How DS Services Increased Driver Intervention Success by 73% with SambaSafety

Industry

Distribution

Challenge

DS Services, a leading beverage distribution brand with more than 3,500 drivers nationwide, faced mounting administrative burden from manual MVR reviews. The compliance team spent 12 to 15 hours per week sorting through motor vehicle records, with each state reporting violation information differently. This time-consuming process delayed the identification of license issues and left the organization with limited ability to intervene before problems escalated.

Results

By implementing SambaSafety's license monitoring solution, DS Services achieved 79% time savings, reducing administrative work from 12 to 15 hours per week to just three hours. Driver intervention success rates increased by 73%, enabling proactive coaching that improved retention. Enhanced visibility allowed the team to identify license issues months earlier than their previous annual review process.

Key Product

License Monitoring

79%

Time savings in administrative workload

73%

Increase in driver intervention success rate

3,500

Drivers monitored continuously

"More than ever before, we're identifying drivers that have issues with their license and taking action before they get on the road. We know that these issues would have been discovered months later with our old system, but now we can take care of these issues much sooner."

Sheitikka R.

Vice President of Risk and Safety at DS Services

About DS Services

DS Services is a leading beverage distribution brand providing delivery services to customers across the United States. With more than 3,500 drivers operating nationwide, the company is committed to maintaining a proactive safety culture that prioritizes driver development, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence.

The Challenge

DS Services already had smart safety policies in place but was looking for continuous improvement. The compliance team spent 12 to 15 hours per week manually sorting through stacks of motor vehicle records, with each state reporting violation information in different formats. This labor-intensive process delayed the identification of license issues and driver risk, leaving the organization with limited ability to coach drivers before problems escalated into violations or crashes.

The Solution

To reduce administrative burden and gain year-round visibility into driver risk, DS Services implemented continuous license monitoring through SambaSafety, replacing periodic MVR reviews with automated alerts on license status changes and violations across all 3,500 drivers. This shift enabled a more cross-functional approach to safety, empowering compliance, risk, safety, and human resources teams to make faster, more informed decisions. As one DS Services employee noted: "Our goal is to identify unsafe behavior and coach drivers to change using the tools we have in hand. Our drivers realize that, and many will attest to how valuable it is and how it's helped them."

The Results

The implementation of SambaSafety's monitoring solution produced significant results for DS Services. Administrative workload decreased by 79%, freeing the compliance team from manually processing MVRs to focus on higher-value safety initiatives. Driver intervention success rates increased by 73%, as the team was able to identify and address license issues months earlier than their previous process allowed.

The proactive approach also uncovered an unexpected benefit: DS Services discovered that some drivers flagged for expired medical certifications were not at fault. State administrators had failed to update system-based renewals. With this visibility, drivers could correct errors with the state before being penalized, keeping them on the road and earning. Branch managers also benefited from earlier visibility into issues, enabling smoother daily operations. DS Services continues to rely on SambaSafety's monitoring solutions, with the return on investment extending well beyond time savings to include improved driver retention through a coaching-first approach.