RISS

ICC# 200

 

Yes I drove for them. I seen be of their old trailers pepping out of the woods in south Mo. recently.

 

Well , not exactly but they were a pretty big company with some very good accounts such as P&G out of Cincinnati for example . The main thing was we had terminals from Boston too Philly too Dallas too Denver and everything in between . We also had a ( fuzz division ) which hauled Owens Corning Fiberglass out of Newark Ohio , we also had a couple of terminals in California ( Milpitas ) and i can't remember the other west coast terminal . Most of the trucks were purchased from World Leasing Corp which was a deal they had with International Harvester Corp. We referred to those units as " Blue & Whites " , I leased on with my own Ford Tractor in early 1978 but eventually bought a Blue & White after being convinced to do so by Jim Scott who was a good guy and his wife Beverly worked at the world Leasing office across from the Maintenance shop in " KC" I did eventually pay for my truck which was # 1004 . I went by the Handle Charlie Tuna and had a picture of him painted on the side of my truck , the way I came upon that Handle was because I took so many loads to the Star Kist Tuna slaughter house in Muscatine Iowa that it just fit. We also had a Reefer Div. and a Flat Div. The great thing about Riss was us along with Tri State Motor Transit out of Joplin MO. and Baggett Transportation out of I don't know where , were the only companies in the United States with the authority to haul Govt. Munitions so we were somewhat exclusive in that respect that we hauled a lot of " Bomb Loads " . In fact my first " Bomb Load " took me over Donner Pass , 45K Lbs and no Jake Brake , I guarantee you , you had better know what you were doing back then ! All in all Riss was a good company and I learned a lot from driving for them , there were a few companies out there that were selling trucks to people really only to take them back and rip them off " Sam Tanksley " out of somewhere down near Springfield MO comes to mind . But that's not what Riss was about , they were legit , I know because like I said I bought a Blue & White from them and it was a good truck back then, a 1978 International Transtar C04070B often called a (corn binder) with a 290 Cummins which I eventually had an in Chassis and turned it into a "Big Cam 350" . Any way the problems in the industry were due primarily to the " Deregulation of transportation in general , the Airlines suffered and companies like Pan Am & Braniff went under just like Sea Land and American President Lines ( APL ) . But Trucking took the biggest hit , there were so many companies going out of business I mean they were literally dropping like flies ! The Teamster outfits although took the brunt of it as you probably can tell there are very few today . Say what you want about Union Trucking but they provided Drivers with a very livable wage without driving them into the ground and they had great medical benefits and retirement, they provided balance to the industry unlike today where it seems like a race to the bottom in terms of that. There was some abuse no doubt but Trucking then actually worked very well overall for the country . It was a different world for sure , I started out as a "Wildcat" but quickly found out that was not going to work and when I leased on to Riss that stabilized me in the business and I'm happy for it . There were a lot of bad things said about Bob Riss back in those days because in the late fifties or early sixties they say he closed the doors of his company rather than go union . All that was way before I leased on with them so I do not know those details. Today the industry is suffering from a so called "Driver Shortage" NOT TRUE as always this industry suffers from a "Pay & Benefits" shortage and as a result a very very very high turnover rate and as a result of that too many inexperienced Drivers as well as undesirable drivers . But driverless trucks are on the way and someday 98.6 Drivers will only be local , the interstate will be full of robots ! I'm retired now in the Bikini State , life goes on !

 

Very excellent assessment of days of yesterday in trucking.

 

Sorry, I can't help you, but...My dad was an O.O. for Dick Riss back in 1934 and 35 +. Those days it was a real going concern.

 

My father (retired) was a former Riss employee working in the Kansas City office as a rate analyst back in the 60's & 70's. He has an old large wooden vintage desk used in the Riss office by an upper staff person back in the day. The desk is not in the best condition. (Even still has old freight/rate bills in the drawers.). Didn't know if anyone on this forum might be interested in such relic and might try to restore it (for themselves, not for my father).

 

My father was an o/o for Riss out of Milpitas. His name was Joe Dutra.. I have very fond memories growing up. I still have pictures of the white with a blue stripe International..

 

I was leased on to RISS back in 1982. I had a 1977 INT. 4070B. Ran hard for them. Lots of coast tp coast runs. It was a learning experience for sure.