We attended the Skills challenge two years ago but I do not remember seeing you guys there. We had a great time at that skills challenge, particularly since I beat Bob's second place driving award by placing first. Due to fuel prices and not being really close to Green, we made the decision this year not to attend. I believe from hearing about the low attendance this year, less people are willing or able to drive a great distance to attend this event.
I found out from my contact that yes, the Skills Challenge has been discontinued because it is not a cost effective way to interact with a large group of contractors. There are more initiatives being discussed and tested at this point that will provide a greater benefit to more contractors than the small attendance of the Skills Challenge. Some of the tools that the company uses to communicate with contractors are the weekly e-bulletin, the quarterly CD reports, the quarterly DVD road reports and the quarterly On-Times news magazine. More recently the new Fleet Safety Liaison, former forum member Terry O’Connell, is getting to see many drivers in the field, hand out goodies, answer lots and lots of questions, do truck inspections and driver training and relay driver concerns to the appropriate company contact.
I want put thanks to Michele at the skills challenge we attended!!