Great Bay Distributing has been an Anheuser-Busch wholesalers for 51 years with two facilities in St Petersburg and Holiday, Florida. Great Bay prides itself on carrying only the best customer demanded products and has grown into one of the largest beverage wholesalers in the Tampa Bay region.
Michael Coleman, who has been with the company since 1991, has been in the role of Fleet Manager since 1997. Their current fleet is a mix standard side loaders both 16 and 20 bays, combination side loaders and end loaders. Hackney trailers make up 47% of Great Bay’s fleet.
Just this week, Great Bay’s first 8-Bay Non CDL has been completed in Hackney’s NC facility and will be shipped to Florida.
When asked about the new non CDL addition, Coleman stated, “Nationally hiring employees with CDL or getting employees certified with CDL has become a challenge for the whole industry. On top of that, the change in model for sales and delivery has opened the door to a smaller delivery vehicle in certain inner city and urban areas. We think we can still deliver about the same amount of product in a day as we are currently doing with trailers.”
This is their first experiment with smaller units. Coleman is optimistic the smaller non CDL units will prove beneficial and efficient.
Great Bay has been using Hackney vehicles for decades. Since 2012, Great Bay has been purchasing more Hackney units due to quality and service issues with other brands.
Coleman stated, “I see a huge improvement to our business by purchasing Hackney’s that are delivered functional and without complications – a more trouble-free experience. Any product that you acquire you will always have issues, but the Hackney team have been more than excellent resolving any issues that we have run into.”
Hackney stands behind their product 100% to keep customers happy and their units in service. Hackney units stay on the road with minimal maintenance expenditures resulting in a lower cost of ownership.
“We still have a Hackney running from 1986! We don’t have any long term issues that we see on the bodies at all. The units are very durable and hold up for a long period of time. Hackney has most definitely been a great partner with us.”, said Coleman.
