FEB. 12-18, 2024 32 · SBJ.NET FROM THE COVER Hiring efforts In his new position, Hopkins helps lead the company, which reached record-high revenue in 2022, exceeding $2.8 billion, up nearly 17% from its $2.4 billion in 2021, according to SBJ list research. The company’s fiscal year runs April-March, so last year’s revenue is yet to be compiled. However, he said revenue will probably finish flat for the year, mostly due to industry headwinds of freight shortage in 2023. Contributing factors to the shortage include supply chain disruptions, capacity constraints and increasing freight rates, according to media reports. To address the freight shortage, Prime stepped back last year from its normal hiring efforts and intentionally shrank its driver fleet by 300-400 trucks, Hopkins said. “You’re going to have some natural attrition, and so we just kind of turned off the recruiting side,” he said. “It just was a natural process that guys dropped out of the business, and we just didn’t replace them.” The company is back in hiring mode for drivers, he said, adding the company employs around 1,700 drivers nationally. According to SBJ list research, Prime’s companywide employee count was 2,178 in May 2023 with 1,456 reported as local workers. Hopkins said Prime currently has 7,400 independent contractor drivers, up around 76% from the total the company reported in 2018, according to past reporting. “For most of the industry, their challenge is getting drivers, and that is not our challenge,” Hopkins said. “Our company has such a fantastic reputation and such a good program that we’re generally turning away drivers. We can’t take all that want to come and drive here. We get to kind of pick and choose the very best because we just don’t need as many as want to come to work for us. And that’s pretty unusual in trucking.” Employment of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is projected to grow 4% from 2022 to 2032, about as fast as the average for all occupations, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. An average of roughly 241,200 openings for truck drivers are projected each year over the decade. Look to improve Hopkins said his management style reflects the company motto: “Do your best, do what’s right and treat others the way you want to be treated.” “That’s kind of how I’ve always operated. I really respect our management team and our associates. We have fantastic people, and we really hold them to fairly high expectations,” he said, noting his co-workers and culture have kept him at Prime for three decades. “I like to lead by example. I get here early, I leave late, and I work extremely hard to try to find ways to improve the company.” While he declined to share specific goals, Hopkins said his approach is to constantly seek improvement. “Goals are just that – they’re just a target. Either you hit them, or you don’t,” he said. “In everything we do – I don’t care if you’re the janitor or the in-house counsel or the director of operations, it doesn’t matter – we all need to be looking to improve. How can we do this more efficiently with better service? I’m looking to say, ‘How is each department in our company improving? What are they doing to improve?’” Becoming president was both a bit overwhelming and humbling, Hopkins said, noting Low’s guidance has been invaluable. “My first concern is, man, I want to make sure I do everything that keeps it going the same direction,” he said. “I just want to try to do everything I can to keep his vision going.” Aside from the trucking business, Hopkins is now overseeing some of the company’s ancillary businesses also owned by Low, such as Oasis Hotel & Convention Center and captive insurance company Mayfair Assurance LLC, which handles the occupational accident coverage for Prime’s independent contractors. “We also have an entity called EcoShred that repurposes used tires into mulch and other products like the material that goes into sports fields and running tracks around football fields, all that kind of stuff,” Hopkins said, noting that company originated a few years ago from an employee in the accounting department. Coming into view Describing Prime as a growth company that has typically seen strong annual revenue increases of 10% or more – 2023 notwithstanding – Hopkins said he projects the workforce will grow 5%-10% this year as the freight shortage ends. “It’s one thing when you’re a $100-million-dollar company to grow 10%. It’s an entirely another thing when you’re $2.5 billion to grow 10%,” he said. “We have been pretty close to that for years. As you get to $3 billion, it gets a little harder to grow 10%.” The company has expansion plans, both under construction and in the planning phases, he said. Dirt work has commenced for what will be a roughly 200,000-squarefoot trailer rebuild shop at the company’s headquarters that will replace an existing one on the campus. Next door will be a 70,000-square-foot Pedigree Truck and Trailer Sales dealership – another larger version from an existing campus structure. He said construction for that facility should start next year, declining to disclose cost estimates for the projects. Prime officials also are looking at property for an expansion of its Pennsylvania terminal in Pittston, adding the company’s other large terminal, in Salt Lake City, Utah, had renovation work completed around a year ago. “We’ve got a guy that’s actively searching for a location in Atlanta, Georgia. That’ll be our next big terminal,” he said of plans to purchase property this year. “We’ve been actively searching for a place down there for a year. It’s not easy to find the right spot.” • Prime: Company in hiring mode after scaling back fleet during freight shortage Continued from page 1 Being collaborative Carrie Richardson, executive director of Leadership Springfield Inc., said although she hasn’t visited with organizers of the Marshfield program, she’s always open to collaborative efforts that make the region stronger. “Our philosophy is that we love being collaborative partners for any regional communities that are looking for support in whatever that may be. That could be meeting with them and talking about programs or lending some insight or expertise,” she said. “Our role is to help support and elevate leadership development and community leadership regionally. We want to be willing partners in whatever way that makes sense.” Leadership Springfield has two cohorts that run simultaneously from September through May for its Signature Class program, now in its 38th year. Richardson said around 3,100 have graduated from the program, which is now accepting applications through April 1 for Signature Classes 47 and 48. Tuition for its Signature Class costs $2,950, according to the organizations’ website. The Springfield organization, which employs five, has previously looked to expand its programs beyond city limits. David Burton, community development specialist with the University of Missouri Extension previously told Springfield Business Journal that a Republic Leadership Access Class scheduled in October 2022 was canceled due to lack of interest from potential participants. “There are some great potential partners in Republic,” Richardson said, adding no plans for future classes are currently in place. “We’ll see what happens in the future.” While Leadership Marshfield plans to keep its sessions in town, Gann said she wants the initiative to plant a seed in other Webster County communities. “We want to do it well here and then go to Seymour and get a group there that will do it for their community. And Rogersville the same way,” she said. “We want to create a wave so that each community will have their own so that they can make their communities better.” The program also is intended to inspire participants to learn more about Marshfield, which Gann, as a lifelong resident, believes can strengthen their desire to stay and make connections – both business and personal – in the community. “These are my people, so we want everyone to feel like these are their people, too, and that they can succeed in their own community,” she said. “We want to show that there’s promise within their own community to get good jobs and make a good living and make a difference.” • Marshfield: Initiative hopes to plant seeds in other nearby towns Continued from page 9 7,686 Marshfield population in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau $1K Cost of gold membership in Leadership Marshfield GATHERING GOALS Leadership Marshfield organizers have compiled six goals for the new program: • Enhance the leadership skills of participants to improve Marshfield’s future. • Familiarize participants with the community’s opportunities, needs, problems and resources. • Identify and analyze current economic, political and social forces affecting the community’s future. • Establish professional and collaborative peer relationships. • Provide a common ground for communications between participants and community leaders. • Educate participants on how to move people and ideas to action. Source: Leadership Marshfield Carrie Richardson: Leadership Springfield wants to be a collaborative partner in the region. $2.8B Prime Inc.’s 2022 revenue 7,400 Independent contractor drivers working for Prime Inc.
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