Karen has been connected to the transportation industry practically all her life. Both her dad and brother have spent time behind the wheel and she’s worked in the industry for over 25 years. The last 10 have been spent at Total Refreshments where she currently serves as the company’s National Sales Manager.
“My biggest challenge right now is just finding equipment,” said Karen. “In all my years of working with freight, I have never seen [the number of] trucks as limited as it is now. The economy has affected our business like it has many others. Our customer base is smaller, but we still try and service them to the best of our ability.”
Total Refreshments, based out of Washington, Missouri, ships approximately 15-20 loads of beverages each month all over the Midwest. The loads are very fragile. The pallets used during loading are narrow and can knock over easily during transit. So, while finding an available truck is important to Karen, so too is hiring a soft handed driver that will drive easy from pick-up to delivery.
A little over three years ago, Karen was in search for such a driver when she received a call from TQL Logistics Account Executive Yosef.
During that first conversation, Yosef told Karen that TQL took customer service seriously and that at the heart of this commitment was a policy to always stay honest and forthcoming with customers and to provide them with 24/7 availability.
“This is the one point that sold me on TQL,” said Karen. And, it appears, Yosef is delivering on his promise.
“Yosef always has our best interest in mind,” said Karen. “I feel like when I give him the load, I have no worries. I know he will communicate with my customers and that the trucks will arrive and deliver when he says they will. We work well together, we laugh together and we always place the customer first. That is the key to staying in business during these times.”
