Tim Nuss, Chaos and Consistency

Despite dealing with the challenges of serving CITY’s costumers through the adversity of COVID-19, Route Service Representative Tim Nuss is continuing to embrace the opportunity to serve businesses in the Northeast Iowa area just like he has for more than two decades.

“People need to wear their clothes, it’s important to them,” Tim said. “We have the virus going on but they can count on us to bring towels or anything else they might need.”

His quickness, accuracy and care for detail carry through every one of his stops along a route he has serviced for 22 years. From restaurants to car dealers and construction businesses, Tim greets them with a smile, his infectious laugh, or one of his famous CITY stories.

“I enjoy seeing my customers,” Tim said. “We have a lot of really good friends out there that I see every week and talk to. It’s kind of neat touching base with them every week. I get to see what’s happening in their shops and how they are doing. On some of my stops, there are some jokers out there that make your day worth going to work for.”

Even though he has driven the same route for his whole career at CITY, the job never gets old. The area he services is also Tim’s home. On the drive up to the Decorah area, Tim passes his house, the college his daughter went to school at and some of his favorite restaurants. Through Calmar and Festina onward to West Union, his 28 stops on Thursdays take him through some of the most beautiful scenic routes Eastern Iowa has to offer and Tim wouldn’t like it any other way.

“I enjoy going to Decorah and up North. It’s just scenic, the limestone, a lot of history, it never makes for a boring drive.”

Tim loves the drive, the journey and the freedom it brings to drive his truck and service his customers. He loves being at CITY because of the family-first atmosphere and he carries that same attitude into providing fresh, clean items to his customers. When stopping at a local farm to drop off mats, Tim knows, the Farm’s family dogs love to get as close to him as possible because he has treats for them.

Tim says his routine hasn’t changed much since the COVID-19 crisis began. While many of his businesses have scaled-down production and don’t require as many towels or other supplies as before, Tim brings consistency through the chaos to help CITY’s customers and the businesses he cares about.

“They need their uniforms, or their mats, or their towels to do their job,” Tim said. “It makes me feel important to be able to supply them with what they need” especially through the global pandemic.