The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) recently chatted with Bill Webb, a 30-plus year industry executive and former President and CEO at the Texas Motor Transportation Association (now TXTA), who spearheaded the National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW) initiative.
The national campaign came about in the early ‘90s when Webb was in the driver recruiting department at FFE Transportation Services, a for-hire carrier based in Lancaster, Texas.
“Everyone was looking for a new angle of retention,” shared Webb. “For those of us who were at every driver recruiting and retention event, it just came to us that if we were going to expect people outside the industry to respect drivers, we needed to do a better job inside the industry.”
As with most trucking companies, the morals and values, as well as ownership, are passed down from generation to generation. As a newcomer to the industry, Webb knew that outside-the-box thinking was needed on how to retain the driver workforce. “The short answer was, let’s express our love for our own people internally and then encourage people outside the industry do the same thing.”
Knowing this would be no easy feat, Webb and others knew they needed to receive support from an engaged national trade association.
Webb fondly remembers the day when he hopped on a flight to the American Trucking Association’s headquarters in the D.C-metro area – a PowerPoint proposal in tow. After meeting with long-time staffers and leadership, the team was generally interested.
