Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/751200
54 commercial carrier journal | november 2016 More fleets viewing trucks as primary recruiting, retention tools BY JASON CANNON P ay and home time are likely to forever be atop a driver's list of wants, but the type of truck they drive and the comforts it offers is becoming a critical tool for fleets to attract and keep driv- ers in their seats. Initial results from the ninth an- nual Best Fleets to Drive For survey, produced in partnership with the Truck- load Carriers Association, show drivers increasingly value high-quality equip- ment, and fleets have taken notice. "Recruiting and retention issues aren't going to be solved by a truck, but it can make [truck driving] a little bit better of a job," says Dave Williams, vice president of equipment for Knight Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 24). "Anything we can do to make a driver feel more at home, safer, more comfort- able and more productive is what we are aer." Don Hummer Trucking recently ordered 75 Kenworth T680s aer the company's namesake personally tested a rental unit for a month. "I would never ask a driver to do something that I wouldn't do myself," says Don Hummer, founder of the Ox- ford, Iowa-based dry van carrier that deploys 215 company trucks and 85 independent contractors. "When I was done driving the truck, it was the first time in my career where I wasn't think- ing to myself, 'I wish this was there, or this was positioned here.' " With customers such as Knight and Hummer increasingly looking for efficiency and comfort features, truck makers have responded by boosting in-cab comforts and giving the truck a