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The Ultimate Cheat Code for Buying Machines for Snow....Deness Leasing!
405 Plays7 days ago
The guys sit down with Lucas Strait to talk about Deness Leasing, the equipment sales arm of Arctic, and how buying, leasing, or renting near new machines from them can save snow pros thousands of dollars!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Arctic Army Roll Call
00:00:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Thank
00:00:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here we go, Snow Jobs Nation. We are back again bringing you another episode of the Arctic Army Roll Call powered by Arctic Snow and Ice Products. As always, I'm Steve. You know is with me.
Lucas Introduces Game-Changing Snow Business Program
00:00:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
And today to help make all your snow pushing lives better, we have Mr. Lucas straight from Arctic. He's joining us. We got a very specific topic we're going to talk about today. And I think we're just what we're going to get right into it here. So what we're doing today, why Lucas is here today, we're going to give everybody a cheat code.
00:01:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. This is a cheat code for your snow business. It's up to you whether or not you take advantage of it. But how do I know it's a cheat code? Because I've used it. I've used it. It exists.
00:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
It will literally save you thousands of dollars. It will allow smaller snow guys like I was. It will let you scale your business into machinery and it will let you do it quickly. So that's how I know it's a cheat code because I've used it. I've taken advantage of it and it's allowed me to do things and scale my snow company.
00:01:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Right to where I wanted. I went from two trucks to what am I now? Ten machines and four trucks. And that's the max I ever wanted to be at. I'm actually bigger than I ever wanted to be at now. And I literally I can't stress this enough for you guys out there.
00:01:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was literally only able to do this with the help of the Ness and the program that they have. right, so that's what we're talking about tonight. We wanted to get get you guys the word. We wanted to get Lucas. Nobody explains it better than him.
00:02:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
We wanted to get this word out. This is the time to take advantage of this.
00:02:08
Lucas Strait
you
00:02:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
This is the time to make these purchases. So we wanted to get this episode out to you now.
Understanding Daness and Its Industry Role
00:02:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
So we're here tonight to talk about Daness leasing. Some of you may know Daness and use them. Some of you may not. All right.
00:02:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
But for those of you that do not know who Danes is, Danes is basically the equipment arm, but the the equipment side of Arctic Snow and Ice Control, the snow company. All right. The massive fleet that they have. They're the largest purchaser of case machines in the I think in the globe now in the world.
00:02:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Danes is the side of Arctic that allows them to do that. So without further ado, we're just going to get into this. Welcome in, Mr. Lucas Strait. Lucas, how are you, buddy?
00:02:45
Lucas Strait
going on guys doing great. Thanks for having me back.
00:02:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
won No problem. Long time no see.
00:02:49
RICK JAMES
is Always good to have you, Lucas.
00:02:52
Lucas Strait
Yeah, it's been a minute.
00:02:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everything good?
00:02:54
Lucas Strait
Yeah, everything's really great. I'm a dad now.
00:02:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
i know.
00:02:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah, congratulations.
00:02:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Congratulations, man.
00:02:58
Lucas Strait
Appreciate it, man.
00:02:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Fantastic.
00:02:59
Lucas Strait
He just turned two months to the day.
00:03:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Enjoy it.
00:03:02
RICK JAMES
Awesome.
00:03:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Enjoy it while they're not mobile.
00:03:06
Lucas Strait
okay Yeah, my wife teared up the other day because she realized he's growing so much and, you know, it just keeps going. She got a little teary eyed today because he's two months. So, yeah, it goes quick.
00:03:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
It goes very quick, very quick.
00:03:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
00:03:21
RICK JAMES
Super fun.
00:03:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, congratulations to you and the missus on that. And then we can't wait to can't wait to see him operating his own, what, you're going to start him on 321 this December?
00:03:31
Lucas Strait
Yeah, probably get him a 321, get the ropes and then we'll get him in a Razorback truck.
00:03:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sweet.
00:03:36
RICK JAMES
Nice. Gotta go. Gotta get started.
00:03:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh,
Personal Insights and Daness History
00:03:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
man. So, Lucas, like I said, man, Dinesse allowed me to do things with my business that I didn't know how it was going to be possible because I could not. I just couldn't make that jump when I looked at buying machines.
00:03:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
I couldn't afford paying full price. for machines and then somehow i found deness and i i thought it was a scam when i first saw the prices and what machine i was going to be getting for that that money i'd go to my dealer and i'd look at the price there and it wasn't even close so i i took a shot and the machine showed up and i've never looked back ever since so why don't you tell everybody you know the history of deness how that happened
00:03:57
Lucas Strait
Thank you.
00:04:17
Lucas Strait
Yeah. So originally Dinesh was created out of necessity for our snow removal company to be an asset holding company, uh, for liability purposes, snow removal.
00:04:28
Lucas Strait
There's a lot of liability and to protect ourselves, we had an asset holding business.
00:04:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:04:31
Lucas Strait
We called it Dinesh. My dad had named it after my mom's nickname, Dinesh, her name's Denise. And that's, that's the Genesis behind it.
00:04:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:04:38
RICK JAMES
Perfect.
00:04:40
Lucas Strait
So Uh, the name stock and we kept with it over the years. And then that started to grow from just an asset holding company into an actual equipment business.
Transition to Case Equipment
00:04:52
Lucas Strait
So it was all the beginning of that transition was in the early two thousands when we started buying machines from Caterpillar.
00:05:03
Lucas Strait
Yep. So we started buying the machines to plow with them and rotate them out with cat on an annual basis. And then from there, it kind of exploded. We ended our relationship with Caterpillar in 2000. And i want to say it was 2015 was the end of it And then we got on board with Case.
00:05:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:05:24
Lucas Strait
Now, indeed, we are the world's largest purchaser of Case equipment.
00:05:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
That is so wild, dude.
00:05:30
RICK JAMES
um thatp How does that feel?
00:05:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's so wild.
00:05:33
Lucas Strait
uh surreal it doesn't really you don't really feel it because how busy we are it's just always go go go go go and it's the next thing and the next moment so it's kind of the it's one of those things where i walk out of the office after a long day and i look at the mile long of equipment that's now like four miles of equipment because there's so many rows of it from front to back at the airport that i mean all the grass is going we're putting in grindings it's yard after yard of machines as far as the eye can see.
