With MDM’s 2024 Top Distributors Lists set to debut in June, it’s a good time to share another company accolade list that published at the end of March. But whereas MDM’s list rankings are revenue-based, this one is reputation-based.

On March 27, digital news organization Newsweek released its third annual “Most Trustworthy Companies in America” rankings. In partnership with Statista, the feature charts 700 U.S.-based companies that have annual revenues of at least $500 million across 23 different industries. Public and private companies were included based on an independent survey of about 25,000 Americans, conducted in October and November 2023. 

More than 97,000 company evaluations were submitted that considered perspectives of potential customers, investors and employees. Newsweek added that Internet media mentions of each company were also analyzed, and companies involved in recent scandals or lawsuits related to trustworthiness were excluded from the ranking.

“Trustworthy” can be difficult to define in the corporate world, but Newsweek explains that its list highlights the most trustworthy companies according to consumer trust, investor trust and employee trust.

With that preamble out of the way, here’s which wholesale distributors garnered a spot on Newsweek’s 2024 Most Trustworthy Companies in America List:

• Grainger — No. 1 in Machines & Industrial Equipment sector
• Airgas — No. 3 in Materials & Chemicals sector
• GMS — No. 6 in Construction sector
• 84 Lumber — No. 12 in Materials & Chemicals sector
• Genuine Parts Company — No. 14 in Automotive & Components sector
  • Parent company of Motion
• Fastenal — No. 17 in Machines & Industrial Equipment sector
• HD Supply — No. 18 in Machines & Industrial Equipment sector
• Dole — No. 20 in Food & Beverage sector
• McKensson — No. 23 in Health  Care & Life Sciences sector
• Wesco — No. 29 in Machines & Industrial Equipment sector

Here’s which companies led each respective industry sector. Some sectors had many more companies on the list than others:

• Aerospace & Defense (5 total) — Collins Aerospace 
• Appliances & Electronics (14 total) — Bose
• Automotive & Components (24 total) — Goodyear
• Banks (27 total) — Navy Federal
• Construction (20 total) — Andersen Construction
• Consulting & Professional Services (19 total) — Adtalem Global Education
• Consumer Goods (40 total) — Procter & Gamble
• Energy & Utilities (39 total) — American Transmission Company
• Financial Services (38 total) — Visa
• Food & Beverage (50 total) — Quaker Oats
• Grocery & Convenience Stores (30 total) — Publix
• Health Care & Life Sciences (37 total) — Teladoc Health
• Insurances (34 total) — American Equity
• Machines & Industrial Equipment (29 total) — Grainger
• Materials & Chemicals (30 total) — Sherwin-Williams
• Media & Entertainment (20 total) — Dreamworks Animation
• Real Estate & Housing (14 total) — Kraft Group
• Retail (66 total) — Chewy
• Software & Telecommunications (38 total) — DocuSign
• Technology Hardware (30 total) — NVIDIA
• Textiles, Clothing & Luxury (33 total) — Levi Strauss
• Transportration, Logistics & Packaging (31 total) — UPS
• Travel, Dining & Leisure (32 total) — Marriott International

See the full Newsweek feature here

Additional Notes

• Providing additional context, Newsweek noted that a PwC survey conducted this past January and released on March 12 found that 90% of executives believe that customers highly trust their companies. However, that same poll found that only 30% of customers highly trust their companies — showing a 60-point “trust gap” that was 3 points higher than the same survey from 2022 and 2023.
• Newsweek found that sectors of retail outlets, food & beverage and consumer goods manufacturers featured the most ranked companies.