Behind the Scenes: How Terminal Managers Run the Show

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When you climb into the truck every morning, it can feel like your day starts with turning the
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key. But the truth is, your day actually started hours before that. Before the first trailer
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moves, someone has already been balancing customer schedules, maintenance appointments, call offs,
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weather equipment availability, and a dozen last minute surprises you may never even know
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happened. It's a giant puzzle, and somehow, every single day, the pieces come together until they
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don't. Sometimes it's a driver calling off at three in the morning. Sometimes it's a truck that
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suddenly needs service. Sometimes it's a bakery that's only hours away from running out of flour,
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and every once in a while, it's a bird that somehow ends up in a trailer full of food grade
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product, or a fishing hook that turns into a five figure mistake. Today, we're pulling back the
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curtain on the people who live in that controlled chaos every single day. Joining us are three
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terminal leaders from two very different operations Fairborn, Ohio and Saginaw, Texas, to
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explain what really happens behind the scenes. Why communication can make or break an entire day, how
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drivers from different terminals routinely step in to help one another, and why keeping freight
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moving isn't just about trucks, it's about trust. If you've ever wondered what has to happen before
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your phone rings with the next load. This episode is for you. Let's get moving.
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You are listening to Always Pneumatic, Never Static. The Totally Pressurized podcast, brought to
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you by Bulk Transit, where we keep the lines clear, the tanks empty, and the conversation anything but
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dry. Whether you're running powder pellets or anything in between. Pull up a seat, crack the
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windows, and let's hit it. How's it going out there? Bulk and spur.
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Welcome into another episode of Always Pneumatic, never static. Thank you so much for being here
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today and clicking that download button. It helps us more than you know. I of course am your host,
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Marcus. Same as always. Nothing's changed there and nothing's changed except the most recent episode.
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This one has been uploaded to the website podcast.bulktransit.com. Make sure you head on
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over there. Take the quizzes that we have with every single episode. Uh, check out all the
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information. Maybe you're just brand new to this podcast. Maybe somebody told you because we're
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giving out homework to tell a friend right now. Maybe somebody told you about it and you're just
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listening. And this is your first episode. Well, I got great news for you. We got some, I think like
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25 behind this one that you can catch up with, and they're all about an hour long or more. So you've
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got plenty of stuff to listen to while you put the miles behind you. We can occupy that
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windshield time. And, uh, we're always just glad to have everybody here. And to our new listeners,
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thank you for tuning in. We appreciate you greatly, and we hope that you'll stick around with us as
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we continue to learn about and grow with bulk and spur transit. And today's episode is a
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really cool one. We'll get into that in just a second, but let's not forget that homework. Before
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I go any further, tell a friend, hey, maybe it's Mom or Dad and you've got a, you know, you've got an
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appearance that you made on here. My parents listen to this podcast every single week. They
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account for one click and I am grateful for it every time. And that was just me telling a friend,
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um, now I can't get my wife to listen yet. I haven't gotten her turned on to it. That could be
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an effect of the fact that she lives between the four walls of this house with me, and this mouth
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does not have an off switch. But I tell her every single week that there's a new episode of Always
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Pneumatic, never static. If she feels like checking it out, and one day she will. I'll wear through
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that hard exterior and she's going to click through and see what this thing is all about.
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That's all I'm asking you guys to do. But you don't have to work nearly as hard at it. That's
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something that I take. Uh, very important to me. Very personal to me. Uh, to to make my wife
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listen to these, even though she gets a full recap of every one of them whenever she gets home
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across the dinner table each night. So all you have to do is tell a friend, and you know,
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something that's going to happen in this episode is we're going to hear from some terminal
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managers that talk about having drivers, uh, they see a driver with a bulk truck pulled over on the
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side of the road, and they call up their terminal and say, hey, you got a driver stop to off, you know,
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exit two on on ten. And they say, yeah, we do. Okay. Well we're going to stop and help that driver out.
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Hey, you guys are already doing it. You're already helping a friend. Now all I need you to do is just
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tell a friend about the podcast. It's real simple. Say, head on over to podcast.bulktransit.com
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and check out Always Pneumatic, never static. If you want to search it on your favorite podcast
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platforms instead of going to the website we are on all of them. Spotify, Apple, Google, you name it,
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you can find us there. iHeart. Yeah, we're there too. I know a lot of you guys are cruising through the
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country listening to iHeart podcasts or iHeart radio stuff. Well, uh, add us to the lineup. We'll
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give you one hour of content a week, releasing at 5 a.m. local time every single Wednesday here at
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Always Pneumatic, never static. And we are proud to do it. Working with such a great company like Bulk
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and Spur, a family run company. Uh, it really makes the job easy on us over here at Always Pneumatic,
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never static. So we will welcome new listeners with open arms. And if you work for bulk and you
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want to join us on this podcast, the door is open, head on over to the website podcast.bulktransit.com
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and send me an email. There's a button over there you can click. It will come directly to
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me, which also hits me right in the pocket because my phone's connected to that email address too. So
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wherever I am, I will get that message and I will be reaching back out to you to talk to you about
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coming on the show. You can send me your suggestions for things you'd like to hear, or you
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can just, uh, you know, get in touch with me and tell me why the Ohio State Buckeyes are going to
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beat my Oregon Ducks this year. We got football season around the corner, and I'm chomping at the
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bit to talk about that with all of you Ohio State fans, all of you Michigan fans, all of you Texas
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Longhorn fans out there. I know you're out there and we will have a football episode. We'll have
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some fun coming up here before too long, so make sure to look forward to that in the future. Uh, but
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today's episode is a very important one because we're giving you a peek behind the scenes of
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operations. But we're not talking about operations like what Shawn came on and talked about during
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the company anniversary episode a couple weeks ago. That was great. That was a 300 zero foot view
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of the entire operation. And I love that because it's so insightful and it gives drivers a peek
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behind the curtain of what's really going on when they're out putting miles behind them. We wanted
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to take it a step further and get a couple more terminals in here. Talk to some guys that are in
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unique situations, hauling unique things with unique teams of drivers that help them get
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through it every single day. And, uh, it's really I think this episode will help you understand that
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the driving, while it's the most important part, is only one part of just a sea of operations that
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has to come together for all of this to work out smoothly. Um, today's guests represent terminals
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separated by hundreds of miles, yet they operate together as one team. And I think that that aspect
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is really cool. We're going to dig into it once we get our guys in here and this episode, it isn't
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just for you current bulk and spur drivers out there. I know there's people that are going to
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tune in to this podcast to see what Bulk and Spur is all about before they ever submit an
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application to Rachel. And I think this is a really good episode for that too, because a lot of
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times, in my experience, I find drivers going from one company to the next are going to ask
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questions like, well, what's operations like? How does this how does this whole, uh, boat float
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through the ocean and how does my part affect it? This episode is for you, I promise you that. And
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hey, we got some great stories coming up here, too. We're going to tell you about a time that a bird
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ruined an entire silo of flour. How? Well. Stay tuned. How about a $10,000 fish hook? You ever
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heard of one of those? Me either. But we'll talk about one today and 3 a.m. phone calls. These ones
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aren't about. Hey. You up? Uh, this isn't coming back from the bar. You want Taco Bell? No, that's not why
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these 3 a.m. phone calls come through the 3 a.m. phone calls that come through that we're going to
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talk about today are important phone calls, because they tend to send a ripple effect through
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the rest of the day. That could affect everybody at the terminal or even outside of the terminal.
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And today's podcast episode is going to sort of show you how the people that are tasked with
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dealing with that deal with it, and the respect that they have for the employees that they
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oversee is really going to come through here. Um, just listen to it. If you want the real hammer, the
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real hammer to nail type moment comes at the very end of the interview here, where we're getting
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into our final thoughts and you'll hear some of the appreciation that comes through from these
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guys. In fact, I think you can hear it throughout the entire episode. What these guys that were
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about to talk to understand is that this whole operation takes a village, even just one person
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not doing their job, not fulfilling their responsibility, not having the next person's back
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can really affect the entire operation. And that's why today's episode is so cool. So I don't need to
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tell you anything more about it. I've teased all the teasing points you guys are chomping at the
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bit right now to get in here and listen to these guys. So without further ado, let's bring Rob, Dale
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and Jeremy in here and talk operations.
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All right. Welcome back in here to always pneumatic, never static. Very excited for my three
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guests joining us today. One that we've had here before. So let's welcome in the terminal manager
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out there at the Fairborn terminal Rob Shope. Rob, we're really glad to have you back, man. Thanks for
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being here. All right. Thanks for the invite. I appreciate it. Always, man. You're always welcome on
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the show. Did awesome last time. Really looking forward to having you here for this one. And we
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got a couple gentlemen making their first appearance here on Always pneumatic, never static,
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and we're just as happy to have them along. First off, we've got the terminal manager out of Saginaw,
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Dale Cetina, on the phone or on the line. Sorry about that. Dale. Welcome to the show. Thank you so
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much for being here. Thank you. Mark, I really appreciate the invite here. Of course. And your
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assistant manager out there. Jeremy Willison is also with us today. Jeremy. Thanks for being here, my
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friend. Welcome to the show. Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I appreciate it. No problem man,
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we're really glad to have you guys. Um, really, what I want out of this episode is to just give
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everybody a peek behind the curtain of how different terminals handle different things, and
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really how operations at those terminals make things so comfortable throughout the entire
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operation. Uh, it's one thing that I've seen, just doing this podcast for 20 some episodes is that
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things run very smoothly at Bulk and Spur, even though you guys are very spread out. I mean, we're
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talking to Ohio and Texas here, so we've got a lot of miles between the terminals, just the ones that
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we have on. So, uh, Rob, I'm going to start out with you for the driver's listening. What exactly does
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an operations team do that the drivers may never actually see? Um, how is it that you guys keep this
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thing running so that the drivers can get their miles and be on time, and you guys aren't
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constantly pulling your hair out and putting holes in the wall out there in Fairborn. Well, for
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this terminal, it's, uh, I mean, the, the these loads come at us, so it makes it kind of easy for, for us.