00:06:04
Lucas Strait
So I think this year we're gonna have roughly 900 units on ground in Chicago, have about another 80 so in Colorado, 400 Philadelphia, New Jersey area, and another, i don't know, 60 in Canada.
00:06:19
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
00:06:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God.
00:06:21
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:06:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's insane.
00:06:23
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:06:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just think about the numbers.
00:06:23
RICK JAMES
That's crazy.
00:06:23
Lucas Strait
Yeah,
00:06:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's it's just so insane. well That's right.
00:06:27
Lucas Strait
I'm throwing a couple hundred Volvo wheel loaders as well, so.
00:06:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
You guys have Volvos as well.
00:06:33
Lucas Strait
Yes, we do. Yep.
00:06:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. So, I mean, like i said, I was able to take advantage of this, and I want to say it's almost 10 years now. um ah It was when ah when that machine showed up, like it was, you say low hour machines. I want to say you guys had a very low winter.
00:06:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
year um I got a one-year-old machine.
Steve's Personal Experience with Daness Equipment
00:06:55
Lucas Strait
Mm-hmm.
00:06:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I believe you guys had a very light winter. And the machine showed up with like, I don't know, 26 hours on it. Like, that no hours. The plastic was still on everything. It was a brand new machine for all intents and purposes.
00:07:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
And i could not I could not believe it. And every year after that, for the next three or four, we were buying machines. ah We were just kept going back to the well. Like, why would you stop?
00:07:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
We were saving so much money.
00:07:20
Lucas Strait
Yeah, I think, well, I think there's a little backstory you've told me before about how that all transition, how that transaction went down, where you called up.
00:07:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was incredible.
00:07:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
With your dad? Yeah.
00:07:32
Lucas Strait
You got to tell that story because it's such a funny story.
00:07:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, like I told you, I thought it was a scam because I had gone to – I had looked at case machines. I had gone to a dealer by me. That dealer is kind of notoriously high-priced, and I priced out a machine. And then on the Dinesse site, same setup, same everything. It was – I think it was a different website name back then. it was some weird name, but ah um I found the price was like – I don't know, 27, 28 grand different than what the, what the dealer was.
00:08:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I'm like, this is a scam. And I talked to, I talked to the guy, Mike at the nest and he's like, Nope, this
Daness Pricing and Market Strategy
00:08:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
is legit. It's a hundred percent. And he explained to me the whole Arctic connection.
00:08:12
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:08:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
And then i said, okay, that makes sense. But, The address was different or something, something kind of red flag me. And he's like, listen, very simple. Do you, you know who Randy straight is? I'm like, of course I'm in snow. I know who Randy straight is. Would you recognize his voice?
00:08:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
i like, yeah, yeah, I would. He goes, okay, I want you to call this number. The lady that answers, tell him tell him that you need to talk to Randy. going to call Randy and tell him.
00:08:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Randy answers the phone. I'm like, holy shit, it's actually Randy straight.
00:08:43
Lucas Strait
ah
00:08:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
And he talked to me for 20 minutes and didn't just talk to machines. He he explained... yes, this is, this is legit. This is our equipment arm. This is how we rotate the machines, you know, and he explained the whole process, which he didn't have to, but then he asked me about my business and what I wanted to do with the machine. And I wasn't any big dude. I was buying one skid steer.
00:09:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's how I was starting. And he's like, what do you want to use it for?
00:09:06
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:09:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
what are you putting in front of it? I'm like, I gave him the whole nine. He's like, that's a solid plan. Absolutely. You can definitely, uh, and next year you'll be able to scale that differently. And, uh, I said, yeah, I figured, you know, Arctic is the the giant at the, you know, this is 10 years ago. Arctic was probably the most well-known snow company out there.
00:09:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
I said, if they're doing it, it's gotta, there's gotta be a reason they're doing it that way. They're plowing with machines, they're plowing with sectionals and they're doing it well. And yeah, your dad gave me 20 minutes and ah asked me all about my business, gave me a couple of business tips. And that was it. Two days later, I wired the money a day later and two days later, the machine showed up.
00:09:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, wow, that was very, very easy process. And it it changed the trajectory of my business forever because I would have been stuck in trucks because I just couldn't i couldn't afford a machine that I wasn't going use in the summer. you know i'm saying?
00:10:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, it was literally just going to push snow for me. So whatever it was going to cost for the year had to come from that six-month snow season. And that the Ness pricing allowed me to do that.
00:10:09
Lucas Strait
Mm-hmm.
00:10:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, you know, I'm forever, forever grateful. I've told that story to probably a hundred guys that have asked. And I tell everybody like, listen, if you're a small guy, you're looking to start getting in the machinery. like That's the place to check. I don't know why you would start looking anywhere else.
00:10:26
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:10:27
Lucas Strait
Yeah, exactly. nah And I hear that story more and more as time goes on you know We started buying equipment and selling it for the purpose of keeping machines new and rotating them out. And when we're buying
Strategic Partnership with Case
00:10:40
Lucas Strait
in the volumes that we're buying, like this year, we're purchasing over 600 machines from Case and other 100 loaders from Volvo.
00:10:47
Lucas Strait
You're getting ah a very steep discount. And...
00:10:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. Yeah, your buying power is off the chart.
00:10:54
Lucas Strait
Yeah, we're passing that along to the guy that's buying the machine. And that's how we can afford to continue to bring in new units and sell them and continue to reduce our costs to do business.
00:11:06
Lucas Strait
And as that grew, when we were with CAT, they took the machines back every year.
00:11:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Okay.
00:11:13
Lucas Strait
And now they don't they don't they don't do that anymore.
00:11:13
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:11:15
Lucas Strait
And it was a whole, the end of that deal was pretty ugly for everyone involved, but we got out mostly unscathed. And we had Case in our ear saying, you know, if there's ever an opportunity, um you know, please give us a call.
00:11:30
Lucas Strait
And that's what my dad did. He he called him and said, hey guys, I think there's going to be ah very quickly pending opportunity for you here.
00:11:41
Lucas Strait
And this could be the break you've been looking for. So he, they came in we made a deal that was in 2016. I think we bought like 135 machines and use them for the year and then started selling them.
00:11:55
Lucas Strait
And I think that's right about the time that you discovered us and you got to enjoy that savings.
