When we think of a Tribute to Essential Workers, Justin Troendle of KNR Courier 2013 comes to mind. How can we get by without a courier service? He's dependable, and we rely on him day after day after day.
Troendle has owned and operated KNR Courier 2013 for the past seven years, although he had worked for the previous owner for quite some time making the Wawota run after his other day job.
The opportunity came up to take over the courier business, so he decided it was time for a change in his career. He says he was in the right place at the right time.
"I enjoy driving," says Troendle, seeing that that's the biggest part of the job.
"Elroy Trithart helped me with a loan through Community Futures along with guidance from him," explains Troendle.
Everything has run so smooth since he started this business despite a few down years along the way. Especially during the downturn of the oilfield there weren't as many deliveries.
"You lose some and gain it somewhere else," he says as was the case during the pandemic picking up for people who didn't want to make the trip to the city.
KNR makes the trip, Monday to Friday, from Kipling to Regina and down to Wawota and back to Kipling which makes for a good 12-hour day.
Construction companies, plumbers, electricians and other tradespeople are some of his regular customers.
"When I first started, 80 to 90 per cent of the freight was coming to Kipling but now a lot of the freight goes on to Wawota and area," explains Troendle.
In the summer he makes the odd trip down to Kenosee for deliveries.
Troendle says the smallest package he delivered was one bolt and another was a washer the size of a quarter. The largest package delivered was furniture and the heaviest was a 650-pound part for a dump truck. He's thankful there was someone at the receiving end to unload that one.
"You never know from day to day what the request will be for a pickup," says Troendle.
Once he hits Regina, he parks the trailer and makes his way around the city for a number of pickups, and hooks back onto the trailer for the trip home.
His cutoff time was 3 p.m. but it's cutting it close when he gets a call for a pickup at 2:55 p.m.
For that reason he's had to change his cut-off time to 2 p.m. to give him enough time to make all the stops he needs throughout the day and still get back to Kipling by 6 p.m.
It's not all driving around all day. There's a lot of physical work involved with the lifting. He's in and out of the truck so many times during a day's work he wore out the seatbelt buckle.
Troendle explains that he's in and out of the truck somewhere around 50 times on an average day.
He puts on approximately 10,000 to 12,000 kilometres per month, which calculates to 500 kilometres a day. He figures he's clocked around 1.5 million kilometres since he's been running the courier service.
His truck he calls Old Faithful and has 820,000 kilometres, and his backup truck has 250,000 kilometres.
It's definitely not an easy job to have.
People depend on the courier so much so there's no such thing as 'taking a day off'.
One of the few days the courier didn't run was the day not so long ago when the roads were closed due to icy highway conditions.
KNR takes weekly deliveries to Regina including water samples for the town.
Troendle explains that some customers have sent something with him to have repaired in Regina and he'll bring it back with him that same day.
"The most impressive incident was a couple of years ago was when a farmer in the area ordered a hopper from a fellow in Odessa. They ordered it that morning at 10:00 and the hopper was built that day and I picked it up on my way back to Kipling and the farmer had it at 6:00 that same evening."
Although the physical side of things may be difficult, Troendle says he enjoys meeting all the people. Now that he's been in business for this many years, many of his customers recognize him everywhere.
He's had some of the same customers and has dealt with the same people in the shipping and receiving departments at businesses in the city since he's started.
"I like to have a good relationship with the shipping and receiving guys because I need them to have my orders ready when I get there so I depend on them," explains Troendle.
Troendle considers all of his regular customers as essential businesses.
