Kingsgate 2020: A Year of Unprecedented Times in Review

Can you feel it? The excitement to push 2020 behind us and to start the new year fresh is palpable! But before we do, I think it's good for us to reflect on the year. For all the struggles and challenges, our Kingsgate Family has much to celebrate. 

First, we have made it through 2020! That in and of itself is an accomplishment. But not only have we made it through 2020, we also made it out of this year as a better company. This year was a reminder that while we will always be working to grow our company, we need to remain focused on what we do great. We were also reminded that in difficult times, we need to stay loyal to and lean on our company's founding principles: hard work, exemplary service and the highest integrity. Time and again, the Kingsgate culture of family pulled us through the most challenging moments.

We had several team members staying late beyond quitting time (or working late from home) when we were short-staffed to ensure our customers were served. We had company leaders jumping in and taking on work far outside of their roles and responsibilities. Trust me when I say the extra efforts of each of you who went the extra mile did not go unnoticed and will not be forgotten. These examples are the cornerstone of "hard work" that our dad talked about almost daily. While there may be a quitting time, he believed our day wasn't over until every customer was served.

This leads me to my next point. I have seen our team work to serve our customers like no other time in our company's history. “Exemplary service” doesn't just come from on-time delivery. Superior service is a holistic approach to meeting the customers' needs, whatever the need, even if it's outside of our typical scope of service. I think about our team deploying a full-blown managed services project with one of our new customers this year with literally a few weeks' notice. We kept the supply chain of a struggling retailer in stock to serve their customers. Our service to them – and their customers – has indeed been exemplary. This engaged teams across our organization – operations, IT and accounting – and everyone who touched this project did so with precision, great effort and exemplary service.

When I think about integrity, there isn't one moment that sticks out to me as the perfect example of "highest integrity." At first, that bothered me until I realized integrity is just a part of who we are and how we treat our customers, carriers and vendors every day. Our open and transparent nature with our customers is continual proof that we are different from the other logistics companies customers have dealt with. We also have that level of integrity with our carriers. We often receive notes of thanks from trucking companies about our team members who have gone above and beyond to do the right thing for our carriers, something that often does not happen with other 3PL’s in the industry. As one letter of thanks we received noted - “I've been in the transportation business for over 30 years and have dealt with thousands of brokers over the years. This is the second time working with Kingsgate and having a driver sit at a shipper or receiver for several hours over the standard 2-hour grace period, both times Kingsgate did the proper thing.”

So, as I reflect on the good and bad that came with 2020 and all the new business we won, what I am most proud of is that we remained true to who we are. We didn't take shortcuts or look for a quick fix. We stayed the path and didn't waiver from who we are as a company and a family. THAT makes me very proud to lead this great company!

Happy New Year! 2020 – get the hell out of here!!!

All the Best,

Jeff Beckham

Check out our previous reviews from 2019, 2018 & 2017.