DTS - Dedicated Transportation Solutions Aprivate Fleet Alternative

I found two companies that had carried mattresses before on a dedicated basis and then looked at 4 other companies to compare against. ….This was my conclusion of each company. Ryder, Penske, JB Hunt approached my business the same way. I was going to be put into a pool with other companies that they did dedicated for and whereas they would have a director on my premises, that person would be accessing drivers from their driver pool using equipment that was dedicated to us. This concerned me that I would not have that personalized approach with my customers since I may or may not know who was driving the truck. I don’t know about Texas, but on the east coast, our customers really like seeing the same driver each time and our drivers actually build a relationship with our customers. We get a lot of compliments on our drivers and I could not afford for a driver to be rude to my customer or mis-handle our products……All in all, every company was within 5% of each other so it mostly boiled down to who I felt most comfortable with and who would treat me “special” and not like a company shipping 4x4 pallets. I was able to make a decision early enough (in May) so that our business could be evaluated using our current fleet size and I could compare their numbers against how I was operating before I made the change and I will have to say that it, (DTS) was a very good move on our part. The move has been totally transparent to our customers, my costs have gone down due primarily to a better utilization of our assets…drivers and trucks.

As a follow up to our meeting with Scott Stowers and team I called M___. M___ is a neighbor and has used Scott in 2 businesses that he has owned.

The latest venture was a company that M____ bought in January. Mark’s business is high mass and low weight as he sells and services waste disposal containers. In his case Scott has been able to combine chemical shipments with his items that have worked well. That clearly would not work for us but I’m sure there are other possibilities.

At any rate he gave Scott high marks and likes working with someone local.

It was a turn around situation and involved industrial packaging. He said they had 14 tractors and about 300 trailers which seems out of balance but that is what he said.

He described Scott as a very honest guy with a good CFO. He said they are a local company and are growing. He described a number of situations where DTS saved them money similar to some of the examples Scott shared with us in the board room. He commented that it took a lot of guts to make this move but it was definitely the right move and he would do it again.

Dear Scott,

Rarely if ever do I take time to write to let a vendor know they are doing a good job… I expect that, but I wanted to let you know that you and your people are doing more than I expect and I appreciate that.

As you know we deliver in a tough environment; we do what everyone else doesn’t. We provide unattended nighttime delivery to car dealerships in cities all over the East Coast from Bangor, Maine to Miami, Florida, including New York. Our customers include Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Ford, Chrysler, Volvo, Lexus and Infiniti to name a few. We have these customers because we are the best in the business. Not the biggest, but the best. We meet or exceed our customer expectations period! We expect the same from our vendors.

That is why we chose DTS as a transportation supplier. DTS has the same reputation as us, not the biggest but the best. Our decision to use DTS has been a good one and I will recommend DTS to anyone. Running rail gate trailers at night, when everyone else is asleep is a risky business at best. If the gate stops working, so does everything. The trailer doesn’t move and nothing can come off. That is why having a good 24/7 dispatch team is critical. Not just good in the daytime when everyone everywhere is open, but good from midnight to eight in the morning when no one is open. I won’t say we haven’t had problems, but I will say they were resolved timely with a customer service focus. DTS hasn’t let us down, and in turn, we haven’t let our customers down.

Scott, let me assure you that DTS will get the first call on any future business as we go forward. Again, thanks for a job well done.

Sincerely,