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But we we have to put the puzzle together. So, um, putting the puzzle together is probably one thing
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that they never see. Putting it together to where, uh, Lowe's. We got the different times, we got
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different places we're delivering to. We got trucks that need to be serviced this, that, and the
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other, uh, trailers that need to be serviced, things like that. And we don't have a shop here. So
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putting the puzzle together and making everything role and still try to be equal throughout the
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board, okay. To keep everybody busy and not just, you know, not just one person making this awesome
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money. We want to try to push that all the way down to everybody making making a good, good
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living here. So the puzzle, you know, it's all the time, all the all the different times that, uh,
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people want the deliveries, um, scheduled maintenance. Call offs. People that have doctor's
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appointments, they don't understand that. You know, we still want to keep them busy as well. Uh,
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regardless if the appointments at 1:00 in the afternoon or could be in the morning, uh, we still
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want them to be able to maybe come in and run at least one load in the afternoon after performance
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in the morning. You know, things like that happen. Uh, not really through a seniority dispatch, but we
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kind of just gotta choose when somebody's got things like that to do in order for for us to
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make revenue and for the driver to not only not have to take a PTO day or anything like that, but
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it can also still make some money that day without taking the whole day off. Sure. And you
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brought up something there that I'm wondering if maybe every terminal manager ever has wanted to
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have the opportunity to say on a podcast, uh, call offs, you know, they happen. This is, uh, we're all
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adults here. We're all living our lives, fighting battles that nobody knows anything about. And
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sometimes, uh, work is just kind of, uh, in the way of of living that life. And there's a call off.
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Maybe somebody's sick. Maybe you got something going on at home. Who knows? But what kind of
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ripple effect can that have? Rob throughout the terminal? If you got just one guy that calls off
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that maybe was kind of an important part of the schedule that day. Uh, how do you go about
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rectifying that? And, and like I said, what kind of ripple effect can it have? Well, everyone's
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important here because we don't have just drivers sitting and waiting for a load. Uh, you know, when
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we do this batch, it's every single, every single truck is accounted for, every single load is
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accounted for. And once a guy gets sick or calls off or whatever we have to make, uh, we have to
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make adjustments. We have to make changes in dispatch. Uh, rather, we gotta figure out what's
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priority, um. What's not priority? Uh, they're all priority, you know, it's all priority. But which one?
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Which one do we need to do or take away from in order to or stack up another on somebody else in
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order to cover that, that run for the day? It's very challenging, especially when you're when
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you're dealing with a phone call at 3:00 in the morning. They'll keep you up. Sure you can. You can
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contest to that. Um, it's very challenging. And, uh, for some, for some reason, I always tell my guys, we
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always figure it out. So. And that's what's great about having a, like, a family oriented team. That's
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pretty much what I call my guys's family. And, you know, when those people, you know, when they can do
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their best and want to do their best, when we have a call off, we have somebody that's sick or
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whatever. Whatever the case may be, they step up and get it done. And I think that's, uh, that's very
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important for sure. It's a common theme on this podcast. Whenever we get to talk to people from
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other terminals outside of the plane city terminal, that's what you hear is there's a lot of
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stepping up. A lot of you scratch my back, I scratch yours, and, uh, just a lot of helping that
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come that goes on between the drivers. You know, I've had drivers come on the show and say, well, if
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they need me over at X terminal, I just go over there and help out like it's it's second nature.
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Um, I think it's really cool, and I love to call it out. I'd love to see it on this podcast. Uh, Dale
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and Jeremy, you guys have been kind of nodding your head along with the things that Rob's been
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saying here. I want to get to the Saginaw terminal and talk about some of the similarities and
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differences between, uh, Fairborn. Um, a we we haven't gotten to talk to a lot of, uh, you
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spur guys yet on this podcast. And so talk to me a little bit about the uniqueness of your terminal
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out there in Saginaw. You're really far removed from everything else. How does that bring
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challenges and advantages to what you've got going on out there, Dale? Well, I think mostly we're
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food grade here. We do a lot of food products and so things change a lot. We get a lot of add ons, a
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lot of changes and times, a lot of cancellations and things like that. And, uh, you were mentioning
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how we help each other right now. I've got one of Rob's drivers down here helping me because I'm
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shorthanded. So we actually sent one all the way from Ohio down here. I've got two down here from,
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uh, bulk transit right now helping us out while we're a little short. But, um, it's really hard
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sometimes for last minute call ins. You know, they come early in the morning. Dispatch has already
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been out. And so what we have to do is make other people's day longer. Uh, it happens so frequently.
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Sometimes we ended up having to put extra things that we could pay the driver when we make their
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day longer, you know, so they get a little bit extra when they step up. And the ones that get the
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big picture, the ones that know that we're all in this ship together and we got to keep it afloat,
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and they step up and they take it on and they make it happen. Uh, they, you know, make that little
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extra and, uh, and it's what pulls us through. Sometimes we can't make it. Sometimes we have to
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figure out, uh, which ones got the priority. Um, the rule of thumb here is we don't run run a bakery
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out of flour. Uh, they depend on our product that we're hauling from the mills to get to them, to
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make the things that they're making. And so to run them out of flour, that's like the cardinal sin. So
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we're always trying to figure out, you know, get with the customers. What's your drop dead time?
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Because we might have more than one load affected. And we got to figure out which ones to prioritize.
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It's not that one place is more important than the other, but one is going to run out faster than
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the other. So we're trying to, you know, get to the places that are the hardest first, you know, and
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sometimes they can flex with us. We've got a lot of customers that do flex and bend with us, and we
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may be able to push a load into the next day or maybe even a couple of days out, depending on
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their needs or when they're available. And so that helps. It's just working with the other drivers,
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working with the mill staff, working with the customers, and we all approach it as a team. So
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here in Saginaw, we're based right at the customer location and we take care of our customers
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customers. So we all team work it together. We get with the mill scheduler. And
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sometimes if it's an issue with a low, we might get with quality or whatever, you know, to find out
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if we can ship it or not, you know, depending on what the situation is or what. But, um, yeah, we work
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closely with the mill and just team effort. It sounds like. It. So the ones the team oriented, the
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ones that, uh, understand, you know, that, uh, the unit cohesiveness sort of thing, they pull together and
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they make it happen. You know, it's without those people. I don't know what we do here. For sure. It's
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so cool. Yeah. Once get it done. You. Yeah. It's it's so cool to hear, you know, this is the reason we
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wanted to do this episode, Dale was because of, you know, Rob, you you talked about putting the puzzle
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together and and Dale, you just kind of explained that puzzle even a little bit deeper than what
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Rob did. There's so many moving parts and so many things that have to go right just to get through
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one successful day, uh, with what we're doing here. And, Jeremy, I want to go to you next. Um, talk to me
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about the way it makes you feel as an assistant terminal manager. When you got drivers all the way
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from Fairborn, Ohio, stepping up to come down and help you guys when you're short handed. Uh, I have
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to imagine that, uh, you kind of well up with pride a little bit there, coming all the way down there
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to help you guys, uh, stay above water. And, uh, the job you're doing is really important because if a
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bakery runs out of flour, your boy Marcus doesn't have his donuts, and I get cranky. Jeremy. So.
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Um. No, it is. It is really nice. It does make me feel good knowing that these guys are willing to
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come down and and help us out. I mean, if we had a chance to return the favor, we definitely would.
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But a lot of these guys are, you know, not big on running out of state for too long. So with that
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being said, it is nice to have these guys down here because they are basically plug and play.
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They know what they're doing. They can come down and say, okay, this is what I got for you. I need
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you to run here. They're like, yeah, sure, no problem. And they're all about it. So it definitely helps
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me out tremendously doing the dispatch. Like Rob said, putting the puzzle together every day is not
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is not always fun. Sometimes it's a little more difficult than the next day, but having people who
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are willing to come in and pick up whatever you need and run it wherever it needs to go and no
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questions asked. It definitely makes it a lot easier for sure. Now, do you guys have a shop there
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in Saginaw? I know Rob doesn't have one in Fairborn. You guys have a truck shop out there? No,
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we have a mobile tech, but we don't have a shop. We can't. We're a food processing center, so they
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won't allow us to put a hard brick and mortar shop here. So. Okay, we're at the mercy of outside
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vendors. And we have a our server stacked in the on Jeremy Hall. And he's been on there before. He
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wore Nate's all the service and things that we need through the shops that we use. So and he's
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doing a great job doing that. So yeah, another another moving part that can be a little bit, uh,
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challenging, I'm sure. Rob, um, how challenging is it to not have a shop there in Fairborn, I. You're a
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little closer to Plain City, I assume. Is that where you're sending, uh, trucks when they need
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maintenance? Yeah, we send them up to Plant City and we send them over to, uh, Sydney as well. Um, but
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I have a great assistant. Her name's Cathy. She she's pretty much in charge of of maintenance and,
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uh, keeping trailers, getting service trucks, getting serviced. And she's she does a really good
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job of, uh, monitoring all of that. So, uh, you know, when something needs to be worked on and if
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if it can get worked on, we'll get it over there. We try to we try to do is we try to make money
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while we're doing that. So we're we're going to try to send a load towards Columbus or whatever.
