R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press Truck driver Francis Allen (usually just “Frank” or “the bee man”) and his canine road companion, Cody, prepare to depart from A.M. Express in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — A trucking company that is headquartered in Escanaba carries non-hazardous cargo around the lower 48 United States and takes care of its employees, said A.M. Express Assistant General Manager Angela Carlson. In addition to the local teams in operations, accounting, information technology and marketing that work in the office at 3000 29th Avenue North, more than 60 drivers from four states make up the staff of A.M. Express.

Bob Garcia started A.M. Express in December of 1984. In January of 1996, Garcia hired Patrick Barron as the company’s accounting manager. Two years later, Barron bought the business from Garcia. At that time, it was located in the Penstar complex on North 26th Street.

Before growing operations to encompass more types of transport, A.M. Express shipped general commodities by dry vans — also known as “box trucks” or “straight trucks,” these are the vehicles most people probably picture when calling to mind a semi-truck with an enclosed container trailing behind. They’re well suited to traveling long distances and protecting freight from the elements, but contents that can be carried this way are limited.

Another company, Dow Dawson Trucking, had a tanker division. Unlike dry vans, heavy-haul, pneumatic tankers on eight axles can handle liquids and powders, and “Dow Dawson specialized in pneumatics,” Carlson said.

In 2016, A.M. Express bought Dow Dawson, which expanded capabilities and options for A.M.

Now, they were delivering limestone powder — an ingredient in paper — to the mills, just an example of one new avenue open to A.M. Express.

The relocation to its current home was also in 2016.

In 2022, the company bought yet another business. D. Graham Transport had been a flatbed hauling company out of Spalding.

“We took on a lot of their drivers,” Carlson said, “and we bought their equipment, their trucks, their trailers, and just kept them all going.”

Now, the fleet at A.M. Express includes dry vans, tankers, flatbeds, lowboys, reefer (refrigerated) trailers, jumbo trailers, and spotter trucks (for moving trailers around yards). In addition to the base in Escanaba, the company has yards in Lansing, Mich.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Kaukaunee, Wis.

Jobs begin when orders come in through operations, where arrangements are made two weeks in advance. The individuals that work in that department line things up based on the necessary route, the drivers in the area, and the drivers’ schedules.

“Now, whether a driver is in Lansing, or he’s up here, or he’s in Milwaukee, that’s where he load is going to originate from,” Carlson said.

The length of a single trailer’s journey from pickup to dropoff can vary greatly, but when one is completed, another begins. The average number of miles a driver covers in a single week is 2,500.

“We have a general core group of customers that we service,” Carlson explained, citing CertainTeed in L’anse and the paper mills in Manistique, Munising and Escanaba as regular stops, along with others around the Midwest. A live screen in the office also shows A.M. Express presence in the Deep South.

All the trucks are fairly new as they get cycled out and updated regularly. On the system that tracks ongoing orders and maps out where each vehicle in the fleet is at a given time, Carlson selects one at random to view its stats and answer the mileage question. That particular truck was a 2023 and had over 206,000 miles on it.

At the back of the A.M. Express building is Red Pine Equipment Maintenance. The mechanics with Red Pine provide 24-hour assistance to drivers in the case of a breakdown, which of course requires different arrangements for each situation. But because of the technology implemented, they’re able to remotely see what the issue is and find a solution to get them back on the road or into a hotel if need be.

From Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana, many drivers work for a week at a time, while others choose to stay on the road for several months. In a 14-hour day, they need to put in 11 hours of road time.

A common work week for an A.M. Express driver is Sunday to Friday or Monday to Saturday, but there’s a good amount of variation.

“We kind of let our drivers pick their schedule,” Carlson said. “We work with the drivers, and I think that’s what makes us so unique, and how we’ve been able to retain our drivers as long as we have. …I think we’ve had seven drivers this year that were at 10 years, and they got their longevity bonus of $10,000.”

A number of other bonuses and benefits are also available to employees of A.M. Express. Carlson, who has worked with the company for just shy of 10 years, described owner Pat Barron as a “very giving and generous” employer and the company picnic coming up in August as a “pretty huge event.”