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Episode 43: Freight and Logistics with Austin Stanley
106 Plays7 days ago
Austin Stanley an independent broker for One Horn Transportation. He joins the guys to talk about logistics in the event rental industry, how you know if you're working with a legitimate freight company, how to find the right partner, and what people don't know about the logistics and transportation world.
This episode is brought to you by Anchor Industries. Learn more at www.anchorinc.com.
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Transcript
Winter Challenges in Chattanooga
00:00:19
Speaker
and We're back again with another episode of Under the Vinyl. As always, I've got my co-host Kyle. Kyle, how are you doing? I'm good, Nate. How are you? Nice to see you. Good, buddy. It's getting cold. It's continuing to drop here in Chattanooga. um That kind of sucks. trying to figure out the winter projects. yeah The weather definitely took a turn this weekend for us, so we're down 20s at night, 30s during the day. It is not that enjoyable to be putting up tents anymore.
00:00:46
Speaker
yeah I think we're high 40s during the day and then lows in the 30s. So, yeah, it's ah it's been it's been good to be in the warehouse or in the office, that's for damn sure. Yeah. you You called me this morning, you know, like you were my mother, making sure i didn't forget about this, Nate. You want to talk about that? Hey, you know, i jumped on the Instagram this morning and saw that you were out with a 25 meter, and I just wanted to make sure that you didn't decide to go play CDL driver today.
00:01:10
Speaker
i I drove my car. i let a new guy who just got a CDL drive the semi for the first time. So, look at that. Big strides, big strides. Well, with that, that kind of jumps us into our
Introducing Austin Stanley
00:01:23
Speaker
guest today. ah Our guest today is ah somebody from the freight industry that, you know, I've been good friends with over the past couple of years while I've been at Chattanooga Tent and figured it would be a good time to kind of bring him on as freight gets, you know, up and down, up and down all the time. And we're trying to figure out in our industry on how to price and what we do in that and, you you know just how we can account for freight and what they go through on their end that we can kind of bring some knowledge to our industry so today we got Austin Stanley on he's an independent broker from one horn transportation mission and Austin how you doing bud doing great thanks for having us absolutely glad to bring you on finally you know we've been we've been chatting with some different topics and freight is a huge topic in our industry and I figured you can definitely bring us some knowledge sounds good
00:02:15
Speaker
So if you could tell us a little bit for the people that you know don't know you or or exactly what you do, could give us a little rundown on on kind of how you got into the freight industry and what your current day-to-day is.
From Marketing to Logistics
00:02:28
Speaker
Okay. Well, when I graduated 2009 from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, it was during like an economic downturn. i actually have a marketing degree, but the only place I could find that I could get a job was with One Horn Transportation, which is a ah worldwide, think a $12 billion dollars company.
00:02:48
Speaker
So I took that position in logistics without that ever being the plan, honestly. And it was a great experience though because as soon as I got comfortable with perhaps brokering freight, then they would put me in outside sales or when I was getting better at that, they'd put me in account management.
00:03:09
Speaker
about I did everything from you know flatbed drive-in to drayage. And then after I felt like i had a good experience there, I took a managerial position at a local brokerage called Lipsy Logistics.
Managing Big Clients in Winter
00:03:22
Speaker
And there I worked with Procter & Gamble and then I managed the Northeast Freight for home Depot, which was definitely a challenge during the winter months and all drop trailer. So 72 hour drops and go back and retrieve the trailer. But after I felt like had had enough knowledge I wanted out on my own and get my own customers and the second customer that I called was was Michael Holland at Chattanooga Tent and said hey buddy got my own gig I'm starting could ah would you let me haul your freight and he said sure so that's kind of how i was introduced to the Tent and Event world via logistics and
00:04:06
Speaker
That was a great experience for me learning, you know, Mike's a pioneer of the industry and truly they've been family friends for 20 plus years and I was completely unaware of how big they were in the industry until I started moving freight down for the Super Bowls for them. I was like, wow, they're obviously a big player in the game. And then um through that, I got referrals, started working with Taren at Peak Event.
00:04:35
Speaker
Lindsey McClure and then I got a call from one of the Hingeley brothers and started doing a the freight for Skyline Tent and others like Rob at 24-7 and Charlie at Curated and so yeah it's really just snowballed ever since I started doing doing freight with Chattanooga Tent. Yeah yeah kind of what you take us through like on a day in the life of a freight broker what that looks like.
A Day in the Life of a Broker
00:05:03
Speaker
Okay. Well, typically... is there a normal day-to-day? Typically, I'm always working kind of a day ahead because, like, for example, yesterday afternoon, I'm looking at what I have to pick up, like, this morning. And I'm going to go ahead and assign trucks for the the loads the next day. And then in the morning time, get up.
00:05:26
Speaker
two or three hours before the pickups, make sure everybody's on schedule. If it's a really high priority load, then i am going to put them on something called Macro Point, which basically sends the the drivers a GPS link.
00:05:40
Speaker
And so I have access to their coordinates. And if I see that they're sitting and not moving, um I can kind of get ahead of it, get ahead of it. And, um, if they are broken down, perhaps repower it, get interchange agreements, um, and make sure that it still delivers when it's supposed to.
