LOCAL TRUCKING COMPANIES HIT THE ROAD

The history of the trucking industry in our area can be summarized in one word, "change."

In less than 100 years, areas of the trucking business such as communication, navigation, and labor have been made easier through the introduction of technology.

One of the first and largest truck lines in the area was L.A. Tucker Truck Lines, created by Les Tucker in 1925. L.A. Tucker was the first licensed freight line to St. Louis from Cape Girardeau.

Henry Phelps started working for L.A. Tucker in 1963. Phelps was in charge of all of L.A. Tucker's rolling equipment and buildings in five states and 15 terminals. Since Phelps worked at L.A Tucker, major technological advances have occurred in the industry.

"Today's industry is more electronic operated and work is more efficient," Phelps said. "There was more manual labor back in the early days of trucking." Phelps retired from the trucking business in 1982.

In the early days of trucking, computers were not used, and more strenuous work was needed to get a job done. For example, the modern forklift replaced a tool called a mule, which was simply a pry bar on wheels. The mule was used to load and unload trailers. The invention of the forklift saved time and energy.

Les Tucker sold the company to H.G Schmidt, who still kept the L.A. Tucker name. Schmidt owned the company for a short period of time and ended up selling the business to Ken Inman in 1974, who changed the company's name to Inman Freight Systems.

Inman ran into competition when the deregulation laws were passed in 1980 during the Reagan Administration. "This law allowed anyone to run their own trucks and it hurt our business," Inman said. "The law was designed to lower rates, but it actually didn't."

Inman sold his company in 1981 to Wintz Trucking out of St. Paul, Minn., which has since gone out of business.

Around the time Henry Phelps was working for L.A. Tucker, a man named Charles Davis was starting out in the trucking business, working for Viking Freight Systems in St. Louis in 1959. After several promotions and job changes, Davis found himself working as the terminal manager for Inman's largest freight terminal in St. Louis in the 1970s and early '80s. After Inman sold to Wintz Trucking, Davis left Inman Freight Systems to work for Arkansas Best Freight, more commonly known as ABF, as manager of its Cape Girardeau terminal.

"The pace of change is happening fast," Davis said. "Today, computers are a part of every-day life, not just life at work." Early on, truck parts were manufactured by hand, which made exact duplication very difficult. Now, parts are manufactured by lathes, which are controlled by a computer. These parts are perfect now that a computer controls the manufacturing process.

Several other changes have occurred in the industry, according to Davis.

"Early on in trucking, drivers only had to be responsible for driving," Davis said. "Now, drivers must be educated with computers and have knowledge of how to maintain their truck. There is no end to schooling in the trucking business." Davis retired in October after 40 years in the trucking industry.

Another major truck line in the early days was Kimbel Truck Lines started by George Kimbel in 1932. Kimbel offered overnight deliveries to Chicago, Peoria, and Little Rock. Bringing tremendous revenues into Cape Girardeau, Kimbel Truck Lines operated for several decades. Kimbel Truck Lines was finally sold to ABF, which is the fourth largest truck line in the world.

Today, the world's largest truck line, the United Parcel Service (UPS), operates a terminal out of Cape Girardeau, as does Yellow Freight Systems, which operates tens of thousands of trucks. These lines are much larger than the smaller, privately owned, truck lines in the early days of the industry.