FSI Highlight: Malcolm Dees

This week, our FSI highlight focuses on a man in one of the most important roles at FSI, it’s Malcolm Dees one of our delivery drivers out of Charleston, SC. Our drivers are our personal connection to our customers, and they are the face of FSI every day.

Malcolm has worked at FSI for 14 ½ years (his 15th Anniversary will be September 8th, can you believe he remembers his exact hire date!). His current position is Product Distribution Specialist, but he has also served as the Operations Manager for our Charleston Branch.

Born and raised in North Central Florida (Gainesville, Lake City & Hatch Bend), Malcolm is a self-described “country boy through and through”. Before coming to FSI, Malcolm was member of the United States Navy. He retired in 1997 as a Chef Petty Officer after serving 20 years as an Engineman. He is happily married to his wife Pat, and together they have one daughter, four sons, and seven grandkids (4 girls and 3 boys). Wow, that could be a sports team!

A typical day of work starts bright and early at 6:00am. He verifies that all delivery drivers have all their products for that day, including his own truck. Before heading out, he checks emails to make sure there are no last-minute requests from Sales Reps or Customer Service Reps, and then he’s on the road. After he’s made the day’s deliveries, it’s back to the office to check on emails and complete paperwork. At the end of the day, Malcolm says he “goes home with the satisfaction of knowing I did my best”. That’s a feeling we should all strive for every day.

What’s the best part of his job? Malcolm says it’s the Customer Service/ Customer Interaction that he has every day. “My customers are my family away from home. My goal is to provide them with the type of service that I expect to receive when I go to a business.” It’s attitudes like this that make our driver’s the best in the business! Malcolm’s favorite FSI memory was the nicknames that they came up with for the Charleston Branch because all the drivers had been with the company for so many years.

Outside of work, he likes to spend time with his wife exploring places that they have never been to before. But, they also enjoy the occasions when there is nothing to do, and they can just relax. His favorite food is any good ol’ Southern Cooking, and his favorite movie is Smokey and the Bandit from 1977.

When asked if he had any special talents, he said “remembering numbers. I can remember phone numbers and address from when I was a kid”. Apparently he is also good at remembering dates since he can remember his exact hire date almost 15 years ago!
The wild card this week is what would your superpower power be? Malcolm said that would be X-Ray vision. That could come in handy as a delivery driver! You could see everything that was in the boxes you were delivering to make sure the order was correct.

~Macey Thomas
ECommerce/Marketing Assistant, FSIoffice