Core-Mark Tampa

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Core-Mark Tampa Boosts On-Time Dispatches By 10% & Reduces OT 15% While Facing 27% Higher Demand

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Core-Mark’s Tampa facility is a critical hub for distribution, serving a wide range of retail customers with strict delivery windows. In early 2021, the Tampa operation was hit with a surge in sales volumes—27% higher than forecasted. While growth was welcome, it posed an urgent challenge: fulfilling orders on time with the same equipment and the same footprint.

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“Demand variation is a big deal for us,” explains Scott Brooks, Operations Manager. “Volume is up, which means inbound is up, which means the workload is up. But what isn’t up is our equipment or our trucks. We’re trying to do more volume with the same resources.”

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Navigating Capacity Constraints

With capacity bottlenecks on the warehouse floor and no room for new equipment, Core-Mark had to find a way to run existing machinery for longer hours, often overnight. Brooks and Whittaker Vogt, Warehouse Manager, saw the risk of overworking their employees and missing critical dispatch windows.

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Late dispatch is costly in their business. Core-Mark’s retail customers expect delivery within a four-hour window, and if they miss it, their customers lose productivity—and possibly their trust. “If we dispatch late, the retailer’s team is left standing around, which is a huge problem,” Vogt notes.

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At the same time, traditional temp agencies were falling short. The slow onboarding, contracts, and lack of worker selection made them impractical, especially when volume fluctuated weekly. Brooks and Vogt needed flexibility—fast.

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Establishing a Partnership

Amid these pressures, Core-Mark met with Veryable to explore on-demand labor as a new strategy. Veryable introduced them to the concept of building a labor pool through their platform, allowing them to instantly tap into qualified workers whenever demand surged.

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Brooks recalls, “The best thing about the platform is there’s not really any risk associated with trying it.” Vogt adds, “My first thought was this is like Uber for work—an instantaneous workforce.”

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They jumped in immediately, posting their first opportunities. Within minutes, bids rolled in. It was the proof of concept they needed.

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Building a Flexible Labor Pool

Core-Mark quickly integrated Veryable’s on-demand Operators into their daily operations. Initially, Vogt used the platform to fill gaps from absenteeism, posting Ops to find workers for the day’s shortfalls. But soon, they realized they could go beyond filling holes—they could proactively manage their entire workload with flexible capacity.

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“We have access to a series of Veryable people that we know can work our RF guns and drive our equipment because they’ve been here doing it for months,” Vogt explains. Over time, they built a curated labor pool on the platform. When a trusted worker performed well, Vogt added them to the labor pool, enabling them to re-invite that person for future needs.

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This system gave the Tampa facility tremendous flexibility. “Sometimes 40% of the people in this building are working on a Veryable Op,” Vogt says. “That’s the only reason the trucks got out the door at times.”

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Operational Results

The results have been dramatic. Before Veryable, Core-Mark employees were working what Vogt called “unseen hours”just to keep up. Overtime was high, morale was strained, and full-time employees were pushed to the limit. Veryable’s Operators helped reduce those pressures, balancing the workload without burning out the team.

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“You don’t want to put that kind of pressure on a person when you’re trying to have work-life balance,” Vogt explains. “Veryable helped us do what we needed while giving our employees a lot of relief.”

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By building a labor pool, Core-Mark improved on-time dispatch rates by 10% and reduced overtime by 15% in just 6 months. In addition, productivity increased as Veryable operators developed the skills needed to jump in quickly and keep operations moving seamlessly.

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“Late dispatches are critical for us, and Veryable gave us flexibility to get orders out without delays,” Brooks confirms. “Sometimes on a moment’s notice, they help us maintain operations.”

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A New Way of Working

Building an on-demand labor pool has even enabled Core-Mark to continue projects that previously had to be paused due to staff shortages. As Vogt puts it, “You don’t have to hold a wait to stop projects anymore. They come in and take care of what I need them to take care of.”

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The flexibility extends to the company’s equipment as well: pieces of machinery that once sat idle overnight are now running extended shifts, fully staffed with skilled Operators from Veryable. This new way of operating has created a smoother, more consistent dispatch rhythm and greater customer satisfaction.

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Looking Forward

The Core-Mark Tampa team credits their success to this partnership with Veryable. Their on-demand labor pool has given them a true competitive advantage, allowing them to scale production at a moment’s notice and maintain world class service levels regardless of daily volume.

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“Veryable is, in a word, fantastic,” Vogt says. “It has kept us afloat during the pandemic and beyond.”

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For a distribution operation where consistency is everything, on-demand labor has proven to be more than just a stopgap—it has become a critical part of their long-term strategy for growth and customer excellence.