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NEW! "The Cutting Edge" Episode 1: Sustainable De-Icing
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The Cutting Edge, is a new series of episodes presented by Boss Snowplow on The SnowJobs Podcast. Join us each month as snow professionals within the industry and members of the Boss team tackle different topics, and share information, to help snow pros gain information to improve their operation.
Episode 1: Sustainable De-Icing...Katie Roell, Kory Jokela, and Jordan Smith from Boss Snowplow sit down with the guys to talk about the idea of Sustainable de-icing, and products out there that may help snow pros achieve it
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:11
Katie
Thank you.
00:00:23
RICK JAMES
Okay.
Introduction to 'The Cutting Edge' Series
00:00:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here we go snow jobs nation. Welcome to the first episode of a brand new series of special episodes on the snow jobs podcast We are super excited to be bringing all of you more of what you've asked for from us more episodes That was the number one thing when jordan smith brought us the storm equipment contractor survey for 2025 When he asked about the snow jobs, that is the number one answer was more episodes. You guys are really greedy so We went and did what you asked, all right? So we have a new series starting today. it is called The Cutting Edge, and it's going to be brought to us by Boss Snowplow.
00:01:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
So we can't thank Boss enough. They wanted to come on board. They wanted to bring you guys more of what you've been asking for. So that's what we're doing today. So how did this new series of special episodes come about?
00:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
We just told you. Jordan does his contractor survey. It's really long. You know, it asks a lot of questions.
00:01:26
RICK JAMES
question.
00:01:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nobody likes doing it, but he offers a lot of cool prizes. So I'm just kidding. It's a great thing. it helps guys that that care about the industry, OEMs, manufacturers, and snow guys. It helps them all see where things are heading and what guys are experiencing out there, what problems they're having. So we thank Storm for doing that poll. And They're kind of like the the background reason of how these episodes came about. The people at Boss Snowplow, they heard that loud and clear. They reached out and said they wanted to get involved and would love to help us bring some more episodes to you guys.
Boss Snowplow's Educational Collaboration
00:02:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
So after speaking with the team at Boss, ah it was very apparent right off the bat that we were on the same page, right, Jeremy?
00:02:09
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you bet. i
00:02:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like...
00:02:12
RICK JAMES
Boss is great company. I use them these them for years. So i I like them. You don't really have much out there yet, but yeah, they've been great.
00:02:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nope. this is This is exciting for me, though, because I love you know i love learning knowing exactly what's out there because we get a lot of we have a lot of asks. We get a lot of questions about products and you know problems and, hey, what product would out there would best suit us for this and that.
00:02:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:02:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
and you know it's It's good to know everything that's out there, even if you don't use it.
00:02:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely.
00:02:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know knowledge is power, especially in snow.
00:02:39
RICK JAMES
For sure.
00:02:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, you know, if you you got it you got to be knowledgeable, otherwise you waste money. And we can't afford these days, especially and in the snow management industry, to waste any money. There's just not enough of it out there anymore.
00:02:52
RICK JAMES
No.
00:02:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
but Like I said, we we spoke to the boss team. We had a great meeting with them. And right off the bat, it was extremely apparent that their goals were our goals. Their wants were our wants. They wanted to get more education, more information, and more product knowledge about what's out there to help snow pros do their job better. So with that, the Cutting Edge series brought to you by boss on the Snow Jaws podcast was born.
00:03:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
So with that being said, again, thanks to BOSS for the support, believing in what we're doing with this show, and for wanting to get involved to bring snow guys more or what they want. So without further ado, let's introduce the team from BOSS that's going to be helping us out today on this episode.
00:03:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
We have Katie Roll. She is the senior marketing manager and I believe the driving force behind these episodes. We have Corey Jokula. He is the product manager at Boss, and we have Jordan Smith, who a couple people out there might know. He does a little thing with liquids here and there. He's he's Mr. Liquids. Everybody knows who he is, and ah he handles, I'm sure, the VSI by Boss line.
00:03:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah So everybody, if you've listened to the show, you know who Jordan is, so we don't have to go much further than that. But welcome to Snow Jobs Nation, guys.
00:03:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
We appreciate having you on board.
00:04:02
Katie
I'm very excited to be here. Thanks, Tim and Jeremy. um This has been, yeah kind of six months in the making for us at Boss. And really this started six months ago, being on the road and finding Snowdrops podcast and all of my work travels have been downloading episodes and listening to boss users, non-boss users on the show.
00:04:22
Katie
And really, boss has been really contractor focused from the beginning. i mean We just celebrated our 40 year anniversary in business in the Snow and Ice industry.
00:04:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Congratulations.
00:04:30
Katie
Corey and I have both been in the industry for 10 years. And this seemed like the perfect way for us to keep very contractor focused, keep the communication line open. I never want the cutting edge to feel like a commercial.
00:04:42
Katie
I want it to feel like, hey, after this episode, I better hear from some contractors who either agree, disagree, like, dislike, whatever's going on. Right. And so that's what that's exactly what I want.
00:04:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, you will. but
00:04:55
Katie
So that's really what Corey and I are here to do. My my first introduction to the SnowJobs podcast was we were on a we were on a trial work trip. I used to be on the Snow Raider engineering team developing those products.
00:05:09
Katie
I was on work trip with all of the other engineers that work on those products. We were going down to see a Snow Raider dealer in southern Wisconsin, and Katie texted us your episode of about sidewalk machines, and we were just dying laughing for half of the trip down there.
00:05:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay was it i mean was it informative as well as funny if did you at least get some information you could use out of it good
00:05:24
Katie
Yeah.
00:05:31
Katie
Oh yeah, definitely. We also got a lot of ammunition to, uh, rib on the Toro guys, both the multiforce. So that was good
00:05:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
no
00:05:40
RICK JAMES
oh yeah, I remember that.
00:05:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah absolutely
00:05:42
Katie
good.
00:05:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I tell you, we had two of the original Snow Raiders when you guys bought them from, I believe it was LT Rich. And whoever redesigned the LT Rich into the the boss Snow Raider when it came out, you guys did a bang up job on that. That was ah that was a great upgrade from what it was. And we loved them. We absolutely, we we loved the two we had. And we just, ah unfortunately, we had to be able to be a little more versatile. So we had to switch them out. But of that, those are great, great entry-level sidewalk machines. Those things are killers. They can push all day.
00:06:17
Katie
And they're a fun.
00:06:17
RICK JAMES
right.
00:06:18
Katie
Yeah.
00:06:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
They are a lot of fun. They are definitely a lot of fun. So, yeah, I mean, we we love having you guys on board. And that was kind of the thing I took away. I know Jeremy and I spoke after that first meeting was that that this was not going to be a product push. Like, I'm like, I was impressed. Like, they didn't even speak about their own products. They wanted to bring education. They wanted to bring knowledge. They wanted to sit down. and talk to contractors on a personal level, find out what their needs are, and bring them some education that may help their lives, and help them find products. Even if it's not their own, help them find the right product for them.
00:06:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because everybody knows, no matter what brand you buy, if it's the wrong product, and you were sold on a bill of goods by a manufacturer that that didn't pan out for you, that's a bad experience.
00:06:52
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:07:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
and And you guys did not want that. And I thought that was awesome. I really thought that was forward thinking of you. And we were we were very impressed coming away from that meeting. So it just made sense to to do this. and give the people what they want. So we're very excited to to be here with you today.
00:07:15
Jordan Smith
and I would just add one thing, guys. Again, thanks for having us. I'm excited. It's kind of a surreal moment here because if you think back in the history of snow jobs,
00:07:27
Jordan Smith
Boss really got their first real um exposure on the show back with liquids 101, 102 and 103. Right.
00:07:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:07:35
Katie
Mm-hmm.
00:07:36
RICK JAMES
You
00:07:36
Jordan Smith
So like you guys invited me on to do liquids. I was with boss at the time. I'm still with boss, obviously. Um, But like I remember pushing to the boss team like, hey, Snow Jobs was nice enough to give us these episodes, which, yes, you know we provided some value to them, absolutely. But like this is a free platform that we're getting right now. like Check these episodes out. And I'm glad i'm glad the team ah got the links to check that stuff out. Yeah. It's kind of like um memorializing something that actually started a long time ago with our first official boss episode here. So this is exciting for me. Obviously, I've been a part of the the snow jobs journey since almost the beginning, but fun to memorialize it with ah an actual boss episode here.
00:08:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Those three liquids episodes were super critical because I don't know.
00:08:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're never going to be able to put your your finger on it or put a dollar amount on it. But I can tell you from the feedback we got off those liquids 101, 102, 103 episodes, so many guys pulled the trigger.
00:08:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
after those episodes so many guys so like that that's huge you know again bring the guys the information that may help them go in a better direction than what they're in and if they can you know if they can justify the capex then they were doing it and they were they were bombarding you with questions and stuff and so it's great to have
00:08:34
Jordan Smith
Oh yes, without a doubt. I still get, guys, those episodes are two and a half years old. I still get DMs about, hey, just listen to your liquids 101. I have questions all
Challenges in Snow Management
00:08:58
Jordan Smith
the time.
