set up the grill.” And it’s family in the personal sense, too. Tom’s
been married to his wife Sue for 40 years, and they live in the same house in Grand Island that they bought in 1978. Both their children are involved with the company. Daughter Tracy lives in Omaha and works on their rates and contracts; son Jim “is pretty much in charge of the sales side” and also lives in Grand Island. Grand Island Express has been a part of
Nebraska Trucking Association pretty much as long as it’s been around. Pirnie served as its chairman in 1998-99 and, he says, there weren’t really any big issues he had to deal with during his term. “It think it was a pretty good year,” he
demurred. NTA President Larry Johnson has a slightly
more elaborate recollection. “It was a time when we were trying to create
awareness in terms of fuel surcharges and those kinds of things, so there was a lot of public awareness going on,” said Johnson, who was development director when Pirnie was chairman. “We also had a driver image campaign that was going on, so he was part of the executive team that was helping change the public’s opinion of what a trucker looks like. It was very innovative and received lots of awards.” Tat Pirnie was modest about his term as
chairman doesn’t surprise Johnson, who also described him as “a delight to be around.” Both Tom and Sue Pirnie remain very active in NTA’s truck driving championships and the annual holiday fundraiser that supports local nonprofit organizations. “We’re very proud to have a high-quality
company like Grand Island Express” in the association, said Johnson. “All their employees are very professional, and it makes my job very easy when we have those good examples out there on the road.” Pirnie was equally effusive about the work
NTA has done on behalf of its members. “Te trucking association is a very key part of
the trucking industry in Nebraska, and has done a great job keeping Nebraska a good place to have a trucking company in,” said Pirnie. “Tey always stay focused on improving our roads, making sure the monies they collect are spent towards roads and don’t get diverted toward something else. Some of our owner-operators are actually dedicated carriers and the truck services side of the association helped them get their authority, permits, fuel reporting, and licensing. Tey’re really helpful in that area.” In recent years Grand Island Express has
captured the attention of its peer group, having been named by the Truckload Carriers Association as the Best Fleet to Drive For in the company drivers division for 2013, having finished in the Top 20
last year. Mark Murrell of Carriersedge in Ontario, Canada, which conducts the survey for the TCA, said carriers have to be nominated by a driver or contractor and are scored on a range of different categories including programs offered, work-life balance, professional development, interviews with contractors, and an employee survey. He said that Grand Island stood out for several reasons. “Tey’re not that big of a company – they have
about 160 drivers and contractors together – but they had a lot of processes that were really refined and they’ve built really good company habits,” said Murrell. “Much more so than we typically see in a company that size.” Take, for instance, the driver scorecard. It’s not
uncommon for companies to track multiple criteria with these and evaluate them quarterly or monthly. “But Grand Island Express is doing it much
more regularly, on a weekly basis, and putting that information to work with people more directly to improve performance,” said Murrell. “So you don’t have the lag time in finding out what happened a month or a quarter ago, when it’s too late to make an adjustment. Tat, I thought, was a really good idea.” Another reason Grand Island stood out was it
did things other companies of its size didn’t. For example: Its customers receive a copy of the same safety policy given to its drivers. Tat’s another Continues
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NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 4, 2013 —
www.nebtrucking.com 15
Kansas City 816.474.8040
Des Moines 515.262.9381
Joplin 417.623.4771
Sioux City 712.258.7200
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