Averitt Express announced the winners of its recent “Smart Car for Smart Thinkin’ ” program at a surprise ceremony held at its service center in Louisville, Ky. Jerry Vaughn, an Averitt driver domiciled in Louisville, was selected randomly as the winner of the grand prize, a 2008 Smart Fortwo convertible car, from a pool of thousands of eligible associates. In addition, 20 other Averitt associates each won a $500 gas card after their names were drawn at random.
The ceremony was the culmination of Averitt’s three-month “Smart Car for Smart Thinkin’ ” program designed to create enthusiasm about energy and resource conservation among its associates. To be eligible, associates at Averitt’s more than 100 locations had to help their respective facilities to reduce the use of resources – including fuel, water, electricity and paper – over a three-month period. Each associate at a facility that showed an improvement in all areas was entered into a drawing for a chance to win the Smart Fortwo car or one of 20 $500 gas cards.
“We were looking for creative ways to operate more efficiently, and resource conservation was an obvious choice,” says Scott Wolf, vice president of corporate services for the Cookeville, Tenn.-based carrier. “We designed the ‘Smart Car for Smart Thinkin’ ‘ program to emphasize the importance of conservation and to generate excitement amongst our associates. Their reaction to this initiative was overwhelmingly positive, and the results surpassed our expectations.”