00:08:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
they're still getting listens yeah they're still getting a lot of listens
00:08:59
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:08:59
Jordan Smith
All the time.
00:09:00
Katie
The trigger, right?
00:09:01
RICK JAMES
Go out.
00:09:03
Katie
Even if they didn't pull the trigger at the time, like it's just seating and the education and the relationship that you're able to bring to them. And it might work for a contract that comes up later in their business journey.
00:09:14
Katie
Right. And so just being open.
00:09:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:09:15
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:09:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:09:17
Jordan Smith
Yep. yep
00:09:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:09:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. And that's what it's all about. The collaboration has definitely worked the last number of years. It's definitely better to everybody pushing in the same direction than against each other. And there's there's usually plenty of ah seats at the table, honestly.
00:09:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's plenty of pie to go around. And you've got to get these guys' information because we have less room for error, less margin for error, less less profit margin for error than ever.
00:09:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
So if you make a bad decision now, ah you could be out of business. You might not make it another season. So, you know getting guys information of any kind is is a good thing. So I'm glad we're able to do that. I'm glad to have boss on board. And, you know, it's it's a great thing to do. So today's theme, today's episode theme is we're going to talk sustainable de-icing.
00:10:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
right and We're going to talk how to do that better and smarter, and I'm going to open it up to whoever wants to to start us off. because Actually, you know what? I'd like to start us off, if you don't mind, because as Jeremy said, i am not a boss user in my area. It's more of a Douglas-dominated area. I know nothing about the VBX line of spreaders, and I get questions about it all the time. and i really i don't i tell them I don't know. I can put you in contact with VBX users, but I don't know, so I can't tell you.
00:10:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
If you want to take us through like the VBX and now the VBX plus with the material tracking, if you want to take me through a little, you know, starter course on what that spreader can do for us. And then maybe ah Jordan can tell us about the liquid stuff, but I'd really love to hear more about the VBX plus if you don't mind.
VBX Plus Spreader Features
00:10:51
Katie
Yeah, I guess i can I can lead us off. Katie can interject as we go here. VBX has been around, you know, VBX and it's in its original form was around VidBoss since 2012, 2013. you know, we've ah since then we've offered Chain varieties of...
00:11:10
Katie
one one and a half one, one and a half, two, three yard versions. We had a stainless steel version in there, the Forge for a while. It was a little bit de-featured, but at its at its core, it was a VBX. But the VBX has always been, the VBX family has always been a very well-featured, very well-featured truck-mounted V-Box spreader with a higher-end control system relative to the rest of the crowd.
00:11:36
Katie
um The VBX Plus, Ever since we launched the VBX, I remember when I started at Voss, I was a manufacturing engineer working on the floor operations engineer, working on welding stainless efficiently.
00:11:51
Katie
And even then, i was hearing conversations about how we control and account for material being spread out of the VBX. So BOSS launched the original VBX and the next question, the next sentence that came out of everyone in the engineer engineering department's mouth was, how do we know how much salt we put down and on how much we put down on what job site?
00:12:15
Katie
And that's really what led to the the development that was the VBX Plus. Like there was a lot of other products that happened at Boss, a lot of development in the snow and ice industry between VBX and VBX Plus.
00:12:29
Katie
But VBX Plus really, the the The core is how do you how much salt or hummer salt, how much sand, how much material are you putting down and what job site are you putting it down at and making that as documentable and as accessible as possible. so VBX Plus, old VBX, you had speeds, you could adjust your feeder from speeds 0 to 10.
00:12:57
Katie
You could adjust your spinner from speeds 0 to 10. And that was great. Gave you a lot of control. The control in the cab was easy to use, barely had to look at it, and guys became experts on it overnight.
00:13:09
Katie
um But... you know, you didn't really know how much you're putting down. So VBX Plus, we've developed, you know, put sensors on sensors on the on the spreader so that we know how fast the auger is spinning, how fast the feeder on your pintle is spinning. And we can relate that back to an approximate density of your material and tell you on your display how much material you've put on the job site you're at right now.
00:13:39
Katie
um It's really easy to use. you know it's not It's not linked to truck speed, but it shows you exactly how much salt you've put out so far. It shows that you can you can categorize by job. um One of the things that we didn't expect, we didn't expect it. We we came at this like a documentation billing angle, right?
00:14:01
Katie
um One of the ah documentation billing, sustainability, purchasing the right amount of salt, being you know being good business people.
00:14:13
Katie
But one of the things that we started hearing immediately after launch was how great of a training tool it was. So you had a new guy, he goes to a job site. He doesn't know how much salt is going to be there.
00:14:26
Katie
You tell him, you tell him me you got to go salt the parking lot at, you know, job, job X. um Previously, he went and put down two or three hoppers of salt, came back and you realize that he probably should have only done one and that's a communicative law.
00:14:41
RICK JAMES
system
00:14:42
Katie
Right. like Like no one's ever done that before.
00:14:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
welcome to every new employee every snow company you
00:14:47
Katie
Right. Or he only puts down a quarter of a hopper and comes back, right? But on on the BBX Plus display, it seems like such a simple thing, but it took us a long time to get there, was how many pounds have you spread on job one?
00:14:52
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:15:01
Katie
So you can tell your guys, like, job one is that Starbucks over across town, and you're going to put 1,000 pounds down there, like, a thousand pounds down it's down at Starbucks, job one.
00:15:13
Katie
And that's exactly what it needs. Put it out evenly. And that's what we need there. So it's a lot of words to describe what the VBX Plus is, but that's been that's been the advancement from VBX to VBX Plus.
00:15:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
And it's easy enough like you can, when you're done with one job, you can just reset it. Do you have to record the number right there that it that you put out on that last job or does it store it somewhere internally?
00:15:38
Katie
It stores up to 10 jobs and to advance to the next job, it's just one button press.
00:15:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:15:42
Katie
So, you know, it's all right in the operator's face.
00:15:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Perfect.
00:15:46
Katie
It's not hidden underneath piles of settings or like deep in menus. It's just... are it's a It's still very similar to the original VBX screen, but our lead mechanical engineer on the product line and our software team put hours and hours into making that user interface easy to use at night at the touch of a button. right so
00:16:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
And that all goes towards that, you know, the buzzword right now in the industry is all about sustainable salt, sustainable salting. And you guys had a great saying for that. It's not about using less. It's about using smarter.
00:16:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's That's a great way to put it.
00:16:23
Katie
Thank you.
00:16:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really a cool way to put it.
00:16:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:16:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I think, I mean, that sounds really cool. And I'm glad that there's options out there for guys that don't want to – don't want to have to spend say 20 000 25 000 on a spreader like the the vbx line is is more in line with like a uh you know from from my neck of the woods for a douglas product like the tornado it's more price line in line with that so you're still getting a quality spreader but you're not having to pay you know the the latest and greatest space age technology prices that are you know going to double your costs so i love that great job
00:16:58
Katie
Yeah, the yeah you know those features of the VBX Plus, they're all standard, right? So you know we're not we're not hiding behind some base model and then optioning it up, right?
00:17:04
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:17:09
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
00:17:09
Katie
that that is We're committed to this level of technology. It's our standard product.
00:17:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
You don't need to buy the satellite uplink separate. yeah
00:17:19
Katie
Nope. Well, that's what I love about the VBX is you can have a contractor who runs their business by pen and paper and they can find value in the VBX because they can track it by jobs one through 10. If that's all the bigger their operation is, or if they've leveled up and now they use a jobber or an H360 like we're going to talk about later.
00:17:40
Katie
They can take how much material it was spread, add it to those job details and keep track of it that way in a phone app. Or we've got like the next progression coming future state for boss. And so just continuing to expand on the one platform of the VBX Plus and really offering a range for what contractors need, where their business is at with the technology that they need to be able to do it smarter.
Contractor Preferences for Snow Equipment
00:18:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. Love it. Love hearing
00:18:07
RICK JAMES
So what happens after you have a, I think you kind of explained it there, but if you have more than 10 jobs, can you just reset it, reset it inside your, the VBX screen i'm written and just keep doing more jobs, just record those first 10 and keep going?
00:18:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
ahead.
00:18:22
Katie
Yep, you just tear it out like a scale.
00:18:22
RICK JAMES
Okay. Okay.
00:18:25
Katie
Yeah, and the other thing is we have some people who they're not measuring it by job site, they're measuring it by storm. So job one is storm that happened on Friday and job two is storm that happened on Wednesday because the snow just keeps coming, right?
00:18:39
Katie
And so they're just making sure that they're either accounting for inventory, making sure they have enough or how much do we put down storm to storm or It could even by season. So if you said, hey, I'm not going to track by job site, but I'm going to track how much do we use this season with this BBX Plus.
00:18:57
Katie
So I'm going to set job one on hopefully October 1st, right? The first no, November 1st in the UP, it might be October.
00:19:08
Katie
They're going to set that as job one and it's just going to keep totalizing the material all the way through the season for them to know this is how much we spent for the entire season of SALT.
00:19:13
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:19:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, cool.
00:19:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:19:18
Katie
And so it's just going to keep track in that way.
00:19:18
RICK JAMES
Gotcha.
