Jumbo Motor Express

Although Jumbo has long since closed, its logo is still eerily visible, ghosted on some repurposed trailer, or hanging on for dear life to a 40'-er sinking haplessly in some northern farm field. I will always fondly remember cutting my trucking teeth here. I was never so happy as to show up at 6AM to review the previous days trip sheets, to add up my total bill count, or to drop in at 7PM after the drivers returned to check out how many new clients shipped that day, or what new lanes I got. These were truly happy days. The drivers, dock crew and management were such a team as I have never since encountered. Perhaps it was a reflection of a less connected world. One in which beepers ruled and cell phones, laptops, the web and social media were yet to be the driving force. I witnessed technology-creep happening in front of my eyes; starting in the mid-80's; from the pounding telex machine, to the fax machine to a supposed job-killing computer, to 5 pound cell phones – it was all so very exciting. Rate increases couldn't come fast enough. 9% in January, 15% in July, 7% in November. Frank and Albert couldn't keep up. Forget trying to get a quote for a new client, they were busy with increases. And clients just started shipping while they waited to confirm the rate quote to the invoice. lol It wasn't quite that easy, but it truly was that much fun. Customer experience boiled down to talking about the Maple Leafs, taking a client out for lunch, or bringing your favourite customer some chocolates or flowers, or for the "real shipper" a bottle (or two or three!) of good ol' Newfie Screech! Sure, we had to deliver the goods, but in an age when it took 7 days to get a proof of delivery for a 2-day service point, no one really busted any balls. You had to be really bad for that to happen. Thankfully, Jumbo was a star, both here and in the Atlantic Region - and I am able to credit their success and lessons learned for my own entrepreneurship. For this I will be forever grateful. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks, John-)