Coast To Coast Success
By LISA LOEWEN | Photos by MELVINA TAYLOR
Top City Logistics got its start when friends Dusty Birk and Brandon Best approached Neal Spencer with an interesting proposal: to form a new freight brokerage company, with Ernest-Spencer as their first customer.
As a serial entrepreneur, Spencer was immediately intrigued. The three friends moved fast to get Top City Logistics up and running.
That was over three years ago. Today, the company’s extensive carrier network provides reliable freight services — long-haul, flatbed, step deck, less than truckload, oversize, heavy haul and expedited — to customers across the United States. Their experienced team offers consultations on strapping, tarping, loading and unloading to ensure freight arrives in optimal condition.
“Some of the most challenging parts of starting a new business is all the front-end expenditures,” Spencer said, describing Top City Logistics’ early days. “We decided to house the new company at Ernest-Spencer, so we could leverage the existing infrastructure and resources.”
Once the trio had established their business plan and secured a physical location, their next step was to find people — the true heart of any successful business — to help them run it.
Spencer had the necessary business acumen to launch the company. Birk, who owns the trucking company Birk Logistics, brought his long-haul trucking expertise and knowledge to the table. He knew how to bid jobs, manage drivers, load trucks and get things from point A to point B.
But Top City Logistics still needed to find the right employees capable of managing the day-to-day operations of a new company in the highly competitive freight industry.
The company decided to bring on Garrett Currie as dispatch manager. Currie has been with Top City Logistics since the very beginning, and quickly learned the ins and outs of being a freight broker and running dispatch.
He works directly with customers to quote jobs, line up carriers, track freight and notify clients when shipments are delivered.
“We were starting this business from scratch,” Currie said. “Thankfully, Dusty had experience with bidding jobs and loading trucks, but I had to learn how to put out the fires that inevitably pop up when you are trying to make sure a load gets to its destination on time.”
Debbie Beam joined the company as general manager a month later. At first, Beam’s 15 years of experience in the video game industry might not seem relevant for overseeing a freight brokerage company. Yet managing and promoting one of the world’s largest business-to-business video game conferences is what prepared her for the chaotic world of long-haul freight.
“Basically, I am the official wearer of all hats,” Beam said. “Even though I came in with a lot of experience, I knew nothing about the freight business. I had to learn everything from the accounting software and systems integration to load boards, insurance, invoicing and shipment tracking.”
In the freight industry, each carrier or individual driver is their own entity, which means each of them receive a 1099. With more than 1,500 carriers under contract, the complexity of Top City Logistics’ end-of-year reporting alone can be overwhelming.
“Recognizing the logistical challenges the company would face, we needed to create processes and infrastructure within the freight company that was logical, progressive and scalable,” Spencer said.
Beam conducted extensive research to find the best software solutions and paperwork processing automations, as well as the most efficient methods for maximizing output without taxing existing resources.
Even though Beam is a female general manager in an industry dominated by men, she said she’s never felt intimidated or disrespected.
“The team we’ve built is fantastic, we are like a family here,” Beam said. “Working toward the same mission, but doing so with a sense of camaraderie and fun.”
While Top City Logistics started as a way to capture the significant amount of dollars Ernest-Spencer spent each year on freight, it quickly turned into something much larger. Today, the company has a growing client base of more than 50 companies across the country.
“We want our customers to view us as an extension of their own shipping department,” Beam said. “We view ourselves as a business partner. When we deliver quality services, everyone wins.”
Unlike other freight brokers who try to win bids by overpromising, only to then underdeliver, Top City Logistics relies on its team’s more than 30 combined years of industry experience. Access to a fleet of privately owned trucks and trailers has given them the flexibility to offer a wider range of freight services, including short runs and less than truckload (LTL).
In the freight business, success comes down to the individual drivers hauling the loads. Once a shipment leaves the origination point, it’s up to the drivers to deliver them to their destination on time.
Unfortunately, because carriers are the transactional piece of the freight puzzle, they often get lost in the freight brokerage shuffle. That’s why having team members with truck driving experience sets Top City Logistics apart from the competition — they go the extra mile to keep those drivers top of mind.
“We care about our drivers,” Currie said. “Those are people just trying to feed their families driving those trucks, so we bend over backwards to take care of them and treat them with the respect they deserve. Those truckers are the backbone of our country.”
Even though the company’s growth is booming, Currie said they prefer to prioritize quality over quantity.
“We won’t put the trailer before the truck, so to speak,” Currie said. “Our focus is to grow the business through referrals and leveraging existing client relationships. It’s a win-win when clients come to trust and lean on the Top City Logistics team, knowing we’ll go the extra mile to deliver results.
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