Truck Firm ?Earns It? Old-Fashioned Way

JLC Trucking Inc. of Rogers is strong on paper.

An agent of 4-Way Transportation Inc. of Springdale, the refrigerated truckload brokerage still does much of its logistics work the old-fashioned way — by hand. James Coenen, JLC’s president, said he routinely directs the company’s logistics with a pen and paper.

“We do some work on the computer,” Coenen said. “But really, most of what we do is in my head. I plot it out on paper, and we go from there. No matter how you do it, this business is tough. There aren’t many people who do well in this business because it takes an awful lot of hard work.”

Coenen and his two other office mates — brother and company Vice President Don Coenen and dispatcher Craig Grimes — rotate weeks of 24-hour on-call duty. James Coenen said his firm is committed to staying on its toes for the more than 80 owner-operator drivers who are JLC’s partners.

That kind of personal attention to detail is probably the secret to JLC’s phenomenal growth. The firm has increased its gross revenue 1,100 percent from about $500,000 in 1995 to about $6 million today. Coenen said he’s simply taking care of business.

“We’ve built up a lot of trust with our drivers,” Coenen said. “They trust us to run their equipment, and we’ve got guys who’ve driven with us for 12 years. We just have a lot of dedicated people. And those guys in our office are powerhouses.

“We’re really all just a bunch of guys without college degrees who got lucky. We just work hard and keep it rolling.”

About 90 percent of 4-Way’s business is for refrigerated trucks. JLC owns one truck, and 4-Way co-owner Gayle Parker said her firm has culled its in-house fleet down from about 20 to six tractor trailers. She owns 4-Way with husband Doug Parker.

“James’ office works hard, but our other two agent offices do, too,” Gayle Parker said. “They all keep a lot of good trucks because they stay with it every day. We also offer something unusual that most other companies don’t.

“We pay twice per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the drivers really appreciate that.”

JLC’s clients include several large firms that ship refrigerated food products from hubs such as Kansas City, Mo., and Carthage, Mo. And 4-Way brokers a lot of business for seven local trucking firms including Glory Transportation Inc. and Delp Inc., both of Springdale.

“If we have loads and they don’t, we just call and set it up, and they do the same,” Parker said.

Coenen’s brother Mike, who died in November, originally started a trucking business with a loan from James. Then 12 years ago, he talked James into joining him. James Coenen broke out on his own in 1995, when he incorporated JLC. Mike eventually wound up going to work for James.

“Mike took James under his wing,” Parker said. “I’m not sure if James knew which end of a truck was which back then. But he finally went out on his own, and he’s stayed after it and become a good one.”