00:19:19
Katie
So it's so versatile. And again, like it's, it doesn't have to be rigid into job site. And that's part of the reason why we made the VBX the way it was. And then it's built on a module that we can keep expanding on for, for the future.
00:19:33
Katie
i mean, well,
00:19:33
RICK JAMES
Okay. That's what, that's what, I'm sorry. That's of the things I heard at shows was guys or people are saying, well, it only holds up to 10 jobs. I'm like, well, you can, you can put those down and reset it. And, you know, I would assume and just keep going. So that's some of the things I heard of some of the contractors saying that, you know, shows and stuff like that. So.
00:19:52
Katie
Yeah, it's it's really, you know, as we were developing it, it's really a balance of, you know, where there's pile of engineers here. My background is engineering. It's really easy to go off the rails with complexity and put every feature and make it too complicated to be useful.
00:20:10
Katie
And that'll happen really fast. um But Katie, before we started recording, when we were talking about doing our own storm mobile around the BOSS facility, one of the advantages here is that all of our engineers, our whole team is out moving snow, de-icing.
00:20:26
Katie
like We get that these things come up and have to be dealt with in like 30 seconds in the cab of the truck in the middle of the storm, right?
00:20:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's
00:20:34
RICK JAMES
Sure.
00:20:35
Katie
So it has to be it has to be useful. It has to achieve the goals, right? But it has to be easy to use.
00:20:42
Jordan Smith
Well, I think guys, it like what I've been learning the last five years since we launched our ah VSI smart connected product with all the tracking and stuff is is people think they want this massive depth of features and it it shows well, it sells well, it trade shows.
00:21:00
Jordan Smith
um But when they get in the truck and the operator starts running it, they just need it to be simple. And to be honest, most of these companies are tracking their material usage and their time on a separate app anyway. Right. So now if you build this massively vertically integrated cloud based system that automatically does everything, that sounds really awesome at a trade show. And I'm not saying we shouldn't do that, but I am saying in reality, the feedback we've gotten from VSI users the last five years is like,
00:21:30
Jordan Smith
Yeah, I was really excited about about those features, but really now all I do is I just track a job and then I put it in my job tracking app, whether it's H360 or Jobber or LMN or Aspire, whatever it might be. They're just putting the data in there after the job's done anyway. Right.
00:21:42
Jordan Smith
So i would agree that it you can go sky's the sky is a limit in terms of what you can do with tech now, but it just needs to work and it needs to be simple is what really people want.
00:21:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:21:52
Jordan Smith
and And back to our storm survey, like that was the main feedback we've heard. And I've shared that with the boss engineering team as well as like, You know we came out with this feature rich thing five years ago, our technology was super ahead of the time for VSI. And five years later, people were like, that's really cool, but can you make it simpler?
00:22:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
00:22:08
Katie
Yeah,
00:22:09
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:22:09
Jordan Smith
That's the main feedback is like, make it simple.
00:22:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
00:22:12
RICK JAMES
ye
00:22:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:22:14
Katie
yeah I still remember this is five years ago.
00:22:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
i
00:22:15
Katie
We had a contractor come to BOSS and do a visit, and he had built out this whole operations system that he could track gas mileage and track where all of his crews were.
00:22:28
Katie
And he was sitting in Iron Mountain and washing everyone, and it was all these things. And we went... oh, like we need to be doing that. like Why aren't we doing that? We need to be doing fleet management yesterday and we need to make all these features. And then we ah started to talk to contractors and go from the the guy who is running his own business and all the information is in his head to guys with large operations and 300 plus employees and went,
00:22:54
Katie
We need to make a product, though, that's scalable and that is simple enough, but also complex enough to achieve what it needs to. But it it can't can't be the the bells and whistles of everything and can't be everything to everyone.
00:23:02
Jordan Smith
day
00:23:08
Katie
So that was kind of the story of the VBX, which led to then after that,
00:23:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
You guys, sorry, Katie, you guys talk to a lot of, man you you talk to ah not you're you're a manufacturer, but like you said, you do your own snow removal at Boss, you talk to everybody.
00:23:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
what like What are you guys hearing from contractors as far as like their their concerns, their worries about the salt?
00:23:26
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
00:23:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everybody knows salt is a huge issue right now. It's a major issue. And it's like we're we're doing this the December 31st. And already you're in salt shortages across the snow pushing United States where guys are getting cut off. What what are they so what are what are you guys hearing from them as far as their worries and what pressure they're under for like being more sustainable, you know, and and using less salt?
00:23:52
Katie
Yeah, I mean, it has been really regional too, based on state. Some are feeling more pressure than others, but really to have that proof of service is huge, that they've done the job that they said they were going to do, and then to be able to have that verification that they aren't over applying. And if you're an owner, I mean, I own my own small business. If one of my employees is overusing over applying, right? Like that's something that I want to know about so that I can scale my inventory or make sure that we're going to be set up for the rest of the winter because well thankfully we're having a really strong winter here in the UP.
00:24:27
Katie
Or, you know, if if you have, like were talking earlier about new employees, if you have someone that goes out and puts down 20% of the salt that you'd expect
Sustainable Snow Management Practices
00:24:37
Katie
that they need on a job site, that's a no tolerance account, like there's red flags there, right? Yeah.
00:24:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, 100%.
00:24:44
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:24:44
Katie
Thank you.
00:24:45
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:24:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Do you think these do you you think these salt salt shortages, whether, you know, we won't get into the the theories behind the salt shortages, but, like, do you think these salt shortages are are going to make it a more...
00:24:53
RICK JAMES
The real reason.
00:25:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
How do I put this? um' Are they going to push guys towards being more sustainable in their salt usage and figuring out ways to use less and using smarter products that will allow them to use less and track it?
00:25:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
You think that's where it's heading?
00:25:17
Katie
Absolutely. I mean, Jordan, you've seen that in the liquid game. I mean, this is cyclical. Like, this is not a new conversation that we're having around salt shortages. This comes up. um And so I think, Jordan, you've seen that with liquid adoption. i think that blends itself. That starts to push people into, wait, that's something that I need to consider that I heard about five years ago that I should be thinking about now.
00:25:40
Katie
Jordan, would you agree with that?
00:25:41
Jordan Smith
yeah Yeah. I mean, it's it is funny that every time that there's salt shortage, the the phone doesn't stop ringing. um And a lot of it is guys that have thought about it for years.
00:25:49
Katie
Thank you.
00:25:50
RICK JAMES
Oh
00:25:52
Jordan Smith
It's not like they're just thinking about it for the first time today because their salt contract got canceled. um and And just you know, guys, I think it'd be a great episode to talk about the salt shortage thing because the the more I learn, the more interesting it gets.
00:26:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, I'm in.
00:26:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, I know.
00:26:06
Jordan Smith
Let me tell you what.
00:26:06
RICK JAMES
yeah, oh yeah.
00:26:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's it's a scam.
00:26:08
Jordan Smith
it It seems like a total scam, but you know, I mean, the earth is made of largely salt, right?
00:26:08
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It is a scam.
00:26:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:26:14
Jordan Smith
Like that we shouldn't be running short, but whatever for another day.
00:26:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
You want not to not sidetrack you. You want to tell me that seven months of mine material across the country is gone in the first three weeks of winter.
00:26:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:26:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
but I'm calling BS.
00:26:24
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:26:26
Jordan Smith
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:26:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Come on.
00:26:27
RICK JAMES
ye
00:26:28
Jordan Smith
what
00:26:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead.
00:26:29
Jordan Smith
But no, it becomes front of mind really quick.
00:26:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sorry.
00:26:31
Jordan Smith
And when there's cycles that happen, because like Katie said, this isn't the first time. One of my earliest years doing larger scale commercial snow was one of the biggest winters we ever had in the Midwest.
00:26:42
Jordan Smith
And i think all throughout the country, 2009, 2010, it's the year the Metrodome collapsed. Like the state ran out of salt in in January that year, right? And then people started using liquids.
00:26:54
Jordan Smith
And this is before liquids were really even at anyone had any idea. And there wasn't any manufacturers making equipment and it was just people building their own stuff. And it was crazy. But anytime something goes in cycles like this, where gets a little bigger each time, like that shows the adoption curve line.
00:27:09
Jordan Smith
And and we're just seeing that linear line go a little bit faster, a little bit faster. There's a little bit of a hockey stick happening now where Guys are going through their second or third salt salt shortage in the last decade.
00:27:19
Jordan Smith
And they're like, this is, we got to stop this cycle and just start doing things sustainably. So we're not burning through so much salt.
00:27:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah And it's getting earlier and earlier.
00:27:26
Jordan Smith
That's really what it comes down to. Yeah.
00:27:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
The shortages are happening earlier and earlier in the winter now.
00:27:28
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:27:29
Jordan Smith
Yep. And that's a combination of all this stuff, right? it's It's using smarter systems on our salters. It's using liquids to reduce the amount of salt we need to use. um It's using better plowing equipment to to scrape cleaners so we don't have to use as much salt. it's It's the whole package, right? There's not a magic bullet. There's not a single product that fixes it all.