00:11:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:12:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
I definitely did. ah definitely And that's also, not coincidentally, that is also the shift where you used to only see pushing snow machine-wise.
00:12:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
You'd see cat. You'd see deer. You never saw cases.
00:12:14
RICK JAMES
Yep. Not really.
00:12:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
And now you see cases everywhere pushing snow. And that is 100% related to you guys
00:12:19
Lucas Strait
Yeah, in my opinion, in my opinion, Case is the snow machine for the snow removal industry.
00:12:22
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:12:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. I completely agree.
00:12:27
Lucas Strait
Yeah. Yeah, I believe, and i I know not a lot of people going agree with me, but I believe case wheel loaders are on par with the other big manufacturers like Cat and John Deere all day long.
00:12:39
Lucas Strait
I don't see the value in purchasing a machine that's more expensive to do what we do when cases machines do it just as well. And in some circumstances better because their wheel loaders have less emissions control system on them.
00:12:49
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:12:52
Lucas Strait
So they don't have as many issues with death and the after treatment. So
00:12:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Can't go wrong there.
00:12:58
Lucas Strait
you know We own Cat.
00:12:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:12:59
Lucas Strait
I owned Volvo before that. Well, dad I should say dad did. The family did. And you know when we made that switch, he sent all the Volvos to auction that we've had for years.
Impact on the Snow Industry
00:13:09
Lucas Strait
And it kind of brought a tear to his eye because he worked his entire life to build that. you know It was something like 30-something Volvo wheel loaders. I mean, one of them was an L90B Michigan model with 48,000 hours on the clock.
00:13:24
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:13:25
Lucas Strait
And that's like for a for a small frame machine, for a non quarry frame machine, that's insane.
00:13:25
RICK JAMES
ah
00:13:30
Lucas Strait
So these were like his babies and. he He saw that if he wanted to continue to grow his snow business, he had to bring in newer equipment, new equipment. And he just saw his scaling costs of having more mechanics and a bigger shop and more overhead to go along with that was beginning to catch up with him. And the scalability of Arctic Snow and Ice Control was going to be limited by that. And that's where he got the deal with Cat.
00:13:59
Lucas Strait
He bought, I think it was the first year he bought 20 skid steers and 10 wheel loaders. And at the time, that was an interesting time in the market because Caterpillar couldn't give a skid steer away is what I was told.
00:14:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:14:11
Lucas Strait
And he came out of nowhere and said, hey, I want to buy 20 of these things. And they they looked at him. The salesman at the time looked at him. He's like, you want to do what? How many? how many What do you do? And had no idea. Like the snow industry back then for the big manufacturers, like was this...
00:14:28
Lucas Strait
this foreign concept. It was almost like going to another country for them and speaking a different language.
00:14:31
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:14:33
Lucas Strait
And they just had no idea the the scope and opportunity of the snow removal industry for selling machines. It just, it was just not something that they were accustomed to and knew anything about.
00:14:48
Lucas Strait
Fast forward to the end of that relationship, case came along, we struck a deal with them and they've been
00:14:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's pioneer.
00:14:56
Lucas Strait
one of if not the best partner we've had in in business through and through and they they really do listen to our requests for what building a snow machine really means i mean they build all of our case machines to our spec that we've requested over the years which internally they call the arctic package so all the all the machines come with certain spec batteries starters alternators
00:15:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:15:24
Lucas Strait
You know, anything that allows that machine to start in the coldest weather possible and give it the best odds of starting as reliably as possible. That is how they build our machines. And we did not get that with any other manufacturer and we've worked with a lot of them.
00:15:39
Lucas Strait
So I have
00:15:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's
Daness' COVID Response and Customer Relations
00:15:40
Lucas Strait
to say,
00:15:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
awesome. Yeah.
00:15:41
Lucas Strait
bringing on board Case to the company was huge for us as well as turning turning it into the the business that it is today that Danessa is to sell those machines. It's it's again, it's kind of like our motto for Arctic Snow Guys products. is It's made by Snow Guys for Snow Guys.
00:16:02
Lucas Strait
And I wouldn't want to bring on a brand or a partner and try to sell something that isn't gonna be something that I would support or use myself. So case Case was a big part of that.
00:16:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
um percent
00:16:14
Lucas Strait
So I have to say thanks to them.
00:16:16
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:16:16
Lucas Strait
And that's where Dinesh really came into the fold for the selling component of it because we were selling the machines on our own. So we had to bring them in, use them, clean them up, go through an entire post-season process to get them ready for sale and then actually move them.
00:16:33
Lucas Strait
And that grew exponentially over the years. I mean, during COVID, we were probably the only guys that were getting 400 plus machines from any manufacturer and then turning around and selling them to guys with still a massive savings because of how bad the price gouging was.
00:16:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh yeah that's when i bought the three twenty ones literally like i remember mike calling and saying hey what are you gonna need this year because it's gonna be tight but uh you know if you let me know soon you know we can keep the uh we can keep the prices where they are for you and i was like yeah okay no problem like i can't you can't find machines anywhere like all the lots were bare
00:16:51
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:17:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
And he's like, yeah, don't let me know what you need.
00:17:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:17:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
You've gotten machines from me before. Like, let me know what you need for the upcoming winter. And again, that saved me because I was right in the middle of scaling and i couldn't get a machine anywhere other than Danes.
00:17:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So like, I am well on board, you know, like if you can't already tell, you know, if you haven't heard me for the last three and a half years, like I've been telling guys, you need to explore this, especially if you're a smaller guy looking to scale.
00:17:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
it'll It'll save you.
00:17:39
Lucas Strait
Yeah, du during COVID, we sat down and had a conversation regarding, you know, what are we going to do with our pricing on machines? Because obviously there's an incredible opportunity to capitalize on the supply and demand issue in the market.
00:17:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:17:54
Lucas Strait
And and we decided against you know, what people would consider price gouging. And maybe some people would say, well, you guys are fools, but we weren't because we were making an investment in our clients.
00:18:00
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:18:05
Lucas Strait
A lot of guys were buying machines from us every single year. We knew that there was a probability that they wouldn't give us our business anymore. And I think a lot of dealerships and manufacturers made ah a terrible mistake when they were price gouging to make as much money.
00:18:19
Lucas Strait
Now I do understand that they were limited on what they could sell, so they had to make money on what they could sell.
00:18:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:18:24
Lucas Strait
I do get it, but I can't tell you how many people came to us because relationships that they had for 10, 20 years buying equipment from soured over price gouging and not doing the right thing. And I think that's a lost art in today's society, and doing the right thing, even though you're going to give up something to do that. And and we decided to say, hey, this isn't going to last forever.
00:18:49
Lucas Strait
Let's use this as an opportunity to grow with new clients and continue our to strengthen our relationship with guys that do buy from us every year. Because when this all slows down, they're not gonna go anywhere. They're gonna remember who did the right thing when it was really easy and lucrative not to.
00:19:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%.
00:19:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Couldn't have said it better myself.
00:19:09
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:19:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I can attest to it that you did not jack the prices. That's when I bought more. And, I mean, we might have jacked our snow rates. you
Rental Purchase Options and Business Planning
00:19:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
know we we We definitely jacked up our snow rates, but the cost of our machines you know through you guys stayed the same. So you know thank you guys for that because it made a difference. Like you said, you know there were people out there that were just – you know going nuts gouging and i like you said i get that they had less machines to sell they had to make more money per each machine but uh you're you're they ruined a lot of relationships and you guys yeah you oh they've never slowed down yeah yeah it's covid still covid six years removed still covid
00:19:44
RICK JAMES
It was crazy. price The price increases were unbelievable. and they and they and they And they stayed up there and kept going.
00:19:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, ah you know, the the thing that Big Daddy keeps yelling at me about, I buy my machines from you guys. I don't do i don't lease and I don't take advantage of the program.
00:20:03
Lucas Strait
Mm-hmm.
00:20:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
but And Big Daddy's always yelling at me about that because I still have a 2019 in the fleet that he is literally, i think he's going to come in the cover of darkness and pull the thing out of my yard because he wants me to trade it in so much.
00:20:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
But ah why don't you can you take guys through what their options are with the Ness? if they don't want to buy them outright like I do.
00:20:27
Lucas Strait
Yeah, of course. So you buy machines outright. That's going to be the the cheapest option in terms of a cash buyer, right?
00:20:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:35
Lucas Strait
Coming to the table with your own money. The next option is rent. Use the machine for a year. We give guys ah a rental purchase option with a 70% retention of whatever your rental is. we will will We will apply it towards the purchase.
00:20:52
Lucas Strait
So someone can rent a wheel loader, a skidster, or a compact loader from us, or track machine. They can use it for the winter. If they decide they want to buy it, then we can apply 70% their rental.
00:21:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
They've already made those payments.
00:21:02
Lucas Strait
to their purchase and even get them financed through case or, you know, we work with other lenders as well, but case is the most advantageous for them on the support side of it and extended warranties and whatnot.
00:21:14
Lucas Strait
ah So you can pay cash, provide your own financing, that's the same as cash, rent, rent with an RPO if you wanna buy it. And then the third option we do is our snow program, which is we will sell guys a machine with supported finance through CNH Capital or Volvo Financial Services.
00:21:34
Lucas Strait
And we will give you a ah cost to run figure for that program. And we'll send you a cost to run analysis so you can see the out of pocket costs versus cash um payments.
00:21:40
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:21:49
Lucas Strait
versus, sorry, ah cash payments versus what we give an estimated trade figure. So people will know ahead of time, hey, this is what I'm gonna buy the machine for. This is what my payments are gonna be.
00:22:00
Lucas Strait
And then this is what, you know, the estimated trade on that machine will be after two years of snow use only. So it allows guys to budget out their business and and make it scalable.
00:22:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:22:15
Lucas Strait
It's turning equipment ownership ah from a variable cost into a fixed cost structure.
00:22:15
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:22:21
Lucas Strait
So guys know, like if I want to grow my business by x you know x percentage, how many machines is that going to take? They can understand what their cash flow demand is going to be. They can understand what their equity is going to be.
00:22:33
Lucas Strait
And they can they can go from there. So it makes it a lot more scalable. And that's something that all of our our clients have enjoyed. And I started doing this myself back in 2018. Into the 19 season.
00:22:48
Lucas Strait
into the nineteen season with guys that have been buying from us since then till to this day. And those guys are buying you know three to five machines and now they're all buying 55 machines and trading them out and getting getting that cost to run figure allows them to understand what their true operating costs are gonna be for that machine.
00:23:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yeah,
00:23:09
Lucas Strait
So the other benefit, the other benefit too, is our, our partners at CNH Capital allowed us to create a finance structure, a payment plan, if you want to call it that, that you guys are only going to be making wintertime payments.
00:23:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah there's no guesswork.
00:23:27
Lucas Strait
You're not going to be making payments throughout the year, or you're not going to be just taking
00:23:27
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:23:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, nice.
00:23:35
Lucas Strait
you know, 12 months of payments that you'd be making and shoving them into six months during winter. So a lot of manufacturers do that. What we do is called payment normalization. And we're gonna take the first two years that you, two first winters, you're gonna be using that machine. You're not gonna make any payments in the off season. You're only gonna make payments in the winter. And when we reduce, you know, those other two summers of payments, it's 12 months. We actually spread that across the entire 60 month note.
00:24:07
Lucas Strait
So that's lowering your cash outlay as much as possible when you need it the most, which is during winter.
Daness Business Model and Industry Support
00:24:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. yep
00:24:13
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:24:13
Lucas Strait
and know Last year was the first real busy season that we got in the Midwest and in three years. And it started early. It started right in the end of October, early November, and it didn't let up. And that's where your costs are going to be.
00:24:28
Lucas Strait
coming coming in strong with salt with diesel with labor so on and so forth and that stuff can take a massive toll because a lot of guys are still waiting on their money to get paid from doing the work or from seasonals so if we reducing that cash outlay as much as possible is just going to allow you to field as much equipment as possible
00:24:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's definitely it's a win-win.
00:24:52
Lucas Strait
so that So that's in essence a very brief explanation of how the program works. But it's it's building and retaining equity in ah in equipment ownership in a machine that will never age.
00:25:06
Lucas Strait
you know If you're going use them for two years, trade them out.
