an Averitt uniform on. A lot of people say, I've been thinking about coming to Averitt for years, and maybe they haven't been able to get on. And they'll see you and they'll say, There's somebody from Averitt. I'm going go talk to them. And if that person's a good person, you need to refer them. You need to make an Averitt driver. And do that. Your uniform will help, but you need to make sure you're clean and uniform looks good, and that's why it's important that you make sure you spend your every year. Thank you so much. Be safe out there. We'll see you on the road.