Robin Penner, Driver

Get it done

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"Coming from a farming background, I was brought up to work hard, and do a job and keep working at it until it's finished, and I think that that definitely plays a part in who I am today.

Where I Work

Corpell's produces and distributes purified drinking water to homes and businesses. The company is based in Winnipeg but delivers in many areas outside the city.

Corpell's has about thirty-five employees, including production, distribution and office staff.

Family business

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"Definitely one of the most unique things about Corpell's is it's still very much family owned and operated. It was started by Ed Loewen almost fifteen years ago, who has since sold to his son Russell.

"Russell continues to run the company today, as well as his brothers, Patrick and Roger."

Need clean water

There is a real need for this business in rural Manitoba. As the water quality deteriorates, there is more and more of a demand for products such as ours.

While our water is a luxury for some people, a lot of our customers it is a necessity. It's not necessarily something that they can afford, but it's something that they have to have.

Owner hands on

The company has production, drivers and office staff. Each section works pretty much as a team, but we don't have the hierarchy that some places have with the team leader and the team supervisor.

Everybody reports right to Russell, the owner. He's a very hands-on person and keeps his fingers in everything.

Community work

Our company does a lot of charitable work. We make many donations and do quite a bit in the community. We're very much a rural Manitoba company.

We get involved with the small town festivals such as the Morden Corn & Apple Festival, Winkler Harvest Fest, and we participate in their parades and carnivals. I think in that sense we're really giving something back to the community that supports us.

Rural at heart

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"I grew up for the most part in a small community southwest of Winnipeg called Clearwater, Manitoba. I'm the youngest, I have two older sisters. They are seven and nine years older than me.

"We grew up very much a farm family. After we moved to the city I had a good time in the city as well. I currently live out of town. I really loved that lifestyle so that's where I am now. I'm definitely a rural person by heart."

Family life

I live with my girlfriend of seven years. She has three children from a previous relationship, so the five of us live together in St. Anne. The children are turning 13, 11 and 9.

The oldest boy is 13 and plays hockey. In fact, his team just won the Peewee B Champs for eastern Manitoba. In their first series they won three games straight and then in the second, they won three out of four. We're pretty proud of him.

Love the outdoors

My girlfriend and I each have a quad and so we spend a lot of time winter and summer on them. Where we live we can access miles and miles of trails so there's a time we'll pack up and be gone for the day.

For family excursions, we like to take the boat to the Whiteshell and do some fishing. We also tow the kids. They like to be dragged around the lake on our inflatable toys.

Enjoy property

We have a three-acre property where we spend a lot of our time landscaping and doing yearly upkeep. We have at least thirty oak trees which are too big to get your arms around. It's a beautiful park-like property, so we spend a lot of time working on it.

When the yard work's done, it's really nice to sit out on the deck and light a bonfire with friends, have a barbeque and just relax for the evening.

Prefer Manitoba

The varied weather here attracts me to Manitoba. I spent some time in BC and found the weather there too much the same all the time. I also like the seemingly endless country we have here, with all the waterways and trails.

I don't like the 30 below for weeks at a time and the mosquitoes, but these are things you have to take in balance with the pluses. The pluses outweigh the minuses every time.

Two week schedule

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"I have a customer base right now of about five hundred customers and I service most of them on a once every two-week schedule. So basically I'm responsible for making sure that they always have water to drink.

"My customer base is actually declining because I'm moving more from the road into the office. The average driver services close to a thousand customers."

Flexible hours

My schedule is very flexible so that if I want to take a couple of hours off in the afternoon to go do something, I can do that. If a customer calls me in the evening at home because they're out of water, I'm okay with that. I also often work at home scheduling out my next day.

As long as my deliveries all get made and everybody gets their water, then I can pretty much work wherever and whenever I want.

Uses GPS

We have a GPS unit in the office and every driver takes it every so often to map out our delivery routes. When I take out the GPS, my routes are all saved on to a little chip. At the end of the day I turn in the chip and it's uploaded into our main computer here in the office.

If I'm ever sick, anybody can take my GPS map and find out where they have to go, right to within a few feet.

Invoice on the road

I have a hand held computer, a PDA, so I can invoice everything while I'm on the road. It includes a hand held printer that prints out a receipt for the customer and everything the customer needs is on that receipt.

It shows a running balance of what they owe, their customer number and the date of their next delivery. It's an all-in-one unit.

Cell phone saves time

All the drivers have cell phones and that's how our dispatcher gets in touch with us. We speak to the office five to ten times a day.

We also use our cell phones for reaching customers. Sometimes you can save yourself a couple of miles if you've got a customer who is off the beaten path. You can phone them ahead a time and make sure that they want water today before you drive out there and find out they don't need any.

Pacing important

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"I think the pace here is whatever you make of it. You can pretty much work as fast or as slow as you want. The pressure and stress is very much something that you bring onto yourself. It can be as stressful as you let it be.

"It's basically very simple in the fact that you have X amount of work you have to get done today, and you can do it fast or you can do it slow, as long as it gets done."

Trucking skills

We have a couple of different sizes of trucks. We have the one ton van that you just need your regular Class 5 Driver's Licence to drive. Then we have bigger trucks with air brakes that you'll need air brake endorsement for.

Once you move to the bigger truck it also helps if you get your forklift operator certificate, so that you can do all of your own loading and unloading of the truck.

Physical work

My job is moderately physical. There's a fair amount of sitting because I'm driving a fair bit. But these water bottles are about fifty pounds each and each driver generally moves about 100 to 130 a day. Sometimes I carry these bottles a hundred yards plus to make a delivery.

