REGINA – Driver Chubby McKerrel leans against a row of tires on a
transport truck outside the head offices of Prudhomme Trucks Ltd. in
Regina, drawing on a cigarette while lining up his next road trip.
Richard Miller of driver services huddles against the wind this
afternoon to discuss the load of freight needed in Saskatoon that night.
Before he goes, McKerrel will get his truck seen by one of five
mechanics, check on the mail or take a shower in the drivers’ lounge
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and lay down in his
truck cab.
“I’ll nap and have something to eat,” said McKerral, a large man
dwarfed by his own semi, one of 75 in Prudhomme’s fleet.
In Saskatoon, the Edmonton driver will repeat the ritual until assigned
yet another job.
Brian Pekrul is getting his truck ready for a trip to Brandon by
vacuuming and removing garbage.
“Just tidying up the house,” he smiles from inside the “condo shack.”
That’s the name given to the elite fleet, reserved for longtime drivers
like himself who travel about 20,000 kilometres a month.
“It has all the comforts of home,” said Pekrul, pointing out the bunk
beds, TV-VCR and fridge in the cab. The job can take him away from home
and family for weeks at a time so he keeps photos of his three children
on the high ceiling above his steering wheel.
“It keeps me alive and awake,” he said.
From the company, there are rewards of leather jackets and bonuses for
safe driving.
Pekrul and McKerral are two of 114 drivers and four owner-operators in
the trucking company founded by Denis Prud’homme and his wife, Monique,
in 1990. It now employs 142 people.
Denis is a former truck driver who knows about life on the road. He
seeks out weekday trips for his drivers or finds work in specific
cities for drivers with personal business there. Travel with a spouse
or child is permitted and encouraged, said the father of two adult
daughters.
He noted some drivers work full time, while others pick up shifts on
days off from their jobs as firefighters or police officers.
Denis handles the marketing and safety records for the company that
logs 14 million km annually, while Monique oversees operations and
accounting. The company has accountants but Denis, whose formal
education ended in Grade 11, likes to do the math himself.
In addition to trucking, the couple runs an organic farm north of
Regina, growing legumes, flax, cereals and saskatoons.
Their roots are in Saskatchewan, with both coming from the French
communities of Gravelbourg and Ponteix. They have largely retained
their French, which Denis says is an asset in dealing with new business
down east, especially in Quebec.
“Having a French name doesn’t hurt,” he said.
A site near Regina’s Ipsco steel plant was chosen as their base due to
proximity to the Trans-Canada Highway.
“It is central to our marketplace” said Denis, noting it allows the
switchover of their many Regina-based drivers, and convenient
maintenance on their leased trucks, which are replaced every three
years.
It was also a strategic choice as there are no other large truck
companies based there, said Denis.
Inside the building, Denis chose the office closest to the front doors,
while Monique is in a larger room in the new wing that allows picture
window views of trucks leaving the service bay.
“I want to see who’s walking in,” said Denis, who routinely calls out
to those passing by. “I need to interact with people.”
There is much interaction in the operations dispatch room, a command
centre for the truckers. Planners wearing headsets and watching
computers maintain constant contact with truckers, relaying
instructions and information.
Around noon, pizza arrives for the mechanics and the delivery man is
directed to the shop area, where a training session on fifth wheels is
taking place.
Back in the lobby, dozens of white envelopes bearing the Prudhomme logo
and invoices for customers are piled up, waiting to be mailed.
With lunch break over, Monique launches into an orientation session
with a new driver.
“If you want someone to do something, you have to tell them,” she
explained.
Denis agreed. “They have to be real professional guys.”
Much of Monique’s own training has been on the job. It was a steep
learning curve and she smiled when recalling the first time someone
asked her for a
bill of lading.
“I’m not sure but I’ll get right back to you,” was a common refrain in
the early days, she said.
In their years together, Monique said she and Denis have navigated
their way through personal and professional issues and now take
separate routes in the business.
“We can pick our strengths and go in areas that we are best at,” said
Monique. “We really trust each other.”
A diabetic, Denis strives to manage stress and keep fit through regular
exercise, playing the guitar and restoring old cars and farm machinery.
Denis said he wants to look after all the freight of customers rather
than having trucks merely moving commodities.
Adding value and service are ways they can go head to head with
competition from the railways and an oversupply of trucking firms, he
said.
That includes expediting deliveries by putting two drivers on a route
to move product faster, fully loading trucks and choosing the most
direct routes to keep costs down.
Agricultural chemicals and rural deliveries once made up much of their
business, but now most of their hauled freight is city-bound. A 30,000
sq. foot warehouse they created for chemical storage is leased to an
agricultural chemical company.
Denis, who said there is less chemical sold than five years ago,
predicted bulk deliveries and the elimination of boxed products within
five years due to the increased size of farms.
Other changes include fluctuating fuel costs, said Denis, noting
Prudhomme now spends $35,000 more a month on fuel than it did three
years ago.
“The operators surviving with volatile fuel prices are solid good
operators,” he said.
Their company received an entrepreneur of the year award, while
Monique’s work in a male-dominated industry was recognized when she was
selected as one of Chatelaine magazine’s top 100 female entrepreneurs.
“I don’t need to be a man or a woman to do that, I just do what I set
out to do,” she said of the trucking business.
Most days the pair will leave the office by 5:30 p.m. That’s a change
from the long weeks and days of the early years, they say.
“Our company is at a stage where we can do that,” said Denis.
Monique called the company’s growth “managed planning,” noting it is
tied to demand and the availability of drivers.
“It’s one thing to add trucks, but you need drivers,” Denis said.
The company’s biggest asset is the drivers, said Monique.
Human resources becomes the subject of late day meetings for Monique
and a consultant, while Denis finishes up a brief meeting with the
company’s controller.
Outside a gleaming white truck fresh from the service bay, carrying a
driver and his spouse, points itself toward the highway.