00:27:49
Jordan Smith
Liquids aren't the only solution. VBX Plus isn't the only solution. Live edge plows aren't the only solution. But a combination of all these things Like, i mean, I haven't reassessed my own business for years, but I i bet we use 80% less salt than comparable size companies because of a combination of all of those things.
00:27:56
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:28:05
Jordan Smith
Right.
00:28:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure you do.
00:28:07
RICK JAMES
no
00:28:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because you pretty much hear that across the board, 70% to 80% for guys that switch to liquids.
00:28:13
Jordan Smith
Yep.
00:28:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're using less. Even Robert robert Thing from RD Outdoor in Maine said that the other day. He's using 70% 80% less.
00:28:19
Jordan Smith
So now think about that in context if if let's just say the the aggregate average across country is only 50%. If everyone reduced their salt by 50% because of sustainable practice, we don't have a shortage right now because we've used half as much.
00:28:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
True. It makes sense. In theory, I love it. It makes sense.
00:28:37
Katie
you know and you know And in the middle of all the salt shortages, cost of salt going up, like I haven't talked to any of our customers that have said that their customers' expectations have changed.
00:28:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
No. No, no, no.
00:28:49
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:28:50
Katie
Like, nope, we expect black pavement, we expect clean sidewalks, no so no snow, no ice.
00:28:50
RICK JAMES
No.
00:28:57
Katie
The expectations are probably increasing faster and faster.
00:29:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:29:03
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:29:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
and And the legalities of it are are going right along with that.
00:29:03
RICK JAMES
100%. hundred percent
00:29:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, if you if you are not able to put down salt, what what does that do to your legal stance? God forbid there's a a slip fall. And if you're not smart enough to have it in your contract that, hey, listen, if the state, if I can't get any salt, then I can't put it down.
00:29:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
If you don't have any of those clauses to protect yourself, then I, you know, it's it's it's a scary world out there right now with the ah with the salt shortages.
00:29:27
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
00:29:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
But
00:29:29
Jordan Smith
this this kind of This kind of pressure creates positive change in every area though, because ah you know certainly it drives people towards more sustainable practice.
00:29:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
No.
00:29:38
Jordan Smith
It also pushes the legal discussion. I know you know for years we've banged our head against the wall of how do we get legislation to protect contractors from ridiculous liability claims. And yeah, that's going to take a long time because the legal system moves slow.
00:29:51
Jordan Smith
But this kind of pressure makes those conversations bubble back to the surface. And like, Does no salt availability mean no liability? No, it doesn't, unfortunately.
00:30:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
no
00:30:02
Jordan Smith
But it forces a discussion because there are just levels of like practical versus not practical. like If we can't get salt, if we can't use as much salt, like we we have to change the way liability rules work.
00:30:15
Jordan Smith
Because the way the liability laws are right now, it incentivizes contractors to just put down a blanket of salt to protect themselves.
00:30:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
I agree.
00:30:22
Jordan Smith
And that in and of itself is creating unsustainable practices. And now the equipment exists to reduce that and still create safe environments, but we have to have like a transition.
00:30:33
Jordan Smith
It's not gonna happen overnight. Like we have to have this transition that can happen and until liability is resolved, like it's just not gonna fully happen.
00:30:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
i agree
00:30:42
Katie
Yeah, Jordan, that's a good point. When I was just last month, I was at a conference and talking to a few contractors and their businesses who they were advised to not take proof of service photos because the photos could be used against them more than you know being able to just say that that i was there and like check the box that i was there so they were using gps devices to show that they had been at the location but that the photos they had gotten advice and i'm not giving any advice ah this is not advice at all but it just ford me that photos of material being put down was not enough to protect contractors in a slip and fall litigation either right so like
00:31:06
RICK JAMES
Really?
00:31:27
Katie
there It's just this web of problems. And like you said, it's everyone needing to move together. and slip and fall is separate from what we're talking about with salt shortages, but it's the whole system of insurance and legal and contractors. and And how do we make everyone have some basic level of understanding and education to improve improve the ecosystem?
00:31:50
Katie
it' no nice ecosystem
00:31:50
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:31:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
100% very well said
00:31:53
Jordan Smith
yeah I mean, it's crazy it's crazy that it's a bad enough environment where that kind of advice is being given. um but But it is because we you know we we've been fortunate have very few slip and fall claims over the years, but we had one three years ago and we had photo documentation and it showed dry pavement, but it didn't matter.
00:32:09
Jordan Smith
we They settled the case anyway. like It didn't even matter that we had proof of service and dry pavement.
00:32:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
it never matters
00:32:15
Jordan Smith
It was Like, oh it's cheaper to settle. Like <unk> it's a whole can of worms, right?
00:32:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:32:19
Jordan Smith
It's it's it's not one episode additional content, it's five.
00:32:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:32:23
Jordan Smith
um
00:32:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did it happen between November 1st and April 1st?
00:32:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:32:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes. It's your fault.
00:32:27
Jordan Smith
Yes, exactly.
00:32:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Settle.
00:32:27
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:32:28
Katie
I'm
00:32:28
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:32:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
so
00:32:29
RICK JAMES
True.
00:32:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's horrible, but it's the world snow contractors live in.
00:32:31
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:32:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Unfortunately.
00:32:35
Jordan Smith
Exactly.
00:32:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah So, Corey, I got a question for you. So a guy like me who hasn't had a VBX or a VBX Plus yet, have you had guys that have switched over from other models, other manufacturers to a VBX? And if so, what has their feedback been on the going to a VBX or VBX Plus?
00:32:53
Katie
I think the biggest thing that we hear, so VBX, from other manufacturers to VBX, VBX Plus, biggest thing has been just ease of use on the controls, um general reliability, right?
00:32:58
RICK JAMES
Thanks.
00:33:09
Katie
Like that our in-cab display is Like I said earlier, there's been so much time and effort put into making that a at a glance, easily used, easily understood and picked up controller.
00:33:25
Katie
It's really basic. the same time, it's really advanced. You do, you can do a lot with a little and you, it's just easy, right? Provides a lot of information, easy to use. That's the big one. There's like a lot of props to give to our engineering team on that display in the control module.
00:33:41
Katie
We've also proved ourselves in accuracy. i know that was one of the biggest things when we came out with the VBX. Like, look, if we're going measuring material, the engineering department wanted to know that it was right. Like, they're not going to say we're measuring material and then a contractor get out there and be like, oh, well, it's plus or minus 25% accurate.
00:33:58
Katie
Like, right no, they've really pushed for accuracy in measuring.
00:34:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:34:03
Katie
Like, we spend we spend the money on sensors on the unit. Like, it's a... And when I say sensors, it's not ah it's not a scale, not something that bounces around the back of the truck. it's We're counting the revolutions of the drive motors, spinning the feeder, knowing exactly how much material is falling out onto the spinner.
00:34:21
Katie
um So really similar, you know, really similar to what Jordan Smith and his team have done with their brine sprayers. Like they're not guessing at how much brine is going out of a legacy sprayer.
00:34:32
Katie
There's a really expensive flow meter on that, like right after the pump on all the legacy brine sprayers that's reading exactly how many gallons per minute of brine is flowing out of the pump.
00:34:45
Katie
Like it's accurate. It's an accurate device.
00:34:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. Is the is the VBX, it's um is it able to be added on to as we evolve? Like you said, every every year it's a cycle and every year technology needs advance and they we need to add things to things. Is the VBX going to be continually improved or do you have to burn it down and start from scratch on another spreader?
00:35:11
Katie
So one of the things that we didn't really talk much about um when we launched the CFT truck plows with our new headlights, with our new hand control, we didn't really touch on it.
00:35:24
Katie
But the VBX Plus was actually reality is VBX Plus was our first CFT product.
00:35:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
OK.
00:35:30
Katie
So the VBX Plus runs on the same CFT architecture, electrical architecture as the CFT truck plows do. The guys that are running CFT truck plow, like a trip edge V with VBX Plus in the back, they already know it, but you basically have a plow and a spreader.
00:35:49
Katie
They're all interconnected on the same electrical backbone.
00:35:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
OK. So it's multiplexed.
00:35:55
RICK JAMES
Great.
00:35:55
Katie
Basically, yeah.
00:35:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Got it. OK.
00:35:57
Katie
A little more to it than that, but
00:35:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:35:59
Katie
you know the our electrical architecture is going to let us add on capability and easily keep up with the vbx plus keep the vbx plus product line up and relevant and advancing as like jordan and katie were talking about as our snowdice contractors world changes year to year right
00:36:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Awesome. That's great. Because that is a that is ah a question you get a lot with the new the new spreaders that have all these technological advances in them is how long before this is obsolete and I'm basically going to have to buy a whole new product.
00:36:35
Katie
it And it is like you guys were touching on it earlier, but you know we're a manufacturer. There's 300 people working here. By kind of some days it feels like the Titanic, right? Like it's hard to change course.
00:36:49
Katie
Like, You gotta try and figure out how many VBX pluses, how many plows we need to make for next year. And there's an entire, anybody that works in manufacturing knows that there is an entire stream of there's an entire stream of parts coming to us that's been settled on 10 months ago, 12 months ago. So all these parts are coming our way.
00:37:10
Katie
So that electrical system on the VBX Plus really gives us the flexibility to advance the VBX Plus, react to changes in the snow and ice removal contractors world, right?
