diff erence, which is by design. Some customers even affi x their logos to the trucks. Because of that arrangement, the company maintains tight control over its assets. All the drivers are company drivers with no owner-operators, and the company owns all of its power units and trailers. T is is the third year that the company has run 100 percent of its trucks using electronic logs, which T ompson said enables it to maintain constant contact with its drivers while giving it the ability to tell customers where their loads are. “It just basically opens the book to
whoever wants to see their loads or driver or hours of service,” he said. “Everybody knows. T ere’s no hidden agenda. It’s just open book.. … We’re going to be legal. We’re not going to force dispatch. We’re going to tell you what we have available, and if we have to relay, we’ll relay.” Whatever the company is doing,
it’s working. According to T ompson, the company has grown every year since he started working there. “We’ve never not grown, and never not
made money,” he said. “Like most trucking companies, it’s not a huge amount, but we percolate along and block and tackle and try to squeak out a dollar or two.” T e plan, he said, is to continue to grow. “We’re trying to do a culture thing within
our company where we just want to do the right thing to our employees. We want to do the right thing to our customers. We want to do the right thing for us as a family to grow to the next generation. You know, none of us are getting any younger, so the company wants to grow and prosper for generations on.” Outside of the offi ce, T ompson has
varied interests. He grew up around cattle in Oklahoma, where his uncle had a large ranch, and today he raises about 20-40 head of Angus on his own ranch in Williamson County. Not too long ago, he picked up a bull from a buddy in Yukon. He plays golf with a seven handicap, and because he travels, he’s been able to play some of the country’s great courses. Piper
Q4 WINTER 2017 TENNESSEE TRUCKING NEWS • 21
said he hits it straight down the fairway and wins almost every time, while Beeny has a simple warning: Don’t play him for money. He married a girl from his hometown –
his wife, Tina, who he jokingly calls by her fi rst and middle name, Fay, meaning she’s “Tina Fay,” like the famous comic actress. “She wouldn’t date me in high school,”
he said. “I think she had to kind of let me grow up a little bit, but soon aſt er high school, we got married. She was 20, and I
was 24. So yeah, when I saw opportunity, I swooped in, never let her go. So we’ve been happily married ever since.” T ey have three children, Wayland,
Garrett, and daughter Darcie Tate Malone, and four grandchildren ages 7-2 who are a big part of his life. “I love to play with them, love to
pick them up from school, love to go on a walk on the farm and hold them and love them,” he said. TTN
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