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And then we could deliver that and then stop off and get us get a service done or whatnot, and
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maybe even do loads in between getting your service done. Just park your truck, grab a grab a
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loner, get your trailer and go back and get another load. By the time you get back your your
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truck service is ready to go. Come back home. So, um, that's kind of how we we do it here. But Kathy
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does a really good job on on scheduling and stuff like that. And, uh, staying on top of that, the whole
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trailer and truck maintenance program, uh, because that's, it's it's a lot to juggle to do,
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you know, create loads, uh, putting the puzzle together on top of figuring out what you got to
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do to get maintenance done as well. So. Yeah. For sure. Well, how cool that drivers can actually jump
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in a loner and and take a load while they're waiting. I, I talked to a lot of truck drivers. I'm
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going on four years of making podcasts for him. And one of the biggest frustrations is sitting
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and waiting and not driving. Whether it's at the shop or in traffic, it doesn't matter when they're
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not putting miles behind them, that's when they start to get a little testy. Uh, so having that
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ability for the drivers, that's kind of unique in the industry. Rob, I don't know that I've heard too
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many trucks, uh, trucking companies that will give, uh, driver a loner if it's just a day. You know, if
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that truck's going to be in the shop for a week or two, I totally see that. But having it be a day
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long thing, most of those drivers just end up twiddling their thumbs in the lounge, so I'm sure
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you see a few smiles on faces when they know they've got work to do while that truck is, uh,
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getting worked on. Yeah, there's there's definitely there's definitely smiles, but there's. I'm sure I
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can count on my hand. How many, uh, would just rather just sit there, but. Well. I get that,
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I get that I sit on my butt all day. So who am I to talk, right? Those help a lot. To have spare
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trucks when you can't have the shop. Because things don't always get turned around very
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quickly. Sure, sure. And do you guys have very many spare trucks out there in Saginaw to pick from? Uh,
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we don't keep a lot. We keep a couple of them enough that we can, you know, do scheduled services
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and things like that. We try not to slip seed as best we can. We assign everybody to their unit. But
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sometimes, in a pinch, if somebody's on vacation or what, they might follow their truck, you know, is,
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number one, we're going to take care of the customer. Right? So. Absolutely. Now, uh, it's kind of
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I wonder because we talked about Saginaw being food grade. Rob, what sort of products are we
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hauling out of Fairborn? Uh, do you guys do any food grade? Is it is it all one thing, or are you
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kind of mixed with what you guys haul? No, we're we're mainly just minerals. We're just, uh, cement,
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um, lime sand, call it. We just crushed glass. Some plastic. Um, so we, we don't
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get too much into the food grade if we're not. Unless I'm sending a sending somebody to Dale or
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we're helping out with Columbus, uh, flour. But, uh, yeah, we're mainly minnows here. Do you guys have
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to whip the mineral guys into shape when they come down to Texas to haul food grade? Or is it
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the other way around? Dale, you said they're kind of plug and play. Uh, is there is there any major
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differences in the job that these guys really have to be cued into before they come down to
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haul food grade from Fairborn? There's a few things that are different. Um, we use a filter
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screen that we pass everything through. That'll catch anything that you know. If the hose lining
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came apart, the screen would catch it. Or if there was something in the load itself, some foreign
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material, it would catch that. You know, we want to catch it before the customer does. Depending on
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what it was. I mean, if it's like a moisture clump or something, that's one thing. But one time we
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found a bird in there. Uh, loader was loading the trailer, turned his back on the hatch for a second,
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and a bird flew in there and the driver found it. And so, yeah, I sent the picture to the, uh, QC
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lady. At the time, I thought she was going to throw up, but, uh, we decided we were going to have to
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take all that flower out of that silo because that bird got in there. I mean, things happen. Yeah.
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So, you know, safety first, but food safety second. We don't want to contaminate anything. We're
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feeding millions of people here. I mean, we got some of the biggest customers that make pizzas
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and pastas and breads and cookies and crackers and all this and tortillas and and they're not
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small companies. I mean, we're we're eating millions of people and we got to do that in a way
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that's food safe because we don't want to end up, you know, with a giant recall and have every
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government person down here checking us with a white glove or everything. We try to get ahead of
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it. So, you know, the loaders pay close attention and make sure everything smells good before they
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load it. Nothing's in there. You know, we also have different kinds of products. And, you know, the
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pizza people don't want cookie flour and the cookie people don't want cracker flour and so on
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and so forth. So we got to make sure the trailer is empty and clean. We got a full wash bay here
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that's food grade wash. They make sure the trailers all stay clean for us and the Sherman
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Terminal. And we do some outside washes as well. But you know, they get it all cleaned before we
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load it and everything. And that, you know, all this stuff comes into play for food safety because, you
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know, that's super important. We all eat this stuff. Yeah. I mean I just I consistently see Jeremy just
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sitting there nodding his head. Yes. Yes. And and Rob too. And I, I mean, look, if you're cooking my
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pizza or pasta. I'm definitely. I don't want to bite into a dead bird bone. So I get that, uh, I
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wonder, uh. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Dale, I didn't mean to step on you there. Well, it could be all kinds of
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things. You never know. You got to be careful with it. You know? That's why we take extra steps. Things
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get passed through magnets. They probably don't have to do that with cement or whatever. But, you
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know, all our stuff goes through different types of equipment at the plant level when it's when
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they're making their products and everything. So, uh, the sifter will catch anything that we don't.
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And, you know, that may trigger us going to take our back trailer over there to pull the flour out,
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you know, and we clean everything out and start them over again, which is a real headache. It's
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easier to catch it beforehand. Absolutely no fun at that level. It missed several checks along the
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way. So we want to do all the things ahead of time so that the customer never sees any of that. We
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want to catch the problem before it leaves the yard. So there's checks and double checks and
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triple checks to make sure things are right before it ever leaves here. Is that bird story the
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craziest one, or do you have another one that you know? The reason I ask, and I was going to get to
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this a little bit later, but I feel like it's such a good transition here. We got to make it. Um,
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you're juggling a lot. We already talked about it. The whole puzzle comes together with a lot of
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moving parts and a lot of, uh, work from a lot of people, but that just means that the crazy things
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that happen when they do happen tend to stick out in our minds a little bit. The bird stories really
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good, Dale. But I wonder if you and Jeremy got any other ones that are you didn't expect to receive
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that call that day. Uh, anything stand out in your mind? I got a $10,000 fishhook hanging on my, uh,
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uh, corkboard back here. Um, somebody was loving the trailer. Somebody doesn't work here anymore. It was
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a long time ago, but that's been on the wall a long time. He dropped something in the trailer
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while he was loading it. He didn't want to say anything because he's pretty get in trouble. So he
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went out to his car and got his little pocket fisherman, and he fished out whatever it was. And
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he thought he got it all back, but he dropped that hook in there. He got whatever he dropped, but he
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dropped the hook in there. And that came out in the filter screen and triggered one. So it was
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like, yeah, you never know that. It's always something. $10,000 fishing hook. That's the most
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expensive one I've heard of. Well, by the time because we ended up, you know, we contaminated that.
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So, you know, that's a freight claim we had to pull not just the flour we put in there, but what was
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already in there and all that comes out. And then we got to clean it and all that. I mean, that gets
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expensive. That's a part of it. Then sometimes drivers understand is the cost of when we mess up.
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Yeah. No, rework is expensive. I don't care what line of work you're in. If you're doing it over,
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you know it gets expensive and you know the margins aren't that high in all this. So you know
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that's a loss. That's money. We could have used other places for equipment or raises or whatever,
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you know, but now we just had to use it to send a crew out to, you know, clean out this and that and
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the other. Yeah. Yeah. It gets expensive. Yeah, I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does, Rob. I see you kind
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of, uh, almost smiling in bewilderment about the $10,000 fishhook. And I wonder, uh, what kind of
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what kind of crazy ones have come out of left field in Fairborn that you didn't expect, but, uh,
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maybe, uh, put a little bit of a dent in your day. Well, I hate to say it, but it probably a similar
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situation. Cargo claim. I mean, we got we try. You know, I, I hadn't had one until this year. Um, yeah,
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we we took some product to, uh, we actually were running product for another terminal. First time
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ever this driver ever ran pre-mixed. Okay, he gets to the shipper and the guy says, hey, uh,
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just around the corner, around that silo. You can't miss it. And he goes back here and delivers in it.
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And guess what? He put the wrong product in the wrong silo. Oh, no. That's just, uh. Yeah. Um,
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to keep that from happening. Yeah, we had to, uh. We got to physically have these people walk back
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there and show us not only the. The forklift driver could not be the shipping
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receiving guy, and he's just telling something, you know, out of the clear blue for somebody. But, uh,
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yeah, that was one of those ones that I thought I would never get into or have. I know we have, uh, we
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delivered to some places that have, like, gray cement, white cement, fly ash. This, that and the
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other. But that's a little bit different from having, uh, mixing, uh, in a sand bin. So. Yeah, for
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sure. Is there ever been a time when somebody says you can't miss it? That that hasn't been kind of a
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famous last words scenario? I mean, you can't miss. It almost gives you a 50% chance to miss it. I
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feel like Rob. Yeah, yeah. And that wasn't even the place where he was supposed to be unloading. It's
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just misinformation from a different from somebody that really shouldn't even get many
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instructions. But regardless, uh, our drivers should not even have went around and just guessed that
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that was the silo. You know, that's what kind of precautions dales down there is taken to make
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sure that, you know, we don't have these claims and I mean it. They had to empty that whole that whole
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the whole bin now with a vac truck and all that stuff. So it's. Yeah, it's definitely not, uh, it's
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not good and it costs a lot of money and, uh, and it doesn't look good on us either, so. Sure, sure,
359
00:32:36,780 --> 00:32:41,779
there's customer service angle that comes in here for sure. Yeah. I mean, the the rework is expensive,
360
00:32:41,780 --> 00:32:46,899
but how do you get your reputation back and what does that cost? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Definitely an
361
00:32:46,900 --> 00:32:51,859
important part of the conversation. And that kind of brings me to the next part of the the segment
362
00:32:51,860 --> 00:32:57,739
here. And I wanted to talk about communication. I know how important communication is, uh, between
363
00:32:57,740 --> 00:33:02,538
drivers and dispatch and staying on time, the customer service angle, keeping your customers
364
00:33:02,539 --> 00:33:08,259
happy, making sure that we're not running bakeries out of flour here. Uh, but I wonder. And, Rob, I'll
365
00:33:08,260 --> 00:33:13,518
start with you here from a terminal manager standpoint. You can talk to the drivers here.