00:37:23
Katie
But, you know, still have the same basic hardware underneath the surface, right?
00:37:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love it.
00:37:30
Katie
One of the things that
00:37:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's That's important.
00:37:30
RICK JAMES
So
00:37:32
Katie
Yeah.
00:37:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Definitely important. Oh, what do we got? What do we got?
00:37:43
Katie
Hmm.
00:37:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeremy, you got anything for him on that? On the VBX?
00:37:46
RICK JAMES
The VBX?
00:37:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you have one, Jay?
00:37:48
RICK JAMES
and and Yeah, we got one this year.
00:37:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:37:50
RICK JAMES
Chase has been using it up at one of our big sites. and
00:37:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's never used one before.
00:37:54
RICK JAMES
keep He never used one until this year. We didn't have one in our fleet until this year. So yeah, he's really liking it. Like I say, it's very simple to use. We haven't really, we haven't any issues. i mean, we've had a little hang up, but think as our salt's been wet.
00:38:08
RICK JAMES
So we're going to put a vibrator in it. And yeah, no no yeah and we got some wet.
00:38:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
What? The triple salt blend is not flowing. Yeah.
00:38:16
RICK JAMES
No, it's not. Yeah, we got some wet stuff. So, yeah.
00:38:19
Jordan Smith
Jeremy, there's a way to fix that.
00:38:19
RICK JAMES
but that
00:38:21
Jordan Smith
You gotta run a big Nibco heater on it and it will dry it out.
00:38:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
00:38:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
i's say You got to heat it. yeah
00:38:24
Katie
Yeah.
00:38:25
RICK JAMES
Firebrand. I got to heat the salt too now. put it yeah ah
00:38:28
Jordan Smith
Yeah.
00:38:29
RICK JAMES
Don't give those guys any ideas. or Yeah, that's a whole different show.
00:38:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh, man.
00:38:35
RICK JAMES
That's usually on our headset at night. so No, but now we're loving it at VBX right now. chase Chase loves it after the one he had last year that he didn't care for. Yeah.
00:38:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
you you guys said that it has to be accurate how accurate can can you do you guys know what the accuracy rate is for the product tracking
00:38:55
Katie
Yeah, from you know the testing that we've done on site here, it's about it's within about 5%.
00:39:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay that's really good very cool jordan do you have any vbx's or no you're all liquids
00:39:07
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:39:10
Jordan Smith
We're all liquids. We do have a VBX plus at Storm Academy. And even though a spreader is like an alien to my staff, the people that have come to Storm Academy really like it.
00:39:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, I mean, you got to have everything there, right?
00:39:24
Jordan Smith
and It's, it's,
00:39:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So they can try them.
00:39:27
Jordan Smith
it's It's funny, guys, because I think I've maybe said this before, but I have staff that's been with me so long that, you know, we've been all liquid so long they they've never run a salt spreader before.
00:39:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:39:36
Jordan Smith
So like we got these 10 year vet snow guys who they go to Sima and they're looking at salt spreaders like, what is what is this thing?
00:39:43
RICK JAMES
What is it?
00:39:43
Jordan Smith
You know, like.
00:39:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:39:44
Katie
Thank you. right
00:39:45
Jordan Smith
It's just so funny because we just we just don't spread salt.
00:39:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:39:47
Jordan Smith
But I mean, aesthetically, it looks beautiful. It goes in the truck easy. It's super fast to set up. And it is it is super easy to use. The controller is very, very simple. It doesn't require a lot of training.
00:40:00
Jordan Smith
I wish I could say more to it than that. i just We don't have a lot of experience with salting in our operation, but I know the guys that have run it at Storm Academy really ah really appreciate the simplicity and the performance as well.
Benefits of Liquid De-Icing
00:40:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool well i mean in the interest of sustainability which is what we're talking about like i mean i think we should probably get into a little bit about liquids right because there's nothing more sustainable than cutting your salt usage by 70 or 80 percent so uh you want to you want to take us through some liquid stuff i mean how how does the vsi by boss line that that thing's evolved since you uh since you guys joined up with boss
00:40:34
Jordan Smith
Yeah, i think just, you know, foundationally, I never like to assume that you guys are getting so many new listeners every week that I just always make the assumption that they haven't heard the story or or no you know what things are.
00:40:47
Jordan Smith
So just quick background, I won't do the full version, but, you know, we started VSI 2014, started off using liquid in our contracting company, had good success, but built our own equipment.
00:40:59
Jordan Smith
made it work pretty well, evolved it over the years, launched VSI in 2014, really started getting a lot of traction with ah liquid implementation 2018, 2019. 2020, we released our smart connected sprayer, which was, I believe, the first smart connected snow product in the industry, at least the one, maybe maybe not the first one, but the first one that got a lot of traction. um and you know connected with the the folks at BOSS shortly after. And really the dream for integrating the liquid product with BOSS is like,
00:41:37
Jordan Smith
VSI was kind of an innovative, you know innovation was in the name, right? I stands for innovation.
00:41:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:41:42
Jordan Smith
It was really an early adopters, like let let's appeal to these forward thinking contractors who are not price sensitive, who just want the newest, greatest thing.
00:41:52
Jordan Smith
um and And that only works so long, right? You get to a point where you believe in what you're doing enough, not just the product, but the process enough where you need to scale it. and And if you look at a cross section of the snow industry, boss is at the top of that food chain when it comes to scaling product across North America and and getting not only the product, but the support that people need to to make their operations successful. So really the dream with joining forces with boss besides great people was they had that network built and and they're known for
00:42:26
Jordan Smith
vertically integrating and scaling products together. You know, they just talked about how their new cold front technology on the plows is is the same technology that's being used on the spreaders. And I would imagine that that all transitions into a full line of products, including liquids in the future.
00:42:41
Jordan Smith
um and And that's part of the dream here is just making it accessible and making it scalable for everyone to use, especially those that are already running boss fleets of equipment.
00:42:52
Jordan Smith
But yeah, I mean, in terms of sustainability, obviously I'm super biased, but you do just get a ton of flexibility with liquids in terms of when you have to apply it, right? So the most common way people are using liquids is as a pretreatment.
00:43:10
Jordan Smith
Foundationally, pre-treatment with liquid brine is is to prevent the bond with the pavement. If you're a company that's already pre-salting, there's your first opportunity for salt savings, just in the fact that when you apply a pre-treatment as a liquid, you can put down a lot less product with the same results as a liquid as you can as salt.
00:43:28
Jordan Smith
So when you put down a pretreatment with liquid, you're talking about 40 gallons an acre, which is about 90 pounds of salt per acre. um Trying to spread 90 pounds of salt per acre with a salter, even one that's calibrated like a VBX Plus is really challenging because you're hardly putting any product out, right?
00:43:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's tough.
00:43:41
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:43:43
Jordan Smith
It depends on the density and size of the salt, but 90 pounds an acre is like a granule salt every 10 inches. It's just not very much salt. And the analogy always use is used
00:43:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
No. And that salt better be nuclear hot, too.
00:43:53
Jordan Smith
yeah Yeah, exactly.
00:43:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
That better be.
00:43:54
RICK JAMES
Firebrand.
00:43:55
Jordan Smith
Yes, fire brine. And so like, just very tactically, like all the other benefits aside is because of that high precision flow meter, because we're taking the salt and converting it into salt brine,
00:44:09
Jordan Smith
um we can put down that product a lot thinner and still get really good coverage and good results. So like number one opportunity for salt savings, even if you're a company that's already pre-salting to prevent that bond, it's just pre-treating with that liquid instead.
00:44:24
Jordan Smith
And what I said earlier is like, not only can we put down less we have more flexibility on when we put it down if we're pre-salting we probably have to go out 24 hours or less before the event otherwise we're going to go and pre-salt cars are going to drive over the salt it's going to get crunched up the wind picks up it blows away it's not even effective anymore when we put down that pre-treatment as a layer of brine it gets into the pores and cracks of that pavement it stays where you put it because you get some of that penetration because water acts as a carrier to get that salt where where you want it to stay
00:44:55
Jordan Smith
um I wish I could give you like exact data on how much retention there is after one day, two day, three day, four day, five day. I don't know that exact figure, but I do know we've had times where we put down a pretreatment The forecasters were wrong.
00:45:12
Jordan Smith
It doesn't end up snowing, right? Forecasters are never wrong, right? But yes, they are all the time.
00:45:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, never.
00:45:17
Jordan Smith
So we'll put down a pre-treatment on, let's say a Sunday, supposed to snow on Tuesday.
00:45:17
RICK JAMES
We would look at your well hear
00:45:21
Jordan Smith
Snow on Tuesday misses, but we get a clipper that wasn't predicted on Friday. I can tell you for a fact that five, six days later, that pre-treatment's still effective, right? We're still getting results that much later.
00:45:32
Jordan Smith
um So it just gives you a lot of flexibility, not only to put down less product, but to put it down further ahead, which is great logistically because, you know, for all the snow guys out there, you know, when you have a two or three day snow event coming and guys are going to work 30, 40 hour shifts, the last thing you want to do is pull them in the day before and make them work a 10 hour pre-salting shift.
