Mike Hunter

THERE FROM THE START

Mike Hunter Celebrates Nearly 40 Years at Trinity

Mike Hunter’s 40-year career all started with a handshake.

“I just walked right into the office,” says Mike, now the special projects supervisor at Trinity. “We chatted for a minute, he shook my hand and said, ‘Come back tomorrow. You’re hired.’”

Mike was one of the first dozen employees to start working at Trinity Trailer Mfg., Inc. The day he first met the company’s then-owner Pete Eisenman in January 1980, Mike was seeking out a fresh start from the construction business after the housing market took a turn for the worse.

“I started out just painting trailers,” Mike says, chuckling a little. “But since then, I’ve done just about everything else.”

Small Beginnings.

When Mike first started at Trinity, every build and repair was done in a single shop on a dirt lot on the desert outskirts of Boise, Idaho. Back then, Trinity mainly built trailers for the local farmers who hauled beets and potatoes.

Mike remembers business was done with a handshake and the trailers were built one at a time.

“When we first started, we didn’t have all the equipment we have now,” Mike says. “We just learned to adapt and make do with what we had.”

Mike quickly moved on from a painter to a repairman. It was tough work that required an ability to improvise and learn on the fly. Local ag haulers would bring in their twisted trailers held together by duct tape and haphazard repairs.

Mike and the team would straighten the rigs by chaining them up to any of the heavy machinery on the lot — a boom trailer, a garbage truck, a forklift, you name it — and then carefully twisting the trailers back into place.

“From the road, it really must have been some sight to see,” Mike says, chuckling.

Living the Childhood Dream.

During the nearly 40 years Mike has worked at Trinity, he has been a painter, a finish supervisor, a repairman, a salesman and practically everything in between. But of all the roles Mike has filled over the years, the one he loved most was becoming a CDL-certified truck driver and delivering Trinity trailers all over the US.

Having grown up in the small town of Bellevue, Idaho, Mike had many memories of driving trucks with his father. He had always wanted to hit the open road and see America’s heartland for himself.

“I always loved getting in the truck just to drive,” Mike says. “I’ve a lot of memorable trips over the years. I’ve seen a lot of places.”

Some of Mike’s favorite trips were the ones he got to share with his wife. Together, they caught a Willie Nelson performance in Louisville during a trade show. They braved big thunderstorms in Atlanta. They drove to the California coast and explored Anaheim.

“My wife really gained some respect for the work truck drivers do,” Mike says, smiling. “She and I got lost together more than a few times.”

New Technology. Old Values.

Today, Mike is the special projects supervisor at Trinity. The company has now grown to 170+ employees with two sales and service centers, building more than 300 trailers a year.

Mike says the technology has changed and the company has grown, but the values have stayed the same. The trailers are still welded, cut and built by hand. The team is still close-knit. Hard-work, grit and a get-it-done attitude are still the driving forces for everyone in the shop.

“Trinity cares for their employees,” Mike says. “I’ve seen people leave and come back. A few have been here almost as long as I have.”

Before starting at Trinity, Mike says he would see Trinity trailers all the time, thinking nothing of it. But after learning the trailers inside and out for nearly 40 years, Mike says seeing a Trinity driving down the road means so much more to him now. Today, they’re a reminder of the career he’s built, all the miles he’s driven and the places he’s been.

“They used to be just another trailer going down the road,” Mike says. “But now I can spot them anywhere.”