Southeastern Freight Lines (SEFL) driver Casey Wigginton did not expect to find himself in the trucking industry.
After earning an associate degree in business and marketing, he began the search for a job to help support his wife as she continued her own university studies. After taking a job at a logistics company running local routes in Birmingham, Alabama, Wigginton soon found his skills in demand.
First working on the dock part-time for SEFL, Wigginton soon found himself promoted to full-time work.
“In a very quick time, I went from short time to full-time because I told them that I wanted to go and be a city driver,” he told The Trucker. “I quickly got into the driver training program, where the driver mentor took me out. We did my 80-hour training process. Then they took me to the state testing area, and I took my test and got my CDL.”
Wigginton believes truck driving is more than a job: It’s a calling.
“It’s a lifestyle thing,” he said. “You can’t just come over here and say, ‘I’m going to do this.’
“Your heart has to be here. You really have to have a serving type of heart and personality,” he continued. “You will hate it if you don’t. It requires a special type of person to get out here and take care of people every day.”
Wiggington takes pride in the family atmosphere SEFL allows him.
“I’m able to actually wake my children up in the morning, make breakfast for them and do that kind of stuff,” he said. “I help them get their day started. I see them first thing in the morning. On Tuesdays I go coach my daughter’s soccer team.”
While he’s not home at the same time every day because of the demands of his job, Wigginton says it’s all worth it in the end.
“At the end of the day, we have to remember that we’re truck drivers and we signed up for this,” he said. “We knew what we were getting ourselves into.”
Wigginton also believes in the mission of his profession.
“We are in an industry that is structured to make the world go around,” he said. “We’re the link in the supply chain that connects what they’re trying to accomplish. We’re here to make sure that they can serve their customers. We serve them so they can serve their people.”
He sees trucking as a career for the long haul.
SEFL has a reputation for keeping its employees long-term, and Wiggington says he’s witnessed it firsthand.
“That’s why we’re here,” he said. “That’s our culture. The guys here take their jobs very personally here at Southeastern.”
That means every employee, every driver, works to take care of customers.
“We make sure they can call us. Customers have our cell phone numbers. Throughout the day, they’re communicating with us and they know we’re coming,” he said. “That’s our reputation here at here at Birmingham: If you call Southeastern, we’re coming.”
Relationships are top priority.
“If you don’t have a relationship, they don’t think of you when they need something,” he said. “It becomes just transactional. When it’s relational, customers know they can count on you.”
It’s important to take time to help others succeed.
While he’s not in an official mentor position, Wigginton says he takes every opportunity he can to share about life on the road and help guide those who are new to SEFL.
“It’s more like just sharing experiences and things you found that work for you and also meet Southeastern’s culture and things like that,” he said. “I’m just kind of an ear to bounce off of for new hires.”
Wiggington has found a home at SEFL. While it was not the original plan he had for his career, he feels blessed to have found it.
“In the industry you won’t find another company quite like Southeastern,” he said. “The reason that I continue in the industry and stay in the position that I’m in is because of the Cassels family (who founded SEFL), the management, the ability to be seen and be heard, and make changes as the need to be.
“Compared to others, I haven’t found one yet that even comes close to the way these people are and the way this company treats its employees,” he concluded.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