00:05:58
Speaker
Got it. So, what, are you, probably don't have the most normal hours. So what kind of hours are you working from? I know the other day we were talking, you said you were doing some stuff, uh, for, you know, in the winter time, now they you got UPS going crazy and everything. Do you have to get up in the middle of the night and manage loads in the middle of the night? Are you looking for loads in the middle of the night? How does that kind of go?
00:06:19
Speaker
Right after the tent season kind of winds down, UPS's peak season kicks off Black Friday but for after Thanksgiving. And so I'll work it for about six weeks until after all the returns are done.
00:06:34
Speaker
um But yes, no my hours are always differing. I may only have a couple of things to do one day, and the next time maybe working 24 hours. But that stuff is always high importance.
00:06:49
Speaker
You're always tracking, make sure everything's on time, giving updates to the customer, because obviously communication is integral in this industry. But um every day is different, to be honest with you. But yeah, there's times where i I'm up all through the night, making sure that everything's on schedule.
00:07:07
Speaker
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00:07:35
Speaker
Contact your sales rep today.
Sponsorship Mention: Anker Industries
00:07:37
Speaker
Call 800-544-4445 or visit anchorinc.com to learn more. All right. So up all night, checking things, checking loads. So then just during the day, you're kind of just making sure that everybody's in the right place at the right point in times and, and really just kind of making sure flow is consistent, right? Correct. Yes. Once I know that everything that I have that,
00:08:03
Speaker
I have drivers on and they're they're on schedule, then I would go on the bid board and look for some other stuff that may fit be a good fit for of my carrier providers.
Vetting Trusted Carriers
00:08:14
Speaker
Are you working with individual drivers that you know you know you can call them or you're working with the same group of drivers or custom companies?
00:08:23
Speaker
Yeah, so i've I've kind of built up a carrier base over the last 16 years. so it Whereas you know a lot of people in the industry, they may just post a load on a website and they're just gonna maybe take the cheapest provider so they can you know make the most money on it. But I really, I like sticking with the carriers that I've worked with and I know are gonna do a good job and that are gonna be available when I need them.
00:08:50
Speaker
So I do try to stick with those. If it's like a last second thing that's in some obscure region, then sometimes I have to do that. But you can go on carriers like Safer or Carrier 411 and you can look up their whole history.
00:09:03
Speaker
and inspections and and things like that to make sure that you're not get yourself and into a pickle before it even starts. Are there ways to blacklist drivers if they do a bad job for you or if they don't deliver when they say they would or think they drop a load midway through, decide not going to finish, things like that?
00:09:20
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, internally, i definitely block any carrier that fails to communicate or disregards any you know instructions that are given to them. You put them on, you know, like,
00:09:33
Speaker
and we talked earlier about a freight guard to where they're not longer able to haul freight for you in general. So I've got a long list long list of those as well. Yeah.
Logistics in the Tent and Event Industry
00:09:42
Speaker
I'm sure. I'm sure. it And so with with doing things like UPS and things like that, you know, i know you guys basically will touch every every industry at some point, but how does the event and tent industry compare to the other sectors that you tend to work with?
00:09:59
Speaker
Well, think god it's It's more about understanding the customer more so with like the in the tent industry understanding that trucks may be coming in in succession and if one the first one the schedule is late then they're gonna have a crew of people just sitting around waiting for the first one but the other three show up and it's kind of a waste of the day so I think it's more of Just planning and really understanding operations and what needs to happen. You know, some other freight that i do is pretty straightforward.
00:10:30
Speaker
There's not really a whole lot of planning that go into it. Just pick it up at this time and and deliver it then. But I think more or so the planning aspect comes into and understanding what needs to happen. yeah So the communication aspect is really, yeah, is what you're looking for. and And so what do you need from clients like us to keep that running smoothly? Just a clear picture of the freight that,
00:10:52
Speaker
I'm gonna be hauling the the weight. um And then from that point, usually like to figure out exactly what I'm gonna send in for what you've got.
00:11:02
Speaker
A lot of customers may even request 53 foot step decks, but they may only need a 40 foot hotshot. And I'm not the ah definitely not like the cheapest when it comes to pricing, but I do everything that possibly can to to save them money via other options.
00:11:22
Speaker
And when you're booking those loads then, are you working directly with the operations manager, sales reps, or warehouse? And who do you prefer to work with? when i'm When I'm finding the trucks, usually I speak with the dispatchers.
00:11:37
Speaker
Okay. and But it's typically carriers that i've I've worked with 20 times in the past, just kind of give them a general synopsis of of what needs to happen and make sure that they can they can perform.
00:11:49
Speaker
And same thing with on the other side with with, you know, we have different people within our company or, you know, within other companies that have ah somebody who's assigned to the freight that works directly with you. do you Who do you typically work with at the rental companies?
00:12:07
Speaker
ah Well, typically the the shipping managers and then whoever's on site to do the builds. Like for John and it would have been, you know,
00:12:18
Speaker
Logan and then on the shipping end and then, uh, Mincer was typically on site for the build. With the occasional Nate trying to figure out where his truck was because he was anal about making sure it was there on time.
00:12:28
Speaker
that's okay Nate being anal, that's shocking. know. I know. Right. I know. I know. Uh, what kind of, what kind of makes the event and tent rental world unique from a logistics standpoint?
