Dear Friends,
There are not enough positive adjectives in the English language to describe how happy and proud I am of our entire P. Gagnon & Son team. During the truly historic cold snap at the beginning of this winter, everyone pulled together, worked extremely long hours in the worst conditions and just did a great job of taking care of the folks who depend on us to keep warm. The office staff, drivers, dispatchers, service staff, technicians and salespeople all stepped up like never before.
To keep on top of deliveries, we had trucks on the road seven days a week for nearly three weeks. Our team delivered about 70% more fuel than it had in the same period last year. Incredible!
Normally, we have a few technicians available to take care of fuel customers who need us at night and on weekends. On both weekends of the cold spell, our service department was fully staffed. One weekend, we had more than eight guys responding to no-heat calls and other emergencies. Our service dispatcher and manager worked the whole weekend to make it all happen: more long hours in cruel conditions. Once again, incredible!
It all begins with our office staff. The volume of calls and folks walking in that they handled those weeks was staggering, and that doesn’t even include our regular deliveries. It required long days and a couple of Saturdays to keep a lid on things, and everyone stepped up. Somehow, too, everyone was able to keep their sense of humor through the whole ordeal. (Or maybe that’s what got us through!)
We did drop a few balls here and there. But as always, we did our best to pick them up quickly and take care of our customers. I genuinely appreciate the level of understanding you all displayed during this most difficult period.
One thing I learned is that our team is capable of absolutely remarkable things. They worked tirelessly through a period that will become legendary in our industry. Thank you to every single one of them.
Warmly,
Mark Gagnon
President