July 2016 Edition - Lawrence Transportation Services

LTX, INC.
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LAWRENCE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
July 2016
Full Service Truck Leasing & Rental
Freight Management
Fleet Management
Trucking
Warehousing & Distribution
Quarterly Newsletter
Volume 22, Issue 3
TRIPLE WELCOME
We are pleased to introduce three new customers this quarter: Arctic Glacier Premium Ice, Schott Distributing and Brown Packing. Their products - ice, beer, and meat
- are rather different, as are their transportation needs are too. Lawrence NationaLease
(LNL) and Lawrence Transportation Company (LTC) have delivered transportation solutions tailored specifically to their distribution needs.
Arctic Glacier Premium
Ice is a leading manufacturer
and distributor of premium quality
packaged ice products, primarily under the brand name Arctic Glacier® Premium Ice. As the largest producer of packaged ice in Canada, and among the largest producers in
the United States, Arctic Glacier serves over 75,000 retail,
commercial and industrial customer locations throughout six
provinces in Canada and 19 states in the northeastern, central and western United States.
The company has grown significantly since its start
in 1996 and is now the largest producer and distributor of
packaged ice in each of our markets. With a production capacity of 11,000 tons of
ice per day, Arctic currently operates 46 production and 52 distribution facilities and
employs more than 1,100 people year-round. That labor force increases to more than
2,400 employees during the summer to meet the increased seasonal demand.
LNL has just delivered eight Kenworth T370 refrigerated straight trucks to Arctic Glacier for its distribution
operations in Fargo, North Dakota; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Madison and Lacrosse, Wisconsin, and Marshall
and Brainerd, Minnesota.
Schott Distributing Co., Inc. is a locally owned, family operated wholesale
distributorship founded in 1955 and is still headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota.
The business is currently owned by the third generation of family members which
includes Kristopher Schott, Bernie Schott Jr., Benjamin Schott, and T.J. Schott. The
success of Schott Distributing is intertwined with the communities of Rochester, Austin, and Winona throughout a seven county territory in Southeastern Minnesota. As
a diversified beverage distributor, Schott Distributing is dedicated to providing quality service and community
support within Southeastern Minnesota.
LNL’s full-service lease agreement with
Schott includes the brand new Freightliner M2
tractor pictured here, as well as all of the shops,
equipment, and experienced technicians located in Southeastern Minnesota from Red Wing
to Winona and from Rochester to Owatonna to
make sure the equipment is always on the road
and in perfect condition.
Lawrence Transportation Services
860 Bench Street, Red Wing, Minnesota 55066
651-388-7067
800-363-0321
We are pleased to welcome Brown Packing Company in Gaffney, SC to
our family of dedicated transportation partners. Brown Packing is a family-owned
meat packer founded in the early 1940’s when Walter Brown first purchased and
ran a packing plant in Gaffney.
Though there have been many changes throughout the decades, the company remains family owned and operated. Jim Brown, Reed Brown, and David
Brown work in the trenches daily with more than 350 employees to ensure that Brown’s customers receive the
quality products they have come to expect. Those customers are located all across the U.S., and their products
are shipped all over the world.
For many years, Brown has outsourced much of their dedicated fleet
needs, allowing the company to focus on their core business as a meat
processor, without also having to become a trucking company. Lawrence
Transportation Company (LTC) and Brown Packing Company began their
new business relationship on April 1st. LTC now provides 10 dedicated
tractors and dedicated drivers to run multi-stop refrigerated deliveries up and down the eastern seaboard. In addition to these refrigerated deliveries, LTC also provides brokerage services through our Freight Plus subsidiary.
The next phase of our relationship with Brown
Packing will be to provide on-site maintenance services
at the Gaffney location through Lawrence NationaLease
(LNL). Using Brown’s existing maintenance facility, LNL
services the 10 LTC tractors and Brown’s many trailers
and other power equipment. This portion of the operation will begin within the next few months and will likely
employ two full-time mechanics. It’s all part of our first
steps to LTC becoming a long-term transportation partner as it has with so many other companies.
Last quarter, the newsletter featured LNL’s growing relationship
with Werner Electric and one of the new Kenworth T370s leased
by Werner. We didn’t have a photograph of the new Ford Transit 8500 GW van. Now we do, and here it is.
A VISIT FROM JANE CLARK
NationaLease Vice President of Member Services
Lawrence NationaLease was recently visited by Jane Clark, VP of Member Services for
NationaLease, Inc. NationaLease is a group of approximately 150 independent full service truck
leasing members. Lawrence NationaLease is a long time member of this group and has been a
recipient of the Leadership Circle Award for many years.
At Lawrence, we believe that in order to be successful as an independent, it is of
utmost importance to be able to service our customers no matter where they are geographically.
Among the members, we have approximately 700 service locations available to us throughout the
United States and Canada. We depend on one another for fixing each other’s trucks if they “go
down” out on the road, and supply substitute vehicles as needed. Most important, NationaLease
provides a central point of communication, group parts purchasing, as well as a multitude of other
services.
Jane is a talented executive for NationaLease with excellent communication skills, a
great attitude, and a super smile. She travels extensively visiting NationaLease members throughout the country, so we at Lawrence were honored to have her visit us for several days in late June. One of Jane’s
goals during her visit was to increase her knowledge of the nuts and bolts of day-to-day administrative and operational issues.
We hope you’ll take a moment to read the article Jane wrote about her trip to Red Wing. It’s not long and
is worth the read.
