From left, Berry & Smith Trucking Ltd. Vice President Kaolin Mallette and President Parker Berry
By Mark MacDonald, Business Examiner
PENTICTON – Berry & Smith Trucking Ltd. has been on the road for countless miles over the years, but the company’s ability to change gears has been instrumental in its success over their seven decades in business.
Starting out with trucking, the company diversified into school busing has provided transit in the early 1960’s, and has been the sole provider transit services in the South Okanagan since 1977. They also haul regular loads throughout B.C., Alberta, Washington, Oregon and also truck into Alaska, Texas, Florida, the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The company has 85 tractor-trucks and 165 employees. The head office is in Penticton, with a subsidiary office in Delta, and drivers located throughout western Canada.
Stu Berry started the company in 1954, and his sons Matt and Mark have run the company for almost 40 years. Now it’s Parker Berry’s turn to run the three generation Okanagan transportation firm, as he has served as President for the past two years.
“Our biggest strength has been our people, as we have a lot of long term staff,” states Parker, adding that they have a number of employees who have been with the company for 20, 30 and 40 years. Their longest serving worker was with the firm for 48 years before they retired. “They’ve really looked after us and our customers and because of that, we have very strong relationships with our customers that have been with us for the long-term, which you don’t typically see in our industry,” he notes. “For example, we’ve been working our local school district since the 1960’s, and we have a lot of clients who have been with us for many years.”
Berry & Smith Trucking Ltd. trucks have been on the road since 1954
Berry & Smith operates dry van, flat deck and curtain side trailers into and out of terminals in the lower mainland. Their terminal in Delta focuses on inter-modal freight, ocean containers or rail allows them to haul to different destinations throughout western Canada.
Hauling hazardous materials and waste is a focus for growth within the company.
“For the longest time we only hauled full truck loads,” Parker explains. “Recently we’ve added LTL (Less Than Truckload) services, which has opened a lot of doors for us, and we’re getting out there and letting our customers know we’re doing that now.”
Berry & Smith has grown steadily over the years, and he adds that they’re working on even more growth by adding to their fleet and looking at other opportunities in not yet explored industries.
Adding technology has helped improve efficiency, as Parker points out that they can quickly load the tracking of shipments “so we can see where every truck is at any point. Each truck has a dash cam that shows immediately where our drivers are, and our safety scores are some of the best in the industry.”
Matt and Mark still keep tabs on the company and are part owners, while Matt attends monthly team meetings. It’s ownership is completely family held, and Parker grew up in the business, starting by sweeping floors while in high school. He moved through the safety department, obtained his class one commercial license and worked in dispatch before becoming President two years ago. Along the way, he obtained a business degree from the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His cousin, Vice President Kaolin Mallette, similarly worked his way up through the firm, starting in asset maintenance with a red-seal Heavy Duty Mechanic certification.
Parker knows truck driving offers young people a solid career, but it’s becoming more difficult with the cost of courses to obtain necessary licenses – and they want more drivers.
“When you ask the average teenager if they want to be a truck driver, and you tell them it’s going to cost them this much, that’s a problem,” he allows. “It’s not an easy job, with being on the road, doing the paperwork and maintenance, but most who do it love it.”
That shows up in the retention of clients, something Berry & Smith has excelled in.
“We trust our people and respect them, and they focus on being the best transportation solution for our customers,” Parker says. “They listen to our customers, and because of that, we’re able to be agile in the marketplace. There have been a lot of large businesses that have closed their doors over the last 10-20 years because they refused to keep up with the times. But that’s not us, and we’re still growing.”