In it for the long haul.
The association for independent truckers gives small fleets a voice.
Every national movement starts somewhere. This one began behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler driven by a man who saw that independent drivers were too often left out of the conversations shaping national trucking policy.
In 1973, that voice, Jim Johnston, became the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) — the nonprofit he founded to represent small fleet operators. Today, from its headquarters in Grain Valley, Missouri, the association represents thousands of members nationwide.
OOIDA’s strength lies in its principled advocacy and problem-solving mindset. Those qualities also define its nearly 40-year relationship with Commerce Bank.
Today, OOIDA depends on Commerce for everything from deposits and treasury services link opens to a Commerce page, to cash-management tools that speed payment processing and protect against fraud, to merchant services link opens to a Commerce page that process millions of dollars of transactions annually, to investment management link opens in a new window through Commerce Trust, a division of Commerce Bank.
Simplifying payments — and fraud prevention.
When OOIDA needed a safe way to take payments for the merchandise it sells at trucking conferences, Commerce offered multiple alternatives. OOIDA chose Clover® link opens to a Commerce page Flex, a handheld point-of-sale device that accepts both card and contactless payments and has a built-in printer and other helpful features.
Commerce has also recommended solutions that help OOIDA safeguard member funds and tighten internal controls. One is Positive Pay link opens to a Commerce page, a product that compares OOIDA’s daily check register against checks clearing the bank and automatically flags anything that doesn’t match.
“The environment is increasingly prone to fraud,” Patricia Lewis, comptroller, said. “Positive Pay has been fantastic. It gives us confidence that we will not wake up to missing funds.” In fact, Lewis credits Positive Pay with recently stopping $20,000 in fabricated checks.
Commerce’s fraud prevention training has proven equally valuable. “We got a call from someone claiming to be from the bank, trying to confirm a large wire transfer,” said Lewis. “Because of the education Commerce provided, we knew what to look for. After I hung up, I immediately called my Commerce contacts — and they confirmed my suspicions.”
Direct support that builds trust.
For organizations like OOIDA that process thousands of credit card transactions each year, PCI compliance link opens to a Commerce page — verifying the secure handling of member payment data — can be daunting even for experienced IT teams.
Commerce Bank’s dedicated PCI compliance specialists help lighten that load. Each year, they join OOIDA’s IT staff on calls to walk through the 300-plus-question assessment, helping interpret standards, document controls and close any gaps.
It is a level of direct support that is becoming rare in the industry. By keeping these services in-house rather than outsourcing them, Commerce gives clients a consistent team that knows their systems, understands their business, and can respond quickly when new challenges arise.
A deep bench of support.
These services are all managed directly by Commerce, so Commerce Bank employees, not third-party vendors, take care of Commerce customers.
“We all know each other. I do not feel like a number. When we get together for annual reviews, we share about our lives. It really, truly is a personal relationship and it provides that level of trust because we know that we matter.”
