1110

At Dixie, their mission is to provide reliable propane and oil services and products with excellent customer care, emphasizing the importance of making and sustaining long-term relationships by going the extra mile. They are committed to the community, as their customers are also their neighbors. Founded in 1946, in Staunton, Virginia, Dixie has grown to serve the Shenandoah Valley, parts of central and western Virginia and parts of West Virginia. Headquartered in Verona, Virginia with locations in Lexington, Covington and Elkton, their service area spans 16 counties with roughly 55 employees. Propane distributors, like Dixie Gas & Oil, make up the fabric of your community and deliver propane and petroleum products to residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial customers to meet more than just our heating needs. They are on the road and in our homes, building a relationship of trust over many years.

This issue, we caught up with Chris Earhart, Dixie’s President and NPGA Chairman-Elect, and Danny Alexander, Executive Vice President to talk about the intricacies of the propane industry and how Dixie sets itself apart from the competition.

DESCRIBE HOW DIXIE GAS & OIL STARTED AND HOW IT HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS.

CHRIS My dad started the business in 1946; he got out of the army at the end of WWII and decided he didn’t want to work in a factory. There was an opportunity to buy a group of propane customers that a small furniture store here in town had developed, and he purchased those customers to start the business. We’re a bit of the anomaly in our industry because we started out in the propane business, entered the heating oil business in the late 1950s, the gasoline business in the 60s and on from there.

FUELING

Successful

BUSINESS

D I X I E G A S & O I L

A

ALEXANDERD A N N Y EARHARTC H R I S

SPEND LESS THAN THREE MINUTES TALKING TO SOMEONE FROM DIXIE GAS & OIL AND YOU IMMEDIATELY FEEL LIKE YOU’RE TRANSPORTED BACK TO SIMPLER TIMES. BACK TO WHEN MILK WAS HOME DELIVERED IN GLASS BOTTLES AND COMPUTERS DIDN’T EXIST. AND THAT’S PART OF THE DIXIE DIFFERENCE – PROVIDING SERVICE TO ITS CUSTOMERS LIKE IT USED TO BE.

1312

When my dad got started in the business, most people didn’t know what it was or how it could be used. Our initial company name was Dixie Bottle Gas, and my dad would deliver 100-pound cylinders of gas. He would drive from Virginia to Maryland to fill up the cylinders because that’s where the closest filling station was! Gas back then was used primarily for cooking, a little bit of water heating and gas refrigeration. He had vapor meters on every customer account and a gas appliance showroom in town. Locals could buy the appliance from him and the gas to run it.

Propane didn’t become a widespread source for heating in our area until the seventies. It was a transition from wood to coal to oil for a lot of years and then finally to propane.

YOU ARE VERY INVOLVED IN THE NPGA (NATIONAL PROPANE GAS ASSOCIATION); WHY SHOULD EVERYONE IN THIS INDUSTRY BE INVOLVED WITH THAT ORGANIZATION?

CHRIS You need to be involved in your industry today more than ever because if the members don’t promote the industry to customers, employees and government leaders – no one else will. More and more today, if we don’t watch what’s happening around us, things will get ahead of us. Those in our industry think we’re a big industry, but we’re really not. We are good people and we have always had that family-like mentality towards one another. You don’t see the egos so much in this industry. Now, we may compete tooth and nail each day, but if someone needs something in our group, we’re going to be there for that person in any way we can. By and large, that’s the way it’s always been.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF PROPANE?

CHRIS Propane is a clean, versatile, American fuel. There’s so many uses for it and although some days it’s more expensive than others, it’s one of the best values out there to meet your energy needs.

YOUR INDUSTRY IS HIGHLY REGULATED – TALK TO US ABOUT DIXIE’S SAFETY PROGRAMS AND MANAGEMENT’S COMMITMENT TO OPERATE SAFELY.

DANNY Safety is our number one priority here and we try not just to say that, but we want that to be our daily culture. We always try to do the right thing, and safety-wise, we try to get all our customers on board. However, if one of our customer’s does not practice propane safety, we will walk away from that business, which we have done before. We will not jeopardize assets, the public or people just for the business. Since we have been in the PEG captive, our safety program has evolved into a safety culture at Dixie. That comes from a lot of work, commitment and the powerful resources that National Interstate provides.

