Finding the new essentials of life — masks, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer — in these pandemic days can be difficult for most individuals. Try doing it for members of a huge corps of 8,500 drivers.
That’s what the folks at Prine, Inc. were working on recently in the midst of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. While the Springfield, Missouri-based carrier was able to obtain hand sanitizer in bulk, they still were faced with packaging it in sizes to share with its drivers.
Fortunately, one employee’s family connections paid off.
Angie Reynolds works in Prime’s Payroll Department. Her husband Ben works for a company that knows a little about putting liquid into bottles: Ozarks Coca Cola & Dr. Pepper Bottling, which is also located in Springfield, Missouri.
The bottling company was able to donate 2,200 empty 12-ounce bottles Prime filled and started handing out to its drivers. Prime purchased an additional 3,600 bottles and caps, and all are being filled from three 270-gallon totes the company purchased from Casey Jones Distillery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which normally makes award-winning bourbon.
“I am pleased to let you guys know that our production crew is donating the bottles so your drivers can stay healthy, safe and on the road,” said Ben Reynolds in a Facebook post. “Jason Abbiotti, Steve Williams and the entire production crew believe in helping to flatten the curve in any way they can. They are truly the ones to thank for the bottles. Without the hard work of Jason’s team, we would not have been able to procure the bottles for you as fast as we did.”
Prime started handing out the filled bottles at Prime Plaza in Springfield and is sending additional sanitizer and bottles to its Pittston, Salt Lake City, Laredo, and Decatur, Indiana terminals.