00:12:42
Speaker
Is there an aspect of, you know, a certain truck set you feel like that are needed or certain timelines or does it feel like it's kind of the norm is what you do with every other company?
00:12:53
Speaker
Uh, I mean, first of all, I think it's more rewarding to work with, with companies within the industry, tent and vent industry, because transportation kind of can become mundane at some, at some time. And, um,
00:13:07
Speaker
whenever you see the big picture, when it's all said and done and you, you got the trucks in there on time and the build goes well and you see the aftermath of what was actually put together, uh, it's really rewarding. That's, that's really the thing that liked the most about it.
00:13:21
Speaker
But, um, I'm trying to think, what was your other question? just on how, you know, from a unique logistics standpoint, like how, how the event intent world are unique from logistics standpoint based on any other than another company.
00:13:41
Speaker
Where we make the drivers go usually probably. that' that person You know, we're not delivering to an an Amazon warehouse or like, that's what I always feel bad. You know, these drivers pull up and I'm like, yeah, you got to back down this road half a mile. What?
00:13:55
Speaker
I don't know how to put it in reverse. Okay, yeah, that's actually what I was going to say is a lot of the the the job sites themselves, whether it's a country club or it's on the the side of a mountain looking over the Snake River in Jackson, Wyoming.
00:14:08
Speaker
That was me. number four yeah getting Getting a ferry over to Nantucket to get product. It's just always different. So coming up with a, I usually just draw a map for the the drivers of the proper way to get in. If there's a certain gate, gate code or restrictions on the hours if youre going through a neighborhood. But I think it just kind of keeps you on your toes, but it's something that, it's a challenge, but i like it Do you feel like there's common mistakes that event companies make when booking freight with you at all?
00:14:40
Speaker
Mistakes and as in how. Is there any communication errors or do you feel like there's anything just in general that you feel like event companies could do better with booking freight or need to know about booking freight that will help make it smoother?
00:14:55
Speaker
I think just really doing your best to get ahead of it. The more lead time that I have, the more safe I'm going to feel about executing the job. But I think it's just lead time and and giving me you know proper information, you know pickup, delivery, addresses, any other circumstances that are unique, and just so that I can inform my drivers before they take off to do the load, just to make sure that they're aware of every circumstance that is required. What's the ideal lead time on something like that? Because I know that, you know, for us, like we're booking freight out or quoting freight. That's like a year in advance. It could be six months in advance and, and prices change and fluctuate. And I know you were always good about kind of telling us, Hey, it could be here at this point. So, you know, quite little bit higher. Um, so what's kind of an ideal lead time. Do you think to kind of be realistic?
00:15:49
Speaker
Uh, honestly, A day and a half is plenty. Same day can be difficult, but a day and a half is plenty for me. But when it comes to, I think the most important thing when it comes down to bidding, because you know a lot of lot of times obviously you guys have a ton of planning that goes into your your job. So having somebody that understands the market, because let's say it's the end of December, but you need a job quoted that's going to be in March or April.
00:16:18
Speaker
understanding what the market's gonna be like for the equipment that's needed at that time of the year so that you can give the most accurate price and hopefully give you the best chance of getting a job. Now, say a company wanted to use you locally, is that like an option for say a smaller company who's not traveling as much like Chattanooga?
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So that's, I, Nate, I'll, you know, I i talked to a bunch of smaller guys around me and I've turned them on to, you know, if you've got a job with a bunch of weights, you need to move 40,000 pounds, you might as well just hire a truck. It's much easier doing one load versus, you know, four, five, six flatbed loads of your own trucks. And you get everything there four times as fast typically. Yeah. Well, if it's, if it's something like, if it's local and it's like block moves and stuff, it,
00:17:12
Speaker
I like to suggest getting ah two drivers staggered and by the time the first one gets there, it is unloaded, the second truck in line is gonna be showing up. So it's like you can kind of just go back and forth that way and just do a relay.
00:17:26
Speaker
And a lot of drivers, if it's a short move, they're they like to get they basically get day rates. So they kind of work them for the full day and not pay like individual trucks to go one way. yeah So you're able to kind of determine that on whether you can find somebody that's more of a day rate versus like a per load rate?
00:17:46
Speaker
but Yeah. Yeah, I can do it either way. Okay. How does pricing work in the industry? Yeah, obviously don't have to you exact numbers, but what is typically how the pricing works?
Freight Pricing Trends and Challenges
00:17:57
Speaker
is it Are you setting the price? You say, this is what I want to pay you for the load. Yeah. Yeah. yeah i'm gonna First off, whenever I get, when I figure out what it is, I'm i'm trying to get trucks to work.
00:18:08
Speaker
I'm goingnna reach out to my carrier partners and get a general consensus of what it's gonna cost me to to move that load for you. And then I have a myriad of other tools that I use that is gonna give me, so I can lock in pretty much, I know what I'm gonna pay to to do it.
00:18:26
Speaker
And at that point, I would just, I just charge a ah flat percentage on top of whatever I pay. Yeah. What outside factors affect pricing? So what is, what causes the market to be changing? um It just depends on what is what city it's it's picking and delivering to. like if it's If there's a lot of freight moving out of a certain metro area, then people want to get there.
