A job fair for drivers is being held Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the WorkPlus Center, 1345 Lagonda Ave. Those who can’t attend can phone the company’s recruiting center at 1-800-509-2021.
Brian Underhill, vice president of Ohio Operations, said the company also considered a site in Columbus but ruled it out because of the 11-hour dispatch time from Springfield, Mo., compared to 10 hours to Springfield, Ohio. If the law limiting 11 hours of driving in a 14-hour time period changes, a driver could not reach Columbus in one shift, Underhill explained.
He said the local terminal is ideal for drivers based here who want more home time. They should never be more than two days away from the local terminal.
Underhill said it also gives the company a new area to recruit drivers.
Underhill and Fleet Manager Mary Bard will work out of the local terminal with a third employee possibly being hired by the end of the year.
O&S hauls refrigerated trailers as far west as Oklahoma City, as far east as Maine, North Carolina to the south and the Great Lakes states to the north.
The company carries for Dole Fresh Foods, Kraft Foods, Tyson, Kaiser, Seaboard, Reckitt Benckiser (French’s Mustard), and Schreiber Foods and others. O&S, an employee-owned company, has 100 employees at its Springfield, Mo., home base and 300 drivers.
Those 300 consist of company drivers, owner-operator and lease-purchase.