Trucking company founder J.B. Hunt retires as chairman

[Anonymous]

JB Hunt has come a long way from being the nursery of kindergarden wanna-be truckers who for one reason or another should not be out on the road. They once was producing 50,000 new drivers out of training a year and the industry is several million drivers with about 4 people to every one of those drivers in a administrative, billing, maintaince or other support.

JB was one of the few to take quick advantage of the rail. I think to be able to stack 400 boxes (Trailers) on a train at the east coast , ship it all west in one lift within 10 days unload the train and deliver the loads without the danger, waste out of route miles and expense of keeping 400 OTR drivers running.

When trains started carrying Boxes we all were kind of upset because it could cost us our livelhood, which was to deliver cargo in North America 24/7 in any weather day or night. Fortunately there is a great deal of freight to be hauled, they just cannot get it all on trains.

I drove for outfits that had the fastest trucks, best equippted (Airconditioning, Air ride and other features such as No Lumping or paid lumpers) and in generally did my best to keep up with the dispatcher. To see a JB Hunt truck ahead was to automatically shift to the hammer lane in the left because that truck is stuck at 55 mph (Now about 67 I think) and traffic was seriously disrupted.

Seeing newly trained drivers getting into accidents that most people would easily avoid such as bridge lifting and corner breaking did not help JB one bit. His Tire bill amounted to millions and millions of dollars a year simply because they would crunch the trailer against the corner and slam it around with no regard to damage on the right side. No wonder alot of stuff went rail.

With all things considered, I joined JB Hunt just after 9-11 to get away from increasing low pay, long hours and other problems created by lack of information flow between shippers and recievers etc etc etc.. I did well with them. But.. long ago I too joined the others in ridiculing JB because quite simply there were too many new drivers making rookie mistakes that sometimes cost property and or injuries.

That attitude changed when you consider the control, care and quality they try to give to me as I worked to deliver that load. Ordinary problems which otherwise would have taken me hours (If not days) to solve were hammered out almost on the spot by the dispatcher. For example, I was given a load of beer from St Louis going to Iowa to deliver on Sunday. Problem: they are closed on sunday. I was given pay to rest a day and was allowed to deliver monday morning with no problem. In some of the older companies I would have been yelled at or blamed for the schedule error which belongs to the shipper.

That was 4 years ago. I left the trucking to pursue schooling in computers. Occasionally JB's people will call me and ask if I needed work. I told them once I got out of school I would be happy to work in thier IT department..one of the most leading technolgy ever seen in a major Corperation.

Now. JB Hunt has a massive presence on the rail. They have about 16 yards (with 8 more I think) that do NOTHING other than put boxes on and off trains. I feel that with 14,600 trucks loaded and rolling as well as other assets in place they are well positioned to deliver by rail or by road any cargo to anywhere in the USA in a timely manner.

Now JB Hunt has created a company that has changed the Trucking industry with big pay, well maintained trucks and dispatchers who understand "our language" and does not engage in blame game or other foolishness. While other drivers waited up to days at a time for loads, JB Hunt drivers were home regular and putting children thru college on pay that is close to twice the industry average. The expectations and training also was beefed up big time to weed out the poor drivers and keep the cream of the crop. They did good with that objective.

I am sorry for a long post. It was difficult to stay out of the fray. Trucking and Rail as well as Shipping out of our ports on the west and east coasts literally keeps the blood flowing in the USA.

[csxns]

I worked in a warehouse before and when we got a load from Hunt i ask the driver if it was a rail load they will always say no and why you ask i do know when the bill was paid they charged a truck rate.Yes Hunt did not pay as good as some.

[AntonioFP45]

Jennifer, Bob. PLEASE be a little flexible!.[;)]

We're here to encourge and support each other!

As Sgt. Clark points out, this info is relevant here. J.B Hunt helped make a big impact with the rail industry. As modelers its good to know what is going on in the prototype world, past or present. Trucks and trains are synonomous with each other! Or are we forgetting how many "Hot Shot" intermodal trains [8D]zip across the U.S and Canada everyday.

I'm not chewing up on you guys, its just that we've had newbies make posts that received "flaming or unfriendly feedback" and wind up leaving never to return[V][:(!].

If a poster really does make a mistake, let's point it out to him or her in a friendly way. It is so easy to do![:)][:D][8D][;)][8)]

Take care, amigos!

