Celebration Time

April 1st represents a big milestone.....no, not April Fools Day.  It is Adam Kleeh's 11 year anniversary here at J.B. Hunt.

Please let him know you appreciate him earning this milestone!

THD Spring Surge 2013

Spring Surge 2013 is officially here in Monroe and Van Buren, OH!

  We have used several mediums to communicate to our drivers.  A personalized letter was sent to every single driver's home.  Each driver's cell phone will be receiving a call to remind them that the Spring Surge event has kicked off and a couple of key statistics are shared.  The THD orange cap you see in the picture above will be given to every driver and office employee.  On the back we have sewn in SPRING SURGE 2013. We hope to see this hat worn with pride by every driver in our RDC fleets. 

Finally.......we will be selecting a driver of the surge for our Yard Operation and our Regional fleets.  These drivers will receive a gift card from The Home Depot in recognition of their fine service.

Now, lets just pray for a break in the weather that will help spur spending habits at the local Home Depot sites.........this fleet represents 19% of our Central Region fleet, so we need high utilization and busy fleets!

   

Cleveland Rocks!

Marcus Hefner shared some information with us about the Tacony trade show in Cleveland.  According to the client,  our Solon team did a great job! Get prepared Brian Turner---there is another show coming to Cincinnati.

 

Great job Shane and Adam!

 

The Answer

Traffic Fatalities rose by 5% in 2012......Thanks for participating in this survey.

An Internal WOW for One of our Guys!

This was received from Account Manager Connie Fruchey about her fellow Account Manager Scott Gray........look at this spirit of cooperation by two folks in the Hoosier state:

Sometimes we talk about the negative and take the positive for granted.  Yesterday around 1600 Thomas Mcalster (mcat5) called and said that his father-in-law was just found dead.  He lived alone and had passed away 4-5days ago.  His wife was hysterical and wanted Thomas to come home. She recently lost her mother also.  Thomas was out of hours in London, OH, approx 3hours from Yorktown.  I contacted Scott Gray and ask him if he could pick the driver up and bring him to Richmond.  Scott didn't even hesitate and agreed. I met them at the JMC account and headed back to Yorktown.  We were able to get Thomas home with his wife by 2100 last evening.
Thank you Scott....

Connie Fruchey | Account Manager |C&S Wholesale Grocer | Yorktown, IN | DCS
 

Brickyard Proud

Here are the comments from a recent Final Mile Services delivery in Indianapolis.  This delivery was for Cornerstone. 

VERY IMPRESSED W/ THE DELIVERY WE GIVE. LIKED THE EMAILS AND CALLS THAT RECEIVED PRIOR TO DELIVERY. WE HAVE BEEN BY FAR THE BEST DELIVERY CUSTOMER HAS EVER RECEIVED!

Central Region Promotion Announcement

Please join us in congratulating Jeremy Starry on his promotion to Account Manager for Falcon Packaging.

Jeremy joined the Central Region in March 2012 after graduating from Wright State University in the spring of 2011. Jeremy has spent the last year at The Home Depot in Van Buren, OH where he started out as a DMIT and quickly moved into an Operations Supervisor role over the local fleet. He serves as a 2LT in the Army National Guard out of the 58th Military Police Company in Marysville, OH.

With the promotion to Account Manager for Falcon Packaging in Covington, OH, Jeremy will be moving back towards his hometown of Troy, OH after a brief stay in Northwest OH.

Let us all congratulate Jeremy on his promotion and wish him continued success!!!!

Central Region February 2013 Driver of the Month

Albert is our Central Region Driver of the Month for February for two main reasons outside of his typical solid all around performance. In late December Albert stopped to help a motorist that had been involved in a major collision on I-95. The motorist's parents were involved in the collision and both were fatal at the scene. Albert offered her support at the scene and stayed as a witness to answer questions from the police. This event was posted to Facebook by JBH and got quite a response! Below is an e-mail I received from Stan Hampton (Sr. Director Driver Personnel) about the event.