00:18:49
Speaker
So if you've got a delivery going to an area like that, it's going to be cheap because they'll make their money coming back out of that city. Or it could be the opposite to where they're going somewhere like Phoenix or something. and they're not going to be able to get anything out of there. So they're going to, they're going charge you for that head hall.
00:19:04
Speaker
Yep. As they say, why is that? Because, you know, i know some freight lanes, like when we did stuff up, up out West, up North though, like the Northwest, I feel like it's really hard up there or like you're saying now Phoenix, like why is that so hard to get freight in and out of there?
00:19:19
Speaker
Well, there's just not a whole lot. There aren't as many transportation providers based out of those areas because there isn't a lot of opportunity in that area itself. if that makes sense.
00:19:30
Speaker
It's kind of hard to create a bunch of trucking companies in a city where they're all competing over the same stuff. So you kind of want to head forward somewhere that has a lot of freight from where you live. yeah And how have you seen the freight market change over your, what are we, 16, 17 years you've been doing this?
00:19:51
Speaker
Pricing wise, just in general?
00:19:55
Speaker
So the last couple of years to me, it seems like it's been like the wild, wild west. Like that we've had, after COVID, we had so many new entries like into the industry. So many new carriers were getting set up, which is why they just put the, they're changing in the MC numbers over to DOTs because companies that were getting bad, had bad carrier ratings were basically shutting down and opening up shell companies and then just going and and doing the same thing.
00:20:26
Speaker
So it didn't used to be that way, honestly. Um, so I'd say there's a, the main difference is a flood of new entries, but, uh, less quality carriers. Yeah.
00:20:37
Speaker
I've definitely seen the quality of driver has dropped significantly. I've had guys pull up to job sites and they can't back up, which is the craziest thing to me. Or you can't talk to them because they don't speak English, which is really tough because I don't know,
00:20:52
Speaker
how you get a CDL if you can't speak English. that's a We're not going to get into the politics of that. but oh that's been That's just been a whole thing. There's a mandate on that now to where if they get pulled over, then they have to be able to perform a verbal test.
00:21:11
Speaker
Well, and I say that because yesterday, you know, I live out in Lookout Valley area, and so trying to get downtown, there's either you go over the mountain or you go down 24. Well, there's a big accident on 24 yesterday, so you got everybody that routed off of 24 and went to come over the mountain. Well, then, you know, coming into St. Elmo, Austin, you have that bridge that you can't go underneath. And so, sure as hell, ah it says 13 foot on the sign, and the truck tries to drive under and gets stuck yesterday. So it's pouring down rain. Traffic's backed up. I walk down there. I go to try and get the guy to back up and show him what to do. He can't speak English.
00:21:49
Speaker
And so I'm trying to go like this to get him down the road. And I was just thinking to myself, like, how did he get a CDL? And it it just feels like there's a lot more of that and then a lot more companies that have come out of the woodworks. And I know Chattanooga is a big hub for logistics and freight, but it just, it, um, so I see a more of it, but I feel like as a whole, the freight industry has just boomed and grown. And I feel, i don't know if it's starting to level out now from your eyes, but it feels like it is. And then, yeah, like what you're saying, some of these companies are maybe going to start to disappear after they had their big boom in COVID.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah. I think, uh, also at the beginning of the year, when a lot of these, uh, renewals for insurance premiums hit, uh, we're going a ah ton of, new entries drop off off the map. So I think that should increase the quality of overall capacity. Has pricing dropped in the last five years or is it rising?
00:22:47
Speaker
um It should. I think it is kind of weird that it hasn't dropped as much as as you would think with but the amount of trucking companies out there. ye But I think just with overall cost of limit living and insurance premiums going up, I don't think that they can afford to to to drop price too much. that You know, you gotta survive. So it's dropped a little, but not, not much.
00:23:11
Speaker
Definitely has since COVID, but it's not as much as I would, I have expected it to. For the, for the bad freight brokers or, at least not good quality freight brokers, what would we look for for red flags in that? you know and Because, I mean, there's so many of our companies out there and that don't know somebody that's in freight. um you know Being in Chattanooga, like I said, it's easier to find somebody that's in freight or you know be friends with somebody like you. who's here but how do these people go about finding somebody and you know and understanding that hey this is what you should probably look for in this type of person um obviously we you want them all to come to you after this listen to this podcast but what would somebody look for for the the red flags right i think the ones that don't ask questions you ask them do something and they say all right you know i'll take care of it but they're not really asking questions i feel like
00:24:04
Speaker
Sometimes I feel like a gnat at a barbecue because I'm constantly asking so many questions about what it is that you've got to put on the truck, you know, when it needs to be there and all the requirements, because if you don't have that, then you can't inform the driver of what their job is going to require. And it's just not to work out. But I think the ones that don't ask questions or the ones that don't really do their due diligence on looking up the background of the carriers. yeah I mean, if all that information is pretty public. You can go and look and see like which carriers you can rely on that's been around for a while and the ones that haven't. So if you picked up a load at my place today and that you obviously a driver, you hired the driver and they total their truck and the trailer and everything's gone, who is responsible for that? How does that work?
00:24:57
Speaker
If it's the driver's fault. Yeah. Say the driver flips the truck, you know, ah my stuff's ruined now. it was on his truck. Obviously I only only, I've been dealing with you. So how does that go?
00:25:08
Speaker
Liability wise? Well, whenever you get set up with a carrier, like, so if it was me doing it, um, I would have their insurance certificate and set packet and everything. So it would, it would be ultimately on, the carrier, carrier's insurance provider to pay for everything and to,
00:25:27
Speaker
If it was your equipment, then they'd also be liable for... Replacing all that as well. Replacing that, yeah. Okay. Because that's obviously a big concern of, you know, you're sending this stuff down the road with other people.
00:25:39
Speaker
Well, now, if i didn't if I didn't do my research and, like, let's say you had a freight that was worth $300,000. three hundred thousand dollars Yeah. And we're only up to then my company would be liable for the extra additional $50,000.
00:25:57
Speaker
What's what's kind of some of the wildest stuff you've had to move? Is there anything that sticks out to you that you feel like that you've had a phone call and been like, oh hell, this is going to be tough? I think the the job for Skyline on Nantucket was pretty crazy.
00:26:12
Speaker
you know Getting it to the Hyannis, Massachusetts Steamship Authority, first of all, there weren't there weren't any spaces available on the ferries. So we had to kind of work that out. But, you know once they got over there, then they wanted to to have shuttle drivers from the boneyard to the actual job site itself.
00:26:32
Speaker
So then we had to get, you know, lodging for the, for drivers and convince them to stay on the island for a couple of days, toting stuff to and from the site. And then, you getting them back, having an issues with that, getting back across to Massachusetts was, was a lot, but there was another time I think it was in Jackson, Wyoming when this, there was this, it was a wedding and it was right on the Snake River, but it was snowing, it was ice, it was a two lane road.
00:27:01
Speaker
And so I've got like 12 trucks going up this mountain. And I don't know if it was, I think it was Jay, maybe that, Hingely, that was meeting them at the base at their boneyard and then driving or leading them up the mountain, but they were slipping everywhere and Thankfully there was one driver had done it for like 35 years.
00:27:20
Speaker
So we, we, uh, I basically did an interchange agreement to where he, he popped in their truck and delivered all the loads for them. And then I guess the other, only other scenario I can think of is the white house job last year for, for Taryn when she was at peak was, uh, I think the second trailer that we sent in to the South lawn, uh, you know, they have bomb squad.
00:27:45
Speaker
sniffing dogs and everything and the second truck was the plutonium was detected. Oh no. oh it's Luckily I i knew who the the carrier was, they i usually haul lumber. It was happened to be a false alarm thank God.
00:27:58
Speaker
who I thought it was going really long project but it it worked out okay. Well and you know stuff like that, I just did a job at the vice president's house.
00:28:10
Speaker
And we had to half unload the truck because they wanted to like look inside boxes after they did their sniffing. I'm like, this is miserable. Yeah. i was like And I didn't charge enough for this. Yeah, exactly. This is crazy.
00:28:25
Speaker
Sitting here just thinking about the money going out the window on the timeline. Wait, it took four hours to get through screening? Oh my God. Well, you feel bad for drivers. They're like sitting there. how do you You don't want to warn them because then you do have to warn them. But You got to warm them now. Well, it's it's ah it depends. I mean, if you're going through somebody like Austin, like a freight broker, and you can say ahead of time with full confidence, hey, this is whose house you're going to. This is the situation. But if you're kind of going directly, then you're you're in trouble there because then it's already like, oh, well, I got to go here. i don't want to do that. you know So you got to have somebody, I feel like, driving that bus and kind of kicking them in in gear to get in there.
00:29:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I think what you said is is actually really relevant because – A lot of freight brokers may not, they may fudge it a little bit. Not say you're actually gonna have to drop the trailer and wait six hours to get it back.
00:29:18
Speaker
And that's when the snowball effect starts happening. Carriers get mad and leave or or whatever, but you gotta to be completely honest with them. Cause wanna find a carrier that's this willing to do it.
00:29:29
Speaker
Cause you never know what what could happen. Well, and you got to keep them in your back pocket, especially if they're good ones. I mean, if you're using the same consistent guys and you want to keep them in your back pocket and you want to keep them happy, so you want to give them the most information possible, you're probably also saying, hey, this is another load for them idiots over in the rental industry. yeah It's going to be crazy. Be ready for this one.
00:29:51
Speaker
This isn't an Amazon plant.
00:29:54
Speaker
I get it. i mean, I understand I would too, but what's one of the biggest saves that you've had, um, or you've had to do something on short notice that's been kind of crazy.
Challenging Deliveries
00:30:04
Speaker
Ooh, gonna have to think about that for a minute.
00:30:07
Speaker
Have you ever had a load just go completely sideways?
00:30:12
Speaker
Figuratively and literally. don't really want this to be on the podcast. One, one driver that drove side of a mountain in West Virginia,
00:30:24
Speaker
I don't know you were there yet or not. I know company that was for. I've heard that story. know all about that. yep and That was an absolute nightmare, but don't want to mention that. Yeah, no, we're good there.
00:30:35
Speaker
I don't know if I have any good examples of when just going sideways, to be honest. i think that Is there anything protecting you? So obviously you hire a driver to go into Chattanooga. What's stopping him from saying, hey, Logan, here's my phone number.
