You can tell everything about a logistics business from what happens at quarter to five on a Friday.
The phone rings. It's a customer with a problem that is not really their fault, involving a car that needs to be somewhere on Monday morning, and the honest answer is “that's very difficult”.
There are two types of business. One says “we'll pick it up Monday”. The other puts the phone on mute, has a thirty-second conversation across the desk, and finds a way.
I'm not going to pretend we've been perfect. We haven't, and I've written elsewhere about the times we've let people down. But I will say this without any hesitation at all: the people here do not go home while something is unresolved. Nobody has ever had to be asked twice. I've watched planners rebuild an entire afternoon's schedule around one car because somebody, somewhere, had a delivery date that mattered to them.
That instinct can't be trained into people and it certainly can't be written into a process document. You either recruit it or you don't have it.
What has struck me over the last year in particular is how much of it there is here. When a business goes through a hard period, you find out very quickly who's in it for the job and who's in it for the company. I've been humbled by the answer.
So this one is a straightforward thank you. To the planners who take the call, the drivers who take the extra job, the Rugby team who stay until the last car is right, and everyone who has quietly done more than they were asked to and never mentioned it.
I notice. And so, more importantly, do our customers.
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