366
00:33:13,519 --> 00:33:20,319
They're listening. How important is good solid, clear communication, uh, to helping this puzzle
367
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:25,879
go together every single day without a hitch. It's a vital I mean, if you don't have good
368
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:31,479
communication, uh, things are going to fall apart. People are going to not be led. You know, I'm. I'm
369
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:37,880
the type of manager that I like to lead, okay? I like to lead before I manage. Therefore, you know, I
370
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:43,159
was a coach. And, you know, when I got out of high school, I was a coach and, you know, did the whole
371
00:33:43,359 --> 00:33:50,039
leading thing as, as far as teaching little kids how to, how to wrestle and, you know, play drums and
372
00:33:50,479 --> 00:33:56,999
ride their bikes and all kinds of stuff. But I like to lead and, uh, I want to lead. And that
373
00:33:56,999 --> 00:34:03,999
gained some trust in people before you manage, um, you know, some people don't take leading
374
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,438
very well or management very well. Uh, or constructive criticism, you know, everybody's
375
00:34:08,470 --> 00:34:14,350
different. You got to kind of feel people out and just kind of lead them in the direction. That is
376
00:34:14,949 --> 00:34:19,109
the way they want to be managed and be able to communicate with them. Some people aren't
377
00:34:19,110 --> 00:34:24,189
communicative. You know, we just had a person that wasn't very communicative here, um, that left us
378
00:34:24,189 --> 00:34:31,029
and it and it it sucks. But he got to communicate and getting through every outsole we have
379
00:34:31,070 --> 00:34:35,310
during the day because things change by the minute here sometimes. We definitely got to
380
00:34:35,310 --> 00:34:41,229
communicate and, uh, you know, that's that's just key for me. That's that's number one. That safety
381
00:34:41,230 --> 00:34:47,070
is number one and communications. Number two I'll tell you that. So for sure for sure. Well Rob, I, I
382
00:34:47,070 --> 00:34:50,870
already knew I liked you because you've been on here before. We had a great chat. This one's going
383
00:34:50,870 --> 00:34:56,229
well too. But, uh, I didn't know you were a fellow drummer man. Rhythm section for life. But how long
384
00:34:56,269 --> 00:35:01,189
have you. Oh, and Dale, you're a drummer, too? Yes. Amazing. Jeremy, if you tell me you play lead
385
00:35:01,190 --> 00:35:07,369
guitar, I'm kicking you out. No, no, I played drums for about 7 or 8 years, and I had to sell them off.
386
00:35:07,370 --> 00:35:13,049
So, uh, I'm there, but it's been a long time. Hey, you can stay, man. That's fine. We got a rhythm section
387
00:35:13,050 --> 00:35:18,609
chat here, I like it. Uh, Rob, how long have you been playing the drums, man? Since I could hold sticks.
388
00:35:18,610 --> 00:35:25,329
That's why. That's why we're hearing aids. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You know, I I've. I've reached the digital
389
00:35:25,330 --> 00:35:30,249
age. The band I'm playing with now. We even practice with in-ear monitors. I don't feel like
390
00:35:30,249 --> 00:35:35,049
I'm 20 anymore. Um, because those are glorified earplugs that just play a little bit of sound.
391
00:35:35,050 --> 00:35:40,289
That's all it is. So, uh, totally get it. How about you, Dale? How long have you been playing? I started
392
00:35:40,290 --> 00:35:47,008
when I'm 12. I'm 60 now. So in a little while. Yeah. You guys, you guys have drum circles around me.
393
00:35:47,050 --> 00:35:52,089
Same for me. I started when I was 12 too, so. I also play the guitar. So I do play rhythm and lead
394
00:35:52,090 --> 00:35:58,409
guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar. And so you're one of those guys that can do everything. If we
395
00:35:58,449 --> 00:36:04,169
carbon copied you five times, we'd have a sweet band, wouldn't we? Yeah, yeah, I've actually done I,
396
00:36:04,169 --> 00:36:09,758
I've, I've read track things for musicians, you know, behind the scenes because, you know, sometimes
397
00:36:09,759 --> 00:36:14,479
they lay a track down and doesn't sound all that great. And so I'll go in between the scenes and
398
00:36:14,479 --> 00:36:19,799
redubbed their tracks to make the final product better. So listen to the drummer, leave it to the
399
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:24,359
drummer. We're just here cleaning up the messes. That's all we do, right? And getting, you know, we're
400
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,958
the offensive linemen of the band. We get no credit. But without us, you wouldn't want to listen
401
00:36:28,959 --> 00:36:35,439
to it, right? Right. But that doesn't work hard. But play hard, too. You know. There you go. It can't be
402
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:40,079
all about work. There's got to be a balance. I know Rob knows this. I've known Rob a long time.
403
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:47,479
So I kind of wonder. Dale, we didn't really talk to you about the communication side of things, but
404
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:52,280
talk to me about how important that strong communication is out there in Saginaw. Obviously.
405
00:36:52,439 --> 00:36:57,159
Um, you know, the trailers are the same. The trucks are the same or at least similar. But, uh, the the
406
00:36:57,159 --> 00:37:00,679
product you're hauling is different. The work you're doing is a little bit different. How does
407
00:37:00,679 --> 00:37:06,139
the communication come into play in Saginaw? Oh, it's super important here because like I said,
408
00:37:06,179 --> 00:37:11,139
we're taking care of our customers customers so they don't want to hear from their customers
409
00:37:11,139 --> 00:37:15,938
before they hear from us first. They don't want to be told that there's a problem from their
410
00:37:15,939 --> 00:37:21,259
customer end. They want to hear it from us. And for that to happen, we need to hear from our people.
411
00:37:21,419 --> 00:37:26,339
They need to let us know if something's going on because there's a lot going on. It's easy to get
412
00:37:26,339 --> 00:37:31,379
distracted. This is a huge place. We've probably got 100 people working here at any time. There's
413
00:37:31,379 --> 00:37:35,899
trucks and trailers and stuff going in and out. There's a lot of, uh, we got maintenance people. We
414
00:37:35,899 --> 00:37:41,379
got all kinds of stuff going on between the mill and us. Yeah. And, uh, you know, there's all kinds of
415
00:37:41,379 --> 00:37:45,418
people coming in and out of the office or whatever, so it's easy for us to get distracted. So
416
00:37:45,459 --> 00:37:51,099
we kind of rely on the drivers to, you know, call or text and let us know, hey, I'm running behind.
417
00:37:51,100 --> 00:37:56,059
And why? So that we can, you know, see that and then get with the mill and let them know, hey, we're
418
00:37:56,060 --> 00:38:00,739
going to be a little late so they can get with the customer ahead of time. So because it goes a
419
00:38:00,740 --> 00:38:07,169
lot better for us when we get ahead of it. It's not a surprise. And I don't want surprises like
420
00:38:07,169 --> 00:38:12,968
that. You know, I want to know. And Jeremy want to know so that we can let the mill know. So that
421
00:38:12,969 --> 00:38:17,850
they can let the customers know so that everybody's happy. Sure, sure. That line of
422
00:38:17,850 --> 00:38:23,249
communication is so important. And, Jeremy, I imagine, especially for you, with a hand in
423
00:38:23,250 --> 00:38:28,769
dispatch. Um, even more important, because again, we talked about that ripple effect. Just one call out
424
00:38:28,769 --> 00:38:33,968
can have, uh, talk to me a little bit about the, uh, the team and how effectively they communicate and
425
00:38:33,969 --> 00:38:39,730
how that helps you do your job. Well, the good thing is, what most of the guys down here, um, they
426
00:38:39,730 --> 00:38:44,609
have a group chat kind of in between themselves. So a lot of the guys that are communicating back
427
00:38:44,610 --> 00:38:49,249
and forth and saying, well, you know, Jeremy called me and said, hey, I'm going to run this load. So
428
00:38:49,249 --> 00:38:54,249
we're going to swap. And so a lot of these guys are pretty much kind of in touch with each other,
429
00:38:54,249 --> 00:38:59,889
mostly throughout the day. Um, but yeah, like everybody said, you get that one call in or the
430
00:38:59,889 --> 00:39:04,549
one text message at 4:00 in the morning, and they're supposed to be somewhere at 9 a.m., and
431
00:39:04,549 --> 00:39:09,029
you're having to scramble and pull somebody from here and put them there and. Okay, well, if I do
432
00:39:09,029 --> 00:39:14,709
this here and this is going to leave A and B, so now I have to put this on somebody else. And it's
433
00:39:14,709 --> 00:39:20,070
um, it's nice to be able to one, have the relationship with some of these guys to
434
00:39:20,110 --> 00:39:25,269
communicate in between themselves, but also be able to reach out and say, hey, I had to move
435
00:39:25,270 --> 00:39:29,389
so-and-so. Can you pick this up for me? And they're like, yeah, sure, not a problem. You know, like, like
436
00:39:29,389 --> 00:39:34,229
Dale and Robin both said, it's it's nice to know that communication is vital for sure, to make sure
437
00:39:34,230 --> 00:39:40,469
we take care of everybody here, take care of the mill. And that way everybody's happy. Great stuff
438
00:39:40,470 --> 00:39:45,229
there, I love it. Uh, Rob, I'll come back to you. Here. I want to talk a little bit about the customer
439
00:39:45,230 --> 00:39:51,149
service angle. Um, on on your side of things. We already got a little bit of peek into it from
440
00:39:51,149 --> 00:39:55,550
Dale and Jeremy's side. You know, they're right there on site. Um, how much work goes into
441
00:39:55,590 --> 00:40:01,339
maintaining customer relationships behind the scenes out there at Fairborn. Um, obviously. Still,
442
00:40:01,340 --> 00:40:06,579
we got to keep our customers happy. We know that the bulk and spur drivers do great work. Um, but
443
00:40:06,580 --> 00:40:11,100
that's something that we're dependent upon you for out there as a terminal manager from time to
444
00:40:11,139 --> 00:40:16,260
time to sort of serve these relationships. How much work goes into that behind the scenes? Rob? Oh,
445
00:40:16,260 --> 00:40:23,178
it's a it's a lot of work, a lot of fill spring lunches. Uh, that's really good. But
446
00:40:23,179 --> 00:40:28,699
no, it's it does. It takes a lot. I mean, I, I try to, I try to tell every person who walks in my door
447
00:40:28,739 --> 00:40:33,780
to, you know, that has an interview with me. Go over the mission statement with them. Um, you know,
448
00:40:33,820 --> 00:40:40,300
Brian's mission statement is, uh, is point on not only not only not only through a,
449
00:40:41,020 --> 00:40:47,819
a business aspect, but just life in general. Okay. Um, and it's, uh, when
450
00:40:47,819 --> 00:40:54,580
I, when I really got to read that and understand it and, and really took it in because I
451
00:40:54,580 --> 00:41:01,439
think at first I read it and, you know, I just read it and but I really didn't sink in. But once
452
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:07,759
it sank in. Now I just push it. I just live by this. I try to and I try to make my drivers live by it.