00:45:51
Jordan Smith
If you can pull them in three days before the snow, again, there's no guarantee the snow is coming, but pull them in three days before the snow, let them take a couple days of R&R before their long shift. That's helpful logistically and for the sanity of your crews as well.
00:46:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. Where do you think the, I mean, I know the the barrier for entry, the cost of entry is, it's not cheap. It's definitely an investment in changing your strategy. But in the interest of what we're talking about here, sustainability, where do you think the biggest ah ROI comes from with with liquids changing over to liquids?
00:46:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
What have you seen?
00:46:24
Jordan Smith
Yeah, I mean, boy, again, it's a whole episode, but in an attempt to be concise, like there there is like in an attempt to be concise, there there is salt savings.
00:46:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Quickly. Quickly.
00:46:31
Katie
Thank you.
00:46:35
Jordan Smith
No matter how you use liquid, there's going to be some salt savings. Like if all you do is replace a pre-salting with a pre-liquid, you're 30% savings at least right there, just right there.
00:46:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
and okay
00:46:45
RICK JAMES
No. Mm
00:46:46
Jordan Smith
If you're a company that's not already pre-salting and you want to implement pre-treating, there's probably still 30% salt savings there because you're now going to reduce that bond. And if you have a spreader that's calibrated correctly with density control like a VBX Plus on the back end of that storm, you don't need to use as much salt to get down to bare pavement because there's not as much residual because you straped cleaner, right?
00:47:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
um percent
00:47:09
Jordan Smith
So there's kind of your minimum viable savings areas. um Your higher opportunity is like a lot of guys now are doing post-treatment direct liquid application. So after the snow is done, after you're done plowing, whatever residuals left behind, you use a liquid instead of salt.
00:47:24
Jordan Smith
There's a ton of salt savings opportunity there because that's when salt gets abused the most is post-treatment because if you a mint of snowpack, they're just piling salt on there, right?
00:47:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh yeah.
00:47:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
know
00:47:34
Jordan Smith
And to be honest, if you have an inch of snowpack, liquid is is not always the most efficient either because you have to put so much down, but you're still going to put down less than you put down salt. um So those are kind of your most basic areas with the salt savings.
00:47:46
Jordan Smith
I think from a bigger picture ah ROI standpoint, where we really see huge ah ROI with with liquid and where we've seen it in our operation very much firsthand is client retention and and the willingness of clients to pay a premium for a premium service.
00:47:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:48:01
Jordan Smith
because you're keeping their lots cleaner, because you're doing less damage to their property, you're not killing their turf, you're not killing their landscaping, you're not rusting out their door frames. If you're doing retail, you're not wrecking their sliding door mechanisms, which apparently costs like 80,000 bucks when they go bad.
00:48:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:48:17
Jordan Smith
um It preserves
00:48:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
So not not tracking crunchy salt into your brand new headquarters building.
00:48:21
Jordan Smith
Exactly.
00:48:22
RICK JAMES
Yeah, all right.
00:48:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I get it.
00:48:22
Jordan Smith
And that's all real stuff.
00:48:22
Katie
Yeah.
00:48:23
RICK JAMES
right
00:48:24
Jordan Smith
And we hear this feedback all the time. And over the years, you know, there's been a few times where we'll we'll lose a contract to a lower bidder and a few storms in there calling back asking for us back because they miss how clean their facility and their property looked with liquid versus salt.
00:48:38
Jordan Smith
So i I think to be honest, like your biggest ah ROI opportunity is quality service delivery and client retention. It's just more intangible and harder to put numbers on. So that's why we always gravitate to the SALT savings as your like immediate ah ROI calculator.
00:48:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:48:54
RICK JAMES
Yep. what What would you say your biggest learning curve is for the operators when they go to Brian Liquid Spares?
00:49:02
Jordan Smith
Yeah, so I mean, to be honest, pre-treatment's really easy. Like, obviously I'm biased towards the the VSI by Boss product, of course, but regardless of what liquid system you're using, like, you really can't mess up pre-treating because you're gonna go and put down a layer of of liquid and as long as it's plus or minus 30% accuracy, like, it's going to work.
00:49:23
Jordan Smith
I'd say the biggest learning curve is gonna be on the post-treatment side. So unfortunately, your highest opportunity salt savings is also the hardest thing to implement.
00:49:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh,
00:49:32
Jordan Smith
um Even some of our veteran guys, like, you know, I still get texts like, hey, we post treated this storm. It just, you know, it didn't melt off like we expected. And like, okay, let's let's do an assessment here. What happened?
00:49:42
Jordan Smith
Okay, maybe there was more snowpack than we thought. Maybe it was more humidity in the air than we thought. ah There's more moisture content in the snowpack than we thought. And we just didn't put enough product down. Right. So Maybe one of the more challenging things with liquid in terms of a learning curve is like how much to put down in ah in a direct liquid or post treatment setting, because there isn't an exact formula. Like our general recommendations are 40 gallons an acre pre-treat, 80 to 120 post-treat.
00:50:10
Jordan Smith
it doesn't work 100% of the time to do 80 to 120. There's times you gotta put down 150, 180. um
00:50:15
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
00:50:16
Jordan Smith
and And that's usually dictated by the quality of the mechanical removal. So it also depends on what kind of plows you're using, right? If you're scraping cleaner, you are gonna have higher success rate.
00:50:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:50:26
Jordan Smith
It's something I learned early on is like we were using live edge plows. So we were getting really consistent post-treat results. And we started implementing with other clients and they're like, it's not working. It's not working. I go and visit these sites and it's like, well, there's an inch and half a of snowpack. So I see why it's not working.
00:50:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:41
Jordan Smith
What are you plowing with? Oh, rubber edge pushers. Yep. That that makes sense, right?
00:50:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Long.
00:50:44
Jordan Smith
We're not going be great.
00:50:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Long.
00:50:46
Jordan Smith
Yeah.
00:50:46
RICK JAMES
ah
00:50:47
Katie
Thank you.
00:50:48
Jordan Smith
so So there's learning curve there. there's There's some learning curve with you know the storage and mixing and logistics and moving liquid around. Logistically, liquid is more complex because you're typically making your own brine and now you have to pump it to your tanks and you have to have different blends. you know Maybe you're using an additive and you know when to use the additive and how much additive to use. So it's there's more science to dialing in your liquid program than just turning on your salt or insulting.
00:51:16
Jordan Smith
But that's also where the opportunity for savings comes in.
00:51:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep is i got a question for you since you're mr liquid you know it all is there any truth to the rumor that if you heat up brine it will work better
00:51:20
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:51:28
Katie
Thank you.
00:51:29
Jordan Smith
You know, it's really funny you ask that. um and And that's an inside joke that most the listeners know. And Katie and Corey are probably like, what the hell are they talking about?
00:51:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
i think by the people out there figured it out and know it now
00:51:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:51:40
Jordan Smith
You know, the funny thing about this though is we, so let me answer the question for real, because I get asked this a lot, is does it matter if I store my brine inside or outside?
00:51:40
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:51:51
Jordan Smith
And the the honest answer is not really. So like, We have guys that store their brine inside. So their brine is probably 60 to 70 degrees. If they're going right from filling inside to right to a job site, you might get five seconds of initial contact burn.
00:52:10
Jordan Smith
That's slightly better than what you're getting with brine that's 20 degrees Fahrenheit, just because it's 60 degree liquid instead of 20 degree liquid. But that,
00:52:21
Jordan Smith
Brine is going down in such a thin application layer that it's hitting ambient temperature almost immediately. So like it's really not making an impact. And again, i know we're joking like inside joke with the the fire, Brian and Katie and marrie I'll explain later.
00:52:34
Jordan Smith
It's way too long the story.
00:52:36
Katie
Thank you.
00:52:36
Jordan Smith
um But like I've even had guys asking, oh, what if I heat my brine to 120, 130?
00:52:37
RICK JAMES
ah
00:52:41
Jordan Smith
It's like the electricity cost or propane cost or natural gas cost to heat it is absolutely not worth it because you just don't get a long enough burn with that. So to answer a real question, like store your brine outside, unless you just have excess space that you're looking to burn with storage tanks, like you're not going to see an appreciable difference in performance with cold brine versus warm brine.
00:53:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. There's the answer.
00:53:06
RICK JAMES
I don't know.
00:53:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, cool.
00:53:07
RICK JAMES
I believeable i don't believe him. You
00:53:11
Jordan Smith
We've stored our brine outside here in Minnesota for 15 years and we've we've never had an issue, so it works pretty well.
00:53:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
So.
00:53:18
RICK JAMES
have to spin it every day?
00:53:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, I mean, I think, I think we covered just about everything we can cover with liquids, right?
00:53:19
Jordan Smith
Yeah, no, we never spin it
00:53:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cause I mean, between the one Oh one, one Oh two, one Oh three, you know, all the times you've been on talking about liquids. I think there's plenty of library content for guys. If they want to learn more about liquids or VSI by boss stuff, ah we've talked about them.
00:53:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
What? 20 times, 25 times over the course of three years.
