Page 32 - ATR 5 2019 digital

ance call almost twenty years later
turned into the beginnings of a merger.
HE [ARNOLD] PREPARED HIS CUSTOMERS. HE Burnett says, “I needed a COO.
PREPARED HIS DRIVERS. LITERALLY WE JUST FLIPPED We [TCT] had the history. We had the
THE SWITCH ON AUGUST 1 WITH ABSOLUTELY A face. We had everything that you need
to operate a solid trucking company. I
MINIMUM OF HICCUPS. I THINK THAT’S PRETTY just needed someone to run it. I wanted
PHENOMENAL. I HAD ESTIMATED THAT IF WE COULD to stay in the business and he wanted to
RETAIN 80% OF HIS BUSINESS THEN IT WOULD get further in the business and it was a
STILL BE A GOOD TRANSACTION FOR ME, AND WE good match.”
Arnold saw the potential too.
RETAINED 100%. IT’S PRETTY PHENOMENAL IF YOU “Terry and I knew pretty quickly we
THINK ABOUT IT. IT REALLY IS. wanted to pool our resources together.
I had reached a stagnation point of
—TERRY BURNETT, PRESIDENT OF TWIN CITY TRANSPORTATION growth,” Arnold says. “Terry was in a
position that he had lost his operating
partner.”
The two companies merged in the
Glass, TCT was originally a pick up and Burnett and business partner Herb summer of 2017. TCT provided the
delivery service for airfreight and cargo Martin purchased TCT from Ron Glass name and a 70-truck operation with
companies. It eventually expanded into in 2006. Martin was responsible for the Firestone still its biggest customer.
truckload freight. day-to-day operations until his health Arnold brought the beverage custom-
The Firestone Building Supply plant began to fail. Ron Glass briefly stepped ers from his Dallas business and all of
in Prescott needed a dedicated shipper back in, making the commute from his drivers. He said the pain points that
because of the volume they were capable Prescott in order to keep TCT operat- came with the merger were not out of
of producing. TCT stepped up to fill that ing. In 2015 when Martin passed away, the ordinary. “Each group always thinks
role, establishing a terminal in Prescott Burnett had responsibility for two their approach is 100% the right way,
and building their business around companies: his insurance business and so there were some challenges in getting
what is still their biggest customer. TCT. He’d already begun setting plans some of the buy-ins we needed to have,
Prior to the merger with CEALS, TCT in motion to sell his insurance com- but those came along.”
had terminals in Little Rock, Prescott, pany when, in 2016, he received “a very Arnold doesn’t dwell on the dif-
and Arnold’s hometown of Camden. lucrative offer” for the trucking com- ficulties; instead he focuses on two Values Drive Performance
Personnel at the Camden site were relo- pany. Despite having a tempting deal on things: people and profits. He says any
cated to Prescott as part of the merger. the table, Burnett says, “Trucking gets pain experienced by the company dur-
In some ways it was a pair of insur- in your blood. I just could not pull the ing the merger wasn’t transferred onto Shared Values Can Lead to Organizational Excellence
ance phone calls that led to the even- trigger on selling Twin City.” the customers. Part of that is due to
tual merger of Twin City Transportation driver retention, something both he and We understand you are in business to make a profit. Our Value-Driven
®
with CEALS. In 1983, Terry Burnett, A GOOD MATCH Burnett are particularly proud of. Company modules can help you reduce losses and increase profits by focusing on
now TCT's president and the current Around the same time Burnett was Burnett says the operations didn’t influencing employee behavior, changing culture, improving communication, and
vice president of sales at Cottingham considering whether or not to sell the skip a beat. “He [Arnold] prepared his managing risk successfully.
& Butler, got his first introduction company, he and Arnold reconnected. customers. He prepared his drivers. 800.228.8602
to TCT by selling them insurance. In Once again Arnold was reaching out for Literally we just flipped the switch on gwccnet.com We believe it is everyone’s job to do what they can to prevent losses. We have
1998, Arnold was also in need of insur- insurance because he wanted to tran- August 1 with absolutely a minimum developed a variety of training tools to help get all employees involved in safety. From
ance and Terry Burnett was the person sition out of his role as an agent and of hiccups. I think that’s pretty phe- seminars and webinars to Self-Service e-Tools and FAQs, we have solutions to fit your
he reached out to. Burnett Insurance strike out on his own. The insurance nomenal. I had estimated that if we operations.
Corporation based in Little Rock provid- market at the time wasn’t as friendly as could retain 80% of his business then ®
ed insurance to truckers. Burnett was it had been to new trucking ventures, so it would still be a good transaction for We see “Critical Crashes” as a risk to your company. Our Value-Driven Driving
also involved in the industry through Burnett and Arnold began talking about me, and we retained 100%. It’s pretty program focuses on helping drivers do what they can to prevent these types of accidents:
rear-end, loss of control, lane change, and run under. All of our driver training programs are
his work on the board of directors of options. The two men share a love for phenomenal if you think about it. It FREE to our insureds and can be accessed 24/7 on Great West’s Online Learning Library.
the Truckload Carriers Association. trucking and a desire for independence. really is.”
Meanwhile, in 2001, Burnett’s In addition to that, they’d built strong Arnold agrees. “We were very for- GREAT WEST CASUALTY COMPANY – No matter where the road takes you, you
financial ties to TCT deepened when he trust in one another through other tunate. We had a 100% conversion of will discover that at Great West, The Difference is Service .
®
merged another small company into the business dealings since their first call in our drivers. Some fell out after the fact,
company he would eventually own. 1998. What started as another insur- 

32 Issue 5 2019 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT