{"id":383,"date":"2019-09-20T14:46:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T14:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=383"},"modified":"2019-09-20T14:46:48","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T14:46:48","slug":"big-g-appreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2019\/09\/20\/big-g-appreciation\/383\/","title":{"rendered":"Big G appreciation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tennessee carrier’s largest Driver Appreciation Week program just an extension of what it does for drivers all year long
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By Al Muskewitz
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The management team at Big G Express likes to do things for its drivers throughout the year, but when Driver Appreciation Week comes around it pulls out all the stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Driver Roy Loper shows off the gift basket he won, designed by the Recruiting Department.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Shelbyville, Tenn.-based carrier celebrated all its drivers and greeted more than 75 percent of them during activities at its I-81 terminal in Russellville and I-840 terminal in Mt. Juliet last week.

This year\u2019s appreciation program was the largest in the employee-owned company\u2018s history, with bigger prizes and more fun and games than they\u2019ve ever offered before.
 
\u201cIt is hard to sum up in one week how much our professional truck drivers mean to us here at Big G Express,\u201d director of recruiting and driver services Terry Conquest said. \u201cWeek in and week out all year these men and women work hard to provide for their families, Big G Express and the millions of people who are provided products and services across the U.S.
 
\u201cOur drivers are indeed the driving force here at Big G and we are proud to show them how much we appreciate and value them not just at this time of year but every day.\u201d
 
It was truly a company-wide effort. This year each department had a hand in crafting nine \u201camazing\u201d gift baskets that were given away as prizes. The Extended Coverage team won the internal competition, designing a replica Big G trailer that held all the goodies that were included in the package. Driver Brandon Jordan won the prize.
 
Every driver in the fleet was a winner: Each received a commemorative T-shirt and more than 300 drivers won prizes in random drawings. 
 
\u201cWe really focus on appreciation year round and try to recognize our drivers all year, whether it\u2019s just giving out shirts and hats to the Big G grill that travels around to our terminals, but specifically during this week we try to do a little extra,\u201d marketing and communications manager Jodi Lamb said. \u201cI hear it often from our drivers: You guys do so much all the time.\u201d
 
Donald Scharklet, a 10-year Big G veteran from Portland, Tenn., with more than a million safe miles who rarely goes away on vacation, won one of the week\u2019s biggest prizes \u2013 a $1,500 vacation package. The carrier also used the occasion to celebrate Murfreesboro driver Tim Chelette being named Pilot\/Flying J\u2019s 2019 Road Warrior, a $10,000 prize for demonstrating superior efforts in the trucking industry.
 
Chelette, a Big G driver for 15 years with nearly 2 million safe miles, is a 2019-20 America\u2019s Road Team captain and former Tennessee Driver of the Year. He’s a take-charge kind of guy who likes to grab a project by the horns and run with it and over the past four years has spearheaded an annual charity motorcycle ride that has raised more than $30,000 for St. Jude Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big G Express operations manager Chris Kelley (L) helps driver Jimmy Ganus spin the “Wheel of Fortune.” Ganus later won a gift basket designed by Safety\/HR.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s 200-mile ride through the scenic backroads of Tennessee drew a record 85 riders despite being rescheduled due to weather-related road conditions and raised nearly $15,000.
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\u201cI was pretty excited the day I found out (about the award), but when I woke up the next morning is when it really hit me,\u201d Chelette said from the road somewhere in Ohio. \u201cI found out there were 7,500 stories submitted and out of all those stories mine stuck out just a little bit more than the others, not that they didn\u2019t have great story, but something in my story stuck out just a little bit more. That is just unbelievable. That\u2019s a wow moment for me. I live each and every day to try and do for others and when that hit me I\u2019m like I\u2019m doing it.\u201d
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The 53-year-old driver plans to pay off his motorcycle with his winnings and take his wife Teresa on a cruise.
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Chelette didn\u2019t win a prize in the company drawing last week, but it didn\u2019t matter. He knows he\u2019s appreciated.
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\u201cBig G does stuff for us all throughout the year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they have the Driver Appreciation Week they don\u2019t cut any corners. When you find a company that really appreciates their drivers like Big G does you know it; that\u2019s why I\u2019ve been with them 15 years in November because of the fact you fit in. You found the company where you fit in, you enjoy doing your work, they enjoy the work you do for them and they turn around and give it back to you with the appreciation they show.\u201d
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And not just during Driver Appreciation Week. Chelette related a first-hand story where he was on the job in Rhode Island and got a call that he needed to be back in Tennessee for a life-changing meeting first thing the next morning. Company president Randy Vernon found a way in 10 minutes to make it happen.
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\u201cWhen a company does that for a driver that\u2019s when they really show their appreciation,\u201d Chelette said, \u201cand Big G has done that for so many drivers.\u201d

Al Muskewitz is the editor for Wright Media<\/em>

Cover photo: Big G Express driver Tim Chelette was the grand prize winner of the Pilot\/Flying J Road Warrior contest, kicking off the carrier’s Driver Appreciation Week activities.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for more information on Big G Express<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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