ST. GEORGE —A recent business acquisition resulted in a positive change for former employees, including a pay increase and a full benefits package, resulting in an overall rise in workplace morale.
In this acquisition, the Idaho-based company DECKED purchased St. George business CargoGlide. While both DECKED and CargoGlide offered different product lines before the acquisition, both companies have something major in common: they both specialized in truck bed solutions.
According to a March 3 press release, manufacturing and distribution will remain at CargoGlide in St. George, and the DECKED sales team immediately will begin representing this new line of DECKED products.
In an interview with St. George News, Jake Peters, general manager of DECKED, stated that they acquired the company because they loved the product line, but they also knew they could improve operations.
“Part of that was to give raises to each and everybody here and we put in a really solid benefits package,” Peters said. “We think it’s worth about 22% of payroll, none of which existed before we acquired the company.”
David Talley, a formal employee of CargoGlide for about eight years, said he was neighbors with the original owner and creator David McInturf. He’s had the unique opportunity to watch the product grow from its infancy, including the creation of the original product in a simple home garage. His hope always has been that one day the company would grow to offer benefits and 401k.
“This is kind of a dream come true,” Talley said. “Since they’ve come here, not only do we get pay raises, but we got benefits and everything else, something I had hoped for years.”
Mike Wallace, former general manager of CargoGlide, said that during the transition, he was appointed as vice president of operations. He believes that the merge with DECKED was a great fit and expressed his excitement.
“The DECKED attitude has completely changed the work environment and everyone is happy,” Wallace said.
Anna Pease, former controller at CargoGlide, said employees are enjoying additional morale-lifters since the acquisition.
“The best thing that’s happening right now is the benefits,” Pease said. “We have never really had benefits before and now we are looking at medical, dental, vision, even life insurance. We’ve got a 401k plan that will be set up as of April first. It’s super exciting.”
She also reiterated that every employee received a pay increase and that many processes and procedures will be put into place, including new programs to make everyone’s life easier on the job.
About CargoGlide
Founded in 2010, CargoGlide designed, manufactured and sold robust, ergonomic sliding bed platforms, which allowed users to easily access gear from their truck bed or cargo van without having to climb in and out of their vehicles.
About DECKED
DECKED was founded in 2014. Their products include the DECKED Truck Toolbox, which offers a built-in ladder for easy accessibility and the DECKED Drawer System, which features unique slide-out drawers with a 2,000-pound payload.
Peters said that consumers already were installing the DECKED drawer system and putting the CargoGlide on top of it. While these are complementary products with similar benefits, the issue they quickly saw was that the two products weren’t being installed properly together. With the acquisition, CargoGlide will now be fully integrated with DECKEDs’ own Drawer System and Tool Box products.
He added that DECKED will use 21st-century digital marketing and brand-building technologies that will allow them to create efficiencies in the marketplace. Peters said that the CargoGlide product line will only get bigger with DECKED.
To learn more about the full line of DECKED products, click here.
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