00:25:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:25:10
Lucas Strait
you can retain that equity and in some instances they can even get that equity back and use it to run their company. lot of guys, we have a mix. Some guys take all the money out, they use it to grow their business. Other guys, they leave the money in.
00:25:23
Lucas Strait
So as they add equipment over time, they can keep their payments as minimal as possible.
00:25:29
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:25:30
Lucas Strait
Yeah. And again, we did all this just because we wanted to to live that same lifestyle ourselves is bring all these machines in and then pass along the savings and lifestyle to other clients.
00:25:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:25:40
Lucas Strait
And this is something we've built out over the last 10 years.
00:25:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's literally all it is. It's just an extension of what you're doing yourselves that you're just offering it to everybody else because you want to rotate your machines just like everybody else would.
00:25:54
Lucas Strait
Yep, and I tell guys, I'm like, look, this is one of those deals where if I wanna continue to bring in machines for myself and live the lifestyle that you're gaining in this, we are obligated to do good business with you.
00:26:07
Lucas Strait
Because i can't if I can't sell machines, I can't bring in new machines.
00:26:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:26:11
Lucas Strait
so And again, it's on the basis of buy snow guys for snow guys.
00:26:11
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:26:15
Lucas Strait
If it wouldn't work for me, it's not gonna work for anybody else and that doesn't make sense. So our value drive, What our mission is at the company is to continue to drive value, create value based on being in the industry and creating something that passes savings along to our customers so that they can to grow their snow business and scale up.
00:26:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. I mean, hats off to Case, too. It's like, yeah, you you guys are buying, you know, well, I mean, I was going to say you guys are buying a lot of machines. You're the largest purchaser of Case in the world. But hats off to them for basically, you know, working with you to allow these programs to exist, getting your relationship with with CNH. um It's no secret that you guys have laid the...
00:27:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
laid the tracks for case to become a huge player in in the snow and ice industry you look at look at all the major companies now that are fielding hundreds of machines they're all cases they're all cases
00:27:15
Lucas Strait
Yeah. Yeah. They thought my dad was crazy. They legitimately thought my dad was crazy. Um, when we went,
00:27:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Crazy like a fox, man. Your dad's never made a I don't know. I mean, maybe getting rid of the sweeping business was the, I don't think he's ever made a dumb move in snow because everything seems to just work for him.
00:27:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:27:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Maybe chasing that battery into the into the ditch in two feet of snow, you know, at four zero in the morning there, that story he told. That was probably the last dumb move that your dad ever made in snow.
00:27:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everything he does seems to just be the perfect decision.
00:27:46
Lucas Strait
I got I got to thank him because he did it for his kids. My dad grew up with a rough life um without a father and got bounced around from town to town with his family.
00:27:59
Lucas Strait
And he just said one. He said, you know, one day I'm going to have kids and they're never going to live this lifestyle and they're going to understand what value of hard work is and appreciation is.
Randy Straight's Influence in the Snow Industry
00:28:08
Lucas Strait
And I think I think he did a hell of a job.
00:28:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. He did an amazing job.
00:28:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah, no doubt.
00:28:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's a, he's a legend.
00:28:12
RICK JAMES
You guys are out.
00:28:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
He is definitely a legend, man.
00:28:14
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:28:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's ah I tell you, if you, any of you guys out there listening right now, if you haven't listened to Randy straights episode on the podcast, go back and find it.
00:28:16
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:28:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
You just put it in the search bar, Randy straight. It's literally just two. What is it? Two hours, three hours so to two, whatever it was between two and three hours of just pure snow history.
00:28:31
RICK JAMES
Two and a half hours, I think it is.
00:28:32
Lucas Strait
Two.
00:28:32
RICK JAMES
2.40 or something. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:35
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:28:38
Lucas Strait
yeah
00:28:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, i so I keep saying it.
00:28:39
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:28:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
I know people disagree, but i he is the godfather of modern snow management.
00:28:46
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:28:47
Lucas Strait
I think that's fair.
00:28:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think it is.
00:28:49
Lucas Strait
I might be slightly biased, but I i tend to tend to believe I'm a reasonable person.
00:28:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
i i
00:28:53
RICK JAMES
I think you're – Mm-hmm.
00:28:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:28:56
RICK JAMES
then
00:28:57
Lucas Strait
I'm fair.
00:28:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
From everything I know, it's, you know, he's done it, you know, he's ah and he's allowed a lot of other people to do it, too.
00:28:58
Lucas Strait
But... okay
00:29:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like everybody, there are guys out there that run businesses. There are a lot of guys out there that run businesses that allow other people to better their own businesses. Like, that's a difference.
00:29:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, even when he said, you know, when he first built the sectional, and he said, yeah, I'm going to sell this to my competitors, you know. I'm going to do this. Like, I'm going to help other people up their game. Like, that's just that you don't hear that a lot.
00:29:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, it's awesome.
00:29:27
Lucas Strait
Well, if you can improve your competition, you can improve the market. And that's what he did.
00:29:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
00:29:31
Lucas Strait
That's what he aimed to do.
00:29:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
He definitely did it.
00:29:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:29:33
Lucas Strait
Yeah. Now I'll, I'll even admit that sometimes I, I think he's crazy. not Not as much anymore, but there were times that I just, I just, I was like, either he's the smartest man in the world or he's he's crazy and it just worked.
00:29:40
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:29:47
Lucas Strait
But I think it's definitely a mix of both. But we, I'll remember i remember when we first went up to case to meet with their financial people, they thought he was crazy.
00:29:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
You gotta be a little crazy.
00:30:00
Lucas Strait
And he sat in this room with like eight people. that are the bean counter types that they want the, they want the facts. They want to understand how this makes sense and everything else. And there was this, this one guy that was just such a naysayer.
00:30:17
Lucas Strait
He was just such a naysayer. My dad sat there and he said, look, if you guys do this, if you finance these, Mark, our customers, these guys that want to buy your machines, because they were very um new to the snow industry.
00:30:28
Lucas Strait
They were, they were kind of,
00:30:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:30:29
Lucas Strait
ah caught You know, overly guarded and that's totally understandable.
00:30:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Skeptical. Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:30:33
Lucas Strait
um I can respect him for that and I still do. But there's this one guy in the room that was such a naysayer. And my dad was like, look, if you do this, I will give you the Chicago land market in three years. I will turn Chicago.
