The Amazing Altorfer Drivers

Ken Toland, Troy Decker, Doyle Chester, and Don Shank

“I’d like to nominate several drivers for an OWNit Moment. These drivers have been winning the praises of our customers over and over again.

Doyle Chester, Ken Toland, and Troy Decker all run, to some degree, within our East Peoria and Cedar Rapids Altorfer lanes. The three of them cover high mileage overnight runs with multiple stops. Not only that, but they are also stopping at unmanned warehouses which requires them to do their own sorting and forklift operation to load and unload their trailers. Because of this, the customer and I rely heavily on their feedback and photos to report any issues or concerns for each location.

The best part about this group of drivers is the community they have formed with each other. Due to some of their stops overlapping, they work together to get freight delivered on time if breakdowns and weather situations arise. Not only do they keep tabs on how each run is going, but they also coordinate vacation time, so that none of them are off work at the same time.

I also want to give a huge bonus shout out to system driver, Don Shank, for his dedication and willingness to work with these guys before time off even gets scheduled to make sure he can cover their accounts.

All of these drivers take great pride in their work servicing the customer and representing Nussbaum. This dedication to their work is extremely meaningful to the customer, and ultimately this is what allows us to retain business at profitable rates during downward market pressure.

An Altorfer store manager sent this message to us regarding Doyle Chester. Despite a breakdown, Doyle was able to work with another driver to get as much of his load delivered as possible, and kept the customer informed along the way.

“I want to share my praise for Doyle going above and beyond last night. Doyle’s simple act of sending me a text message at 4:15 am, letting me know of the issue, plans, and that West Branch’s parts would be at Cedar Rapids. I was very appreciative that Doyle had the fortitude to do this. This little bit of communication (that he did not have to do). Saved us time/money by not having to hunt down our emergency backordered parts, or an extra trip to pick up parts. I was then able to make plans to pick up the parts from Cedar Rapids first thing this morning. Our customers were able to have their parts this morning and not have to wait an extra day.”

Again, thank you to these drivers and everything they do to keep our customers happy and the loads running smoothly!” -Jeni Nussbaum

Want to nominate someone at Nussbaum for an “Own It” Moment? Send your story to esop@nussbaum.com.