453
00:41:07,759 --> 00:41:13,359
Because that's what if you do all of what his statement says and you have all the pillars
454
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:20,359
holding up that roof, everything works out. But if you if you miss one pillar, if it's
455
00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:27,240
safety, if it's communication, if whatever it is, that roof is going to collapse somewhere, okay, it
456
00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:33,919
will fall. Yeah. That's that's when mistakes happen. That's when you didn't check your your bill of
457
00:41:33,919 --> 00:41:39,719
lading and match up addresses. You're going to go to the wrong address eventually. Okay. Um, and it
458
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:45,158
could be just like Dale, you know, talking about communication with Dale. I mean, that one phone
459
00:41:45,159 --> 00:41:52,040
call that somebody actually can communicate could catch the smallest. That's just
460
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:58,909
the smallest number off of a load. Or it could change the whole dynamics of that's the
461
00:41:58,909 --> 00:42:04,909
wrong trailer, you know, that's the wrong product, that's the wrong customer. We're all human. You
462
00:42:04,909 --> 00:42:11,429
know, we're the ones typing in all this stuff. Um, and and trust me, I'm. I'm not a very good typer,
463
00:42:11,429 --> 00:42:16,949
but, uh, you know, I'll make some some, you know, some mistakes on this keyboard. And because we're all
464
00:42:16,949 --> 00:42:23,629
human. But, uh, thank God, you know, you we these guys do communicate, and they do catch those things, you
465
00:42:23,629 --> 00:42:29,149
know, at the most part, for for us. I, you know, it's getting better. I'm not going to say it's the best,
466
00:42:29,149 --> 00:42:34,710
but it's getting better. And I think that's, uh, that's the hard work from Dale and, and, and, and
467
00:42:34,749 --> 00:42:40,269
people like me on, in interviews that that really kind of, you know, this is important. I have
468
00:42:40,269 --> 00:42:45,109
expectations of you. I expect you to be on time. I expect you to communicate. I don't just want you
469
00:42:45,110 --> 00:42:50,389
to just walk in here and just want to, you know, not speak with me. You know what I mean? I want no,
470
00:42:50,389 --> 00:42:54,949
I want to I want to hear about your day. I want you to tell me that you had problems with trailer
471
00:42:54,949 --> 00:43:01,409
or something like that, so I can lead you okay to do maybe an easier job the next
472
00:43:01,409 --> 00:43:07,090
time and make it easy for these guys and, uh, safe and, uh, fishing.
473
00:43:08,090 --> 00:43:13,649
Great stuff there. Uh, Dale, any thoughts to add to that? Uh, obviously I see you guys kind of nodding
474
00:43:13,649 --> 00:43:18,969
your head every now and then. I see Jeremy look up, nod his head very, uh, very emphatically. So
475
00:43:19,010 --> 00:43:25,129
obviously some stuff that goes for the Saginaw terminal there and what Rob just said as well. My
476
00:43:25,129 --> 00:43:30,409
thoughts on this. Uh, for one, it everybody's got trucks and trailers out there. Our competition's
477
00:43:30,450 --> 00:43:36,049
got all that. It's our service that we sell, so we want over-the-top customer service. We want that
478
00:43:36,050 --> 00:43:41,648
customer to have such a good experience that he doesn't want to get product from anywhere else. So
479
00:43:41,649 --> 00:43:45,689
that's going to be on the drivers to give that. It's going to be on us when we're dealing with
480
00:43:45,690 --> 00:43:51,648
customers to give that, it takes everybody. Everybody's got to do their part. And uh, the other
481
00:43:51,649 --> 00:43:56,239
is that we live and die by the numbers. Like Rob said, if you you know it doesn't take but one
482
00:43:56,240 --> 00:44:01,999
digit off and everything's messed up. So if you get complacent and it's like, oh, I do this every
483
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:06,559
day, I don't really need to check all this. I, you know, I get people a little check, like the last
484
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:13,398
two numbers on a seal and seal might have eight digits in it, and the last two numbers were the
485
00:44:13,399 --> 00:44:19,199
same as a different load. So check all the numbers, make sure all your numbers are right. Make sure
486
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:23,638
you check the location, make sure you go to the right location, that kind of thing. Because we
487
00:44:23,639 --> 00:44:29,359
can't rely on the receivers. A lot of those out there, they don't check anything. So we started
488
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:34,279
doing double checks here before they leave the yard. So everybody that has a load, they check
489
00:44:34,319 --> 00:44:39,079
their load and then they have to get another team member to check their load. And sometimes they're
490
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:43,560
calling Jeremy or myself out of the office and we're happy to we'll walk that outside. We'll
491
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:48,519
check your numbers. And the part that people don't know is middle of the night when there's nobody
492
00:44:48,519 --> 00:44:53,458
there. We're getting pictures of everything. People take pictures of their seal numbers, their trailer
493
00:44:53,459 --> 00:44:59,099
hooked to their truck, their bill of lading, and I'm rubbing sand out of my eye and putting
494
00:44:59,100 --> 00:45:03,580
glasses on. Or he is getting, you know, looking at the pictures, trying to make sure it all match. And
495
00:45:03,580 --> 00:45:07,699
we'll tell him good to go. It doesn't matter if it's 1:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning,
496
00:45:07,740 --> 00:45:14,378
whatever that whenever, whatever. No, uh, shout out to Tina that puts up with me. My phone's ringing
497
00:45:14,379 --> 00:45:20,459
all night like that. But I was going to say, is there ever a time deal that you wish one of these
498
00:45:20,459 --> 00:45:26,859
drivers would just sleep in for a couple of hours? Yeah, sometimes it's more headaches when they
499
00:45:26,860 --> 00:45:32,580
don't make it on time, so I rather. Yeah, yeah, no more time on mine. If you need something, wake me
500
00:45:32,580 --> 00:45:37,139
up. But if it's something that is I can't do anything about at the time. Like, don't call me
501
00:45:37,139 --> 00:45:42,219
about your payroll problem at 2:00 in the morning, you know, because payroll is not. I can't get that
502
00:45:42,219 --> 00:45:48,539
fixed at 2:00 in the morning. No. So something I can complain about it at 2:00 in the morning. Bill.
503
00:45:50,459 --> 00:45:54,249
I think some of them think since they're awake, everybody should be. Or something like that. But,
504
00:45:54,249 --> 00:45:59,889
you know, we're human. We got to sleep too, you know? And our sleep does get interrupted a lot, you know?
505
00:45:59,929 --> 00:46:06,889
Yeah, I call it, uh, a a cellular insomnia. That's when that cell phone rings and you don't get any
506
00:46:06,889 --> 00:46:13,609
sleep. But it's a territory, and I don't mind when it's legit. You know, when somebody wakes you up,
507
00:46:13,610 --> 00:46:17,929
they'll. When somebody wakes you up, they'll. You're like, that's why all you're doing is thinking
508
00:46:17,929 --> 00:46:21,849
about it. You cannot go back to sleep. It don't. It could be 1:00 in the morning and somebody will
509
00:46:21,850 --> 00:46:27,928
call and say, hey, I got a flat tire or I'm in an accident. And then you're just thinking that that
510
00:46:27,929 --> 00:46:32,209
that's all you're thinking about. So. Yeah, well, that's the other part. We can't ignore the phone.
511
00:46:32,210 --> 00:46:36,169
You never know what it's going to be. Is it somebody that you know has a problem because
512
00:46:36,169 --> 00:46:40,809
they've got a flat tire? Or do you have a truck with 18 wheels sticking up in the air? We never
513
00:46:40,809 --> 00:46:46,289
know. Right, right. You know, that's. The it's bad. It's bad. I've I've seen some doozies here, you
514
00:46:46,290 --> 00:46:52,429
know. And so it's you know, I hate to make to everybody. Wherever I'm at. Stop. It's like, sorry, I
515
00:46:52,429 --> 00:46:56,749
gotta go to work for a second. Phone rang, but I never know what's going to be on the other end of
516
00:46:56,749 --> 00:47:01,909
that phone or how bad it's going to be. So sure. And those drivers depend on you to be there, right?
517
00:47:01,909 --> 00:47:06,829
That's something that, uh, that's part of the communication end of it. And, uh, as unfortunate as
518
00:47:06,830 --> 00:47:11,830
it may be, sometimes at 1 a.m. in the morning, that's what the job entails, right? That's what it.