00:30:46
Lucas Strait
From Cat Yellow, which i I'm responsible for that, is what he told the guy. He's like, I was the guy that that brought Cat into Chicago and the snow market the way it was, and now everyone has Cat. No one had Cat before.
00:30:56
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:30:58
Lucas Strait
And he said, if you do this, and and if you believe in what I'm telling you, which is I've laid out one hell of an argument for it, you will own the Chicago market in three years. And they just, this one guy just did not believe it.
00:31:10
Lucas Strait
Fast forward, fast forward two more years, guy was gone, no longer in the room. So, and in three years they did, they had the Chicago land market and it's, it just continued to grow from there.
00:31:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:31:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
awesome
00:31:24
Lucas Strait
And we're expanding more and more. And I truly believe that's because we're doing the right things, building this snow equipment program, around what snow guys actually need and what drives value.
00:31:38
Lucas Strait
And I think that's really, at the end of the day, what's making us grow as well as doing what we say we're going to do, even though sometimes that hurts. But, you know, business is not A to Z perfect.
00:31:50
Lucas Strait
You know, things are going to happen. We work with our clients as best as we can to make sure that we're helping them if they need help.
00:31:52
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:31:57
Lucas Strait
And that's that as many definitions as I've come to find out.
00:32:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Me and Jeremy say it all the time on here. The dumbest fucking statement you've ever that's ever entered the snow management industry is some years we win, some years we lose.
00:32:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
This is a win-win. Everybody wins on this.
Daness Equipment Beyond Snow Removal
00:32:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
the the The guy that's buying these machines is saving money. He's able to scale. He's able to take advantage of these programs.
00:32:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, Arctic is obviously able to rotate their machines out. They're buying machines at a ah better rate that they're passing on to the end consumer that's ending up with these things.
00:32:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm telling you, like, you guys really, it's worth the phone call. It's worth the, you know, the email. Check this out. it will It will change your business. Like, it's it's changed mine.
00:32:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's allow me to allowed me to do it
00:32:47
Lucas Strait
Well, even for people that are outside the snow removal industry, you know we we sell machines mostly to the snow removal industry. It's approximately 70% of our business on an annual basis.
00:32:59
Lucas Strait
And then we're bringing machines back after several years, between you know two and four years that we're bringing these machines back. and we're selling them to all walks of life. And guys can buy machines that have been used exclusively for snow that have never seen dirt with low, low hours, plastic on the seats, and they can get that machine at amazing prices and save money for themselves.
00:33:22
Lucas Strait
i mean, one of the biggest markets for us has been the dairy farming business on 321s because those guys love 321s.
00:33:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:33:30
Lucas Strait
Yep.
00:33:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:33:32
Lucas Strait
yeah it's It's a great size machine for other things than snow, but
00:33:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, shit.
00:33:37
Lucas Strait
Um, it's very popular there and obviously track machines in the construction industry and land clearing business on on and so forth. But yeah, we sell all walks of life and those savings, you know, is not just enjoyed by snow guys.
00:33:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, those are the only ones those are the only ones I care about.
00:33:52
Lucas Strait
Mostly by snow guys. Yeah.
00:33:53
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:33:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's you know The snow guys, nobody else is helping us.
00:33:55
Lucas Strait
yeah
00:33:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
This helps us. So snow guys better start taking advantage of it.
00:34:00
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:34:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, they um a lot of them are. So it's just trying to get the word out to to more and more people that this is the way to go. It can be the way you go every year. You can consistently save money. You can scale.
00:34:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
with this program. I've done it.
00:34:16
Lucas Strait
yeah
00:34:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
um'm I'm living proof that it works and I could not have done it literally 10 years ago now. I could not have done it without it.
00:34:24
Lucas Strait
Efficiencies in snow business, in the snow business, I should say, has never been at a higher demand, especially especially because we did not see a a parallel growth in revenue
00:34:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
So 100%.
00:34:30
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:34:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
00:34:31
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:34:39
Lucas Strait
during COVID and after COVID, as we saw in the increase in the cost side, it just didn't happen. And I think actually a lot of people feel that at home wages did not increase with the cost of living.
00:34:53
Lucas Strait
And at the end of the day, that means we just have to be better about how we do removal and equipment ownership and use is one of the biggest costs, a capital cost for this business.
00:34:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:35:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely Well I mean like I say for for myself and smaller guys the cost the The cost increases on the equipment was just far outpacing what we could increase You know that our chart what we were charging people
00:35:07
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:35:07
Lucas Strait
It can make or break you.
00:35:18
Lucas Strait
Thank
00:35:24
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:35:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know, post COVID the, the increase, the, the cost increases on equipment was just going skyrocketing every, it wasn't even every year.
00:35:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
it was every quarter they were going up and they were just outpacing what we were able to, you know, increase our, what we were charging customers and, know, customers only have so much money to go around.
00:35:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:35:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
So like you said, efficiency is the key. um And that's why we went to the machines and we've never looked back since. It's great.
00:35:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
So how old is Dinesh now officially as a company? Wait, 10?
00:36:04
Lucas Strait
In the selling component, yes, 10 years. It's been around longer. It's been about, I wanna say, coming up on 25 years.
00:36:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you know how many in the 10 years you've been selling, do you have like any rough estimate of how many machines you got out there that are directly Dinesh related? like That would be a cool figure to figure out.
00:36:22
Lucas Strait
Yeah, it's approaching, it is approaching 4,000.
00:36:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow holy crap that's awesome
00:36:30
Lucas Strait
Yeah, actually, I think it did hit 4,000 this year. I'd have to double check, but yeah, it's it's a lot. It's a lot of machines.
00:36:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotta make sense average of 400 a year 10 years in business yeah that's that's awesome can we find one of those old machines that your dad got rid of that brought a tear to his eye refurb it and put it on his lawn
00:36:40
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:36:42
RICK JAMES
that's crazy.
00:36:48
RICK JAMES
Vovo, the Vovo.
00:36:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:36:51
Lucas Strait
Yeah, so actually it's funny you say that there are there's a guy like seven minutes down the road from our shop that bought a loader. We used to rent them in the summertime just to do yard work.
00:37:01
Lucas Strait
It's sitting behind his house still. And there's another guy about 20 minutes away that bought, I think, one or two of them.
00:37:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotta get it.
