Carrier Profiles

Try Hours: Regional Ground Expedite Carrier Expanding Into National Coverage

By Scott Loftis. Staff Writer
Posted Mar 30th 2011 6:50AM


Market Diversification - Dynamic Growth - Competitive Truck Pay and Fuel Reimbursement - Rapid Settlements - Consistent Mileage - High Fleet Retention - Specialized Service - Responsive Driver Management - Personalized Dispatch - Direct Access to Executive Staff.

If These Are Qualities You Seek in A Ground Expedite Carrier, You May Want to Consider The Following Information:

Try Hours has been family owned and operated since 1989. The historical service model since inception has been as a regional ground expediter providing coverage in the Midwest region. In 2010 Tim Wojkiewicz, owner of Try Hours Inc., an expedited carrier based in Maumee, Ohio, decided to commit resources to expand service from regional ground expedite to  National Ground Expedite Coverage. The investment has produced impressive results. Growth from 2010 to 2011 was in excess of 100%. According to company president Steven D. Wharton, “Try Hours is on a current pace to exceed 130% growth for 2011.”
To oversee the expansion, Try Hours depends on an experienced management team:

Steven D. Wharton, the company’s president, is a 30-year executive, specializing in ground expedite management with nationally based corporations; Bryan Douville, Director of Operations, is a 20 year-industry professional, specializing in ground expedite fleet management with nationally based corporations; Mark Dieckhoner, Director of Safety and Recruiting, is an 18-year industry professional, specializing in compliance and risk management with nationally based corporations; and Charles Brunetto, Regional Director of Northeast sales, is a 30-year LTL and ground expedite executive, specializing in territory management and corporate sales for nationally based corporations.
According to Mark Dieckhoner, Director of Safety and Recruiting, “an essential key to Try Hours’ growth has been a successful effort to expand into non-automotive market verticals ensuring a constant revenue stream that is not subject to the peaks and valleys associated with automotive. That means Try Hours is better-equipped to roll with whatever punches the economy might throw its way.”

“One thing Try Hours hasn’t done, however, is stray from its core operating focus —  which is providing world class ground expedite and air charter,” according to Dieckhoner.

“The industry trend in recent years has been for companies which specialized in ground expedite to offer a cafeteria plan of various additional services such as international surface, air freight, forwarding and brokerage,” Wharton said. “Try Hours will continue to specialize in ground expedite and air charter only, and to provide the best service and value in that market.”

“The company’s growth has created a need for more owner-operator partners,” Dieckhoner said. “Try Hours is interested in working relationships with true professional drivers.”

“The ideal guy is the guy who’s an owner-operator with presentable equipment. Our present requirements are for Straight Trucks, Semi Tractors, Sprinters and Cargo Vans  and an owner operator who keeps it maintained and wants to work a full-time professional position,” Dieckhoner said.

Try Hours’ rapid growth means that drivers can find all the work they want. In fact, Director of Operations, Bryan Douville, states, “The major challenge we face in today’s environment is capacity and the escalating price of fuel.”

One way Try Hours maintains the personal touch is by assigning groups of dispatchers to groups of drivers, so that the driver on the road doesn’t feel as if he’s talking to someone new every time he speaks with a dispatcher.

“We put together a good infrastructure and we have a proven fleet management team,” Dieckhoner said. “And we are dedicated to safety. We know how important safety is to a professional driver.”

Try Hours also is committed to attracting top-of-the-line owner operators with an attractive compensation package. Owner-operators with semi- trucks are paid $1.40 a mile. Straight truck drivers are paid $1.20 a mile and drivers with tandem straights are paid $1.40 a mile. Sprinters and cargo vans are paid 70 percent of the gross revenue per load. Fuel surcharge is paid at 100% of our contract rate in addition to the rate per mile to the truck.

“In an industry where 100 percent annual driver turnover is not uncommon,” Dieckhoner said, “Try Hours maintained a 64 percent retention rate in 2010. In fact, half of the company’s owner-operator partners have been with Try Hours longer than eight years and some as long as 15 years.”

Dieckhoner encourages owner-operators who are interested in working with Try Hours to give him a call at 888-957-0400.

“By all means, give us a call and let’s have a conversation,” Dieckhoner said.

Try Hours successful expansion is certainly impressive, but Wharton said, “there is much more to come.”

Together with family values, traditional ground expedite business model, executive staff of industry professionals, and commitment to our owner operators,” he said, “Try Hours intends to dominate the Ground Expedite and Air Charter market into the decades ahead.”

For more information, visit www.tryhours.com