YOU UTILIZE PHYSICAL ABILITIES TESTING (PAT) – HOW HAS THIS BENEFITED DIXIE?

DANNY We went through the PAT process, which did not take as long as we anticipated. Initially we had a Physical Therapist and an Occupational Therapist come in and measure strengths for various job tasks such as pulling, pushing and lifting. The therapists came back to us with a test that we put potential job hires through to ensure they were physically able to perform the job they applied to do. About two years ago, we had a potential driver-hire come in for a job who previously worked for a logging company. He was a pretty decent-sized, muscular candidate with a good work ethic. After the interview, he went through the PAT and it was determined that he could not perform the duties assigned to the job. We did not offer him the job and it probably saved us $75K-125K in a potential workers’ compensation claim. The initial setup fee plus the testing fee for each job candidate has paid for our PAT service for the next 20 years. One bad workers’ compensation claim negatively effects your e-Mod.

We also had an employee who was out on leave for surgery. When the employee was ready to come back to work, we issued the WorkFit portion of PAT to determine if the employee was physically able to resume previous job duties. What the test showed was that there was very little activity during the employee’s time off, causing increased weight gain. Unfortunately, the testing showed that we needed to make a change to something less physically-demanding

for the employee during the rehab period, but again, that saved us from a potential future issue.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES IN THE PROPANE INDUSTRY?

CHRIS Finding motivated and capable employees continues to be a challenge. Yes, the business is cyclical, but technology continues to help with that. My biggest concern is that we as an industry need to promote our product and grow our industry better than we have done in the past. We have become a “growth through business stealing” mentality type of industry and that is part of the reason we’ve seen overall propane demand decrease in the last eight years.

WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MISPERCEPTIONS OF THE PROPANE INDUSTRY AND HOW HAVE YOU COMBATED THAT?

CHRIS This is a mature industry that has a lot of “new world” purpose, for lack of better words. The potential usage in today’s market is immense. The big buzzword in the transportation industry right now is “last mile delivery.” All the internet retailers deliver via last mile delivery. You buy the refrigerator, a delivery truck shows up and brings it into your house for you. At Dixie, we’ve been the last mile guys the entire time we’ve been in business. We’ve always delivered right to the customer and are on the cutting edge there.

YOUR COMPANY IS A PROPONENT OF AUTOMATED EVENT RECORDER USAGE IN YOUR FLEETS. CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT THAT?

DANNY We’re on the second generation of cameras (automated event recorders) in our fleet and I’ve been really pleased with the performance and National Interstate’s participation in offsetting the cost of the program. It did take a little bit of time to get employees to understand that management was not trying to play the big brother card, but we do want to monitor what’s going on for safety purposes. More importantly, the camera program assists in proving that we were not in the wrong in instances where others may have said, “I saw your truck drive through my flower beds,” but when you pull up the video, that simply did not happen. Our employees now understand that these cameras are for their protection too. I like these cameras so much, I have one in my company car and another in my personal pickup truck.

SAFETY is our number one priority here and we try not just to say that, but we want that to be our DAILY CULTURE.

My dad taught me that you have to be GOOD to people. It is about having a one -on-one relationship with not only your employees but the CUSTOMERS you serve each day.

1514

WHAT MAKES YOU A BEST-IN-CLASS OPERATOR?

CHRIS We have very low driver turnover and one thing I attribute that to is not hiring drivers from our competition. I would rather train someone who does not know anything about our industry but is motivated to learn, instead of fixing someone else’s bad habits. And, that’s worked for us. We’re also involved heavily with taking care of two things – our customers and our employees. If we don’t have both of those groups doing well, then we don’t have anything. Our pay and benefits are competitive, and our drivers go home each night to their families. We also have best-in-class equipment that makes doing the job easier on our employees. My dad taught me that you have to be good to people. It’s about having a one-on-one relationship with not only your employees, but the customers you serve each day.

YOUR JOB IS FULL OF STRESS, WHAT DO YOU DO TO UNWIND?

CHRIS We have no stress! Jokes aside, I’ve always enjoyed working. At home, I have a small herd of beef cattle to raise and take care of. I also tinker with some antique trucks. Family and church, that’s what I like to do.