00:37:08
Lucas Strait
So they're still around.
00:37:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotta get it. Refurb it. Put it right on his lawn. Be like a bird giant birdbath.
00:37:12
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:37:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ha ha ha ha ha.
00:37:14
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:37:14
RICK JAMES
Oh, geez.
00:37:16
Lucas Strait
Yeah, no, it's funny because we get guys these days that, you know, you get to a 12 hour shift and they're like, oh,
Equipment Evolution and Reliability
00:37:23
Lucas Strait
you know, I'm tired. I want to go home. And I'm thinking to myself as he's stepping out of this brand new wheel loader that has a heated seat, Bluetooth speakers, air ride seat, the whole night.
00:37:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:37:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
air ride. Uh.
00:37:34
Lucas Strait
I'm just thinking myself, I'm like, dude, back in the day,
00:37:35
RICK JAMES
Uh, you have no idea.
00:37:38
Lucas Strait
I was happy if the wheel loader I was running had one working speaker, the heat would work at least on low and not only high, because if you were driving around and you see a guy with the door open or the window open all the way, it's because the heat only worked on high.
00:37:55
RICK JAMES
yep
00:37:55
Lucas Strait
And you you know, I remember going to a shopping plaza one night, getting into a loader. and that the display on the radio didn't work, but you could still go you could still surf the channels.
00:38:08
Lucas Strait
So I would go until I heard a song that told me I was on a rock station and that was it. And then I would just turn up the speaker and I had one working speaker and I had one ah one heat setting that worked and I was happy and I would go work 40 hours in that machine. my dad damn near couldn't pull me out of it. He said, hey, you gotta go to school.
00:38:30
Lucas Strait
So when people are like, oh it's been 12 hours, I'm tired.
00:38:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I
00:38:33
Lucas Strait
Can I go home?
00:38:34
RICK JAMES
have no idea.
00:38:34
Lucas Strait
I'm just thinking to myself, I'm like, dude, what is going what is going on?
00:38:35
RICK JAMES
They're so spoiled though.
00:38:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
They got no idea.
00:38:38
RICK JAMES
They're so spoiled.
00:38:40
Lucas Strait
I mean, yeah, I mean, that's it. I mean, guys are showing up to work in these machines wearing sweats now.
00:38:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeremy's guys.
00:38:46
RICK JAMES
yeah. My guys out, yeah.
00:38:47
Lucas Strait
and
00:38:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:38:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeremy's guys. know.
00:38:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah, they're all sweats and they take their shoes off at the door. And yeah.
00:38:52
Lucas Strait
clean Clean cab squads.
00:38:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:38:53
RICK JAMES
They always say, if you have a push if you haven't pushed snow in your socks, you haven't lived, they always say. Oh,
00:38:59
Lucas Strait
And nothing against them. I mean, you want to be comfortable, be comfortable. But if you're comfortable and you want to bitch about only plowing for 12 hours, get the hell out of the machine, get someone in there that wants to do it.
00:39:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a lot easier to get guys into nice new equipment.
00:39:10
RICK JAMES
yeah.
00:39:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'll tell you that, especially when they don't want to be.
00:39:14
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:39:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's it's a lot easier sell to come on out at 3 a.m. m Let's go. I'll have it nice and warm for you. It'll all be warmed up. You know, radio will be on. Coffee will be in the cup holder.
00:39:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
You make it as easy as possible on them.
00:39:27
Lucas Strait
Yeah. ah hundred percent
00:39:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
The guys like running these machines. They definitely like running these machines. And we haven't, I don't think we've, To speak of, we've only had the we only had a couple little things. the The one thing Case covered that was a PIP, which good for them, because I believe at the time that was a five-year-old machine.
00:39:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was like a fuel injector pump, and they still they knew it was a problem. So as it as they went bad, even on five-year-old machines, they covered it. They warrantied it. So, I mean, good for them. that they've They've stood behind these things that are out there, even when they're past warranty, when they know there's an existing problem that could happen.
00:40:05
Lucas Strait
They have done an incredible job of supporting us and standing behind their product. our Our service team, I should say our Doness product service team was down in Wichita, which is their skid steer facility, meeting with their management team of their factory to go over the previous season, ah go over known issues that was seen as a pattern and not just a one-off, talk about what they were doing to correct that issue.
00:40:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:40:34
Lucas Strait
for the next season and even talking about what are the corrections to the machines that may have that issue that didn't because they make all of our machines at once. So if they're gonna make 200 SV280Bs and 60 track machines for us, they're all they're gonna make them over four weeks.
00:40:51
Lucas Strait
So if there was an issue, whether it be something that was a supplier issue or a design issue or just an assembly issue, you know we're gonna see it all. And that's why I tell guys, you know when you buy our machines,
00:41:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:41:04
Lucas Strait
They're going being built specifically for snow. They're being specifically serviced by the manufacturer as well as ourselves. And all the bugs have been worked out.
00:41:15
Lucas Strait
So the thing that we deal with at times is like, we have an issue with the skid steer. There's probably gonna be an issue with a lot of them, but Case has been phenomenal about actually correcting the issue, making sure it won't be an issue moving forward. And before those machines leave my lot, they're going through my shop. They're getting touched by Case, my, our dealer, or Case Dealers service tax, and they're making sure problems are corrected before they leave. So when guys get them, the bugs have been worked out.
00:41:42
Lucas Strait
The machines have been fully serviced and they're ready to go turnkey for the next season. So I have to say my hat's off to case on that one as well. so We want to make sure one of the things that drives value for guys is that when they do get that machine, they get a good experience.
00:41:57
Lucas Strait
So this year we brought on board a product support manager,
00:41:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:42:01
Lucas Strait
His name's Jason. He's been in the industry and the product service role for 30 years. And he is helping our team close the gaps as, as it were to making sure machines are going through a process and every single one of them are going through that process so that when they go up for sale, they're ready to work.
00:42:21
Lucas Strait
That gets a little, it gets a little hard when you have, you know, 600 machines that have to go through 15,000 square foot maintenance facility.
00:42:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:42:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:42:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet. Well, that's why you got Big Daddy. but
00:42:34
RICK JAMES
ah
00:42:35
Lucas Strait
Yeah.