00:30:52
Speaker
You don't have to call Austin anymore. No, there isn't, and I have those customers that way. Really? Yeah. That's crazy. So it could be like a carrier that I really worked with a lot that is a good carrier, and it could be so good that the customer may just want to keep them for themselves. So, yeah, that happens.
00:31:09
Speaker
But, no, i don't have any control of that. I can't. It's illegal. They're not supposed to to do it, but, you know, no, there's nothing really holding them back for it from it. That's crazy. Well, looking ahead, where do you kind of see the business the freight business going in the next three to five years?
Future of the Freight Industry
00:31:23
Speaker
you see it continuing to boom?
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think it will. I mean, I think it's definitely going to be heavier regulated. Like I mentioned before, I think the... Going to DOT numbers, wiping out you know all the repeat carriers.
00:31:39
Speaker
I think that service as a whole, it should become better. But yeah, I do envision it booming for the next- Do you think that there's any technology that's going to help drive that for long-term changes?
00:31:53
Speaker
Well, I mean, with the, well, now that now that the ah the guys, the old, Cowboys can't use the paper logs. It's it's much more regulated.
00:32:06
Speaker
Well, the old cowboys are still using the paper logs. It's the new guys can't use them. Yeah. Well, no, they can't use them anymore. If you're used to be a truck that's a 529 or older, they could use paper logs, but as of September, that's out the door now. Oh, they have to be able to use it? Oh, I didn't know that. They have to get a sensor or something that hooks up to the engine that keeps track of their drive time and brakes and stuff.
00:32:32
Speaker
I a couple of them cowboys that used to run those, uh, those routes that would take the back roads and 80 mile an hour wide open through the back roads. And you're just like, how the hell did you get here so quick? Well, just missed all the stations.
00:32:47
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, on those 1999 Peter belts were, were going up in value quickly after the regulations that, you know, they look good. They sound good. Another additional week per load, basically.
00:33:01
Speaker
Well, with that then, if you could redesign something in the industry that would help, is there something that you feel like would would benefit? Hmm. And like in what regard?
00:33:15
Speaker
And whether it be technology or just, you know, maybe training as a whole for everybody to kind of get everybody on the same page, um, you know, reduce, reduce costs or, you know, whether that be in, um, liability and things like that. Hmm.
00:33:34
Speaker
Well, as far as cost is concerned, I think, uh, The biggest problem is is just having so many, like as a customer, having so many options for transportation and then having brokers that are literally just choosing the cheapest. like I think that it's it's part of the problem.
00:33:55
Speaker
If I get a quote and $400 is too expensive for a load and they give it to somebody else, but they may cancel that broker, but then there's going to be a million more down the road.
00:34:06
Speaker
Right. I think if there was more parity and I don't know how, i don't know how you'd fix that issue though.
Operational Best Practices
00:34:13
Speaker
Are you able to see drivers on duty time and like, so like when you go book a load with someone, are you able to see, okay, if I want them to pick up today, they only have three hours left to drive time, things like that.
00:34:29
Speaker
Yeah. I was always look at that. You know, if it's like a 10 AM pickup and it's, I'm talking about 6 PM, they have, four hours left and then they take their 10 hour, they still have plenty of I'm always looking at, aware of their drive hours and if it's feasible or not, even whether if they say it, they can make it or not, you know, I'm gonna be the, I wanna be the one decides. That determines that, yeah. yeah that determine So then the digital and electronic logs then have helped you a lot in in ways then not to do the old cowboy way, just so you can see that stuff ahead of time and determine who you wanna book with?
00:35:00
Speaker
Oh yeah, i think it's I think it's great, yeah. Okay. I didn't realize you guys could that. Well, also because, you know, if a load were to require teams, you know, may have carriers that are, they got strong solos out there that are cheating system.
00:35:16
Speaker
But if something were to happen, you know, they get put out service. And that's on them, though. Yeah, but you're afraid it's not getting there. Yeah, yeah. So power only loads.
00:35:29
Speaker
You pick up one of my trailers. Mm-hmm. They get put out of service because something's wrong on my trailer. Who is, how's that go? ah I am getting an interchange agreement with a new power unit and I would repower it and keep it rolling down the road.
00:35:50
Speaker
Who also becomes liable for that trailer at that point? If now it's hooked up to you, but it's our trailer, who becomes liable for the trailer? Well, the new the new carriers that repowered the trailer.
00:36:02
Speaker
like That's what the interchange agreement would do. If i if the trailer blows a tire, are they calling me saying, hey, you better get a tire company out here? That's what I've always wondered. The power only scares me for that exact reason. like They call you at 2 in the morning. We blew. Yeah, if it was just a like a simple blowout, then it would be up to you to pay for a new tire. Yeah.
00:36:25
Speaker
But are they going to take care of it? And then when he gets there, he's going to say, hey, by the way, you owe me $600 or whatever it was, $900.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yeah, at that point, I would just, i would get the receipt from the truck driver, and then I would just send you the the invoice for the the payment. Yeah. And you can obviously call and verify it or whatever. Yeah. Totally fine. It's the, when they're driving overnight, I'm like, well, what if they calls me at two in the morning? I got to have my phone on me. We've had that with a couple of our trailers where we've blown tires just like that. Yeah. Same thing. And and they'll just call up. They they'll let us know that, Hey, we had a problem, but they'll just get it taken care of. They'll call whoever they need to, you know, pilot, whatever that is, have them come change the tire and everything. Then we just get billed for it later.