DANNY I like coming to work every day and having fun with my Dixie family. I also enjoy spending time with my grandchildren – they are full of energy, so I don’t know how much unwinding I do with them!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE A GROUP ALTERNATIVE RISK TRANSFER PROGRAM, OR CAPTIVE, COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL INSURANCE, AND WHY DID YOU MAKE THE DECISION FOR YOUR OPERATION SPECIFICALLY?

DANNY The resources that you and your partners bring have been extraordinary. And, the people – you’re down to earth and transparent; if there’s an issue you don’t avoid it. You guys make my work fun. The aggravating thing to me before joining PEG was the uncertainty in the commercial insurance market. We would have insurance carriers that would literally wait until the last day of the policy period to tell us what the new premium would be. With a captive, to understand not only premium dollars, but to have a little say in your future, that’s truly valuable to our company.

YOU CONSISTENTLY ATTEND THE RISK CONTROL WORKSHOPS AND BOARD MEETINGS HOSTED BY THE CAPTIVE MANAGER, INNOVATIVE CAPTIVE STRATEGIES. WHAT VALUE DO THOSE BRING TO YOUR ORGANIZATION?

DANNY We didn’t decide to join PEG overnight. When we attended the first Safety Workshop prior to becoming a member, I came back to the office and there was no question in my mind that this is what Dixie needed to do going forward. Now that I’ve been to numerous workshops, whatever you learn there, you bring back and it pays for the trip. That’s the dollars and cents of it. My fellow PEG members are in the captive for both the betterment of the propane industry and the program, so the meeting topics we cover make sense. I can honestly say that I’ve never been to a workshop that’s been boring. I also get to see my friends and members at these events from across the country and there’s always an idea to be shared or you can share an idea with them that makes you feel like you’re not the lone ranger in a certain situation.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST TECHNOLOGICAL ‘GAME CHANGER’ THAT YOU HAVE WITNESSED DURING YOUR TIME IN THIS INDUSTRY?

DANNY Looking back, remote tank monitoring changed the way that Dixie delivers its product. When used correctly, this type of monitoring can make us more efficient. I can remember 40 years ago, the logic was that we needed to deliver the same day, the same time, every month to the same customer – regardless of if we put in three gallons or 300 gallons. We just didn’t want anyone to run out of propane. Now that we can monitor the tank remotely, we fill when the tank truly needs to be filled.

IF YOU COULD RECOMMEND ANY BOOK FOR PEOPLE TO READ, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

CHRIS I mostly read industry magazines and articles, however a few years ago I read Sam Walton’s autobiography, Made in America. It’s an inspiring read, and I learned that he failed quite a few times before building one of the biggest companies in the world.

WHO HAS BEEN A MENTOR TO YOU AND WHY?

CHRIS Growing up, my dad was my mentor. He taught me this business inside and out and he made me learn it the hard way, but, I appreciate him for that. He went through a lot of adversity in his life as he tried to make things happen for his family; he lost both my mother and my brother at an early age, and he had to raise me and try to run a business at the same time. He never gave up though. He always had patience and kept going. Also, my friend, the late Charlie Revere, one of the founding members of PEG was a mentor. He and I would chat on Saturday mornings, each of us in our respective offices, about how our businesses were growing, how we should treat our customers, things like that.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT WITH DIXIE?

CHRIS We’ve been able to do so many different things throughout our careers, but I’m really proud that my role in this industry has led me to serve in a leadership capacity for the NPGA. It’s an accomplishment that the association worked through a list and found its way to me! Something else that sticks out to me is a day I’ll never forget from about 30 years ago. We tried to deliver to a farmer during a blizzard. Our truck ended up getting stuck in the highway until the state road grader opened it up in the middle of the night. We delivered fuel to that farmer that night and we got a Christmas card from him for the next 20 years! Things that you do for folks that are just a normal part of the job, really do make a difference.

In the ‘40s, Dixie was known as the Dixie Bottle Gas Corporation. Dedicated employees, like Buddy Harris (left) and John Patterson (right), exemplified Dixie’s hard-working ethic.

Dixie has come a long way since its early cylinder delivery trucks on the left. Here, Dixie’s newest vehicle showcases the new company logo launched just last year.

PROPANE is a clean, versatile, American fuel. There are so many uses for it and although some days it is more expensive than others, it is one of the BEST values out there to meet your energy needs.