519
00:47:12,229 --> 00:47:18,589
Is. Absolutely. You know how bad it's going to be, but. Right. Yeah. Well, fellas, I we've talked about
520
00:47:18,590 --> 00:47:22,789
how things can go wrong. We talked about the ripple effect. We talked about putting the pieces
521
00:47:22,790 --> 00:47:27,429
of the puzzle together. I want to give you the opportunity to tell me a story about when a
522
00:47:27,429 --> 00:47:31,750
driver saved the day, because I know that that stuff happens. We already hear that. Rob's got a
523
00:47:31,750 --> 00:47:37,829
couple drivers on loan down to Saginaw. I love how you guys operate. Like, uh, like, you know, uh, the
524
00:47:37,829 --> 00:47:42,429
Premier League in soccer where it's like, hey, you know what? I got this guy here, you can have him
525
00:47:42,430 --> 00:47:46,189
for a little bit. Just. We'll loan him out to you. As long as you give him back with good knees,
526
00:47:46,189 --> 00:47:52,009
we're okay with it. Um, so talk to me a little bit. Or. Rob, maybe we can start with you. Is there a
527
00:47:52,009 --> 00:47:56,809
time that sticks out where a driver, uh, just went above and beyond? Or really did something that
528
00:47:56,850 --> 00:48:01,889
kind of bailed out the whole squad or or just cleaned up a mess that would have been bigger had
529
00:48:01,889 --> 00:48:08,689
they not come along? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think each and every one of my drivers, uh, at one point in
530
00:48:08,689 --> 00:48:15,448
time will do that. Okay. Um, I'm not going to pinpoint one or the other, but I think
531
00:48:15,449 --> 00:48:21,490
all of them help each other out. Not only does that put a lot of stress off of me, I mean, I can't
532
00:48:21,490 --> 00:48:26,449
be on the phone all day long with a guy that's plugged up. You know what I mean? I, I would love to,
533
00:48:26,490 --> 00:48:33,128
to help them out. And I usually am usually off off duty. I'm usually home and then I'm, I'm trying to
534
00:48:33,170 --> 00:48:39,408
unclog somebody on the phone, but, uh, no, I think everybody does their own part, uh, to
535
00:48:39,450 --> 00:48:46,168
make to make everything work. Some people are better at, uh, unloading lime than others, uh,
536
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:52,439
you know, Dale, I mean, you know, you got your guys, uh, doing flour, uh, and, you know, the ones that are
537
00:48:52,439 --> 00:48:56,319
definitely going to check their stuff and double, triple check their stuff. And, you know, the ones
538
00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:02,479
that are going to make it happen. You know, we all have those people. Um, but collaboration of a team
539
00:49:02,479 --> 00:49:09,120
working all together, I think to me is more important than just individuals. Okay. Um.
540
00:49:09,399 --> 00:49:15,600
You can tell. And that's part of liking to lead first and manage second, right, Rob? Correct.
541
00:49:16,559 --> 00:49:21,519
I love it, I love it. Dale. Anything to add there, you or Jeremy? Uh, you know, talking about a time
542
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:25,439
that, uh, a driver saved the day. I love what Rob said there. Is it basically, each one of the
543
00:49:25,439 --> 00:49:29,719
drivers out of Fairborn is going to save the day. It's sort of inherent in the job that they're
544
00:49:29,720 --> 00:49:36,079
doing. I imagine it's probably a lot the same out there in Saginaw. It is very much like that. I've
545
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:41,479
seen times where a driver of call me like I see a spur truck, one of ours, stuck on the side of the
546
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:46,179
road, and they're stopping, and then they're like, okay, they'll run, Go get them. You know, it's hot in
547
00:49:46,179 --> 00:49:50,298
Texas or whatever. Make sure it gets some water and some food and all that. Take it back out. Guys
548
00:49:50,299 --> 00:49:56,539
waiting on a tow truck so other drivers checking in on them. Or you get one that they get out to a
549
00:49:56,540 --> 00:50:03,100
location. Maybe the hot hose blew out and they can't unload. So, you know, people that will, um. Oh,
550
00:50:03,139 --> 00:50:08,979
I'm empty and they are in the area and they'll show up and, and, you know, go do a buddy pump, you
551
00:50:08,979 --> 00:50:14,379
know, try to help him out, you know, and, you know, a lot of times we'll pay them a little extra for
552
00:50:14,379 --> 00:50:18,979
the extra time that's on the load or whatever, because they're helping somebody through a
553
00:50:18,979 --> 00:50:24,819
mechanical issue or whatever. Yeah. Uh, you know, that kind of thing that helps. But the ones that,
554
00:50:24,820 --> 00:50:30,899
uh, they pay attention to everything and they are on time. And, you know, you give them an assignment,
555
00:50:30,899 --> 00:50:35,459
the next thing you get back is some paperwork. The paperwork's legible and everything. The customer
556
00:50:35,459 --> 00:50:41,259
is happy and all that to all of the ones that are doing that every day, day in, day out. And some of
557
00:50:41,259 --> 00:50:46,850
them for years. I got a couple with million miles. Daggett, get up in here a long time to those kind
558
00:50:46,850 --> 00:50:53,610
of people. Thank you so much. Because without you guys, we we're in trouble. Why? For sure?
559
00:50:53,850 --> 00:50:58,408
For sure. You know, we talk about the quality. Actually, just last week's episode, we were talking
560
00:50:58,409 --> 00:51:05,129
about the quality of the training that the drivers receive at Bulk and Spur. And part of
561
00:51:05,129 --> 00:51:11,168
what we figured out during that episode was that a lot of times, trainers and their trainees are
562
00:51:11,169 --> 00:51:16,289
going to stay in touch. They're going to stay in communication for a long time, maybe even decades
563
00:51:16,289 --> 00:51:22,929
down the road. Um, and being able to share that type of knowledge between trainer and trainee
564
00:51:22,969 --> 00:51:29,809
that many years into the future, uh, is really what develops this kind of family led architecture
565
00:51:29,810 --> 00:51:35,729
at Balkan Spurs. It's like you almost feel like it's not a trainer trainee relationship. It's like
566
00:51:35,729 --> 00:51:40,128
an older and younger sibling relationship. Like, yeah, I'm gonna tell you when you're messing it up
567
00:51:40,129 --> 00:51:44,549
so that you can clean it up and do it right. But at the end of the day, it's because I want you to
568
00:51:44,590 --> 00:51:50,869
succeed. Um, and that type of camaraderie, while it happens in the trucking industry, you don't see it
569
00:51:50,870 --> 00:51:56,310
as often, uh, in other fleets as what you do here at Bulk and Spur guys. And I gotta say, hats off
570
00:51:56,310 --> 00:52:02,869
for that, because that's one of those things that takes an entire village to do. Dale. Right. Yeah, I
571
00:52:02,870 --> 00:52:08,989
agree on that. Um, I've been other places where it's kind of dog eat dog and, um, people here, and
572
00:52:08,989 --> 00:52:13,709
it starts at the top. I mean, we're a family owned company, the Wolf family, and they're awesome
573
00:52:13,709 --> 00:52:19,029
people to work with. And and they foster that in everybody around them. And then we try to do the
574
00:52:19,030 --> 00:52:25,949
same, foster that in our people. And and it's all one, you know, big happy family. You know, most of
575
00:52:25,950 --> 00:52:32,229
them I mean we have them. Everybody has their moments. Right. Sometimes you got, you know, a couple
576
00:52:32,269 --> 00:52:38,469
of people, you know, not happy with each other. Not everybody's happy every day, you know? Yeah. No, I
577
00:52:38,470 --> 00:52:43,459
get that. I mean, it was nothing for my sister and I to be saying very nice things about each other
578
00:52:43,459 --> 00:52:48,179
at the dinner table, and five minutes later I'm throwing her over the back of the couch and we're
579
00:52:48,180 --> 00:52:53,260
we're we're fighting. I mean, that is what it is. But, uh, those things tend to smooth over quickly
580
00:52:53,260 --> 00:52:58,420
with, uh, the type of relationships that you guys build at Bulk and Spur. And, um, I want to give you
581
00:52:58,420 --> 00:53:04,859
guys both a chance here. Or all three of you a chance to talk to maybe a prospective employee,
582
00:53:04,860 --> 00:53:10,299
somebody that's listening to this podcast right now that doesn't work for Bulk or Spur yet, but is
583
00:53:10,300 --> 00:53:16,739
going to or wants to in the future. Um, Rob, what would you say to that driver about life in
584
00:53:16,739 --> 00:53:22,699
general at bulk? What should they expect? Why should they come to Fairborn and drive and haul
585
00:53:22,699 --> 00:53:28,300
minerals for you? I tell everybody that comes into my office that, you know, if you get hired here,
586
00:53:28,300 --> 00:53:33,459
you're not just a number. You know, people are playing city, Sydney, wherever you go, they're going
587
00:53:33,459 --> 00:53:38,699
to know you by your name. It's just, I don't know, I, I think it's amazing that Brad and Brian and
588
00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:44,839
everybody can actually like, remember names, you know. A lot of drivers come in and come and going
589
00:53:44,879 --> 00:53:51,120
around there, but somehow Brad remembers names. You know, when people go into the shop, I don't know. I
590
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:57,840
think that, you know, every time I say that to somebody, they they they feel relieved. Okay.
591
00:53:57,879 --> 00:54:04,799
And you know, to me that, you know, to me it's a job. You know, I love my job. And,
592
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:10,559
uh, you know, to them, it's, you know, they they feel like they could be a number. But when you tell
593
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:16,239
them that these 25 drivers on my board here are going to be like family here. And, you know, if you
594
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:22,479
get hired here, you're going to really have some relationships with, with, uh, your trainer, uh,
595
00:54:22,479 --> 00:54:28,159
anybody who's been to a job site that's going to help you and communicate with you, you know, might
596
00:54:28,159 --> 00:54:33,439
make your day a little bit easier, but you'll start to, uh, figure out we're all in this together,
597
00:54:33,439 --> 00:54:39,428
and we're all in it to help each other out. So great stuff. And again, something that's not always
598
00:54:39,429 --> 00:54:44,389
the way it is out there in the trucking industry. That is a lead complaint that I hear from drivers.