TRICIA IS TRULY EXCELLENT
If you’re in the transportation business, you read “Transport Topics” every
week. It’s the “go-to” publication for the
most up-to-date information in our industry.
“Transport Topics” recently reported that
Pegasus TransTech presented its LIVE
(Leadership, Innovation, Vision, Excellence) Awards to some very outstanding
people. Pegasus is a leader in business
process automation for the transportation
Tricia Meyers
industry, and these awards are, indeed,
noteworthy.
Tricia Meyers, Lead Revenue Accountant at Lawrence Transportation Company,
received the Excellence Award. LTX, Inc.’s
Chief Financial Officer, Jason Krell notes,
“This award goes to show just how hard Tricia worked on the imaging/work-flow project
at Lawrence Transportation Company. We
are very lucky and happy to have Tricia on
our team.”
THANKS TO RED WING’S TROLLEY TECHNICIANS
L/R: Jamie Nevitt, Jeremy Quade, Patrick Kittle,
Ross Husband, Willie Miller, Tom Kells
Red Wing, Minnesota has been without its trolley since
2013. It’s historic tours, seats full of urban explorers, and the
familiar “ding-ding” of its bell were a familiar sight around town.
Thanks to a start-up donation, fundraising, and Lawrence
Nationalease
technicians,
who can make just about anything with an engine run like
a top, the trolley is back in
business delivering people to
entertainment venues, bookstores, galleries, wineries, hotels restaurants and more.
MEET SUE CURRAN
From time to time our newsletter has mentioned of trip reports and fuel receipts from all of our customfuel tax reporting to government agencies at all levels ers in a timely manner. Customers who fail to send in
as one of those services that Lawrence NationaLease trip reports can receive a bill for $.15 per missing mile provides to its customers. Sue Curran is
money better kept in their own pockets. All
our Fuel Tax Coordinator who collects trip
of this is admittedly complicated, and Sue
reports and fuel receipts from our customis the person who can explain it all in detail.
ers who rent and lease our units.
The uncomplicated version is that when
Fuel tax reporting can’t be taken
the miles driven as shown on trip reports
lightly. It’s a very important trucking indusand the fuel purchased shown on receipts
try requirement, because the several levdon’t match, the result is audits for us and
els of government that build roads need
penalties for customers. According to Sue,
tax revenues. Sue has to make sure there
“The first part - information gathering- is
are no gaps in miles from one trip report to
challenging; the second - helping customanother for up to 400 trucks, and that the
ers - is rewarding.”
Sue Curran
fuel is accounted for in each trip report. Once
Sue has been at the job since 2011. She
she has completed checking every unit’s trip
has a daughter, Madison, and a grandson
report, it’s sent to a fuel tax company, and that company Nixon, who get a lot of Sue’s time and attention. In
puts together all the unit miles, for all customers, for addition, traveling, boating, remodeling her home and
quarterly fuel taxe reporting.
“hanging” with friends fit nicely into her mantra, “Enjoy
Sue says that her challenge lies in the collection life and be happy - come what may.”
Congratulations to Lawrence Transportation Company’s
(LTC) driver, Kevin House, on being named the Minnesota
Transportation Association’s Driver of the Month for October
2016.
Kevin has been with LTC since it acquired Crenlo in 2014.
He drives daily in the twin cities battling distracted drivers
and bumper to bumper traffic. Kevin has over 3 million safe
driving miles. We are thrilled
that he has received this
award in recognition of his
achievement!
Kevin House
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Congratulations to Rachel Thomas who graduated from Southeast Technical Institute in May with an Associate of Arts Degree in Digital Medical Sonography. Rachel is Troy Thomas’s daughter, and Troy runs our LNL shops
in Moorhead, MN and Sioux Falls, SD. Rachel also logged a 7-month internship in AR, has passed two medical boards (Abdomen and Obstetrics/Gynecology) and is working on
a Vascular third. To top it off, Rachel is now a board
certified, Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer.
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Matthew Schoh graduated from Winona High
School and - student athlete that he is - has been accepted at Moorhead State to major in Business Finance
and play some football. Matthew is the son of Connie
and Steve Schoh. Steve is LNL’s Regional Manager in Southeastern Minnesota. Congratulations to all!
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Rachel
We received the following observation: “When your
kids start graduating from college, it’s a clear sign that
the years are ticking away. Pictured with his lovely mother Kim is Adam Kuhn.” Shawn Kuhn, Adam’s father,
works in LTC’s dedicated division, but didn’t make the
photo because he took it. Adam graduated from the
University of North Dakota with majors in Business and Marketing. Though Adam is not exactly
following his father’s footsteps, he is pursuing a
career in pharmaceutical sales. Good luck Adam!
Matthew
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Amy Braford is now Amy Foster. Congratulations
to Amy and Pat Foster who were married on May 21st.
Amy is LNL’s License and Permits Manager (along
with a lot of other things she manages) in Red Wing.
Adam & Kim
Kaitlyn & Joseph
Amy and Pat
Awwwh! Kaitlyn Putney and Joseph Williamson
were married on July 16th in Austin, MN. Joe has been an employee of LNL
in Rochester since last November and Kaitlyn, a Veterinary Technician has just
enrolled at Rochester Technical College on her way to becoming a Veterinarian.
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Congratulations to the winner of of our
Second Annual Summer Photo Contest.
Curtis Willcom, an LTC owner/operator,
entered “Summer Sunset” and will receive $50 in credit at our Company Store.
Thank you to everyone who participated.
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