January 14, 2025

Your community newspaper

Keep on Truckin’… (Put it on the right truck)

I have returned to Valerie’s pages once again and this time I have an agenda. I rarely ever touted my business in my columns and the topics, as my readers will remember, were more political and current affairs-related. Well, today my topic is political and current but it will also promote my company… Whitecourt Transport.
Times are tough. Oil barrel declining more than $60 in less than six months may make you happy filling up your ¾ ton truck but for the community of Whitecourt, it is going to leave a challenge. Layoffs are happening and businesses once thriving with their support from the transient oil patch workers will need to tighten their belts to survive.
This is where we get to Whitecourt Transport. There are a handful of Edmonton-based trucking companies that deliver freight and household goods to Whitecourt and Mayerthorpe. These companies don’t employ Whitecourt folks and they don’t spend their money in Whitecourt. They come in and out and deliver your goods without leaving a positive footprint in our town. I understand that in some cases the vendor you bought the goods from is paying the trucking charges so you might think it’s not your say who hauls it. Not true. The trucking costs are in your costs of goods somewhere and you are paying. You can request that your vendor use Whitecourt Transport or, perhaps, you may choose another vendor that will.
So, why do this? It’s simple enough. Whitecourt Transport supports this community from the waterslide at the Millar Centre to the dressing rooms at the Scott Safety Centre and recently to Eastlink Park Winter Recreation Park. We give back and we want to keep giving back. From minor hockey to the Community Lunchbox Program and many other children-related services, we care and contribute. When the market was flush and the barrel was at $100 there was plenty of freight to go around. Those days are gone and now declining volumes threaten layoffs to our friendly drivers and staff. If we can gain some business currently being given to truckers such as Hi-Way 9, Tandem Transport, Rosenau, Grimshaw, Maiko’s, and other Edmonton-origin trucking companies, we will have a chance to keep offering the services that benefit this community.
If you currently receive shipments from other trucking companies and are unsure of how to get these goods on our trucks then contact me at: dave@whitecourttransport.com and I will help facilitate this change. If it’s the cost you’re worried about, don’t. We will match the current rates being offered by our competition.
This column isn’t just about our business; it’s about yours. This paper is a local community asset. I have spoken with all who purchase goods in our company and told them whenever possible we must buy locally because if we save a dime by not doing that, what amount do we lose as a community in the long run? Local businesses. I will be coming to your door repeating the call for support in the near future. Please help me champion the community call so we all survive and succeed.
Some positives about our current economic woes:
– Burning the midnight oil just got cheaper
– Parents have laid off their nannies and can now learn their kids’ names.
– I can now afford to fill up my Hummer

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