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Quincy residents now shuttling their way to DOT Foods
Posted: 01.07.2013 at 4:20 PM
Brooke Hasch

Brooke Hasch is a KHQA This Morning co-host for KHQA.

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Day staff at Dot Foods arrived at the Quincy Regional Airport Monday morning and boarded a bus just after 7 a.m.  / Brooke Hasch
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Dot Foods employees living in the Quincy area have a new way to get to work.

Monday morning, the company launched a new transportation system for its current office staff.

"I've worked at DOT for 17-and-a-half years, so this is a nice plus they finally got started," Melissa Carter said.

Day staff at Dot Foods arrived at the Quincy Regional Airport Monday morning and boarded a bus just after 7 a.m. This was the first shuttle to work for this group, but not the first for the company. Shuttles to and from Quincy for DOT warehouse employees began back in July.

"Once the warehouse started, we did start to get office people asking if it was something they could be involved in," Gina Ruffcorn, with human resources said.

"Many of our employees are from Quincy and currently drive or carpool," Dana Chapman, the recruiting manager said.

For a round trip fee of five dollars, DOT Foods was able to make it happen for each shift within its warehouse and corporate office.

"Our total is around 30 employees per day. Fifty percent of our Quincy warehouse employees are currently using the transportation system," Chapman said.

"Carpooling is tough, because it's just two or three people trying to schedule around each other. This way, the bus has a set schedule. Everyone knows when it leaves and you either agree to that or you make other arrangements to get to work," Ruffcorn said.

It's a service with multiple benefits for these employees and DOT Foods. The more transportation it can provide to out of town staff, the further out it can look when it comes to recruiting.

"It's going to save me money in the long run, as far as gassing up my car every week and the ware and tear on my car," Carter said.

One employee found he could save up to $2,000 a year just by taking the shuttle.

"They've offered this and it's just too good of a deal to pass up. It's very generous that they've set this up for us," Carter said.

DOT Foods has partnered with West Central Mass Transit which provides the bus to and from Mt. Sterling.

Chapman says the company will assess if more routes to additional locations are needed once the shuttle service becomes more popular.

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