Prime Inc. Latest to Buy ATA Rooftop Paver

This story appears in the June 3 print edition of Transport Topics.

Prime Inc., a refrigerated carrier based in Springfield, Mo., has become the latest to purchase a rooftop deck paver at the Capitol Hill office of American Trucking Associations, the group recently announced.

Bill Graves, president of ATA, also purchased a paver as part of the federation’s efforts to launch a new marketing campaign.

 “This is a lasting legacy,” Greg Kohlrieser, ATA’s account executive and marketing manager, told Transport Topics. “These pavers will be there for years. It’s an investment in the Hill office, and it’s also an investment in the future of the industry.”

Kohlrieser added, “A lot of our member companies are family-run businesses or folks who have gotten their start from a family business. Legacy is an important thing.”

To date, ATA has sold 49 pavers for $15,000 each, raising $735,000 that is being used to pay down the debt from the building’s $23 million renovation completed in 2011, ATA Controller Rusty Duckworth said.

There is room for another 169 pavers to be installed on the rooftop deck, one of the spaces ATA uses to host such events as fundraisers.

ATA Chairman Michael Card, president of Combined Transport, Central Point, Ore., said he bought a paver last year to support ATA and pay homage to his 81-year-old father.

“My dad started Combined Transport, the company that I run today,” Card said. “I just wanted to honor him by buying a paver and putting it on the roof of the ATA building so future generations of truckers could see his name as the founder of Combined Transport. We do so many fundraisers and have congressmen, senators and all sorts of folks up there on that rooftop that are going to see my dad’s name.”

Kohlrieser said ATA has developed a promotional video and brochure to communicate the benefits of purchasing a paver, not only to honor a company, fellow trucker or family member, but to help pay for ATA’s advocacy base of operations.

Future purchasers will be given the opportunity to participate in a paver installation ceremony with the ATA senior leadership. Kohlrieser likened the ceremony to trucking’s version of laying down a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In addition, past and future purchasers will receive a replica paver that can be placed on a desktop.

The ATA promotional video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmHWi6Iu7O4.