Mile High Deep Rock Water Company is the parent company of Deep Rock Water Company (Denver), Glenwood Inglewood Water Company (Minneapolis) and Deep Rock Water Fontenelle (Omaha). With 250 employees, Deep Rock provides 60,000 business and residential customers with home or office delivery of artesian, distilled and drinking waters, as well as coffee, tea and other beverages. It currently distributes in Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming.

However, the company is in the process of expanding its customer base and thus expanding its routes. There are currently 99 vehicles in Deep Rock’s delivery fleet. The company also owns a number of “over the road” tractors and trailers. The fleet vehicles are a mix of makes, but the company has focused on a preferred supplier. “We currently have 18 new vehicles on order,” says Jerry McMillan, vice president, manufacturing and supply. These will be Internationals with Hackney bodies. The company has an arrangement with Idealease, which will provide the trucks and maintenance going forward. Further into the future, the company plans to replace about 20 more units, primarily in the Minneapolis facility.

In addition to the new vehicles, the company also is looking at new route technology and plans to have it installed early this year. While Mile High Deep Rock Water has been placing a lot of emphasis on trucks and technology, McMillan emphasizes that the real keys to the company’s fleet program success are the route managers. Management commits significant time and resources to careful hiring, thorough training and effective management of these individuals.

To start, the company does a lot of reference checking and background screening. “We hire people who have a can-do attitude and understand customer service,” McMillan says. “We want people who want to be here and who want a career, not a job.” In fact, McMillan admits, nothing makes him and the company’s president and CEO, J. Ronald Frump, angrier than losing a good employee, so the company does everything it can to hire the best and keep them, including offering an impressive benefits package.

Safety also is a top priority, so regular, mandatory safety meetings for the route managers are scheduled. In fact, when the new vehicles arrive the company is scheduling a formal training program to be co-sponsored by the manufacturer.

Mile High views each route as an individual business, and each route manager as the “owner” of that business. Explains McMillan, “We hire people who are self-starters. There is a world of difference between a truck driver and a route sales manager.”

The company also offers incentive packages to encourage route managers to grow their businesses and encourages them to learn from each other.

“They meet every morning, and we encourage them to share ideas for success with each other,” McMillan explains. “We especially encourage the ones who are ‘ahead of the pack’ to share their ideas for success with all of the others.”