On this week’s episode of Taking the Hire Road, Jeremy Reymer discussed the changes in the transportation industry over the past century with Bill Skinner, president, and Tim Kordula, vice president of risk management of Skinner Transfer Corp.
In 1932, Earl R. Skinner began by delivering his neighbors’ milk to the local creamery in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, by horse team. This led to cattle transportation, flatbed trucks and eventually dry vans. Skinner Transfer later expanded to the Madison and Milwaukee markets and eventually to the Midwest as a whole.
“Back then we owned the authority to haul all dry goods within the region,” said Skinner. “We did moving, tanker hauling, refrigerated hauling, flatbeds and everything you can think of.”
Skinner’s grandfather, also Bill Skinner, was a Korean War veteran and longstanding president of the company. As a major innovator and leader in the freight industry, the elder Skinner trained his grandson in every aspect of trucking from a young age.
“I had to learn how to wash trucks before I could do anything. That’s just how Grandpa was,” said Skinner. “Fixed them, drove them, worked in dispatch, brokered freight, helped customer service, safety and personnel, and then I had to take over due to my dad’s health.”
Skinner, however, originally tried to get out from under his family’s shadow. “I tried to get away from this industry – ran as fast as I could. Someone told me when Grandpa passed, ‘Hey, you’re Bill Skinner now,’ and I did not handle that well. But I built my own business and wound up breaking even selling that, and then I came back just to drive a truck, funny enough,” he said.
To Skinner, truck driving is the most enjoyable job he’s had in his career, but the challenges of the past decade have brought increasing worries to today’s drivers.
“The job of truck driving has gotten a lot harder the last five to 10 years than it ever has been,” said Skinner. “It used to be, ‘Let’s figure this out and get this done,’ but now there are so many more regulations and factors you have to consider, and it’s gotten a lot more intense.”
As safety measures and difficult circumstances have increased the pressure on drivers to perform, Kordula says that it takes constant engagement to keep things moving.
“We have to deal with weather, traffic, regulations, changing freight volume, and obviously safety has to be a priority among all of that,” Kordula said. “The regulations are changing daily. What better way to navigate that than to be proactive with our drivers and anticipate rather than be reactive.”
Lawsuit abuse has been a major factor in how trucking companies have to approach safety.
“There are still those who stage brake checks in front of semis and claim injuries in lawsuits, or even walk in front of trucks idling through parking lots at 2 miles an hour to claim fraudulent injuries,” Kordula explained.
Thanks to lobbying and engagement with lawmakers, some of these issues are being addressed. “Finally, there’s a House bill right now that will, if it passes, make it a federal crime to stage an accident,” said Kordula.
To address these issues in-house, Skinner Transfer has instituted proactive safety measures such as inward-facing cameras. “We didn’t get a lot of buy-in at first, but when we can start exonerating drivers by showing the footage of what they did right, the drivers buy in because it also protects them,” said Kordula.
Trucking companies have always been incredibly competitive. According to Skinner, in recent years, part of that competition has been one-upmanship in safety. “It’s a competition even within our captive insurance group in Wisconsin between who is going to get the awards and the highest scores, but we share with each other what we’re doing and how we’re doing it to continue to drive improvements for everyone,” he said.
As a result of these kinds of efforts and the collaboration of many major players in the freight industry, Skinner says, safety has improved: “The rate of accidents we have with trucks on the road compared to even 15 years ago is incredible. I take my hat off to the men and women who do the hard work of truck driving now.”
Although there have been many challenges and certainly unforeseen dynamics that have changed with technology, circumstances and culture, Skinner Transfer has withstood the test of time by continuing to collaborate with the community and always striving to improve.
“We’ll come through this rough market stronger, because we’re always having to learn. Ninety-two years later, and we’re still doing what we always have,” said Skinner.
Click here to learn more about Skinner Transfer Corporation.
Book recommendations: “Start with Why,” “Extreme Ownership” and “About Face”
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