John-Paul Drake, director of Drakes Supermarkets, shares the story of his lucky escape with a forklift at age 16, and reflects on employee loyalty and longevity.

My first “official” job was as a nightfill assistant at our Woodcroft store. My nightfill manager at the time was Randall, a young man not much older than me. I learned a lot from Randall; how to stack shelves, order stock, and - the most important thing to 16-year-old JP - how to drive a forklift. Getting lumped with the owner’s ratbag kid is not something many people envied, but Randall treated me like any other team member - no special treatment. 

Except this one time.

It was a Saturday night, and Randall had tasked me with hosing down the back dock. The dock at this store has a platform that can be raised and lowered so that you walk straight from the dock onto the back of the truck. Before OH&S laws and security cameras, Randall taught me how to do circlework - on full lock - in the forklifts on the back dock, a space of about 4 sqm. 

That night, as I was turning a perfect circle, the platform gave way - because I had failed to put the lock pin in. Fortunately, I was able to keep myself on the dock, but I’ll admit I was shaken up. An extra inch, and I would have gone over the back dock, forklift and all. I turned to Randall and tried to hide my shaking knees. He uttered eight magical words: “I won’t tell your dad if you don’t.”

Remember this story (an incredibly lucky escape) goes back well over 30 years. Our team today are fully trained in proper forklift use, and thankfully we would never see this occurring in our stores these days! 

Randall recently celebrated 30 years with Drakes Supermarkets and he is now one of our most senior and trusted store managers. He runs a tight ship at Murray Bridge, and I can bet you he hasn’t told this story to ANYONE (it’s ok Randall - I can outrun dad now and I’m pretty sure you’re not getting fired anytime soon).

And Randall’s not even our longest-standing team member. Dad’s first-ever team member, Phil Shayler, (now our operations manager) has been in the office next to Dad’s for 48 years. Bob Soang, our general manager, has kept me in line for 42 years - definitely the toughest gig in our business. In fact, we have 10 people who have worked with us for over 40 years - something we’re extremely proud of.

You hear a lot about businesses which demand loyalty and longevity from their team members. It's a bit of a unicorn - something that most businesses rarely achieve because they lack the understanding that loyalty has to go both ways. We’re fortunate in our business to have some 800 team members who have been with Drakes for over 10 years - a lifetime by today’s standards. So what’s the recipe for success?

• We treat our team members like people. Nobody’s perfect (least of all me!) Let your people make mistakes, just make sure you learn from them. I remember to double-check those platform pins now.
• We make our people our priority. I’ve said it before, but our team members are central to any decision we make in our business. Why? Because these decisions affect their livelihood. It’s our responsibility to do what’s best for them.
• We encourage people to grow. We genuinely love watching our team thrive, whether they work with us for one year or forty.

Do you work in or around forklifts? The Forklift Diaries would love to hear your story!