00:53:38
Jordan Smith
a lot. and And for those that haven't listened to those episodes, like go back and listen to them and then do what a lot of people have done and reach out.
00:53:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Um,
00:53:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:53:43
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:53:44
Jordan Smith
I love, I love chatting with people about liquids. I'm a contractor, just like everyone else listening. So like reach out and chat.
00:53:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would like to, I like that boss has that saying that sustainability is a system. And I'd like if they don't mind, it Katie and core Corey, do you guys want to talk about that?
Horizon 360 and Operational Efficiency
00:54:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
That saying, you know, that boss has sustainability as a system, not just equipment. So like, you want to touch on that?
00:54:10
Katie
Yeah, happy to touch on that. I think you know we've been always solution focused and thinking about the whole ecosystem and what contractors need to run their businesses efficiently and operationally. And so at at Boss, we've also worked with Horizon 360.
00:54:20
Jordan Smith
Thank
00:54:24
Katie
And so this is a Toro operations business operations system. It is very simple and easy to use. You can do all of your scheduling of your jobs.
00:54:35
Katie
It's a CRM, so you can keep track of your customers. You can geofence job sites, you can push routes, optimize routes to your operators.
00:54:39
RICK JAMES
you
00:54:44
Katie
And I would say of all of the business operation platforms that are out there, they range from very complex, very complex ERP systems with Aspire to more simplistic, easy to use platforms that maybe doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but has enough to make you really efficient.
00:54:57
Jordan Smith
All right.
00:55:02
Katie
And that's really what h through sixty is. It has everything, like I said, from job tracking, but it also has features in there that are meant for material tracking.
00:55:13
Katie
And so as we talk about boss having products that are solution that are focused on the ecosystem, our contractors have to run their businesses efficiently. And that comes with understanding material costs, understanding employee costs, understanding the jobs that they have, how are they charging for those jobs to make sure that they're profitable at the end of the year. And ultimately also keeping track of their equipment and keeping up with their maintenance so that when the time comes, you don't have any downtime. And so Horizon 360 is a platform that helps you do all of that. And so as we look at the evolution of our our products, like we've talked about,
00:55:46
Katie
making sure that we are measuring the product that we're applying for job sites. We are moving towards a ah point where you can also track them that material in Horizon 360, whether it's automatically through of a telematics device or whether it's manually by taking the information off of the controller and adding it to the job information to make sure that you can bill appropriately.
00:56:09
Katie
Whether you want to do fixed monthly costs or contracts by service basis. So Horizon 360 is a platform to be able to do that. And again, there are a lot of platforms that are on the market and this doesn't have to be the only solution that you can use with BOSS products, right?
00:56:24
Katie
That's why we made the products flexible enough that you can still just use them and use whatever system you use.
00:56:28
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
00:56:29
Katie
But to know that there is at advantages using Horizon 360 coming down the road that we're working towards with that team is it is a Toro product. Toro users might be more familiar with it as it is a fleet benefit of being a Toro fleet member.
00:56:44
Katie
You do get two devices, telematics devices and Horizon 360 Unlimited for free as being part of a a Toro fleet member. So something to look into. And then also for boss users, knowing that, look, we've got the products, we've got the information, we've got the data, the insights, that's all going to be wrapped up with Horizon 360 here too
00:57:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. I didn't even know about that. That's really cool.
00:57:07
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:57:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now, will that work with non-boss products? Can I just like as a ah Douglas guy, can I just get for Horizon 360 and use it and implement it for myself?
00:57:13
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
00:57:17
Katie
Yes, absolutely. So it's not meant for just one brand.
00:57:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Perfect.
00:57:21
Katie
um That's actually why you don't hear Toro like splashing their name all over it.
00:57:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Love it.
00:57:26
Katie
It really is meant to be a standalone software that you could use with any Rainbow Fleet. it doesn't have to be just for green or just for snow. It's really across the board. And so if you do have a Rainbow Fleet and you have some boss equipment and some Fisher Western equipment in there, You still can add all of your equipment, track your maintenance, track your jobs, track your customers, all of that.
00:57:47
Katie
So making it really easy and efficient. and it again, it doesn't have to be just for an all boss fleet or all Toro fleet. and So actually for the last year, that's why I was focused is helping contractors optimize their businesses using software, whether it's Horizon 360 or others and learning their operations and their backend and how they manage their routes, set up their contracts to make it more efficient and effective. In turn, I think that's maybe a ah better asset to working with the boss team as we look at products coming down the road and how we support operations and support contractors business, not just with equipment.
00:58:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so in the interest of what we're talking about here, sustainability, how does Horizon 360, how does that allow me to become more sustainable with my salt usage? Like, does it track that for me?
00:58:35
Katie
Yeah, so you can track your material usage so you could see it by storm, you could see it again it doesn't have to be just green you could see if you're tracking mulch or fertilizer or tracking your salt usage.
00:58:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:58:45
Katie
So when you open horizon 360 you get a dashboard view and your dashboard has how many jobs are scheduled unscheduled left to do. what your gross monthly income is, your asset utilization, are you using your equipment to its fullest capacity or do you have equipment that's sitting on your property that you're not using and you should either get rid of or you should get other contracts or jobs, you could add more employees to be able to use that equipment.
00:59:06
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
00:59:09
Katie
And then it also has material tracking to make sure that you are either keeping track of your inventory or managing the materials that you do have on site that you are using. It also has a maintenance function so you can manage, do I have upcoming maintenance, overdue maintenance on equipment?
00:59:25
Katie
And then lastly, like I mentioned, the asset utilization. So it's just a full picture dashboard view. And then you can drill down and use all those different features to really make your business run for what you need it to do.
00:59:38
Katie
And that system is flexible enough to accomplish different different billing cycles or how you might want to schedule. i think the biggest thing for me is when I came ah on and we were working with the team is to make sure that it's flexible enough for snow.
00:59:45
Jordan Smith
Yeah.
00:59:51
Katie
Because as everyone on this show knows, it's not the same as scheduling green work every Tuesday. And so it needs to be flexible enough that, look, one of my guys isn't finishing up in time. I need to switch another guy over there to help finish or to go clean up and needs to have that flexibility. And so that's been a ah big, big driving factor for that that software.
01:00:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Awesome.
01:00:15
RICK JAMES
So you can use you can use it for like proof of service and stuff like that if you need to, like in legality and stuff or whatever.
01:00:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
01:00:22
Katie
Yes, so it has you can add.
01:00:22
RICK JAMES
Like you got reports for all that.
01:00:24
Jordan Smith
Amen.
01:00:24
Katie
Yep. So then you can purchase devices so that it will show you when you're on site off site. It will show whether you're in the job site geofence or you're out of the the job site geofence. So also if you're an owner and you want to keep track of your equipment and make sure guys aren't just collecting other jobs on the side while they're in route, et cetera, stuff like that. that's all That's all built in. So you have that proof of service of where you are, and then you can also keep track of photos and stuff like that on the platform as well.
01:00:56
RICK JAMES
Well, that's...
01:00:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
01:00:57
Jordan Smith
What I think is really cool, so I don't have a ton of experience personally running h three sixty so I don't want to misrepresent, but I've i've been on kind of ah a focus group of other contractors who who have run it and demoed it I have run a demo of it before. What I love about the concept of H360 is, like Katie said, it's it's brand agnostic.
01:01:16
Jordan Smith
So, Like instead of having to have every single piece of equipment you have, have the smart connected technology built in, like you can bolt the technology on to your existing fleet of stuff and get the data up to H360. So it's like, it's it's very scalable. Like for someone that wants to dedicate to tracking everything.
01:01:38
Jordan Smith
And again, i don't know that, I think contractors love the idea of tracking everything. I don't know if they necessarily do it, but like it has the capability to track every piece of your business if you want to do that.
01:01:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
01:01:50
Katie
yes So thank you.
01:01:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
And i and it doesn't even it doesn't even have to be like my, it doesn't even have to be boss equipment. I can i can do my fleet. I can bring that up and and get that tracked and into the Horizon 360. That's awesome.
01:02:02
Katie
That's right. And I think the other thing that's important to note is that it's pretty competitively priced too.
01:02:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's all
01:02:07
Katie
So it's not a software that is gonna eat up a large chunk of your operations budget in order to in order to make things run. so like I mentioned, there is a free version that's out there for Exmark fleet members, and then it's $99 a month for the premium version.
01:02:24
Katie
And then the unlimited is $149 a month. So again, to put that into perspective of some other software that are out there, It's competitively priced for the software and the tools that it offers for a company to run.
01:02:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's still a bargain.
01:02:32
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
01:02:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's that's much cheaper than some of them that are requiring a pound of flesh and a pint of blood. You know, that's that's pretty good. $149 a month for the works.
01:02:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's pretty good if it does all that. I love it. And I really like that it doesn't have to be boss-only products to be able to be done.
01:02:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's very collaborative, which is, you know, that's going to open it up to a lot more people to take advantage of it, which is cool. Love it. What else?
01:03:04
Katie
I was going to say, we talked a lot about BBX Plus and it being kind of the be accurate accurate, easy button into more sustainable more sustainable and more sustainable salt usage, like material track salt usage, being running a more efficient business, right?
