The maker of Scott toilet paper, Kimberly-Clark Corp., is on a mission to make sure that truck drivers feel good about hauling freight out of their distribution centers.
The company’s vice president of transportation, Scott DeGroot, says that thousands of loads are sitting idle because of a lack of qualified drivers.
The company believes that inadequate facilities and the mistreatment of drivers are to blame.
In the past, Kimberly Clark’s distribution centers offered vary little in terms of driver facilities. At best, drivers were able to use portable restrooms that were not well kept; at worst — nothing.
In order to attract drivers, the company is building rest areas in 20 distribution centers, which will include clean rest rooms, a waiting area, water fountains, and snack machines.
The company says they’re also focused on reducing the time it takes drivers to get loaded and increasing the time they get to spend at home.
“Truck drivers I think many times are mistreated. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen on our sites ” DeGroot told the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to improving their own facilities, the company is urging customers to make similar changes in order to ensure that drivers have a good experience while loading and unloading their products.
