From a single-vehicle operation, Steve C. Davis built a large, successful trucking
company
By Jeff Wisser
The road goes on forever.
For Steve C. Davis and the company that bears his name, that’s more than an empty phrase and
almost a mission statement.
After a stint shipping hardwood lumber to countries across the globe, Davis, a 1976 graduate of North
Carolina State University, started Steve C. Davis, Inc. in 2007 as a single-truck company with the owner
as the sole driver.
“There was one truck and I drove it,” Davis explained. “Prior to that, I’d been
in the lumber business, buying and selling hardwood lumber and buying tracts of timber and land and a
little real estate. And I sold some lumber, with a lot of domestic customers, but I also shipped some
lumber overseas to foreign accounts.”
But the profit margins in the lumber business were underwhelming, so Davis used the skills he’d
acquired in the lumber industry to begin operations with FedEx Ground in 2007.
From small beginnings, big things came. That single truck is now 52 tractor-trailers, individual
drivers have given way to two-person teams and Davis’ group hauls from five FedEx hubs — in
Greensboro, and Charlotte, N.C., Marrietta and Savannah, Ga., and Ocala, Fl. — and delivers from
sea to shining sea.
“We're all teams and can be anywhere in the continental United States in two days and be there
and back in four days,” Davis said.
Over the years, Davis, 71, has diversified, launching Pitbull Express, a sister operation with a
duplicate contract with FedEx, and, more recently, Regents Transport.
“My son runs that,” Davis said. “He owns that, runs that, but it's just getting
started. We wanted some diversification in our income, and to work with some outside customers beside
FedEx.”
But the Memphis-based shipping company remains Davis’ top priority.
“FedEx has been our heart and soul now for 18 years,” he said. “And that's the center
of our activity and the breadwinner every week for all of our employees in our company.”
Growth over the years has brought with it a bit of a shift in focus for Davis and his company.
Recruiting, developing and working with a large team of truckers has become a central focus for Steve C.
Davis, Inc.
“We have a very intense recruiting arm of our business that's working on driver applications
every day, all day,” Davis said. “We have four people that are working on drivers,
recruiting drivers, having conversations, running ads, answering their questions, having them come in
and fill out their applications and giving them their initial training and getting the paperwork done to
get them qualified to drive, and checking their backgrounds, and their driving record, and their
criminal record, and just the whole ball of wax. It's a big job.”
It’s also an ongoing job.
“We go through a lot of people just because we're pretty devoted to maintaining integrity with
FedEx. We're very safety conscious.”
In the modern trucking world, that means in-cab technology, with cameras monitoring the movements of
trucks and performance of drivers.
“These cameras can read the speed limit, the cameras can read the white lines on the road, they
can read the exit ramps and if you’re going into curves too fast or following too closely,”
Davis said. “And it talks to the driver: ‘You’re following too closely.’ And if
the driver corrects it within, say, 30 seconds, we won’t follow it back up in the office. But if
the driver keeps on doing it and doesn’t correct it, then we get a notice in the office, and we
review those videos every day.”
Safety, after all, is paramount in the industry.
“We’re just trying to run a safe business and an accountable business,” Davis
said.
The emphasis on safety makes retaining talent critical.
“Drivers that are doing a good job, we want to reward them and let them know we appreciate what
they do,” Davis said. “That is a big issue, and I think you will find that in almost every
trucking company, the key is keeping quality drivers on board.”
That means that the company must offer a strong benefits package to its approximately 120
employees.
“We check every box there is that drivers have asked about, from paid vacation to uniforms and
401k and major medical and dental and vision,” Davis said. “And just about every perk that
we could put in place, we have it in place for our drivers.”
And Davis? Well, over the years, he’s gone from lone hauler for the company to the guy who
maintains a bird’s-eye view on how the entire operation is running.
“I kind of like to connect the dots every week, watching things, making plans and then watching
the plans come together,” Davis said. “I guess that’s my satisfaction is watching all
the parts of the business coordinate and produce a successful result. I enjoy doing that.”
Visit stevecdavis.com, or call 336-990-9120
(Wilkesboro) or 336-310-8801 (Kernersville) for more information on Steve C. Davis, Inc.
Read more about Wilkes Entrepreneurs on p16
“We’re just trying to run a safe business and an accountable business,”
– Steve C. Davis,
owner Steve C. Davis, Inc.