 

As previously stated, we posted this story on our CDP/Professional Driver Facebook page. It went viral with 90,000 'likes' currently from people sharing it and has over 5,000 comments.. Previously our highest 'like' count was around 105.. Albert used to recover bodies from wrecks such as the one he witnessed..he quit because the grieving families were just too much for him to take.. but when it counted he stepped up and did the right thing for this young lady survivor.. who is now enrolled in college and looking forward through this tragedy.. Definitely a nominee for Highway Hero"

 

 

 

Also, Albert saved the day for our customer as well in January. Robert Govekar (LLS Inbound Manager) contacted Brian Tabor late Friday afternoon on 1/25. He was looking for help on a hot shipment coming out of Long Island, NY for pickup and delivery on Saturday. Albert volunteered to run the shipment and had it picked up and delivered by 08:30 that Saturday! Needless to say Robert was very pleased.

Albert is a true professional and a kind hearted individual who truly cares about helping others. That being said, he was an easy choice for Limited DCS DOM for February!

What Does $5 Buy You?

If you had asked me when I was a kid what $5 could buy, I'm sure I would have had long list of answers of what that amount of riches could have bought me.

These days? $5? Hmm. Accessories for a toy, possibly? As in, not the actual Barbie doll, but a new pair of shoes for her. Or maybe a sandwich, depending on your choice of location. Not much else comes to mind, and certainly not a full, filling meal out in a restaurant.

That's right! Throughout the entire month of March, CiCi's Pizza is offering its endless buffet (not including drink and at participating locations) for just $5! For that kind of deal, you can feed a family of four for $20!

However, if you're not familiar with CiCi's Pizza, then you might not realize what their buffet has to offer. This isn't just one or two varieties of pizza and a bowl of lettuce, it's much more. At CiCi's Pizza, $5 will buy you:

• Dough that has been handmade and hand stretched every day since 1985. Doesn't get fresher than that!

• An endless selection of nearly 30 different pizzas from the classics to their delicious, crispy thin crust Italianos, to dessert pizzas and their handmade cinnamon rolls, and more.

• Three words: Garlic Parmesan Knots.

• Special requests all day long. You think it up and let them know and they will bring it straight out to your table piping hot from the oven.

• A fun, family-friendly environment, many locations with game rooms for kids.

Whether you prefer pepperoni, ham and pineapple, sausage, buffalo chicken, jalapenos, onions, mushrooms, peppers, olives, bacon, spinach or just classic cheese on your pizza, you'll find them all waiting for you at CiCi's Pizza buffet.

And why not also try their New Crisp Baked Wings served with your choice of Mild & Hot Buffalo, BBQ or Garlic Parmesan dipping sauce (for just a few bucks more at participating locations) before heading back up to browse the endless variety of pizzas still awaiting you?

With only a few weeks of March left, be sure to take your family to CiCi's (visit CiCisPizza.com to find a location near you) to enjoy their 24-footlong buffet offering craveable pizzas, a bottomless salad bar, pasta and mouth-watering desserts at the reduced price of only $5. Yum!

Physical Accounts Can Deliver Great Results

It is always rewarding to walk into an account and see the following results posted:

                                      145 Days              Collision Free Streak

                                      589 Days              Injury Free Streak

This account had the infamous downtown Bucyrus, OH collision last year.  They also had a NP fatality last year when we had V2 walk out into our path on I-70.  But, look at the streak Scott and his driving team have put together....phenomenal!

This account is extremely physical in nature (see attached):

We deliver freight to the restaurants with a ramp or liftgate and a two-wheeler into the stores.  We utilize a pallet jack to move the pallets to the tailgate or liftgate.  We also rotate stock in the stores.  This job is nothing to sneeze at in regards to physical labor.