599
00:54:44,430 --> 00:54:49,789
Oh, the last place that I worked at, I was just a number. I didn't I didn't even have a name. Every
600
00:54:49,790 --> 00:54:55,509
time I called the terminal, they asked me for my number, not my name. And that really matters to
601
00:54:55,550 --> 00:55:00,109
truck drivers. I think you could say across the board, uh, there are people there doing a really
602
00:55:00,110 --> 00:55:04,669
dangerous job. They want to be recognized and understood. And I think that's something that Bulk
603
00:55:04,670 --> 00:55:11,310
and Spur does very well. Rob, uh, I agree. Uh, Dale, to you and Jeremy, same question. Um,
604
00:55:11,310 --> 00:55:15,429
what are you going to tell somebody that might come to work for you out there for Spur and
605
00:55:15,429 --> 00:55:21,908
Saginaw? Um, anything that comes to mind? I would say I've kind of got a unique perspective as far
606
00:55:21,909 --> 00:55:27,110
as being here. Uh, when I originally got hired on, I got hired on as a loader. So I started kind of
607
00:55:27,149 --> 00:55:32,189
from the bottom and worked my way up to this position. I was thankful to, uh, get the opportunity
608
00:55:32,190 --> 00:55:36,969
to move into the assistant terminal manager role as far as it being a company to work for. I've
609
00:55:36,970 --> 00:55:41,290
been at other places. I did roofing for ten years. I've been at different warehouses. It's the same
610
00:55:41,290 --> 00:55:46,929
anywhere else. They treat you as a number, not as a person. I will say the first phone call I did get
611
00:55:46,929 --> 00:55:53,169
when I got promoted to this position was from Sean. Call me by I. I'd never met Sean since I'd
612
00:55:53,169 --> 00:55:58,569
been here. Hey, Jeremy. It's nice to have you over here, Greg. You know, congratulations on moving up. I
613
00:55:58,570 --> 00:56:03,249
got emails from Brian. Andrea from everybody telling me, hey, you know, thank you very much for
614
00:56:03,249 --> 00:56:07,929
being here. You know, we appreciate you doing everything you did. So that kind of made me feel
615
00:56:07,929 --> 00:56:12,649
like it was kind of a very homely place, knowing that I've never met these people since I've been
616
00:56:12,649 --> 00:56:16,929
here, but they're the first ones that I get emails and phone calls from congratulating me on moving
617
00:56:16,929 --> 00:56:22,610
up to this position. So definitely, for sure, it is a very family oriented business. It's a great
618
00:56:22,610 --> 00:56:29,408
place to work. I mean, we all, we have our days, but and overall it's it's a good place to work. That's
619
00:56:29,409 --> 00:56:36,399
amazing. Uh, to hear from from, uh, Sean and Brian and Andrea and Brad. I can only imagine how how
620
00:56:36,399 --> 00:56:41,398
good that felt right in the middle of the chest, man. I, you know, um, I'm one of those guys where a
621
00:56:41,399 --> 00:56:46,079
small pat on the back can go a long way for me. If somebody just looks at me once in a while and
622
00:56:46,080 --> 00:56:52,239
says, hey, I like that episode, or, hey, I liked what you said here. I can live off of that sustenance
623
00:56:52,239 --> 00:56:58,319
for weeks at a time. Jeremy. So I just imagine that was, uh, that that was just one of many things
624
00:56:58,320 --> 00:57:03,559
that's really solidified your love for the company you work for. That's right. It was, um, like
625
00:57:03,560 --> 00:57:08,599
I said, it hit me in the chest pretty much. Once I got over here, I was able to hear from everybody.
626
00:57:08,639 --> 00:57:14,079
It motivated me to do everything I could to make this, you know, make this where I want to stay.
627
00:57:15,039 --> 00:57:20,039
Great stuff, man. Thanks for sharing that. Uh, fellas, I know you guys are busy. I want to let you get
628
00:57:20,039 --> 00:57:25,360
back to it here. Uh, as you know, if you've listened to the show, we always offer everybody that comes
629
00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:29,080
on the show the opportunity to share their final thoughts with us, just to make sure we didn't
630
00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:34,500
leave anything on the table or give some shout outs. Uh, I will say you'd never lose points by
631
00:57:34,500 --> 00:57:39,579
shouting out your wife or your kids on this podcast. Uh, so something to think about there, but,
632
00:57:39,579 --> 00:57:44,019
uh, Rob will come to you first. Uh, thanks for joining us again, man. Always a pleasure to have
633
00:57:44,019 --> 00:57:48,700
you here. Final thoughts from you. Rob Shope, uh, terminal manager down there at the Fairborn
634
00:57:48,739 --> 00:57:54,739
terminal. Before we let you go, my friend. Man, I'm I'm I'm just thankful, okay? I'm just thankful. I'm
635
00:57:54,740 --> 00:58:01,659
thankful for who I work for. I'm thankful for my whole team here. I'm thankful for my existence. I'm
636
00:58:01,659 --> 00:58:08,259
thankful for everything. So I'm just going to leave it at that and just say I'm thankful. Um, and,
637
00:58:08,260 --> 00:58:14,698
uh, I, I hope to continue to grow. Um, I hope law keeps keeps me around, uh,
638
00:58:14,859 --> 00:58:21,819
to, uh, to keep growing with them. Um, and, uh, I'm just thankful. Great stuff,
639
00:58:21,819 --> 00:58:26,860
man. We're thankful that you gave us some time today. Rob, thank you so much for being here. Uh,
640
00:58:26,899 --> 00:58:31,219
Dale, we'll go over to you real quick for your final thoughts, and then Jeremy will come to you.
641
00:58:31,409 --> 00:58:36,889
Dale Cetina, terminal manager out at Saginaw. Greatly appreciate the time and on short notice
642
00:58:36,889 --> 00:58:41,209
today. You guys all really came through for me today. Uh, final thoughts from you before we let
643
00:58:41,209 --> 00:58:46,010
you go, Dale. I have to follow suit. I got the attitude of gratitude as well. I just want to
644
00:58:46,010 --> 00:58:50,649
thank God that he put me on the wake up list. I'm getting older, and every day you wake up and you
645
00:58:50,650 --> 00:58:56,289
get older is a plus. And thank God for that. Uh, I thank the DeWolfe family because they've been
646
00:58:56,290 --> 00:59:01,610
great to me over the years. I've been here almost 14 years. I drove here for a year. So I understand
647
00:59:01,610 --> 00:59:06,849
all that. But been in the office for 13 almost, and they've been great to me. They've helped me grow
648
00:59:06,850 --> 00:59:11,929
through that. So thank you for that. I like to thank the whole crew. Uh, you know, Jeremy, number
649
00:59:11,929 --> 00:59:18,528
one assistant. Well, you know, the Tina says thanks to. Yeah. And, uh, you know, uh, all the
650
00:59:18,529 --> 00:59:24,489
loaders that we have and the, uh, you know, Jeremy and the shop to keep things going and, uh, you know,
651
00:59:24,530 --> 00:59:30,710
the the wash techs and, you know, uh, everybody, the drivers, it takes everybody doing everything to
652
00:59:30,710 --> 00:59:36,709
make it happen. So thanks for making it happen, you know. And thanks for our customers for keeping us
653
00:59:36,709 --> 00:59:42,509
busy. You know, I appreciate all them. And, uh, you know, and also thank you, Tina.
654
00:59:43,830 --> 00:59:49,830
Uh, my guy. You you did. You didn't let that go unsaid. Good job. Ten months today. Is you okay? Uh,
655
00:59:49,830 --> 00:59:54,268
when I woke up this morning, first thing you said was happy anniversary. It was ten months today. So.
656
00:59:54,550 --> 00:59:59,149
Uh, you know what? I think I got a button here loaded up for that. We can do an applause for ten
657
00:59:59,149 --> 01:00:05,950
months for sure. Well said. There, Dale. Thank you so much for the time. Uh,
658
01:00:05,950 --> 01:00:10,549
Jeremy Willison, we're going to come to you. Assistant terminal manager out there at the
659
01:00:10,549 --> 01:00:16,110
Saginaw terminal in Texas. Final thoughts from you. Thank you so much for the time today. Yeah. No, I
660
01:00:16,110 --> 01:00:20,668
greatly appreciate it. Um, I know we've been hearing it going on for a while, and I was glad to
661
01:00:20,669 --> 01:00:25,109
get the opportunity to come on and kind of give my side of the story from from down here. Um, I do
662
01:00:25,109 --> 01:00:29,300
have to appreciate, you know, everybody up in the office. Brian. Brad, Andrea, everybody there for
663
01:00:29,300 --> 01:00:33,219
giving me the opportunity to come here. I appreciate Dale for giving me the opportunity to
664
01:00:33,219 --> 01:00:37,900
get promoted over to this position here. You know, obviously without him giving me the go ahead, I
665
01:00:37,900 --> 01:00:42,539
wouldn't I'd still be here. I'd still be a loader. But, you know, it's nice to be able to move up and
666
01:00:42,540 --> 01:00:47,459
continue to grow here and make sure this is somewhere I want to stay. And then, of course, you
667
01:00:47,460 --> 01:00:51,019
know, I have to give the shout out to my kids. That's all them I was going to be on here today.
668
01:00:51,019 --> 01:00:56,620
So shout out to my kids, Hannah and Hunter, for me, making them sit through the episode to listen to
669
01:00:56,620 --> 01:01:02,739
it. So that way I can prove that I was on here today. Nice shout out to Hannah and Hunter. That's
670
01:01:02,739 --> 01:01:06,979
awesome. Uh, thanks for bringing the families along. It's one of the best things you do. You know, I
671
01:01:06,980 --> 01:01:12,580
make my parents listen to this every single day, too. So, uh, once a week, they're always pneumatic,
672
01:01:12,580 --> 01:01:16,499
never static. Fans, whether they like it or not. That's just part of being in the family. Right,
673
01:01:16,499 --> 01:01:22,138
guys? Right, right. Shout out to you, too, Marcus and the crew that you have. And for all the podcasts
674
01:01:22,139 --> 01:01:27,759
that you're doing, it's it's been good. Thank you so much. Uh, Dale, we've got a fantastic team over
675
01:01:27,759 --> 01:01:33,479
here. I am, I am the tip of the iceberg in that. Yeah, I'm the one that makes the most noise behind
676
01:01:33,479 --> 01:01:38,878
the microphone, but I'm not the one that does the best work here. Uh, give Mike, my editor, Tyler, the
677
01:01:38,879 --> 01:01:45,199
web guy. Uh, Jessica, our producer. Uh, Ari, our graphics person. I mean, it goes on and on and on.
