Nate Echelberry wants to drive a big rig; his employer, Martin Bros. Distributing, needs long-haul truck drivers.
So, Cedar Falls-based food service distribution sent him to school, so he could get the licensing, paperwork and experience necessary to make his dream come true and fill a key company need at the same time.
Call it a marriage of conveyance.
Martin Bros. now is working with Hawkeye Community College and offering participants in a new program fully paid truck driving instruction.
The program is designed to prepare students to become professional over-the-road and local truck drivers through customized training and testing at Hawkeye.
"In as few as six weeks' time drivers with no experience can obtain a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and begin work," said Sara Kies, marketing director at Martin Bros.
She noted that the company pays for the program's $3,000 cost, as well as a wage while participants are in training.
And, when the training is complete, the drivers become full-time CDL operators for Martin Bros., which currently has 137 drivers and is looking to add about 40 more, Kies said. In exchange for the training, participants agree to drive for Martin Bros. for at least 10 months.
"Students unsure of what to do after high school now have an opportunity to get paid to learn," Kies said.
Rookie drivers can start at $40,000 a year, including benefits and bonuses, Kies said.
Time at home
Drivers also are home "almost all nights and weekends," which also is considered a perk in the truck-driving business, Kies said.
"It's a great career because they can make a lot of good money driving a truck," Kies said. "We're trying to change some misconceptions about the trucking industry since Martin Bros. is a family-owned company."
Echelberry said he didn't need much prodding. He was looking for a way to obtain his CDL. He got hired at Martin Bros. in May, thinking company training would lead to a CDL.
The 34-year-old Reinbeck resident said he had a bit of a head start.
"I drove a Schwan's truck before I got in with Martin Bros., and they had me out training with them for about a month," Echelberry said.
Then, he slid quickly into the program at Hawkeye.
"I'm far enough ahead that some of the things I was supposed to learn I already knew, and I was able to focus on some of the new stuff and fine-tune some of the other stuff."
"I was training a couple of weeks and they brought me aside and they told me they want to send folks to this driving school," he said.
Echelberry welcomed the opportunity, he said.
"It's faster than I was just learning out on the road," he said.
Indeed, he said he was into testing phases of his training only three weeks into training.
"It just blew my mind how fast everything kind of clicks and you get it," he said.
Echelberry describes the simulator as "amazing."
"That was kind of cool because they were able to throw so much stuff at you," he said.
Driver shortage looming
Martin Bros. is among a growing number of truck-dependent companies that are trying to deal with a dwindling population of truck drivers, said Marty Kroenecke, lead instructor at the regional transportation training center at Hawkeye.
"Over the years, we've had other companies that have an employee that has a Class B CDL and needs a Class A CDL," Kroenecke said.
Martin Bros. took a little more aggressive approach than many others to deal with the problem, Kroenecke said.
"What's different about Martin Bros. is they approached us and said, 'We've got to be able to put more drivers on the road and we want to be able to pull and promote in-house,'" Kroenecke said.
The most direct route to that destination was to turn the training over to the college, Kroenecke said.
"Their concept is let's let you guys do what you do best, the pre-trip, skills and road," he said. "They're getting the experience and knowledge of the road. It's a pretty unique way they've set this up."
Paying the freight for the training also is a bit different with the Martin Bros. approach, Kroenecke said.
"What we struggle with is drivers often have to come up with money in advance for school and have living expenses, and a lot of carriers will reimburse you for school costs, but Martin Bros. said, 'We're going to take that load off about how to pay the bills while you're attending."
Other companies likely will follow Martin Bros.' approach to dealing with a driver shortage -- about 400,000 today -- that grows steadily worse.
"I think Martin Bros. is ahead of curve, knowing this is a way to keep our freight moving and not fight the marketplace," he said.
Kroenecke said carriers are turning down an aggregate of 900 loads a week because there aren't enough drivers to fill every order.
"We probably have a list of 25 carriers that would hire every student fin this program," Kroenecke said. "Every week, I hear from two or three more that say, 'help us out' -- little guys to the mega-guys."
Echelberry said he's ready to roll.
"One of the things a manager said is, 'Don't worry; we won't set you up to fail,' and they mean it," Echelberry said. "It's pretty cool."
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
