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While
the truck was purchased to aid the Co-op’s 75 stockholder members,
Jones soon found transportation was in demand for other Co-ops and among
local companies who deal in bulk products.
"We
began hauling for Ashford and the Dale Farmers Co-op," he said.
Steadily,
the list of Co-op customers has expanded. Two months after the first
truck was purchased, the company added a second. "We had a good
corn crop that year," Jones said. "We hauled a lot of local
grain for farmers."
By
early spring 2005, another truck and trailer were added. Business
continued to grow and Jones began hauling for Anderson’s Peanuts, a
division of the Alabama Farmers Co-op located in Opp. Another truck and
trailer were purchased. This year, four more semis have been added to
the fleet.
Today
the Co-op does a lot of hauling for farmers and Co-ops as well as
Tri-State Plant Food and Red Fox Fertilizer, both located in nearby
Dothan.
"We
travel about 300 miles from Headland," said Jack Marshall,
dispatcher for Headland Trucking. "We go as far east as Augusta,
GA, and as far south as Tampa, FL. We’ve been hauling a lot of
landscape rock to a landscape supplier down there. We pick up fertilizer
there and bring it back to Tri-State."
Trucks
run as far west as the Alabama-Mississippi state line and as far north
as Decatur.
On
a recent summer day, Marshall recounted the location of several trucks
on the road – Hurtsboro, Elba and Enterprise in Alabama, Greenville,
GA and Campbellton, FL.
"We’re
blessed," said Jones. "Our trucks are rolling."
Marshall
joined Headland Trucking early this year, after Jones saw the need for a
full-time person to keep the trucks busy and supervise the Co-op’s
eight drivers.
Marshall
was a former trucker himself, operating a small fleet of four trucks.
When Jones approached him and shared his story of growth, Marshall was a
little skeptical.
"People
were discouraging me," Jones said, "warning me to not get too
big too quick."
But
even in a drought year, Headland Trucking has not had to park trucks.
"It’s unbelievable – the hauling," Jones said.
The
Co-op did something else to ensure the success of this new entity. Jones
only purchased good, used trucks. New trucks would have been too costly.
The oldest truck in the fleet is 14 years old.
"There
are still trucks on the road hauling that are late ‘70s, early ‘80s
models," Jones said. "We know we’re got to pay drivers good
to keep them. Putting the money in our people instead of the trucks has
paid off."
Dothan
is home to numerous large trucking companies, including Covan and AAA
Cooper Transportation, two of the largest trucking firms in the
Southeast, as well as Alabama Motor Express, AWC Carriers and
Southeastern Freight Lines. Competition for drivers is stiff.
"There
are not that many drivers out there. They have to have a physical, pass
a Haz-Mat test and be alcohol and drug free. That’s not easy in today’s
society," Jones said.
The
trucking company has proven to be profitable for the Co-op, Jones said.
"It diversified us. We found a market – a growing market – that
gives us a larger piece of the pie. We are not just on the retail side
anymore."
Diversification
will pay the bills, Jones said, as farming continues to decline and
agri-related
businesses seek new means of revenue. An in-house trucking service has
saved money because it was a service the Co-op paid for in the past.
Jones
said the thousands of miles accrued haven’t all been smooth, but
growing pains have been overcome. |
