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'I got my team together and we stepped up.'
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Home | Video | Photo Gallery: More Heroes
Saluting the men and women of the trucking industry who kept America's essential goods flowing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Profiles: Peter Lacoste | Susan Dawson | James Rogers | Cesar Quintana Moreno | Reggie Barrows | Kevin Cooper
Peter Lacoste is a driver-trainer for NFI Transportation who works with recruits, coordinating operations within the yard, communicating with drivers and ensuring deliveries stay on track. But when the COVID-19 outbreak took hold, Lacoste took on a new responsibility — sanitizing the company’s trucks to help keep his colleagues safe. Read more of Lacoste's story here.
Everyone was trying not to panic here. But we were trying to push through. There were a few guys that worked here, they panicked and they left. I said if I'm here, stay here and let's see how it goes.
Hi, I'm Marissa Gamache with Transport Topics, and this is Trucking's Frontline Heroes — the series that spotlights the men and women who went above and beyond the call of duty to keep America's essential goods flowing during the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we’d like to introduce you to Peter Lacoste, an NFI Transportation driver-trainer out of their Framingham, Mass., location. Lacoste took it upon himself to organize the cleaning of the location's roughly 40 trucks. Take a look at his story.
So we looked at it, and it was like, what are we going to do. And like most things, I said I'll take care of it. I didn't know it was going to be until now, we all figured... you know what I mean? I got my team together and we stepped up... we started and we didn't know what we were doing. We had too much protection, not enough protection. We had a backpack leaf-blower to get the dust out, and I thought, this seems a little extreme. As we worked through it, of course we streamlined it, and it's just taken on that thing now that's what we're going to do. Every Saturday, Sunday, we take care of the trucks.
As Lacoste says, he was born into the trucking industry. His father was a driver, and while he originally didn't intend to follow in his footsteps, he wound up in trucking at the age of 19. He's now 55, and has spent the last 17 years at NFI. He says his long tenures at companies reflect his desire to serve, to be a part of something bigger than himself.
The biggest thing about what we do.... this isn't a job, this is a career. Mostly this is a lifestyle. It's not really that much of a burden to bear. It kinda feels good. When you do something of service, the job gets done, sure. But it also gives you a little bit of personal satisfaction, being part of a solution.
Peter Lacoste is just one of several industry heroes we’re spotlighting in our new special section devoted to Trucking’s Frontline Heroes. Make sure to check out the others at ttn.ws/heroes. I’m Marissa Gamache, we'll see you next time.