Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/592176
White runs Royal's Truck and Diesel Repair, a small but well-established mechanic shop in Ontario, OR. She took over the business aer her father, Royal Snyder, spent more than 20 years establishing the business and building a reputation as one of the best repair shops in eastern Oregon. When Snyder decided it was time to retire, the decision fell on White whether to take over the business. "I think my dad decided it for me," White says with a grin on her face. "It was either close the doors or me take over. Too many people depend on us — mostly farmers and there's no way we can just up and leave because it's all about our customers." Snyder started the business in 1989 and catered to the heavy agriculture industry in eastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho. When he chose to retire in 2011, White said she felt an obligation to continue the business for those who have been loyal customers for so long. "We've got at least four farmers that have been with us since day one and they refuse to go anywhere else," White said. "We've had people from Las Vegas that actually would have their vehicles towed from there to here so we could work on them. It kind of makes you feel good and you don't want to lose that rapport." But even with the dedication to her loyal clientele, White quickly found out there was a double standard to a woman owning a mechanic shop. "People hesitate to deal with a woman," she said. "I think most men feel — I don't know if it's threatened or inferior or what it is — but I can be standing right at the door out there and they'll walk right by me. Or if I answer the phone, it's like, 'I need to talk to a man.' I've been around this my whole life. My step-dad was a truck driver, my dad has been a mechanic his whole life, my husband has been a mechanic for the last 19 years." Some men, she said, refuse to speak with her. "I'll hand the phone to (husband) Joe and he'll tell them exactly the same thing I told them and then they're like, 'Oh, OK. at's makes sense,' and I'm like, 'I just told you that.'" White has lived the mechanic life. Not only has she been around it, she has been immersed in it. "I've been there, done it and I've loved it," she said. "I worked for my dad for two years because it was just he and I for a while. He had no other mechanics so I would tear them apart and he would put them back together." In fact, White's path into the mechanic's world was kind of baptism by re. "(My dad) kind of threw me in there," she said. "It was just my dad and I and he pulled in a truck and said, 'ere you go.' I just looked dumbfounded and said, 'What?' and he said, 'Take it apart.'" White said she quickly learned that you could only take apart what had bolts, so she set to work dismantling her rst truck. "en he said, 'OK. Now put it back together,'" she said. "I just went, 'What?' I had to gure out what went where. It wasn't too bad — aer the rst one." Today, White concentrates more on the oce end of the business and less on the mechanic portion, with three mechanics in the shop — Danny Martz, Cody Allison and her husband, Joe White. But she doesn't shy away from getting dirty. "If the guys need help so they don't have to pull somebody else o a job, they come in and get me and I'll go out," White said. "Most of the time it's just turning wrenches, easy stu, or bleeding brakes — not literally tearing something apart. I can do most of it. It's not rocket science. Some people think it is, but it's really not." But White is quick to admit that her knowledge of mechanics goes just so far. "Nowadays, with the new stu, it's a lot harder," she said. "I don't know much about the newer stu. It's all the older '70s and '80s stu that I can do. e computerized stu I leave for my husband." Going through the downturn in the economy really did not aect the business, White said. People still had machinery and they still needed mechanics. What did hurt the business, she said, was poor bookkeeping from a former employee that made Royal's step back, re- evaluate and work on a very tight budget to overcome the problems. "We never had to ask for extended credit. We made our payments and did what we could," she said. "It was hard, but we came back with ying colors." During that time, she said, employees were informed they would be limited on raises and bonuses until the storm had cleared. "Everybody understood," she said. "It took about two years, but everybody got a little bit of a raise." White, who has also spent time behind a desk for a manufactured home plant and has been a law enforcement ocer, says she has no plans of leaving her current position. "I like meeting new people and I love our employees. ey're great," she said. "Between our three employees and my dad, we have 110 years of experience. "I don't plan on going anywhere else. I'll stay here and try to keep it as good as Dad did, if not better." White said her two daughters both have mechanic experience as well, though one now raises pigs, while the other is a "girly girl." So, for the foreseeable future, White said the shop will continue on in her hands. "Plans are to keep going as long as we can," she said. "As long as there are vehicles, there's always a need. We work on anything with wheels — literally — and we even work on generators that don't have wheels." "'I'VE BEEN AROUND THIS MY WHOLE LIFE. MY STEP-DAD WAS A TRUCK DRIVER, MY DAD HAS BEEN A MECHANIC HIS WHOLE LIFE, MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN A MECHANIC FOR THE LAST 19 YEARS.'" "" "'IT WAS EITHER CLOSE THE DOORS OR ME TAKE OVER. TOO MANY PEOPLE DEPEND ON US — MOSTLY FARMERS AND THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN JUST UP AND LEAVE BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT OUR CUSTOMERS.'" Vo l . 9 , N o . 6 TRUCKSTOP.COM 21