Peninsula Truck Lines Reaps Awards for Customer Service
April 2, 2024
Utilizes leased trucks from PacLease for high-mileage operations
To be successful in business, customers need to love what you do and feel like they’re getting the best value for their dollar. Otherwise, they’ll move on, and you’ll have to find replacement business.
For Peninsula Truck Lines, doing right by its customers has been a way of life since the company opened its doors in 1951. Its commitment has been recognized nationally, as the company received Mastio Customer Value and Loyalty Report’s top honor as the overall #1 LTL Carrier in the country in 2022. Peninsula earned that distinction two times prior as well, cementing its reputation as a top-tier carrier.
In the company’s latest win, it also received the highest Net Promoter Score with a mark of 84.8%. The average score of all carriers in the study was 44.8%. Net Promoter scores are determined by the percentage of customers that rated carriers with an overall performance score of 9 or 10 and subtracting the percentage of customers that gave a score below 7.
“Translated, that means customers were extremely happy with our service, and they recommend us to other companies,” said Brent Vander Pol, President of Peninsula Truck Lines. “Close to 90% of our freight is overnight delivery and we have an on-time delivery rate of close to 99%.”
To get to that impressive on-time delivery rate, the Federal Way, Washington-based company uses a of mix of owned and leased tractors. Peninsula runs 325 day cabs and has close to 50 straight trucks with liftgates. “We have our higher mileage tractors on a full-service lease, with the majority through PacLease,” said Vander Pol. “We lease Kenworth T680s and our drivers really like the comfort and visibility. They’ve been great trucks!”
Peninsula has four main distribution centers (Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and Boise) serving primarily Washington, Oregon and Idaho based customers, coupled with daily runs into Utah and California. The company’s specialty targets regional deliveries leveraging strategically located and sourced terminals. It also has full-breadth national coverage should the need arise. Peninsula has trucking partners that can handle deliveries throughout the U.S. and into Canada.
The real magic happens at its regional terminals, where it’s a ballet in motion – customer LTL shipments arrive and are staged in trailers for either regional or long-haul delivery. Other loads come in and are ready for final-mile distribution.
The overnight delivery trucks operate in a “Pony Express” model – with deliveries going out up to 750 miles. “How that works is a truck from Boise, for example, will have trailers headed for Seattle, and likewise a truck in Seattle will have a load destined for Boise. They’ll meet at our truck yard in Hermiston (Oregon) and then do a “drop-and-hook” – taking the other’s load back to their terminal. It’s not exactly one-for-one, as we have to have more trucks from Seattle since we haul doubles instead of triples that go through Oregon and Idaho. With this model, drivers are back every night, which makes a big impact on driver retention. Drivers want to sleep in their own beds at home and this allows them to do just that.”
According to Vander Pol, the key to making this all work is having reliable equipment and substitute vehicles available should there be a need. “We simply can’t miss connections and deliveries and that’s where PacLease comes in with premium, well-maintained equipment,” he said. “When maintenance or service is required, we can have work done at the local PacLease facility, or out on the road at a sister PacLease facility. It works very well.”
Since Peninsula runs doubles in Washington, and triples in Oregon and Idaho, custom spec’ing through PacLease is a must have. Working with the PacLease Pacific Northwest franchises and the PacLease National Accounts team provides Peninsula assurance they have the trucks spec’d properly to maximize performance and increase uptime. Peninsula spec’s T680’s in a single-axle day cab with a shorter wheelbase, 155-inches, to meet length laws when pulling triples. These units are also powered by the PACCAR MX-13 engine and PACCAR TX-12 automated transmission.
Its newest Washington spec to meet overall length requirements is for tandem-axle day cabs with an 188-inch wheelbase. Those are powered with 455 hp engines, and also leverage 12-speed automated transmissions.
“PacLease has always done a great job for us,” concluded Vander Pol. “We’ve been very happy with the relationship, and they’ve been an integral part of our success. If our deliveries are on the move and our drivers are happy, then we can look forward to continuing the family tradition of unsurpassed customer service.”