When truckers for Garrison Transportation Services Inc. of Salt Lake City arrive at a wine tasting festival, people gather to admire the pretty truck and to ask questions.
“We talk to wine lovers,” says trucker Jim Herd. “They ask all about the wine, where it’s delivered and where it’s from.”
Herd, of Boise, Idaho, has driven for Garrison for almost a year. He delivers to Nebraska and the Commonwealth area, which includes Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Stephen Brown started Garrison in 1988, and the majority of his customers run along I-80 from coast to coast. His drivers deliver imported and domestic wine and spirits. The wine and spirits are chilled at 50 degrees. They pick up on the East or West Coast and deliver to their hub in Salt Lake City. The deliveries are broken down and loaded on trucks to transport to certain areas.
Brown, who started trucking in Connecticut, tends to change the color of his trucks every three years. These days his 11 company trucks are either green or white, and he lets the drivers choose additional items to go on their trucks.
“Our trucks are not cookie-cutters,” he says.
Herd’s truck is a green 1998 Peterbilt with a green and blue reefer. He won several awards at the Great Salt Lake Truck Show, including People’s Choice. Brown says participating in the truck show was a fun day for his truckers.