[Anonymous]

J.B.Hunt was not significant to the railroads any more then any other trucking co., J.B. used the rails because they were cheaper, he paids his drivers very little for long hours of work, and had the highest accendent rating in the trucking industry. most drivers for J.B. or just getting enough experience an than moveing on to a better co.

[Anonymous]

I might be wrong, but I believe Mr. Hunt is one of the significant reasons that the current BNSF exists today. He purchased lots of stock and in return ships many of his trailers by rail instead of driving the trailers across the country. On one hand, it made it cheaper and easier for him to move trailers, and on the other he helped to preserve two very important pieces of railroad history, thereby preventing another PRR/NYC aka Penn Central, aka Conrail, now CSX/NS and another two flags to log in the "fallen flag" roster

[Anonymous]

I also don't find it very usefill info, but if you were trying to use it to get into a conversation concerning trucks and trains or models,then I can bare with it. as this is a general forum then ok. Trains bring in the freight to a distrubition point how does it get from there to the retailer, Trucks.Trucks and trains have allways been seen as competing for freight ,but in the early days alot of trucking companies were owned by the railroads.Given their history and the fact that alot of trucking companies ship trailer full loads on rail they are as much apart of trains as anything else we disscuss here freely.I had several trucks on my layout mostly bullnose kenworths and b model macks.Since this is your first post that I have responded to [#welcome] to the forum and good luck Trainnin and truckin Terry.

[Bob Hayes]

I'm with Jennifer. So what. Are the owners of Schnieder, Navajo, Ryder, Anderson, Klyson model railroaders? What does the old man himself have to do with model railroading? Just because the company he founded uses trains to transport their trailers, doesn't make his retirement news worthy to the rest of us. This isn't a model truck forum. Let's try to stay on track here.
Bob Hayes

[Anonymous]

Which is sold on Walthers... for HO Scale.

[jspinner]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jennifer RR

[#offtopic]
So what?.....This is a model railroading forum, not trucking news. Is Hunt a model RRer?????? Now he might have some time for the hobby......then it would be news, but there is no mention of any RR or modeling connection........

I'm just rying to understand in case I SHOULD post stuff from the Corvette forum, or the technical diving email list or the Collie list I also belong to over here too just in case someone is interested...wouldn't want anyone to miss something important. [:D][:D][:D][:D]
Jennifer

Some models of J.B.'s trucking:







For more products go to : http://walthers.com/exec/search?quick=jb+hunt&quicksrch_butt.x=24&quicksrch_butt.y=11

KEEP ON (MODELING)TRUCKING [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
jspinner

[Anonymous]

[#offtopic]
So what?.....This is a model railroading forum, not trucking news. Is Hunt a model RRer?????? Now he might have some time for the hobby......then it would be news, but there is no mention of any RR or modeling connection........

I'm just rying to understand in case I SHOULD post stuff from the Corvette forum, or the technical diving email list or the Collie list I also belong to over here too just in case someone is interested...wouldn't want anyone to miss something important. [:D][:D][:D][:D]
Jennifer

[Anonymous]

Bout time too I say. They are a good outfit.

[jspinner]

Trucking company founder J.B. Hunt retires as chairman
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Thursday, December 23, 2004


(12-23) 13:26 PST LOWELL, Ark. (AP) --

Trucking company founder J.B. Hunt announced Thursday he would retire as senior chairman of the firm to which he devoted more than four decades.

Hunt, 77, founded J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. in 1961. Like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, Hunt built a reputation for his homespun manner and ability to read a balance sheet.

The company is one of the nation's largest truckload carriers, with a fleet of nearly 10,000 tractors and 47,000 trailers. Hunt had 2003 sales of $2.33 billion.

Hunt began scaling back his duties nearly a decade ago.

"This is just one more step in my retirement plan that I instituted in 1995 when I became senior chairman of the board and relinquished my day-to-day responsibilities," Hunt said. "My wife and son will remain on the board to represent the family's still sizable investment."

Hunt's departure from the board, and as its chairman, is effective Dec. 31.

On Thursday, Hunt shares advanced 23 cents, or 0.5 percent, to close at $44.56 on the Nasdaq Stock Market -- exceeding its 52-week high of $44.76.


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/23/financial1147EST0086.DTL


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©2005 Associated Press