This is part three of a three-part series
NMFTA recently shared quotes from its leaders and key members that were broadcast by SiriusXM Channel 146 – Road Dog Trucking’s Dave Nemo Show during February’s NMFTA Membership Meeting in La Jolla, CA.
If you missed it, or wouldn’t mind a quick rundown, you couldn’t do much better than to check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here as we shared recaps of guests that joined on-air personalities Jimmy Mac and Lindsay Lawler in February.
Check out what they shared during their time on the live show:
Sheri Frieze, chairman of NMFTA’s Classification Resource Committee (CRC) and vice president of pricing and yield management at Midwest Motor Express, on seeing her colleagues in La Jolla and working with them on classification updates:
“We’ve been at this for probably a year, since we brought Debbie Sparks on, and we’re making great strides. It takes time and we only get together three times a year and see each other. Obviously there’s virtual meetings we have as well, but we’re trying to get through this and we have made great strides.”
Sheri again, on remembering that it all comes down to the drivers:
“The Classification Resource Committee, we reclassify freight, making sure what we put in our trailers is classified correctly, that we can load our trailers correctly and that the weight and density that’s in our truck – that the drivers aren’t getting fined when they go through weight scales and so forth. Without the drivers, you’re not going to have anything on your shelves. They’re the key element to all of it, of course. Without them, there is no industry here.”
And one more from Sheri, on the support her company’s new owners have shown for involvement with NMFTA:
“We’ve got a lot more assets and resources that we can provide our customers, so it’s been great. And we’re building our LTL network so we can reach so many more customers with our expanded territories, and they’ve supported me and the NMFTA attending these meetings and being part of the CRC. The previous owners started coming and they got me into the NMFTA, so it’s been great during the 13 years I’ve been coming here.”
Tim VanderPol, immediate past chairman of NMFTA and executive vice president at Peninsula Truck Lines, on his years of coming to NMFTA Membership Meetings:
“I started coming up to NMFTA meetings in 2005. I was a pricing guy at that point in time, and that’s what a lot of these people are. So it’s very helpful as a pricing guy to be with my people, who are speaking the same language as me and learning from them and hopefully giving them a few tidbits as well.”
Tim again, on the opportunity to make an impact through NMFTA:
“Right now we’re just trying to make sure we didn’t change too much, too fast, and make sure we keep that which has drawn us together. So that’s a lot of pricing-type functions. I was always drawn to the committee’s work. As a small carrier, you like to be able to have some influence on what other people are doing.”
Lesley Veldstra Killingsworth, vice chairman of NMFTA and director of traffic and pricing at Polaris Transportation Group, on the unique opportunity to impact standards:
“Honestly, we come here and talk about all the things that all the carriers out there are experiencing. And where else can you come and sit at a table with small carriers and large carriers and have a voice, and make a difference?”
Lesley again, on learning about best practices she didn’t even know were best practices:
“You’re sitting at a table and talking to one carrier and they’re sharing, ‘I have to deal with this. What do I do about this?’ And they say, ‘We already have a committee that deals with that.”
Listen to all the clips from the Dave Nemo Show here.
Ready to networking with like-minded professionals? NMFTA members are encouraged to join us June 4-6 in Reston, WA: NMFTA Summer Meeting