00:42:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah say what you will that guy knows in and out every one of those machines like i i will call him with some crazy stupid nothing on on one of the sv 280s saying he's like oh yeah no it's this sensor right here you got to take two fingers you got to put it on each side of the sensor you got to wipe it with your fingers then
00:42:40
RICK JAMES
He knows his shit. He knows his shit. Yeah. Same. Same.
Collaborative Improvements and New Models
00:42:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
you got to take some like whatever the hell he told me uh the brake cleaner spray brake cleaner on it put it back in you're good to go Sure enough, the shit worked.
00:43:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah, he knows his shit.
00:43:05
Lucas Strait
So we, we recently broke out and then we recently changed the annual meetings.
00:43:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Freaking big daddy, man.
00:43:07
RICK JAMES
He knows his stuff.
00:43:13
Lucas Strait
We have a case for, you know, the, the, the entire scope of the relationship from, you know, buying the machines to servicing them and and changes and, and the relationship in general and John's segment of it got to be such a, a,
00:43:29
Lucas Strait
critical point of it that they actually created that meeting that they went to a couple weeks ago with the to just for John.
00:43:33
RICK JAMES
A full day? I believe that.
00:43:36
Lucas Strait
And that he has those crazy stories of like, yeah, yeah, I figured it out. You actually have to do this, that, and the other, and then you can get the machine to start over.
00:43:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
00:43:45
Lucas Strait
And then he works with their team. I mean, they case does weekly storm recap calls with us So if we have a storm in the winter, they have a team at their factory as well as our service department at our dealer.
00:43:57
Lucas Strait
They have a post-storm meeting and they say, John, what did you see? What happened? Was there, is there a pattern here? Is there not? What can we do? And again, they've been phenomenal.
00:44:08
RICK JAMES
fantastic.
00:44:09
Lucas Strait
Because, and it,
00:44:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
And that boils down. They catch the problems, if there are any, when you guys have the machines so that by the time they get out to me, they're worked out.
00:44:17
RICK JAMES
Hopefully gone.
00:44:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's
00:44:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:44:17
Lucas Strait
Yeah. And they're improving it for the industry as a whole because there are dealers that are selling machines to other snow guys are going to have a better experience and a better machine.
00:44:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
awesome.
00:44:25
Lucas Strait
I mean, like for instance, the 321 has been a phenomenal loader, the 521, 621 phenomenal loaders. They just released the 421 this year and we've worked with them heavily on kind of filling that gap between that 321 and that 521 and 421, uh,
00:44:36
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:44:44
Lucas Strait
It has competitive machines and other manufacturers, but it really was made specifically for the snow removal industry. And we've loved them so far. we've We've made a couple minor requests for adjustments for the future, but we we absolutely love them.
Encouraging Exploration of Daness Offerings
00:45:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome That is awesome Yeah I mean it's it's been great I can speak to it It's been very very good It's been a great relationship And I couldn't have done what I've done in snow Without you guys and without Case So you know hats off And I just encourage anybody listening It's worth the phone call it's worth the number crunch find what you need and uh and get it at a savings it'll allow you like lucas said you can go with a program you'll know exactly what you're putting out there you'll know exactly what your overhead is going to be to run that machine you can put it into your bid you know it's it's the way to go so take advantage of it these you know four snow guys buy snow guys this is literally it you know it's snow guys helping snow guys so don't be stupid get in on it
00:45:33
RICK JAMES
Oh
00:45:38
RICK JAMES
yeah.
00:45:46
RICK JAMES
We, yeah, we, we jumped on board last year and Lucas, he breaks those numbers down for you. mean, he'll, he'll, he'll tell whatever you want to know. He breaks it all down for you it works out great for us. So yeah, been great.
00:46:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
And if you don't want to do the program, buy it outright like I do and save yourself freaking 28, 30%. I think that was the last I figured out over the dealer. That was my last machine that I bought from them. I had a savings of almost 30, full 30%, 28% I think it was over what I would have paid with a brand new machine. And I think the machine showed up with 105 hours with the plastic still on the seat.
00:46:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
And not a, you know, there's nothing wrong. These things are brand new machines for all intents and purposes when you get them. i You take advantage of it while you can, you know. Maybe I hope these guys don't ever say, you know what? We're tired of helping people because is this is this is it's a great
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:46:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
deal, man. It's a great deal. And I can't say enough about it. So we for on behalf of my company ah to the Straits, thank you guys very much for this because I couldn't have afforded to do it without it.
00:46:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's for sure.
00:46:56
Lucas Strait
You're very welcome.
00:46:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Anything else we got to touch on, Lucas?
00:47:01
Lucas Strait
No, I think we've covered all the bases.
00:47:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
think we hit it all right well thank you bud i appreciate the time jeremy does too as always it's uh it's great talking to you we'll see you soon at sima right all right cool that's it ain't no party like i'm
00:47:13
Lucas Strait
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
00:47:15
RICK JAMES
Ain't no party like an Arctic party.
00:47:17
Lucas Strait
Yeah, spencer Spencer gave me the lowdown today. It's going to be a good one.
00:47:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
gonna have the best cups i hear hear this party's gonna have the greatest cups ever
00:47:24
Lucas Strait
m cuthbert
00:47:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:47:28
RICK JAMES
ah
00:47:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:47:28
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:47:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, thank you to Lucas. Thank you to Arctic. Thank you to the Ness and thank you to case for making all this stuff possible. And guys, like I said, if you're out there, give them a call, look them up.
00:47:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
They got social media. I've been noticing the social media is a lot, the a lot more popular right now. The Instagram things have been coming out there.
00:47:48
RICK JAMES
Bella's working hard.
00:47:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was doing her job.
00:47:49
RICK JAMES
Bella's working. Yeah, Bella.
00:47:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for her. Got a girl. Yeah.
00:47:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah, she's doing great.
00:47:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. So check it out. Check it out. It's worth the call. See if they can help you. I know they can. So take advantage of it while you can. Anything else, Jay?
00:48:04
RICK JAMES
No, that's good, buddy.
00:48:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. We'll wrap it there. All right. That's going to do it for this episode of the Arctic Army Roll Call. Again, like we said, thanks to Lucas. Thanks to Arctic. Thanks to Daness. And guys, everybody have a great weekend. All right. Be safe out there. Celebrate responsibly and keep pushing.