For more than 80 years, Salt Lake City, Utah-based RC Willey Home Furnishings has been recognized for excellence. Owned by Berkshire/Hathaway, the company consistently strives to be the No. 1 home furnishing company where customers find exceptional selection, value, superior service and professional associates who really care.
With 2,500 employees and 130 delivery vehicles serving Utah, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, Boise, Idaho and Sacramento, California, the company makes thousands of home deliveries of new furnishings each month. “Our first Kenworth was a T800 that we purchased in Las Vegas, and we absolutely fell in love with that truck,” said Karl Anderson, vice president of operations for RC Willey Home Furnishings. “The driver said, ‘Don’t ever take this truck away from me.’”
So when the company re-evaluated its medium duty delivery truck needs two years ago, it worked closely with Kenworth Sales Company – Salt Lake City. “Sometimes we add a third delivery guy in the cab and it can get tight,” said Anderson. “Kenworth understood that, went to work and came back with the K270 cabover, which our drivers absolutely love and adore. That is their office for 10 hours a day. Drivers appreciate the roominess, smooth ride, great visibility, excellent maneuverability, and they just feel better sitting in a Kenworth truck.”
The company recently took its second delivery of Kenworth K270s, this time purchasing 11 new cabovers, increasing the Kenworth presence in the fleet to 30 trucks. “Overall, our fleet runs about 7.9 mpg,” said Anderson. “The Kenworth K270s are averaging 9.5 mpg*. That gives me a 20 percent fuel economy bump.”
Along with better fuel efficiency and driver comfort, the K270s have allowed RC Willey to attract more drivers from a larger pool of candidates. “We had been mostly a tractor trailer operation, so finding guys who would get a CDL and stay with us was tough,” says Anderson. “One of the great benefits of operating K270s is they eliminate the need for a CDL and allows us to tap a whole new labor market.”
With new K270s replacing aging tractor-trailers in the fleet, RC Willey’s drivers appreciate the smaller wheelbase that helps them get in and out of residential areas easily. Along with outstanding comfort, efficiency and performance, the new delivery trucks project a professional image throughout the cities they serve. That is especially important to Anderson.
“For us to be successful, we have to operate a quality truck,” he said. “It has to be comfortable for our drivers, and it has to represent the company well. Most importantly, it has to be dependable. As we line up our deliveries every day, we give our customers a three-hour time window. If our trucks aren’t dependable, we can’t make those commitments to our customers. Kenworth gives us the quality and reliability we need.”
* Individual fuel economy improvement will vary depending on use, road conditions and other factors.
