Jennifer Brown gets to know John Archibald of Singletree Transportation
Everybody loves penny candy, and one of the most iconic penny candies is Tootsie Roll. A part of American culture since 1896, Tootsie Rolls were the first penny candy to be individually wrapped. As the Matchmaker team planned to send Mary and Jennifer as our representatives at this year’s Annual NASTC Conference, we wanted to find as many ways as possible to honor the stars of our industry, the Truck Drivers of the Year.
Although we would have loved to hand out candies wrapped in portraits of Benjamin Franklin like the one pictured below, we had to settle for a more modest expression of our respect and appreciation for the work they do.
That’s how the Matchmaker Logistics Truck Driver Survival Kit was born. The kit includes an assortment of items like:
- Laffy Taffy (to help keep a sense of humor when stuck in traffic)
- Marbles (to replace the ones ‘lost’ while working in this industry)
- a piece of sponge (to soak up the rain)
- Starburst (to give an extra burst of energy on long hauls)
- and a Tootsie Roll (to bring luck as they roll down the highway).
Everybody could use a little extra luck, but the drivers honored at the NASTC conference certainly don’t need extra skill. Their track records are amazing: Collectively, the 12 truck drivers honored this year have amassed more than 35 million accident-free miles, driving on average 25 years without an incident! Their average time served in the industry is 27 years; average time served with their current employers, 13 years.
Mary Cozies Up to "Cliff"
NASTC treats its honorees like royalty, providing them (and their guests) with all-expense-paid trips to Nashville. Industry vendors and brokers (including us) donate gifts for an awesome SWAG bag which accompanies the plaque and Driver of the Year jacket each individual receives. In addition to dinners and an evening at the Grand Ole Opry, there are plenty of surprises. This year, John Ratzenberger, who played Cliff Clavin on the long-running sitcom Cheers, was onhand for photo opportunities.
Ratzenberger appeared as Cliff in 273 episodes of Cheers between 1982-1993. When the Cheers 200th Episode Special aired, host John McLaughlin asked Ratzenberger to talk about his character, Cliff Clavin, a know-it-all who still lived with his mother and had no luck with the ladies. Ratzenberger said that Cliff would describe himself as the “wingnut that holds western civilization together.” However, Ratzenberger continued, he would also describe Cliff simply as “A winged nut.”
Of course, we know that the people who hold our economy together are truck drivers. As the bumper stickers says: “Without trucks, America stops.”
This weekend, spend some time “where everybody knows your name”,
~Bob