00:37:06
Speaker
Yeah, most of them have a call roadside that can come out and fix it. They're probably much better at finding a roadside person than or someone. you would be. Yeah, well, just they do it every day, so I'm sure they have you know they know all the numbers to call to get someone out there. Oh, I've had to do that so many times where they don't they don't know where to go.
00:37:26
Speaker
They're in some... ah obscure area to where I'm just on the internet Googling. Googling. Yeah. Who can do it? Who can, if it's product that's shifted, who can get a forklift over here to, to re you know, reset it or whatever.
00:37:38
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of that goes on too. Yeah. Tent structure stays on the trailer perfect every time. Oh yeah. Yeah, it doesn't move at all. yeah Especially when they refuse it because it's hanging like four inches off or you know five inches off the side and you can't push it anymore. and But the next guy will be like, oh yeah, it's fine. No big deal. I got this.
00:37:58
Speaker
Just let it hang off. I can say there is a there is a huge difference depending on what what customer or shipper it is There are people that are obviously very good at loading trucks and people that Couldn't be doing it.
00:38:11
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it's so. I just want to tell the driver that you load the damn truck then. What do you want me to do? I'm trying. I'm doing everything I can. And it's, everything comes out of the warehouse so perfectly neat and organized. And then on the job site, it's just like, let's get this done as fast as possible. Get home.
00:38:28
Speaker
Yeah. Everybody's trying to get out of there. Yeah. And the truck is two hours late. So like, they were just like, get it on there. Trucks are never, trucks are never late. Right, Austin? Never, nope. I do make all my drivers, whenever they're loaded, whether it's from the warehouse or from the job site, as a rule of thumb, 30 minutes after they pull out to to pull over and re-strap.
00:38:50
Speaker
Oh really? That stuff will loosen Move around. Initially and then re-strap and then go. That's a good idea. I've never heard that. Yeah, there's there's too many times where you see stuff just shifted and moving around a lot, especially with the aluminum and how it stacks.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yep. Never as good as it comes back. Well, Austin, I got some rapid-fire questions for you here, just some fun stuff. what's What would be a dream truckload? What would be one of the cool projects that you'd like to work on or something fun that you'd like to have hauled?
00:39:22
Speaker
Let's say you did. Oh gosh, it's hard because I'm not the one driving the truck, but um
00:39:35
Speaker
a nice yacht for myself, I guess. o There you go. All right. What's the worst type of client?
00:39:43
Speaker
You don't have to be specific to an industry, but what what type of client just gets on your nerves? I yeah guess the ones that don't really understand the industry as a whole.
00:39:54
Speaker
Yeah. Honestly. They don't know how it works. new New to using the freight brokering industry. They don't really know what do what they're even asking for, I guess.
00:40:05
Speaker
What's one of the favorite cities that you've ah you like to haul in and out of that you feel like is is most is the best and easiest? oklahoma's Oklahoma's pretty easy.
00:40:17
Speaker
Really? That's crazy. No one goes to Oklahoma. There's good carriers in Oklahoma. ah Certain areas of Texas are good. Georgia.
00:40:28
Speaker
Just anywhere where there's really a lot of capacity. I mean, like coming out of like Jacksonville, Florida would be great. Yeah. So many trucks down there and very little freight. So makes your life easier. You can pick the one you want.
00:40:39
Speaker
If you weren't a freight broker, what would you be doing? Or what would you want to do? i really like statistics, analytics. so Probably something like the movie Moneyball.
00:40:51
Speaker
that's a good one What's one piece of advice you'd give our listeners about the business and just the life in the business? Just communicate, over-communicate. I mean, ah that's I know I've said that so many times, but it all comes down communication and planning and having a good understanding of what what you need to to have happen and making sure that the people that are doing it for you are are well aware of everything that needs to be done. And then communicate with the shippers, receivers, make sure they know when the trucks are coming in, notify them with any changes so they can do their planning ahead of time and not last minute.
00:41:32
Speaker
Got it. Yeah, i think I think the communication is obviously huge. I know you said it a lot of times, but I feel like that if there's anything that's going to go wrong, it's going to be kids because of communication. I feel like that's anywhere. But, you know, especially with times and how sensitive guys' stuff is, I feel like if we're not – if on our end we're not complete with you and and don't give you every single thing that you need, I mean, it goes without saying that they we're setting everybody up for failure from the start of the job right then and there.
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah. Right.
Reaching New Customers
00:42:04
Speaker
Well, Austin, it's been a good conversation today. Do you have any questions for us, or do you think there's anything that we can do to to make your job easier? For Kyle, I have a question.
00:42:15
Speaker
um So my biggest struggle is whenever I'm trying to reach out to new customers. Yep. know A lot of times you get, like, the gatekeeper that's going answer, and they'll push you like push it to the voicemail, right?
00:42:32
Speaker
But... if If someone like me have a lot of experience and I love working with tent and event customers, what is the key to to getting set up with a company like yourself, Mike? So I am a o Right place, right time is the wrong way to put it.
00:42:48
Speaker
i like the, ah like, mail me your business card or something. Like, i that's how the broker we used to use. He just mailed me, like, a box of pens one day and then I needed something and I was like, oh, I got his pen right here.
