Day in the life… of Bob Riedel, East Coast Transportation Manager
Bob Riedel grew up in a small river town called Bristol, Pennsylvania and went on to graduate from Bucks County Community College in 1974. He worked for Conrail for five years before becoming a maritime cargo inspector and later a traffic manager at Frupac, now Chiquita. In February 1993 Bob was hired at Oppy and will be celebrating his silver anniversary next year.
Most days are spent catching up on fruit that shipped the previous day, booking new orders, approving freight invoices and ensuring records are up-to-date on all carriers such as insurance and contracts. There might be some special promotional projects on-the-go or a meeting with the sales department to keep up on current events. Bob looks forward to every other year when he gets to work with the commodity managers on both coasts to ship fruit to the venue hosting PMA on the east coast.
Bob met his wife Helen in college and married a year after graduation in August 1975. Being together for over 40 years, they are currently enjoying being grandparents to Emily, 3, and Maddy, 1. In the winter they enjoy vacationing in the Pocono Mountains with family and friends for some skiing and in the summer going to the Jersey Shore and the resorts in Atlantic City, NJ. Most weekends you can find Bob in the yard pulling weeds, cutting grass or planting flowers. He calls himself “the yard man.”
“It’s a joy to see the new employees with their fully-charged batteries fitting in with the hard-working, dedicated and established Oppy family in each department,” Bob recalls. “It’s great to see what the new generation is bringing to the table to keep Oppy growing and working together so well.”
