Making all of it work, and then some: Illinois-headquartered Pulli Express

Happy Friday before Tax Day! Got those filings done?

I suspect the answer is yes for our guests on today's edition of Overdrive Radio, Tim Pulli and his wife, Shelley Puzek-Pulli, our March Truckers of the Month, The Chicago-area-headquartered owner-operators today run two trucks of their own and with another owner-operator leased on.

They’re in the competition for Overdrive's 2023 Trucker of the Year award, and as a husband-wife team of a business, for me it’s close collaboration in their drive to success that sets them apart. Though since their marriage in 2005, it hasn’t always been that way, exactly.

Shelley herself wasn’t so involved in the business before Tim flipped the switch to get his authority around 2012 and the pair, together, moved toward a contract with the Sweetener Supply liquid-sugar manufacturer in their area, a contract that more than sustains the business to this day with good rates, a healthy fuel surcharge built into everything they do, and in general a real appreciation for the work they do.

A big thanks to Overdrive Radio sponsor Howes for making the podcast possible. That includes Shelley, today, too, behind the wheel. While Tim’s been driving in various roles since the turn of the century, Shelley made moves to get her CDL for the first time in 2018, after the pair’s fourth and youngest child entered kindergarten. Growth in revenues, and profits, for the business have proceeded since then, with plans for more on the way.