00:43:02
Speaker
i think the easiest way do is you got figure out who's booking the actual loads. um I don't know what the right answer for that is. It's hard. Like I personally get inundated with sales calls all the time.
00:43:15
Speaker
I bet i get 20 a day. So half the time I don't answer the phone anymore just because I feel bad when I'm on the phone because was like, well, I don't want to try to do something. I didn't mean to answer this. And then I never, my voicemail box right now has 40 voicemails I haven't listened to in two weeks probably it's so tough but um i would say honestly social media really yeah a double to go through social media yeah that's how my sunbelt guy that's how he got me he found me on linkedin and then instagram
00:43:52
Speaker
Well, okay, I would say LinkedIn. You are right with LinkedIn. I do get a lot of people that hit me up on LinkedIn for some transportation that will ask what they could do. um Man, to jump in on that question, just from being in some points of that, I think that one, a phone call, two, an email, and three, I think the biggest thing is taking somebody to lunch or dinner or even go grab a drink. And I think that opens up the doors. But even to getting to that point, Austin, I think that, you know, if you're jumping in on, um you know, ah social media for LinkedIn or just texting calls or just show up. I mean, I know and know people that
00:44:31
Speaker
I know people don't like being just shown up on, but if you can feel out what time of the year it is, especially like right now while this industry is slow, I feel like this is a good time to start knocking on doors or calling people or, you know, having those conversations for next year because people are starting to book freight for next year, right? People are starting to put quotes out and everything like that. So... if you If you just go beat down some doors or talk to people in that way and say, hey, you know, I know you're probably using somebody already right now, but, you know, if they fail you, let me save the day or let me help you out. Here's my card. If you want a free lunch, let's go have lunch, you know. And I know that you guys do that a lot and different companies do that a lot. But I think that's a great way to do it.
00:45:13
Speaker
Well, the other thing is I would be – so, like, this time a year i'm not booking much freight. Right. my last loads are probably done for the year but if you called me on April I might be like oh well shit I got a load in a week you want to do that like that is probably a better time to get someone when they're busy because gonna go oh I got a load in two weeks I haven't covered yet do you want to do that whereas now when people are calling it's like yeah well i'll keep you in touch I Don't even remember what brokerage it was. He was calling me every Monday and Friday. And I was like, you got to leave me alone.
00:45:46
Speaker
There is a certain corporate company. What'd you say, Austin? I just don't like being a pest like that. I mean, I'm operational minded. I'm not like a, I'm not a good sales salesperson. So yeah I feel like, what am going to really say that 50 people haven't already said this week?
00:46:04
Speaker
Well, there's one specific there's one specific corporate freight company that calls nonstop, and I finally just had to answer. and i mean, it was it was really rude, but I just had to do got to make your point. At some point, you've got say, stop calling me, damn it. um But you know I think if you just drop your card and drop a line and just say, hey, you don't have to be a pest. You can just say, hey, if you need me, I'm here.
00:46:27
Speaker
I know you're if you're using somebody, here's you know here's an opportunity to jump in and and do it So I think you do that slow time just to get your name
Building Relationships in Freight
00:46:35
Speaker
in there. But again, Kyle, like you said, you know, a busy time, you could always jump in because, I mean, there's companies out there, even like us, that, you know, we'll use all of our resources that we have and we still need more or that person can't get it and and this person can get it faster.
00:46:50
Speaker
So, I mean, especially if, Austin, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have drivers, like you said earlier, that you work with a lot, that you feel like, If somebody's trying to pick stuff off a board on the freight board and they can't get anything on the freight board, but you have these drivers that you know that you can just say, hey, run over here and do this. Do you think you can help me out with this? Well, yeah, if you give them enough of enough loads and you're in the background a lot with them, then they're going to help you.
00:47:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Shows. I like to understand, like, I like to really understand what the main jobs are. Are you doing a lot of local stuff? Is it cross country? you know, there's, if I could get to understand a certain company, like there, there may be ways that I could really help make things more efficient. Yeah. I would also suggest like our trade shows. I mean, even that's perfect place to just buy people a beer.
00:47:39
Speaker
He was just there. He was, he was at Metro. I was there. Yeah. Yep. So I saw the ARA this year. Him and Jim Rian. You should. We can make ARA happen.
00:47:51
Speaker
Come hang out with us. It'll be a good time. We'll be there. Well, Austin, you got anything else for us, buddy? don't believe so. Well, it's been a good conversation for for us today. i appreciate you coming on and kind of explaining this crazy side of your business just like ours. But anybody out there that needs a freight broker or needs help with freight, I'm sure Austin will ah will be happy to help.
00:48:13
Speaker
So, again, check him out, One Horn Transportation. He'd be happy to do it for you. Kyle, anything else? That's all I got. i just Actually, while we're here, I just got a text that said, Sweet potato casserole becomes the dessert Once it becomes cold.
00:48:32
Speaker
No, that's not true. It's hot. We can debate this all day. but when it's hot Yeah, yeah when when it's hot and it has the marshmallows and the cinnamon. But we can debate that for another day. Austin, thanks for coming on, buddy. Kyle, good to see you. This has been another episode of Under the Vinyl, a rental management media podcast.