Jim Lucas and his sisters, Carol Rainey and Sally Fidler, joke that they were born at the Lucas Trucking Company building.
"We tell people we've worked here forever," Rainey laughed. "We say we were born here."
However, the siblings were born into the trucking business.
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ASHLEY WISLOCK/Sun-Gazette
From lefty, siblings Carol Rainey, Sally Fidler and Jim Lucas look over monthly reports at their family-owned and operated business, Lucas Trucking Company, located outside of Jersey Shore. The company hauls and delivers mail for the postal service to large cities, such as New York and Cleveland.
According to Fidler, vice president and treasurer of the business, their father started the company after securing a hauling and delivery contract with the Grit newspaper in 1955, when the company was located on West Third Street.
Soon after, the trucking company discovered the opportunities presented by the postal service. Trucking companies were needed to haul mail from one large city to another.
Within a couple years, the company began to exclusively service the postal service, and the tradition has continued to this day.
"We pick up mail at larger hubs and we bring the load in here and relay it to its destination," Lucas, president of the company, said.
Rainey, vice president and secretary of the business, said there are several advantages to working in the mail delivery system.
"It's a much cleaner operation," she said.
Lucas agreed.
"It's easier on the equipment," Lucas said.
Lucas trucking company has so much equipment, Lucas said all the business' trucks would not fit at company headquarters, located on Route 220 south.
"We could never get all our equipment on the lot at one time," he said.
With rising fuel prices, the cost of running all the trucks has gone up recently, and Lucas said the company has been taking steps to try and reduce fuel consumption.
"We reduced the speed limits on the trucks, we're reviewing routes and we're looking at what types of vehicles we buy," he said.
With trucks running deliveries and pick ups 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Lucas said it takes a great amount of dedication to run the business.
"The family has been totally dedicated to this business," he said. "It takes dedication and long hours."
However, Lucas said the business would not run so smoothly without the help of the hardworking employees the business employs.
"We wouldn't be here without good drivers," he said. "You have to give them credit."
On the management side of things, Lucas said there are advantages and disadvantages to working with family.
"It has its pluses and minuses," he said. "You know too much about the other person sometimes, but you also know each other's habits and you know someone will always be responsible for the business."
The siblings hope that they can continue to help the company grow so future generations of the family can continue to enjoy the success of the company.
"We hope that (that company) continues on to be as lucrative as it has been and the next generation can benefit from it," Rainey said.
Lucas said the third generation of Lucas-family entrepreneurs, Robert K. Fidler, Thomas Rainey III and his daughter, Tracie D. Dershem, all work full-time at the company and are already interested in continuing the family business into the future.