Problem solver

As a driver, I need problem solving skills. Lots of times I'm an hour from the city, so if I have a problem I'm on my own. I have to fix it.

Out on the road, my mechanical skills come in handy. When I'm out in the middle of nowhere and something goes wrong with the truck, I able to bandage it up and get back to where I need to be.

Customers are friends

Because we service the same customers all the time, they almost become friends. I live in the area that I service and my customers' kids play hockey with my kids and so on.

If a customer runs out of water and their delivery day isn't for three or four more days, I can phone their neighbour who's also a customer and say, "Your neighbour up the road ran out of water. Would you have a bottle to spare?"

Qualities for success

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"I think that an outgoing, social personality is required. You have to be able to work on your own, unsupervised because when you're out on the road there's nobody telling you when to start and when to stop. You pretty much have to do that for yourself.

"You have to be somewhat detailed oriented because there's always paper work that goes along with it, and being a little bit creative isn't a bad thing either."

Back from BC

After high school, I headed out to Vancouver. I spent eight years there and I found that, even though the wages were higher, the cost of living was also higher.

I got to that point in my life when I wanted to buy a house and I started to look at the housing market in BC and it was just completely out of reach for a young person like me. That's why I came back to Manitoba.

Worked as mechanic

I was going to be a mechanic and I even worked as a mechanic for two years in BC. I went to trade school and took two years of my apprenticeship.

But then I realized that that just wasn't for me. Although it met my goals financially, it didn't meet my goals professionally. I've discovered that working with people definitely satisfies me more.

Wanted freedom

I came to Corpell's after working at a car dealership in the service department where I was inside for most of my time.

I wanted something that gave me a little more freedom and flexibility, something that I could be outside, something where I could deal with people. I also wanted to work in rural Manitoba. That's what attracted me here.

Moving up

You can come to Corpell's with very little or no experience. A lot of what I do I learned on-the-job and I am moving up through the ranks of the company. I started out in the bottling room in the production area, became a driver and now I'm moving on into the office.

I think my greatest accomplishment will be when I possibly leave Corpell's for something different and I look back, mark my progression and say, ‘I started here and ended there.'

Have a plan

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"Know what you want to do. I understand that out of high school, you don't know a whole bunch about the world and what's out there.

"I think having a plan and having a year-end goal and a five-year goal and maybe even a ten-year goal, and keeping your eye on those goals, is definitely what you want to do."

Take PR and business

Taking a business course would be good for working in this field. Once you understand how a business works it goes a long way to getting you to be more productive with the company. A public relations course would also be helpful.

Understanding the ins and outs of business and having the ability to deal with the public is a big part of what we do here.

Job satisfaction

Of course, everybody wants financial security but the highest goal on my list would be job satisfaction. Before this job, I did more mechanical work because that's what I understood. Recently I've discovered that working with people satisfies me more.

I need to be enjoying what I'm doing to make a living. You spend a big part of your life at work and if you're not happy there then you're not going to be happy in life.

Wants to manage

My goals for my career are never ending education and advancement.

Five years from now, I hope to be in a management position somewhere. I'm getting a little old to be working this hard physically, so I want to get into something that's a little less demanding in that way.

I'd like to be somewhere where I can still deal with people, possibly in a customer relations or human resources capacity.

Future of industry

As water quality deteriorates, the bottled water industry in Manitoba is growing. I think it will continue to grow for a number of years.

With the price of fuel going up we are going to start using bigger trucks and doing more with less. To work in this industry as a driver, you will need to upgrade your licence and you will need your airbrake endorsement.

Job market info

The links below take you to federal and regional government information on employment, education, salary ranges and long range prospects for this career.

The official title for Robin's occupation is ‘Delivery and Courier Service Drivers' and its NOC* code is 7414.

Manitoba Job Futures

Who Hires? - Manitoba Labour Market Information

*Each occupation has an official name and unique number called the ‘National Occupational Classification' code or 'NOC'. 

Education

High School

Useful High School Subjects:*

- Mechanics
- English
- Math

*Source: JobFutures.ca

Co-operative Vocational Education

For those out of school, Adult Learning Centres can help you get or upgrade your high school diploma, including adding subjects that are required for work or further education. All Manitobans are normally entitled to 4 free courses.

After high school

Professional Transport Driver Training School

Reimer Express Driver Training Institute

Essential Skills

The most important Essential Skills* for Delivery and Courier Service Drivers are:

- Document Use
- Oral Communication
- Job task planning and organizing

*Essential Skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change. For more detail about for this occupation, go to: Essential Skills NOC 7414

Professional resources

Manitoba Food Processers Association
Exists to support and promote Manitoba's food industry to the world through ongoing training initiatives, networking, industry publications and sales promotions under the "Manitoba Made" logo

Canadian Courier and Messenger Asssociation
A non-profit organization, whose mission is to be a recognized leader in supporting the profitable growth of couriers and time sensitive delivery providers of all types and sizes across Canada by providing professional, informed and proactive representation and information on common issues.

Manitoba Trucking Association
Represents the interests of the Trucking Industry in Manitoba

Canadian Bottled Water Association
Represents the Canadian bottled water industry and works to ensure a high standard of quality for bottled water

Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council
Addresses national occupational standards, provides ongoing labour market information and promotes career awareness initiatives and a positive image of trucking in general

Related careers

Couriers, Messengers and Door-to-Door Distributors (NOC 1463)

Drivers of heavy trucks (in NOC 7411 Truck Drivers)

Public Works Maintenance Equipment Operators (NOC 7422)

Supervisors of Delivery Drivers (NOC 7222)