The Stratford Beacon Herald
March 6, 2001
Business and Industrial Review Section
By Beacon Herald Staff
The transportation business includes many huge international conglomerates, but Steed Standard Transport has been able to remain a successful and thriving family business for three, make that four, generations.
James Steed is in the process of taking over the trucking firm from his father Gord and that continues a pattern that got its start at the beginning of the last century.
The business dates back to 1913 when James's great grandfather, James "Scotty" Hamilton, established a moving company called Hamilton the Mover. The main purpose of that business was to transport people and goods, by horse-drawn wagon, from the train station to their home or business.
The company got its first truck in 1923 and business began to really take off in 1929 when the company landed a contract with Kroehler Furniture.
The company was renamed Standard Transport in 1929.
In 1939, Mr. Hamilton asked his daughter Helene and her husband Gordon E. Steed if they would be interested in helping out with the business. That paved the way for the firm to move to the next generation and when Mr. Hamilton died in 1948, Gord E. and Helene kept the business going.
The third generation, Gord E.'s son, Gord Jr., joined the company as a truck driver in 1956. Ten years later he purchased the company from his dad and changed its name to Steed Standard Transport.
So it was only natural that James, born in 1966, follow in the footsteps of previous generations. Asked when he became involved, he joked "1966."
'It seems like I've always worked for the company' - James Steed
"It seems like I've always worked for the compoany. I started after school, sweeping out trailers and cutting the grass. Then I started full-time in 1990 as a driver and did that for about four years."
The fact he has done everything, has made it easier to run the company.
"I'm working with people that worked with my dad and one fellow here got hired by my grandfather. These people are a big help. And it's a real help that I've done most of the jobs and I can't ask anybody to do something I haven't done because I think I've done everything."
At the start of this year, Gord, now 66, began the transition to retirement and James, age 34, began the process of buying and taking over the business.
Like most industries, transportation is going through some dramatic changes. The transportation industry has gone through deregulation, which was a major change. Just-in-time delivery has also meant far less notice and turnaround time for trucking companies. But those things have been good for the trucking industry and Steed Standard Transport now has 25 employees, 20 trucks and 50 trailers.
Steed Standard Transport has been in several locations over the years but a major change came in 1988 when it moved to its current location in the Romeo Business Court at the corner of Romeo and Norfolk streets.
Steed Standard Transport uses about 5,000 square feet (450 square metres) of the 30,000 square-foot (2,700-square-metre) building that houses it.
There have been a lot of changes and there will be more. But one thing seems to remain forever constant, someone with the surname Steed guides the company through the next phase.
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