Implementing best practices in-house to keep drivers feeling appreciated and valued is one thing, but can fleets control how forces on the outside treat their drivers? One fleet is doing its part to try.

The leaders at Garner Trucking, a five-time honoree on the Best Fleets to Drive For list, make sure to align with shippers that respect their drivers just as much as they do.

“If we have a poor-acting shipper, and our drivers complain about them? They’re gone,” Sherri Garner-Brumbaugh, president and CEO of Garner, told Heavy Duty Trucking, referring to shippers. “I mean that in the most respect I can to my customers, but you have to help us retain our drivers. Our shipping community has to help us retain our drivers. We’re in this together.”

The Findlay, Ohio-based carrier believes that even simple amenities offered by shippers can make a huge difference in the driver experience. For example, drivers should have access to an all-gender restroom when they arrive at a customer.

“Drivers could drive 10 hours to get to there to deliver their load, and they can’t come in and use the restroom,” Garner-Brumbaugh explained. And when they encounter customers like that, she said Garner does its best to avoid them out of respect for their drivers.

“There isn’t anything more demeaning then not having those basic personal services available to you,” she said.

Garner is one of 20 carriers named to the CarriersEdge and Truckload Carriers Association 2021 Best Fleets to Drive For list. This is the fifth consecutive year they've made the list. Best Fleets to Drive For is an annual survey and contest that identifies the for-hire carriers providing the best workplace for their drivers, according to the website.

This story is one in a series covering best practices for carriers to make their operation one drivers want to work for.