2025 was a unique year and a tough year in the trucking industry, but we still have a lot of memorable moments and wins to document. Join us on a 3-part series of our year, through the eyes of each department!
Our biggest accomplishment (by the grace of God) was reaching our 80-year anniversary! God’s faithfulness glimmers through the years as we have navigated many up and down cycles and been carried through them all.
2025 By the Numbers
We are 46 months into an industry downturn/recession (recession rates began their drop in March 2022), and we are very thankful for financial stability and culture-minded co-workers in the midst of this storm. This year, we drove 55,265,444+ miles, hauled over 91,100 loads, and earned approximately $132 million in revenue. Our 544 drivers have accumulated a collective 1.04 million driving hours this year – that’s enough time to watch every movie that has ever been released! (And maybe more than once!)
At the home base, the 211 non-drivers (office and shop employees) have been busy answering 486,063 phone calls (21,471 hours-worth!) and sending 2 million emails. (No comment on the percentage of business vs shenanigans). We have also received a collective 10.7 million emails as a company (only 7 million of which were read). In between phone calls, emails, and everyday tasks, 19,850 meetings were held (about 73 per day). All of that brainpower required 24,000 cups of coffee to be consumed.
Our 755 total employees have collectively worked just under 1.5 million hours this year; enough time to complete over 100 round-trips to Mars! We’ve had 25 OWNit Moments this year, and we’ve saved $2,392,400+ in cost-savings because of YOU making an effort to be extra conscious about our spending. Some of those cost-saving efforts included re-negotiating for tires, changing subscriptions, and checking twice on some of the yearly expenses that seem to accumulate. What a year!
Companywide Wins
Notable exciting moments this year include winning the Safety of the Year Award (a true collective effort), the start of developing Integrity TMS with the Monarch Project, sharing our innovation with the industry through the start of Nussbaum Technology, LLC, receiving our first 5th Generation Freightliner Cascadia, and being accepted to take part in the Ohio-Indiana Truck Automation Project (more to come in 2026!).
And now, let’s look back at the various departments and their biggest accomplishments from 2025, starting with our biggest department: drivers!
Drivers
Numbers:
- 42 drivers became Certified RED
- 192 drivers total are Certified RED
- 45 diamonds were added to Certified RED rings (not counting the initial diamond that each ring starts with)
- 19 trainers
- 27 Road Captains
- 67 trainees have passed through Nussbaum
- 42% Annual Turnover (vs industry average of 70-90%)
- 42 of our drivers arefemale (about 8% of our fleet)
Memories:
- “I purchased my first boat in June while visiting family in Columbus, Indiana and got 7 trips on the water with it this year. I have also lost another 30 pounds in my weight loss journey (87 pounds total since starting in February 2024).” – Sam Moravec
- “Two that come to mind: Back in April, I picked up a load at Pella in Gettysburg and got to take a tour of the Battlefield. It was quite surreal standing on sacred ground where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place. Memory number two is I was finally able to take a vacation to New Orleans!” – Chris Larsen
- “I finally learned French, thanks to trucking! I’m not much of a phone person and had started to get bored with only music and podcasts. I needed a new mental challenge—French was a language I was always interested in but didn’t think was achievable due to lack of an immersive environment and time. Thanks to all of the hours spent driving, my days have been dedicated to repetitive listening of courses and podcasts about interesting topics in French—increasing difficulty over time. The more French I learned, the better resources I could find by searching things in French and actually understanding what I was reading or listening to. Over the course of the last 6 months, I spent 8-10 hours a day in a French environment. At night after my shift, I would work on grammar exercises and read transcripts from podcasts I had listened to earlier. I am currently at B1 level in listening and reading. This is a minimum level requirement for high school graduate and undergraduate studies. I am still working on reaching a B2 (masters level) and C1 specialized/industry level knowledge and still have things to strive towards. Access to a new world of content, film and music unlocked.” – Jessica Hori
Reflections
In every year, there are moments of joy and sadness—and we had our share of both. We rejoice with several who reached retirement—we wish them all the best as they continue on in life… come back to visit!
- David Bradley, Driver
- Dan Luebbers, Driver
- Mike Wells, Driver
- Brian Foster, Driver
- Craig Chambers, Driver
- Thomas Maynard, Driver
- Jeff Schumacher, Driver
- Jeff Ballard, Driver
- Jeff Houck, Driver
- Jeff Ewing, Driver
- Steve Mallory, Operations
We also grieve and mourn the passing of three members of our trucking family this year:
- Ryan Jamison, Marketing Manager
- Brian McBride, Driver
- William “Bill” Breeden, Driver
