Page 34 - ATR 6 2018 web

tions. Lee confirms that PLD’s concerns
are the same ones every trucking com- “YOU WANT TO EAT GOOD LETTUCE?
pany is facing. Attracting and hiring
great drivers is hard, but their strategy WE CAN’T BE HOME EVERY WEEKEND.
isn’t a secret. They’re a family first,
company second, and people like to be a THAT’S A BATTLE THAT WE FIGHT.”
part of a family.
Dakota says, “I’ve got a driver from —DAKOTA LUCY
Tucson that I’d probably do anything for
him, but he was exiting the house the
other day, and he said, ‘No company
called me back.’ Lee reenacts the invitation, “They tree, visitors are greeted with a truck
“If you want to talk to the boss called and said, ‘What’re you doin’?’ full of all the names and photos of the
you can call and talk to the boss. And I said, ‘We’re eating, family reunion, company’s drivers on the wall. It’s a
the boss has driven, and they’re not come on over.’ So they all came over diverse group of men, women, black,
a number. I can tell you every driver and ate dinner. And people asked, ‘Who white, from different generations.
that drives every truck,” says Dakota are they?’ And well, they’re not family, And much like a family, many of
explaining that at PLD his drivers don't but they are family.” them go by nicknames.
worry about not being called back or A family tree with roots and Dakota says he can always tell
having a real connection with the boss. branches containing the names and which drivers have come from bigger
Lee agrees, “I get as many calls as photos of siblings, cousins, great aunts companies when they call and identify
my dispatch does, and sometimes it’s and uncles is the visual of who begat themselves by their truck number. Lee
just a call to chat.” whom and how a couple people who says it’s one of the worst moves a truck-
They’ve invited the drivers to their love each other can start something ing company came make, labeling an
family reunion, and some took them up much bigger than themselves. At the employee by a number.
on the offer! PLD offices, instead of the Lucy family “I can tell you most of their employ-

34 Issue 6 2018 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT