From The Driver's Seat: We Break The Stereotype

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. Got a great podcast today. Got a guest that a lot of you all probably have seen at different locations. He's been around for a long time. I got Jeff Penley. How are doing, Jeff? Doing well, sir. How are you? I'm doing great. And, of course, you're you're currently the service center director at Knoxville. Right? That's correct. Talk a little bit about your background. Yeah. How you started and where you how long you've been here and what what you've done kinda a little bit. I I started in nineteen eighty nine, and I I actually started on the dock part time. Brian Snyder hired me in nineteen eighty nine, and I've been on relay outbound city dispatch. Got about fifteen years of sales experience, and and I also was a service center director in Chattanooga for Yeah. For six years, two thousand eleven and two thousand seventeen. Been a very great career. I'm I'm fortunate. Now you're back home at Knoxville again. I'm back home. I've I've been back home since two thousand seventeen. We we've just completed a a three year and five month renovation. Has it been did it took that long? It was that long of the renovation? Wow. I didn't realize it'd been that long. Yeah. October of twenty two, and we're very excited about it. It it's it's very prestigious and a thing of beauty there in Knoxville. I'm sure they'll be excited to see it. It really is impressive, especially, you know, you drive up and you got the big sign, the changing sign up front and looking at the flags. It's it's a beautiful facility. It was a great facility with but the but the renovations really make it stand out, think, don't you? I couldn't agree more. It's I it's actually I'm at a loss for words, you know, and I've been there the whole time. But, yeah, it's really something to be proud of. I think our associates there are proud of it as well. Well, I know they are. Of course, you know, you're also taking care of the drivers there too. You don't you know, you it's not just, hey. You make it pretty, but you only got a bigger dock. It's easier for everybody to work. Now now you're in the middle of finishing up the showers, remodeling the showers too. Right? We we are. We we've got a a a very nice support center over there with six showers. We've we we had a you know, we're trying to find the right fit for someone to do the work. That's a that's a challenge sometimes. But we found someone. He done the first two and done an outstanding job. His fit and finish are just a thing of art. So we're starting the other four now. We're gonna get those buttoned up and redone, and I think the drivers will appreciate that. Well, I know they have. You know? And over the years, Knoxville's always had a reputation of having clean facilities and good facilities, and that that that relates back to you and Brian Schneider and the folks that the leadership there at Knoxville. But I think you all do a great job doing that. Drivers appreciate that, I think. That's part of our culture, isn't it? I couldn't agree more. I I think, you know, mister Sasser started the culture fifty five years ago. Right. And, you know, when I started in in this industry, my perception of drivers and trucks were set. And then what what mister Sasser's done, I I think he was a pioneer. He's kinda rewrote the standards and, you know, the uniforms and the the clean trucks and the the clean facilities. I mean, we've had customers we we support value in selling to these customers. And we'll, at any time, I challenge our salespeople, we wanna get them into our facility. Get them over here at at any time. So we want it at that level all the time to where unannounced, we can bring a customer in and show them around, and we're gonna get that wow factor. I think so. I was I was at Knoxville here, what, about two weeks ago, I guess it was, and it was just impressive when you look at everything that's been done to that facility. And I think everybody's proud of the facility now, and it is something to be proud of. But again, that goes back to our culture. Right? It's all it's all about the Averitt culture. Uniformity, the the drivers for the customers. It's important that they have uniforms, and they and they look sharp, I think. And we we break the stereotype on that, I think. Right? Yes. We do. You know you know, the culture is something we never get it complete. We we keep building it and instilling it in in our folks. And, you know, we we've we've got a lot of challenges with that culture. You got business levels will challenge it. Weather will challenge it. Situations. But that consistency is important. That the uniformity. I mean, that uniformed driver backing into a dock with a nice clean trailer and tractor, what a great impression out there. You know, over the years, of course, you and I have known each other for a long time. Yes, sir. And one thing I've noticed over the years that you do, that I think you do a very good job of, and I think it's part of Averitt culture too, I've noticed I get emails from you sometimes that says, Hey, Dave. I was out on the yard and I saw a driver. And it doesn't have to not necessarily a driver that's in Knoxville even. It may be a driver that was passing through, and he did a good pre trip or a good post trip, or he had a really clean truck. And I get emails from you all the time that says, hey, I gave this driver some red thinking rewards points because he did a great job on a pre trip. Recognizing that someone does the right things when nobody's watching, how important is that do you think? Well, I think it's it's a huge factor in, you know, retaining the drivers. That that driver there is the driver that's away from home a lot of times in in a strange environment that he's not comfortable in. And and we wanna make him comfortable there, and and we want Knoxville to be a place that they look forward to coming to. And, you you know, when you wreck when you see someone that has went above and beyond and that piece of equipment, is just like a rolling billboard out there and the driver too, I think they should be recognized. And and you know, a little kindness goes a long way and a little appreciation, and, you know, I I think it does matter. It's it's actually came back. I've heard through the grapevine before this driver, it was another service center, had called me and said, you know, they they really that meant a lot to them. They they were talking about it here. So, you know, that's just a a small effort, but it's very important. You know, you you mentioned little things a lot. Well, the little things make a big difference. They really do. You know, well as anybody, anybody walks up to you and says, hey. You did a great job doing that. It just makes you feel good. Right? And I think that's the difference that you make when you're at the service center and, you know, you don't stay in the office. You're out walking around. Right? You you you do little walk arounds. Right? I mean, I I like to walk around just to support the team. We've got a a great Averitt's a great team. Knoxville, we have a, some all Americans and forty year veterans. I'm just part of the team. They need my support, and and I'm walking around, you know, just checking how how are things going or do you need anything? And and, you know, we we we get to offer a lot of congratulations, you know, a lot. So all that's important very much. Well, you definitely have a strong team. I when I go there, I know a lot of them. You know, I've known them for years and years. Of course, my son worked there at one time, so I have a lot of connections in Knoxville. So, yeah, it's great family feeling at Knoxville. Gary and I were talking to some drivers just recently, and three of them, while we were on the phone, said the same thing. And they talked about the feeling that Averitt's a family. That's what they that's what they and these are brand new drivers, and they were talking about Averitt feels like a family. I think that's important to everyone that it hey. They do feel welcomed. So when they come to Knoxville, I think they feel welcome. And they we want every service center and every driver to be the same. When they come in, they they're welcomed, and they feel like a full out part of the family. I think that's that that's vital. I I agree. You know, since COVID, we we onboard a lot of the truckload and dedicated Right. Drivers there and recently onboarded a driver that, you know, just just kept saying, wow. This is Averitt. You know, I've been trying to get over here for years. So, it is important that, you know, the what what mister Sasser's created is a brand, and it speaks quality. And, we're we're a premier carrier, and we we're gonna support that in Knoxville with the facilities and our people and who we put out there and and the equipment that's out there. I would hope that anytime that, you know, you you come on the yard that, you know, our equipment's clean and the facility's clean and and it it's, it's ready to be displayed as it should be. And, you know, that's an important thing going forward too. You know? This is gonna be a good year. Twenty twenty six is gonna be a great year, but we're gonna have to grow. And part of that growing, we're gonna need we're gonna need more folks. Right? Well, that's a great comment because we're we're actually we're we're being the operation's been pushed and stressed, and maybe it's time, you know, that we were looking at doing some hiring. So we are gonna be putting some more people on board. We've we've got two doctor drivers in the program right now. Wow. We we do a lot of you know, a lot of things like that behind the scene matter. Yeah. But we're developing people. That's why it's important people come into CDL to go to see that doctor driver programs have been a wonderful program for us. We brought a lot of new drivers on with that. But we're gonna have to hire drivers too. Truckload's gonna have to hire drivers, and dedicated is gonna more and more and more driver's will come up. I think as people look to hire, the referrals are obviously the best. Referrals are great. Drivers that you might know, drivers that I might know, those are the best drivers that we could possibly bring on for us. I think that's going to be an important thing going forward in twenty twenty six. Are we going to be able to refer drivers and get drivers in to People Like You program? Part of it's going to be when they're gonna be able to brag about the Knoxville service center when they're out talking to other drivers. You know, they see a driver. Your your city drivers are out and they see another driver. They can brag about that facility. That can be part of the People Like You program about benefits. Right? I I agree. Yeah. Referrals are are a big part, and and we see a lot of that. And then, you know, our our associates get to reward for the referral bonuses. Any last things you wanna tell everybody on the podcast? And anything any last things for the drivers maybe? Well, we we wanna thank all of our drivers and associates for what they do every day out here. And, you know, it's what a what a journey a lot of us all have in common You know, it's been a fantastic journey and career for a lot of us, and, you know, the future is bright. The, you know, the fifty five years are behind us, and we're still we're still going. That's it. We look forward to the future. Well, thank you, Jeff. Appreciate you being on. Appreciate you what the job that y'all do in Knoxville. And I think it I think I think it's a great great service center. Thank you. And, you know, that's where the People Like You program comes in. Those the things we talked about today, the culture, the things that we do at Averitt, when you're talking to other drivers, those are things you need to talk about because that's the folks that if that attracts folks, that's the kind of folks we're looking for. And we're gonna need a lot of people this year. Things are gonna grow. So stay out there and do the People Like You program. Give us some referrals. Appreciate everything y'all do. We'll see you out on the road.