678
01:01:45,199 --> 01:01:50,199
I've forgotten people, but I really appreciate the shout out. And, uh, I want to share it with the
679
01:01:50,199 --> 01:01:55,999
whole squad. So, uh, I'm I'm adding into the final thoughts here for once on the show. Uh, gentlemen.
680
01:01:56,000 --> 01:02:01,159
Dale. Jeremy. Rob, you guys are awesome today. Thank you all so much. We will definitely get you back
681
01:02:01,159 --> 01:02:06,958
in here soon. Uh. Appreciate it. Have a good day. See you guys. Thank you. Right. They.
682
01:02:16,040 --> 01:02:22,479
Can't thank Rob, Dale and Jeremy enough for that. That was an awesome segment. And, uh, really? I said
683
01:02:22,479 --> 01:02:27,910
a peek behind the curtain, man. We ripped the curtain off the rod and just let you stand in the
684
01:02:27,910 --> 01:02:34,749
window and watch for as long as you wanted to. Um, fantastic stuff there. I want to really
685
01:02:34,749 --> 01:02:40,428
draw the point home here, that every delivery that you make, even if it's just one, even if it's just
686
01:02:40,429 --> 01:02:44,229
a little short one that you're, you know, you're going to be home early this afternoon or maybe
687
01:02:44,230 --> 01:02:49,910
get the grass mowed. Uh, maybe, maybe have a nice cold beer in the garage and get to spend some
688
01:02:49,910 --> 01:02:55,750
time with family. Even that one load that you took that seems like nothing represents dozens of
689
01:02:55,750 --> 01:03:02,549
unseen decisions made by operations, maintenance, dispatch drivers, customers and support
690
01:03:02,549 --> 01:03:09,469
staff. Um, I think that Rob really hit the nail on the head when he said, every single day is
691
01:03:09,470 --> 01:03:16,389
a puzzle and we have to put the puzzle together. And I mean, hey, they illustrated that it is a
692
01:03:16,389 --> 01:03:21,949
puzzle because it doesn't go together the same way every single time. Sometimes you start out the
693
01:03:21,949 --> 01:03:26,610
right way by getting all the edges and the corners worked in, and then you fill in the middle,
694
01:03:26,649 --> 01:03:31,649
but other times you can't find that edge piece, you can't find that corner piece, and you gotta
695
01:03:31,690 --> 01:03:37,649
work for it. And that's where the support of the rest of the staff, the drivers, the customers,
696
01:03:37,649 --> 01:03:44,370
everybody really steps up. Um, this conversation really emphasized a few
697
01:03:44,370 --> 01:03:50,049
things like communication, trust and people stepping up for each other. Like I said, uh, from
698
01:03:50,049 --> 01:03:54,809
loaning drivers between terminals to answering phones in the middle of the night. And you even
699
01:03:54,809 --> 01:04:01,129
heard it. Dale's phone rang like 2 or 3 times during that episode or during that segment. And, uh,
700
01:04:01,169 --> 01:04:06,009
he was nice enough to to mute those calls, send them on to voicemail. But I guarantee you they
701
01:04:06,010 --> 01:04:10,409
just stacked up on him. And those are now issues that he's got to solve, questions he's got to
702
01:04:10,450 --> 01:04:16,490
answer or decisions he's got to make. Um, and these guys take their job very seriously. And that is
703
01:04:16,490 --> 01:04:22,959
one of many reasons that this operation across all terminals runs as smoothly as it
704
01:04:22,960 --> 01:04:28,719
does. Um, and that's part of the culture, right? The operation works not because everything goes
705
01:04:28,719 --> 01:04:33,919
according to plan every single day. You can't. You can't even wish for that. I mean, if you had a
706
01:04:33,919 --> 01:04:38,320
genie and you said, hey, everything's got to go off without a hitch every single day, I think the
707
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:44,959
genie would scoff at you a little bit and say, easy, bud, I can't do quite that much. Um, people
708
01:04:44,960 --> 01:04:50,239
adapt behind the scenes when things don't go right at bulk, and that's what matters. They don't
709
01:04:50,239 --> 01:04:55,199
stop at the end of their job description and say, that's it. I'm not helping out anymore. They see
710
01:04:55,200 --> 01:05:00,199
somebody struggling. They got a few extra minutes in their day, and maybe they go from their office
711
01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:04,759
over to the cubicle and help out. Maybe it's a driver that's headed home for the day. The day is
712
01:05:04,759 --> 01:05:09,639
effectively done. All I got to do is get this truck and trailer back and I'm on the golf course.
713
01:05:09,639 --> 01:05:13,958
But then they see another bulk driver pulled off on the side of the road and doesn't look like
714
01:05:13,959 --> 01:05:19,119
things are going well. The golf course can wait. We gotta adapt. It's time to make sure this driver
715
01:05:19,119 --> 01:05:24,100
has everything he needs and he doesn't need any help. That's the culture at bulk. That's the thing
716
01:05:24,100 --> 01:05:31,099
that really drives this bus. And you heard Rob talk about Brian's mission statement and how
717
01:05:31,179 --> 01:05:36,699
it really finally clicked for him. When he first saw it, it was words on a page, but when it finally
718
01:05:36,700 --> 01:05:41,459
clicked for him, everything made sense. You gotta think about that mission statement as more than
719
01:05:41,459 --> 01:05:46,459
words on a page. You have to think about that mission statement as a tattoo that everybody that
720
01:05:46,459 --> 01:05:52,659
works under this umbrella has. It doesn't change. It doesn't adapt, it doesn't move. That mission
721
01:05:52,660 --> 01:05:59,299
statement is what it is for a reason. And everybody from the top down, Brian, Brad, Andrea,
722
01:05:59,340 --> 01:06:05,939
Sean, Tim, everybody, uh, the terminal managers, of course, Rob, Dale, Jeremy and
723
01:06:05,940 --> 01:06:11,939
beyond, they're all living that every single day. It's the lifeblood of this company, the culture of
724
01:06:11,939 --> 01:06:17,779
stepping up to help one another out, trusting one another, communicating efficiently and effectively.
725
01:06:17,780 --> 01:06:23,850
It's all part of what makes bulk move forward into the future. And I feel like we've been really
726
01:06:23,850 --> 01:06:28,969
lucky here in these last few episodes because we have the company anniversary special where we got
727
01:06:28,969 --> 01:06:35,089
to talk to the top end leadership about the, you know, kind of a state of the union and, and what
728
01:06:35,090 --> 01:06:40,649
they're seeing for the future and what they're proud of at this point. And then our last episode,
729
01:06:40,650 --> 01:06:46,449
we talked to a couple of guys that are training the new crop of drivers at bulk, and we talked to
730
01:06:46,490 --> 01:06:52,570
Rachel about how she recruits the new crop of drivers at bulk. And today we talked to the guys
731
01:06:52,570 --> 01:06:57,530
behind the operations in a couple of terminals and got some really good insight on how they keep
732
01:06:57,530 --> 01:07:03,128
this whole thing moving. We've kind of done a top down view of this from the last three episodes,
733
01:07:03,129 --> 01:07:10,048
and I feel like it gives us a great composite of what Bulk and Spur really are, and why it is
734
01:07:10,049 --> 01:07:16,249
that for every episode we've had on this show. Guys come in and gals come in and they talk about
735
01:07:16,250 --> 01:07:21,949
how much they love working for this company, and it's because of the culture that has been, uh,
736
01:07:21,990 --> 01:07:27,389
pumping through the blood of this company for years, decades at this point. And we'll keep doing
737
01:07:27,389 --> 01:07:32,069
that. And that's you guys. That's something that you have to take a little pride in today after
738
01:07:32,069 --> 01:07:37,029
hearing an episode like this. I think everybody that works for Vulcan Spur should give themselves
739
01:07:37,029 --> 01:07:42,830
a pat on the back for a job well done when it comes to keeping this culture intact and helping
740
01:07:42,830 --> 01:07:48,909
out, communicating effectively, being a family rather than a number. It's all part of it, man. It's
741
01:07:48,909 --> 01:07:54,869
what makes this ship float through the waters of the trucking industry and look so much better
742
01:07:54,869 --> 01:08:00,509
than so many of the other ships that it's driving by out there. And, uh, wow, are we fortunate here at
743
01:08:00,510 --> 01:08:06,149
Always Nomadic, never static, the entire crew, uh, that gets to help me make this podcast, gets to
744
01:08:06,149 --> 01:08:09,789
help me make this podcast and make it sound like it's a privilege that they get to work. For me.
745
01:08:09,790 --> 01:08:15,589
It's not. I'm the one that's privileged to have such a great team around me. Um, and I, I can't
746
01:08:15,589 --> 01:08:20,299
thank Dale enough and Robin and Jeremy for calling it out and telling us that we're doing a
747
01:08:20,299 --> 01:08:26,499
great job. I can live on that again. I said that that that one pat on the back for me. My stomach's
748
01:08:26,500 --> 01:08:31,259
full for the next three weeks, I guarantee it. Uh, thank you to those guys once again for coming on
749
01:08:31,259 --> 01:08:36,258
here and sharing their time with us. We gotta wrap this thing up. We're out of time today, but as
750
01:08:36,259 --> 01:08:42,219
always, we will be back next week with another fantastic episode. An hour of content for you all
751
01:08:42,220 --> 01:08:47,739
about Bulk and Spur right here on always pneumatic, never static. I've been. Marcus, you've
752
01:08:47,740 --> 01:08:52,699
been awesome. Thank you for joining us here today. We'll see you next week. Be safe out there, bulk
753
01:08:52,700 --> 01:08:59,219
and spur. And that's all she blows for today's episode of Always
754
01:08:59,259 --> 01:09:05,258
pneumatic, never static. Your number one and probably only Pneumatic Trucking podcast, brought
755
01:09:05,259 --> 01:09:10,899
to you by Bulk Transit. Thanks for rolling with us today. Till next time, stay safe. Keep those lines
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01:09:10,899 --> 01:09:12,779
clear and keep it pumping.