10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - MARCH 2005

THE KING OF DIRT
By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

If you’re in the dirt hauling business in Southern California, chances are you know of or have worked with Melvin Whittington of Tri-Star Transportation in Gardena, California. Melvin has been around for a long time, and has been called the “King of Dirt” by many in the business. Staying focused and never giving up has helped Melvin and his company rise to the top of the dirt heap. Of course, behind every good king there is a strong queen - in this case, it’s Denita, Melvin’s wife and partner for the last 26 years. If Melvin is the “King of Dirt,” then she is the “Queen of the Office.” And that’s just the way she likes it.

Born in Arkansas, Melvin came from a family with 14 kids - that’s right - you heard correct - 14 kids! As you could imagine, the family was always struggling to survive. Melvin was certainly not born into royalty - that he had to earn. After Melvin graduated from high school, he went to college for two years and then decided to move to California. Much of his family had moved there, so he figured he’d check it out as well.

Melvin arrived in Los Angeles in 1979 and spent the first year just running around with his brother Elgin, who just happened to be a trucker. Elgin had moved to California in the 1950s and had been trucking for a long time. At that time, he was hauling dirt in an old Autocar with two sticks. He taught Melvin how to drive and then helped him get his license. After that, Melvin went to work driving one of Elgin’s three trucks. He did that for two years, and then switched over to his cousin’s company (McCants Trucking), where he stayed until 1993.

In 1993, he bought his first truck - not exactly a ride fit for a king - but a solid truck nonetheless. That first rig was a 1974 Ford 10-wheeler dump truck, which he drove for many years, and just recently traded-in for one of his new Petes. Not a bad buy after all. In 1993, he also got his Broker’s License. Seeing the writing on the wall, he realized early on that trucking was a business, and if you wanted to be successful, you had to be more than just one man with one truck.

While running his own truck every day, Melvin and his wife began putting proposals together and bidding on small city jobs. When he got a job that required more trucks, he’d call all his friends in the business and broker out the loads to them. Over the years, the jobs got bigger and bigger. Then, in 2001, he landed a huge contract with the City of Los Angeles. In fact, at that time, it was largest project that the city had ever undertaken.

The project was the installation of a new 13-mile stretch of sewer system that went from Culver City to Downtown L.A. The pipe they were laying was eleven feet wide by fourteen feet high. That’s a lot of sewage! But more importantly, for Melvin at least, that was a lot of dirt to remove and haul away.
Because it was such a huge job, the city required that the company that got the contract be in a Union, so Melvin and Tri-Star joined Local 986 of the Teamsters in South El Monte. After the job was completed last year, he had the option to bow out of the Union, but instead decided to stay. After all, it was great for his drivers and the pension plan can’t be beat.

During the three year span of this huge city project, Melvin had some 100 trucks, running four loads of dirt per day, every day. The dirt was taken to many different locations, including United Rock in Irwindale (where many of these pictures were taken) and a landfill in Puente Hills. Three of the trucks were his and the rest were leased-on owner-operators. These were good times for Melvin and Tri-Star. Along with the big job, he also had a few smaller jobs going as well. He was keeping just about everybody in the business very busy.

Since that job has ended, he has moved on to other jobs and is bidding on even more. Tri-Star is currently running a big job for the Burbank Water & Power Department (they built a new power plant and its Melvin’s job to haul away the broken pieces of the old one). He’s also starting new projects in Long Beach and the San Fernando Valley, but what he’s really hoping for is a piece of the action when the city finally starts extending the 710 Freeway from East Los Angeles to Pasadena. Being in the Union has helped Melvin to get many of these jobs, and for that he is grateful. But once he gets the contract, it’s his responsibility to get the job done and get it done right. And he must be doing something right, because they keep giving him good contracts.

In 2003, Melvin decided it was time to upgrade his fleet. He ordered two Peterbilt 379s and decked them out exactly the same. The tractors, which are equipped with powerful 550 Cat engines, are painted a color called Ice Jade Pearl (which is a mixture of green, gray and blue) and have black fenders. Both trucks have the American Class interior with upgraded wood steering wheels, pumpin’ stereos, and all chrome switches and gauges. Each truck also features 8-inch pipes, polished stainless full fenders, millennium LEDs, and lots of other goodies that shine. All of this was done at one time, when the trucks were new, and not much has changed. Fact is, these trucks still look brand new - even after almost two years of running in dirt and mud. The two tractors each pull a 32-foot Hanson end dump trailer, also painted Ice Jade Pearl with black fenders and covered with LED lights. More recently, Melvin bought two more trucks - a pair of Peterbilt 10-wheel dump trucks - which also match the others.

So how does Melvin keep his rigs perfect? After all, these trucks run in some of the harshest conditions every day. For one, he takes the trucks to Caliva’s in Montebello for regular washes, and two, he makes his drivers sign a “Clean Clause” in their contract when he hires them. This clause states that the drivers must keep their trucks clean at all times and that there is no excuse for a dirty truck - especially inside. Melvin tells his applicants right up front, “If you aren’t willing to polish, turn around and walk yourself right outa here.” But if you’re willing to work hard and keep your truck clean, Melvin is a great guy to work for - he takes very good care of the people in his organization.

But what was even more impressive to us than his trucks was his office. Most small trucking companies are ran from a home office or a dingy back room of some warehouse. But not Tri-Star Transportation. They have a prominent office located in a busy strip mall in Gardena, complete with an automatically locking front door which unlocks with a remote control. Pretty cool. The office was quiet the day we were there, but it normally has a large crew of girls working hard. Many of these girls are members of the family. Melvin might be in charge of the trucks, but the office is Denita’s place. In fact, she boots him out of the office when he starts sticking his nose in things.

Denita was born and raised in L.A. She and Melvin met in church and have been inseparable ever since. At one time, Denita thought she wanted to be a Dentist, until they told her she’d have to dissect a cadaver. She switched her studies to law and business, but got so busy actually running their business, she had to quit. But her fascination and schooling in both law and business has been a tremendous help in growing their company. She truly enjoys the technical details of running their business. She may not have wanted to cut open a cadaver, but she can dissect a contract like nobody’s business. This lady is sharp!

Melvin and Denita have four children and one grand-baby. Most of the kids help out around the office when they can, but they are all pretty busy with school. Their two girls are both in college and the two boys are in high school, but they all still live at home. It’s crowded, but it just works out better that way for the family.

Trucking has been good to the Whittington family, especially in the last few years. But at 47 years old, Melvin isn’t done yet. His ultimate quest has always been to become financially independent - a goal he is still working on today. He’s planning on buying four more trucks in the near future, but doesn’t want to grow any larger than eight trucks total. He’s also looking into hauling air freight and doing some flatbed work. Another one of his goals is to get back in the trucks more often. For the last few years, he hasn’t been driving much and he misses it.

With Melvin’s solid work ethic, Denita’s savvy business skills and a crew of dedicated helpers, Tri-Star Transportation will eventually fulfill Melvin’s ultimate goals. But, in the meantime, he’ll just continue to be the “king” and take care of his little kingdom, which is his family and his company. And in reality, that’s all this king really ever wanted to do anyway.

~ We’d like to thank Stan Holtzman for supplying most of the pictures for this article, including the cover and centerfold. Stan spent two days with one of Melvin’s drivers, taking pictures wherever they stopped. We think his hearing is finally coming back after two days of listening to really LOUD hip-hop music!