OTA Dispatch Issue 3

20 Oregon Truck Dispatch Siskiyou Transportation, Inc., cont. connections that help our mission of making Oregon a better place for trucking companies to do business. Company Strategy and Culture STI prides itself on being family-oriented and has a collaborative work culture and Mark is dedicated to promoting this outlook. “Everyone that works here has a say, a voice, and most of our decisions are based on everyone’s input. We’re all here for the good of the company.” They have established long-term relationships with customers that they’ve worked with since the company’s inception. Fostering good working relationships also extends to its employees. Mark believes that upper-level management still needs to understand what drivers go through because there’s often a disconnect. Even if drivers are home every night (and his typically are), they’re still on their own, making their own decisions, and representing the company. “My attitude has been such—I can put on a suit and lobby in Washington, DC, and later that week, get behind the wheel and drive one of our trucks.” And, he does! He talks about how he drove a dump truck a week prior, and is fine with “getting his hands dirty.” STI’s partnership with Timberland Logging and their EMS venture has been advantageous for his company, but Mark believes honesty, hard work, and sticking to your word are critical to leading a successful business. A quote by Grenville Kleiser sums up his values, “Words to live by: you are already of consequence in the world If you are known as a man of strict integrity. If you can be absolutely relied upon; if when you say a thing is so, it is so; if when you say you will do a thing, you do it; then you carry with you a passport to universal esteem.” Industry Challenges and Changes “I hope that we can get a better handle on the driver shortage,” says Mark. It’s the biggest challenge in our industry. While Siskiyou Transportation and Timberland Helicopters maintain smaller fleets, even they have experienced a shortage of both drivers and mechanics. If given an opportunity, he’d be willing to expand STI if the industry had less of a shortage. He’d like to see more 18- to 21-year-old recruits for the industry, especially as drivers. “We need to get them into the truck—not just the loading dock!” Younger drivers can haul intrastate, but it limits where they can work. “We need qualified drivers and we lose a percentage of that demographic in those early years because they may end up choosing a different career path.” Congress is considering lowering the age for state- to-state truck drivers to 18 from 21. Logging has changed quite a bit in Southern Oregon, and it’s not the industry it used to be. Even though the industry has decreased greatly, so has the available workforce wanting to dedicate themselves to the industry. Fun Facts Mark is really happy with the company he helped build, especially his current team of office staff, drivers, mechanics, and of course his dad—who is retired but still has ownership in the company. Mark’s wife, Cori, is a music teacher and both his sons are pursuing careers in engineering, but time will tell if the family passion for trucking will live on. He jokes that he works too much, but also likes to snow ski and spend time with his family on his family’s ranch on Dead Indian Road. In addition to a CDL, Mark has a commercial drone pilot license, but doesn’t intend to become a helicopter pilot. “Pilots have a passion for flying and will dedicate everything to obtain and maintain their license. I was always drawn to trucking more than flying.” Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Watch our Weekly Express e-newsletter for OTA Grassroots Training opportunities compliments of ATA this fall!