The History of our Sawdust Installer Position
Back in 1983, Denbow Transport bought our first two sawdust delivery trucks to expand. We had been serving the poultry industry with live hauling of chickens; this was another way to bring value to our client base.
At that time the farmers were accustomed to blowing in sawdust themselves - the truck would arrive with a driver, and the farmer would hold the hose and place the sawdust throughout the barn. A few years into the sawdust delivery business, our customer Peter Baas suggested to Bill: "You know what you should do? You should hire someone to hold on to the end of that pipe!" It was considered a good idea, an extra service we could offer to the farmer, but we didn’t implement it at that time.
Over the next few years Denbow continued to add sawdust delivery trucks to our fleet and poultry farms to our customer list. Around 1989 our dispatcher got a call from a poultry farmer desperately needing Denbow to send someone along with the truck to blow in the sawdust that he had ordered. Our dispatcher was Karl Stam, and he recruited “Uncle Bob” to do this at a rate of $50 per load. Back then for 3 hours of work that revenue felt like we were hitting the jackpot! The news traveled fast in the poultry farm community… “Denbow can supply a labourer!”
As time went on the demand for a helper grew and we officially hired our first “Pipeman”. It became a regular service our clients valued, and we continued to hire pipemen. In the mid 1990’s, a young Michelle Boesterd began filling in pipe-ing sawdust and Karl started calling her the “Pipelady”. She was often requested specifically by our clients, and grew to know all the farms well between pipe-ing and hauling chickens.
A number of years ago we decided that the term Pipeman and Pipelady were not the right title. The new name became “Installer”. It is easy, works for our male and female staff, and reflects the technical precision required to place sawdust evenly.
Today all our poultry farms get an Installer, trusting sawdust placement to the pros. All the Installers drive a pickup or van equipped with the tools needed to leave the farm neat and tidy after the sawdust is installed. The Sawdust Installer is a very important position here at Denbow, and is appreciated by our customers.