01:03:24
Katie
um And you know there's plenty of guys that are already thinking like down the H360 business management line, So when we're at trade shows at customer sites talking about BBX Plus, like that next step of what everybody's thinking is like, okay, now I have my jobs, I have my material on my BBX Plus display.
01:03:36
Jordan Smith
hate you.
01:03:44
Katie
There's always that like, oh, i well now what now what do I do with it without writing it down and taking a picture of it? h three sixty is that next step, right?
01:03:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:03:54
Katie
For the guys that want to go there.
01:03:54
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
01:03:56
Katie
You want that level of automation and taking where you're spreading material from one job site and just adding it directly to job details. And it's pretty fast. Contractors get there pretty fast.
01:04:07
Katie
So let's come to the chair.
01:04:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
I and yeah, I think you're heading that way more and more where guys want to be able to track and have systems and stuff. You're getting away from the yellow legal pad generation of, you know, myself and Jeremy, you know, ah as the younger guys come, the younger guys come up.
01:04:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're a tech generation. They were raised on tech. They you know, that's having a system like that is is no different than playing a video game for them at, you know, seven years old.
01:04:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:04:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
For us, that's kind of foreign ground where we weren't we weren't brought up on systems. I'm going to be 50. Jeremy's already 50. So i mean we're more of that older generation that didn't use tech to our advantage too much. But I think as you get further and further, as the years go on, you're going more and more people buying into these systems and and wanting to to track everything and and be more efficient that way.
01:04:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I think there's a lot coming.
01:04:55
Katie
my favorite My favorite line for guys who are interested in Horizon 360, though, is like you are a risk to your business if all the information is in your head.
01:05:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. Yeah.
01:05:05
Katie
And so if you it's just you and yes, you know, every customer on every row and you know their dog, their dog's name and they're right, like, you know, all that information.
01:05:16
Katie
you can't grow because the risk is all in your head. And so until you can get that down on paper and get those systems in place so that I have a a contractor who I worked with last year to get them up and running on H360.
01:05:20
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
01:05:24
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
01:05:28
Katie
And this winter, his wife has been bugging him to take a vacation, to go on vacation. And she wants to go in January when the weather sucks around here. And so finally, he said he would do it this year.
01:05:39
Katie
And before he did it, though, he made sure that he got horizon 360 up and running so that he'd be able to see where his guys are at while he's on vacation and know that everything's going smooth in his business while he's there and so that to me is like the business biggest success story he went from i know every customer to now i have some employees and i need to be able to manage them to i'm going on vacation with my wife in january katie and guess what it's because i can watch what's going on and i have some peace of mind that my business is running while while i'm in florida on the beach
01:05:57
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
01:06:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I love that. I mean, I i am that guy.
01:06:11
RICK JAMES
That's cool. yeah.
01:06:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
i know all my customers stuff, all their dogs names, their kids names. I am definitely that guy you're talking about. So that it make it it definitely hits home with me that it makes a lot of sense.
01:06:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love it. I think it's going to be easier. I think adoption for that is going to be easier and easier as the the industry gets younger and younger. And there's been a huge turnover in the industry in the last five years. it's but It's gotten noticeably younger in the last five years.
01:06:37
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
01:06:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I think you're going have more and more adoption of that.
01:06:41
Katie
what's what's fun what's What's fun for me is seeing you know small to large snow removal professionals. they have like these are like This industry has become extremely technically minded.
01:06:56
Katie
like There is engineering and problem solving happening at like every in every contractor's shop.
01:06:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:07:03
Katie
So it's fun to see.
01:07:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. Absolutely. What else? What else we got? Anybody?
01:07:10
Jordan Smith
Thank you.
01:07:13
Katie
Well, we've got lots coming to align the the rest of this year with the cutting edge, and so I'm excited with
01:07:13
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:07:18
Katie
you know working with you guys going forward. Boss is known for their customer service and backing up their customers. And so future episodes, and we're we're going to have some contractor stories of what's happening, what we're hearing in the building.
01:07:33
Katie
We have new product launches coming. So lots of exciting stuff. But I told you guys from the beginning that I never wanted this to be a commercial segment for Boss. And so whenever we're coming on here to talk to you guys, it's always going to be what's happening, and what's going on.
01:07:47
Katie
And like I said, expect to hear from some BOSS customers or non-BOSS customers.
01:07:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:07:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
I will forward everything.
01:07:54
Katie
i'm like thank you
01:07:56
RICK JAMES
ah
01:07:57
Katie
Please, I'm looking forward to it.
01:07:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:07:59
Katie
we
01:07:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
I will forward everything. The good, the bad, the ugly. they will all You will see them all. um Yeah, I think it's great. It would be great to have some contractors on with you guys and doing these segments.
01:08:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I think anything that brings value is ah you know what we're all about. So if if guys are liking them, then you know we'll keep doing them.
01:08:15
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:08:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's great. We thank you guys for doing this.
01:08:18
Jordan Smith
not I'm excited for it too. I didn't say it my opening monologue, but like, i know I've told Steve and Jeremy offline, like Boss is a big company and and they're owned by an even bigger company.
01:08:31
Jordan Smith
So I think sometimes that dehumanizes Boss a little bit because they're a giant, right? People think of like, oh, it's just this big company. So, but there's some awesome people at Boss.
01:08:43
Jordan Smith
Like two of them are sitting right here, obviously. And there's there's more awesome people at Boss.
01:08:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:08:46
Jordan Smith
They're really awesome people. So I'm excited to highlight some of those people too, to humanize the brand a little bit, because we've seen the same thing, not just Boss. We've seen it with Douglas too. You guys have had some Douglas people on.
01:08:56
Jordan Smith
They're great people. like
01:08:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:08:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:08:57
Jordan Smith
All of these companies have great human beings behind them. And it's cool to get that exposure and and like sort of remove that corporate veil that sort of gets formed by a big brand.
01:09:08
Jordan Smith
um So yeah, i'm I'm super excited for this too.
01:09:09
RICK JAMES
All right.
01:09:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
there's always good people in this industry. Like like we, we say it all the time, you know, we've met thousands of people in three years and like you can count on one hand, what we would call not our kind of people, you know, like it's there, they're really the most of the people in this industry are awesome.
01:09:24
RICK JAMES
yeah alright yeah
01:09:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whether they're on the manufacturing side or the self-performing, you know, contractor side, but they're all pushing in the same direction where I like how you put it, you know, putting a more, you know, humanizing the company.
01:09:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
Industry Perceptions and Relationships
01:09:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
the The manufacturers sometimes, if they're not visible out there with media or whatever, and you're not meeting these people on a name-to-name basis and and face-to-face basis, they get lost in the, I bought one of their products one time and it didn't work.
01:09:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
So all you're seeing is the logo and that I had a bad experience.
01:09:56
Jordan Smith
Oh.
01:09:56
RICK JAMES
Right.
01:10:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
It doesn't mean the people that work there are not awesome people and have their best interest at heart. You know, it means that, you know, you had a bad luck with one product. So I like this being able to to showcase not just the company and the brand, but the people behind it.
01:10:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's that's phenomenal because the industry is all about people and we're all about relationships. And that's what we're doing here.
01:10:20
Katie
Some of my favorite episodes that I've listened to are either boss or non-boss customers sharing their stories in the industry. I mean, I loved hearing about Tom Canetti talking about wass supporting him when he got the stadium contract.
01:10:32
Katie
That was, you know, right before I was actually an intern at boss. So I've been at boss for 10 years and I interned with boss while i was in college. And so that was right when I was interning with boss. And so to like hear are those stories back of how brands have supported contractors or, vice versa contractors have stood by by product or you know what the industry has been able to do together have been some of my favorite episodes so i appreciate the work that you guys are doing
01:10:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:10:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
um no problem well it's important one can't do without the other the the manufacturers need the contractors the contractors need the products so it's hand in hand what got jay
01:10:58
RICK JAMES
Play at this.
01:11:03
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah. No,
01:11:08
RICK JAMES
I was just going to say, you probably got to send Tom some new vests. I think those are probably worn out by now.
01:11:12
Katie
yes Yes, that's exactly.
01:11:13
RICK JAMES
see
01:11:14
Katie
I came back.
01:11:15
RICK JAMES
the
01:11:15
Katie
I was on a work travel and i came back and I was like, time to buy some new Vest guys.
Conclusion and Future Episodes
01:11:20
RICK JAMES
ah
01:11:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's it oh man anybody got anything else before we wrap episode one of the cutting edge this is a i'm glad we did this is exciting you know and every time we launch a series it's a big deal the snow jobs universe keeps growing it's uh it's pretty cool anybody got anything all right
01:11:22
RICK JAMES
oh
01:11:35
RICK JAMES
Is there any?
01:11:37
Katie
good i Good. Thanks, guys. Yeah, appreciate it.
01:11:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, then we'll wrap up episode one of the Cutting Edge on the Snow Jaws podcast presented by Boss. We appreciate Katie, Corey, and Jordan. Appreciate the time, guys. Happy New Year. All the best in 2026. To everybody out there, we will see you next month. We're going to have another one of these coming at you next month. So everybody, thanks, Snow. If you're out there getting it, keep pushing.