Being a driver at Puryear doesn't mean you can't have a life outside of the truck. Driver Tony Fuller found his calling at Puryear and hasn't looked back since. Read his story below!
Who are you and how long have you been driving for Puryear?
My name is Tony Fuller, I work for Puryear Tank Lines, I started in 2014.
Before joining us, who did you work for and for how long?
Before Puryear, I was working for a company out of Fuqua, used to haul a walking floor and drove for him for about a year and a half.
Can you tell us about why you made the decision to join us?
I chose to come to Puryear because my dad and my uncle work here… They've been here for quite a while, and I wanted to be able to expand my truck driver knowledge as far as not just hauling mulch and rock and stone and saying I want to get out there and haul some hazmat and figure out where I fit in the trucking game.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Puryear is a great company to work for and a very good place for someone to get started and learn how to pull hazmat.
Do you consider Puryear a good place to work?
Puryear is a good place to work for. You never know what you're going to run into, and the people are management and even owner treats you like family.
Most places you're just a number, but you're not a number at Puryear. Feels good when the owner walks up to you and knows your name and your family or, you know, the managers know who you are and now what you're capable of and what you can do and what you can't do.
Me being a firefighter, they are very flexible with my schedule, I work nine days a month and 20 some other days, 18 days, driving a truck for Puryear…So that's pretty much the extent of why this is a good company and why I would promote people to come work for Puryear.
What’s the best part about working for this company?
I would probably say the best part about working a pair of years, being able to have that family atmosphere, being able to rely on other drivers, call all the drivers, if you've got a question, you know, dispatch pretty good at working with you and making sure that you know what you need to do.
But calling out another driver to get help or, you know, the experienced local drivers, you know, from all across the nation have been everywhere. They're able to help you get where you need to be and provide that family atmosphere.
"I was able a couple of weeks ago just to sit down with four other drivers while we were out of town hauling butane, and we sat down and we ate supper and just a family atmosphere."
No matter where you go, these guys still know who you are and you're able to have great equipment and get up down the road and be able to make a successful day and make very good money.
What are your top 3 goals for working with company?
Number one is safety. Driving around making sure my equipment is like it's supposed to be, being safe, being able to make sure that I'm able to get up and down the road and not have any issues. Number two would be just to further my knowledge and everything that Puryear has to pull. I know Donny's got into some other things as far as hauling hydras and figuring that out. And I like to get myself in that and learn how to do that. Being another option that I could use to be able to help the company out and make myself more money and expand my knowledge and driving and hauling hazmat. And number three, a career goal is just to be the best driver that I can be, knowing what I need to do and where I need to be and spread my knowledge of the wealth that I've got from other drivers to the new guys who come on and help them to understand that this is how it goes and this is the way it's going to be.
Would you recommend others to drive for this company?
I would recommend Puryear as a a good place to work not only just because of the equipment and the rates that Puryear has for the amount of work that goes on.
"You leave your family for a week, you leave your family for a night or two. You leave your family for a month. The employees that work at per year make it another family for you to have when you're out on the road."
I've got a young daughter, I've got two daughters, I've got a two year old, and I got a five year old and I'm a trucking brat...my dad and I used be on the road all the time. And it made it tough. But when you get out there on the road, you miss your family. But the other people out there are missing their families, too. So you're together with them and you're working together on a road to accomplish a goal. To all come home safe and to enjoy what you're doing while you're out there. So I would recommend Puryear as a good place to work.
You’re family.
Drive for a reliable, financially stable, family-owned company that has been in business for over 60 years.
