Risk & Business Magazine F.A. Peabody Insurance Spring 2016 | Page 28

Cormier’s Bus Service
A Driving Concern

BY: KEN WHITE, WCP, SALES MANAGER, FA PEABODY INSURANCE

A

bout 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.

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.
28 SPRING 2016

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.

Rick Cormier, owner of Cormier’s Bus Service
SPRING 2016

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