Perkins Logistics
Noblesville, Ind.
Put a fresh spin on an existing practice by promoting its longstanding freight packing method as a way for customers to maximize trailer capacity and reduce carbon footprint.
Trucking companies today are discovering that lowering their carbon footprint – aka “going green” – not only makes a valuable impression in the eyes of the general public, it also leads to added business as a result of winning customers who also wish to score points for environmental awareness by choosing a green fleet.
In the case of Perkins Logistics – a long-haul and regional truckload carrier with 350 owner-operators and 900 trailers – the Noblesville, Ind.-based company discovered that it can have its cake and eat it, too, by using its longstanding packing methods to promote its ability to haul more freight per shipment and go green at the same time.
Perkins Logistics – which traces its origins to nearly a century ago when, in 1913, “Brownie” Perkins started using horses and wagons for local furniture deliveries – has long used its own blankets, straps, bars and plywood tiers to package bulk shipments to protect them without using crates. “We grew out of a furniture-hauling business model,” says Greg Maiers, chief operating officer.
The specialized packing method allows Perkins Logistics – which reports a compounded annual growth rate in excess of 20 percent over the last seven years, with sales exceeding $50 million last year – to fit an average of 65 percent more product into its trailers, reducing the number of loads needed and allowing shippers to haul more freight in fewer trips, Maiers says.
Moreover, the packing method eliminates cardboard waste, which has drawn growing interest from more shippers in today’s era of environmental consciousness, Maiers says. “Other the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that because of all of the costs, this kind of shipping would be preferable for reducing their carbon footprint,” he says.
