BY: KEN WHITE, WCP, SALES MANAGER, FA PEABODY INSURANCE
About 16 years ago, Rick Cormier answered a “help wanted” ad in the paper that would greatly change his life, though he didn’t realize it at the time. Rick and his wife, Kelly were living in Corinth and Rick was working as a mechanic in Bangor. He saw a job posting for a bus company in Corinth that was looking to hire a mechanic. Rick & Kelly felt that the shorter commute to work would be a benefit for them, so he applied for the job and was hired. Five years later, the owner of the bus company was looking to retire and wanted to sell the business. Although Rick had never given any thought about owning a bus company, he and Kelly discussed the opportunity and decided to go for it. In 2005, they purchased the company and Cormier’s Bus Service was a reality with 15 buses and 13 employees.
Like many small business owners, they now had many hats to wear; they were the business managers, the HR Department, they scheduled the bus routes, they both obtained bus licenses and were the fill-in drivers when needed, but the one thing that didn’t change was that Rick was still the mechanic keeping those same 15 buses running. Three years later, they found that another bus company owner was looking to retire and sell their buses. Rick and Kelly
purchased the company and increased their fleet by another 9 buses and 8 more drivers. They decided they needed to expand their facility to keep up with their growing company. When they started, they were living in a mobile home with a detached garage next door, just big enough for 1 bus to fit in. Rick and some local carpenters built an “addition” on the garage that more than tripled the square footage of their facility, giving them more room to work on the fleet as well as more office space, an area for the drivers, and a full home upstairs for Rick, Kelly, and their children Joey and Megan.
Today, Cormier’s Bus Service has a fleet of 30 buses and 30 employees. Rick and Kelly continue to be involved in every aspect of the business, including serving as drivers when needed, and not many days go by that Rick isn’t turning a wrench on one of the buses. 16 years ago Rick wanted to reduce his commute time, and he ended up reducing it from 25 miles to about 25 steps.
Ken White, Sales Manager for F. A. Peabody Company, is the Agent for Cormier’s Bus Service. Ken specializes in commercial retail, wholesale and manufacturing accounts.