In 1958 Henry Vincent, Louis Vincent's father, saw an advertisement in the newspaper for a Dafter-Fibre route. He told Louis, and he submitted a successful bid for this route. Louis then used a station wagon to haul the mail on this route, stopping at Kinross, Kincheloe, and Rudyard. Because of competition, the Dafter-Fibre route was lost on a rebid after the first year.
In 1959, further opportunities in the mail business surfaced with a route from Iron Mountain to Sault Ste. Marie. They upgraded their station wagon to a pickup truck with a wood topper. At one time, Louis even used a hearse.
About the mid 1960's, a second trip was added to the Sault Ste. Marie - Iron Mountain route. One truck operated from Iron Mountain to Newberry and the other from Iron Mountain to Sault Ste. Marie.
Louis was awarded another route from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, and another from Sault Ste. Marie, MI to the canal station at the Locks. Louis used a golf cart because it was the only vehicle that was small enough to transfer mail over the gate. Mail was also picked up at the Sault Ste. Marie airport.
As Iron Mountain became a central point for routes, Louis decided to move to Manistique. He employed two drivers, one drove from Manistique to Iron Mountain with a van. The other drove from Iron Mountain to Newberry. Louis drove every morning from Manistique to Sault Ste. Marie. He then operated the canal, airport and Canadian routes daily and then returned to Manistique at night. Even Darlene was involved. She would often drive the Manistique - Sault Ste. Marie route on extra trips during Christmas, or Manistique - Newberry when needed. She always drove the last trip out of Manistique and the earliest trip back from Sault Ste. Marie. In the event she had a problem, Louis was behind her to help.
Radios were installed into the two vans running to Iron Mountain. As remembered, their Call Number was KFQ406.
In the late 1960's, Louis was awarded the Calumet route. With further expansion, Louis and Darlene decided to move to Iron Mountain. He rented a service station on Breitung Avenue and maintained the trucks. The station was sold so they rented a lot by Business Machines. Within six months they ended up parking the trucks in the backyard. They had an upright fuel tank for the trucks. Six months later, they purchases property in U.S. 2 in the Industrial Park.
In the mid 1970's the Milwaukee route began, and in January 1981 the Chicago route was added. These routes required tractor-trailers.
As business grew, Louis acquired a CAT TEPS (truck/engine/parts/service) dealership, a licensed vehicle dealership and repair facility. In 1983, a Beeline alignment center was added, and the company began repair service to the public. Twenty-four hour wrecker service for larger vehicles and equipment was also added.
Finally, in April 1991, the Kingsford shuttle route began.
For the many years of outstanding business, Louis was received certificates of appreciation-for services rendered from the USPS and the National Star Route Mail Contractors Association. Most importantly, all this was possible through the loyalty, dedication, and hard work of all out employees.