PURPLE METRE EATERS
EVERY TRUCK owner and driver has a story to tell about how they started out in the industry. For Steve Earl, he’s straight to the point with his explanation. “I was selling cooking oil and running it out the back of my ute, then in a little truck.
“Then I thought, ‘bigger truck, bigger money’.
How f***ing wrong I was,” he remarks with a wry grin.
As you can guess, airs and graces are not part of the Earls Express culture.
“There’s nothing politically correct in this place. We’re very down to earth, and very black and white,” Steve remarks.
“If you can’t handle being told, you don’t need to be here.”
Not that Earls Express has any issue with attracting the right employees. With the nucleus of Steve and his wife Kym, son Jake and daughters Jessi and Jaime, plus Jake’s wife Daniela on the front desk, this family-run business also employs 12 full-time drivers.
“Anyone that works here, we tell them ‘you’ve got to be able to cop shit’,” Jake chimes in. “And if you can’t cop it, don’t dish it out. If you can cop it, dish it out as much as you like.
“We stir everybody up around here; it’s just the way we are.”
Steve and Kym have been involved in the trucking industry for approximately 40 years. Previously also spending time behind the wheel, Kym moved into the office admin side of the business when Jake, now aged 28, was born.
Jake’s career started when