WOW-Palooza

 

Here is a note from Dudley Harris, our contact at JMC-CiCi's in Richmond, IN:

 

Everyone the past two weeks have been overwhelmed with overweight trucks and Richmond is no exception.  I have a lot of WOW’s to distribute today:

• Scott Gray for coming to our rescue time after time the last two weeks.  He has been stellar offering alternative routing ideas to keep our Franchisees delivered on time and finding the hours for drivers to make extra runs.  Then the positive; upbeat drivers:

• Brad Pannill who stepped up Monday and delivered a special route to help take care of our stores.  We combined three stores on one truck to help alleviate the overweight issues on three routes.  He came in on his day off to make the delivery. People at the store never knew the difference.

• Jim Thompson who has made several special stops between DC’s since running the transfer truck.

• Keith Green for coming in on Monday and delivering Indy.

• Jeff Cook for finding a way to maximize the space on these trucks and offering several helpful routing suggestions.

• Marion Harris for keeping a lid on everyone’s tempers and keeping open communication with the managers and franchisees.

• Steve Rogers for just being Steve Rogers and putting this wonderful team together. 

Limited Brands beats expectations

Columbus-based retailer Limited Brands beat Wall Street expectations for February, reporting a comparable-store sales rise of 3 percent, beating analysts’ predictions of a 2.6 percent rise.
 
The company, parent of such chains as Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, reported sales of $712.7 million for the month, compared to sales of $653.9 million for the same time last year.
 
Comparable-store sales, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, grew by 5 percent at both Victoria’s Secret and the company’s Canadian lingerie chain La Senza. Since buying La Senza in 2006, Limited Brands has changed virtually everything about the chain and closed some stores in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales.
 
At Bath & Body Works, comparable-store sales were flat. The chain usually does better, but February sales were affected by fewer customers walking into the stores, said Chief Investor Relations Officer Amie Preston.
 
Sales at Victoria’s Secret Direct, which includes both the popular catalogue and online businesses, fell by 4 percent. The drop was the result of a reduction in clearance selling, Preston said.
 
Easter Sunday falls in March this year, versus April last year, and the company expects that will have a negative impact on sales this month. “We are projecting March (comparable-store sales) in line with our quarterly guidance of low single digit,” Preston said.

Whirlpool included as a Fortune Magazine Most Admired Company

Whirlpool Corp. is being recognized as one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in the Home Equipment, Furnishings industry sector.

Whirlpoool has been ranked first in its sector three years in a row.

Whirlpool Corp.'s reviews in people management, quality of management and global competitiveness helped the company make the grade. Whirlpool joins the likes of Boeing, Nike, Apple, American Express, GE, IBM and Google, all of which also ranked first in their respective industry sectors.

"As the largest and most innovative appliance company in the world with over 102 years of history, it is an honor to once again be named one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies," said Jeff Fettig, the company chairman and CEO. "We are particularly proud of our scores in the management and global competitiveness categories and believe that we are poised for continued success in 2013, benefiting our consumers, suppliers, employees, shareholders and communities, especially those in which we operate."

The Answer

Our largest DCS client by revenue is The Home Depot.  #2 is currently Whirlpool.

Central Region Promotion Announcement

 

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Scott Gray to the position of Area Risk Manager for the Central Region.

Scott is a 2009 graduate from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Business Administration. While attending school in Columbus, Scott worked at Pacer Transportation Solutions where he was a Highway Brokerage Dispatcher. Here he was responsible for coordinating freight transportation for clients such as Toyota and Greif Brothers. After graduation, Scott wanted to continue to learn about the Transportation Industry. It was at that time that he attained his CDL and began driving for TMC. Here he delivered freight throughout the country. In June of 2011, Scott was hired into JB Hunt as an Operations Supervisor for Final Mile in Indianapolis. From there, Scott was promoted to the Account Manager at JMC in Richmond IN. At JMC, Scott was responsible for managing a fleet of 13 drivers that delivered restaurant supplies to Cici's Pizza restaurants. Scott has done an excellent job of servicing this customer and providing value.

Scott we be located in Cincinnati, OH and will support that market along with Central to Eastern, KY and the region accounts in NC and GA.

Congratulations Scott!