Uptime Key to Goodin Company’s Success with Dependable, Driver-Friendly Kenworth T370s
For 80 years, Minneapolis-based Goodin Company has served the Upper Midwest as a trusted wholesaler of quality kitchen and bath fixtures, plumbing equipment, HVAC and industrial supplies. The company’s well-earned reputation for customer service depends on consistently fast and reliable deliveries.
To assure long-term service excellence, Goodin started purchasing Kenworth trucks about 15 years ago, and has been a loyal Kenworth customer ever since. With 15 locations across Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as in Fargo, North Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Omaha, Nebraska, Goodin depends on quality Kenworth trucks for uptime reliability, long-term durability and driver comfort. Today, the company operates an elite fleet of Kenworth medium duty delivery trucks.
New trucks are spec’d with the PACCAR PX-7 engine, rated at 300 hp, and driven through Allison automatic transmissions. Drivers appreciate the comfortable ride, excellent visibility, easy handling and rugged dependability in all weather conditions.
“The Kenworths are great,” said company driver Russ King, who works out of the Wausau, Wisconsin, branch. “Sometimes we have to drive 400 miles a day in winter weather, making deliveries all over Central Wisconsin up to the Michigan border. The Kenworth T370s get the job done, no problem.”
Russ King, Goodin Company Kenworth T370 Driver
Over the years, Goodin’s Fleet Operations Manager Tom Newman has refined the company’s truck spec to make Goodin delivery vehicles as driver friendly as possible. Newman has been buying trucks for 25 years and remembers when he purchased the company’s first Kenworth. “We put one through its paces in Minnesota back then, and it did really well, so we bought one. Since then, the Kenworth product has only gotten better and better. All our trucks are Kenworth now,” he said.
The newest truck spec includes roof fairings and fender-mounted mirrors, among other components. The roof fairing gives the truck a unique look and helps improve fuel efficiency, said Newman, while the fender-mounted mirrors “help our drivers see more clearly behind and around their trucks on both sides.
“We provide the best equipment we can find, and that goes a long way with our drivers,” said Newman. “When we go out to a job site or drive around town, our trucks project a quality image. The graphics are like company billboards. The T370s are ambassadors for Goodin Company and drivers take pride in that.”
With 13 new T370s added since 2015, Newman values the sales and service support the company gets from its dealer, Rihm Kenworth – St. Paul. “We have stuck with Kenworth because of great quality and service,” said Newman. “Here in Minnesota, Rihm Kenworth handles all our service needs, and we recommend to all our branches that they work with their local Kenworth dealers. We get great service from the professionals at Rihm Kenworth.”
With 75 trucks in the fleet, Goodin runs about 60 delivery trucks, mostly T370s and some T270s, and about 15 tractors, including T680s. “I’m always trying to better our fleet while making it more cost effective,” said Newman, who has been ordering PACCAR engines since they were first introduced. “We like to keep our equipment a long time and appreciate the durability of our Kenworth trucks powered by PACCAR engines.”
Kenworth is The Driver’s Truck™. See what drivers are saying at www.kenworth.com/drivers.
Kenworth Truck Company is the manufacturer of The World’s Best® heavy and medium duty trucks. Kenworth’s Internet home page is at www.kenworth.com. Kenworth is a PACCAR company.