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S2-86: The Founder of Glacier Snow Management, Don Nelson
962 Plays2 months ago
The guys have a great conversation and talk all things Glacier Snow Management, and the industry in general with Don Nelson.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and September 11 Reflection
00:00:41
snowjobspodcast
Here we go. Snow jobs nation episode 86. We're not doing numbers anymore. It's a hard habit to break, right?
00:00:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we can do it.
00:00:47
snowjobspodcast
Of the snow jobs podcast powered by top gun backblades is off and running as always. I'm Steve. That's right. You know, who's with me? My main man.
00:01:05
snowjobspodcast
The Rick James of snow management, Mr. Snowby one Kenobi, the Taylor Swift of snow.
00:01:11
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:01:11
snowjobspodcast
And what else? What else? We got Yoda snow Yoda, the Chuck Norris of snow.
00:01:14
RICK JAMES
Whatever you come up with.
00:01:18
snowjobspodcast
He's got a lot of names. Mr. Jeremy Lindstrom. What's up, bud?
00:01:21
RICK JAMES
Not a lot, just so getting by another day here.
00:01:24
snowjobspodcast
There we go. Spraying. I heard you took a calcium bath today.
00:01:27
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:01:27
snowjobspodcast
ah You don't look dried out.
00:01:31
RICK JAMES
I always got to get at least one a year in on those. So that was, that was fun.
00:01:35
snowjobspodcast
That's fun.
00:01:35
RICK JAMES
So we set up the shop this time. So it got cleaned up.
00:01:37
snowjobspodcast
Did it, uh, fry your phone or are you still good to go on the phone?
00:01:39
RICK JAMES
All right. It seems working. Yeah, it was, I don't know. I had a couple of calls that were weird, but it seems to be good now.
00:01:43
snowjobspodcast
All right.
00:01:45
RICK JAMES
So yeah.
00:01:46
snowjobspodcast
Dried out. Got salty. Sweet.
00:01:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:49
snowjobspodcast
Oh, so all as well.
00:01:49
RICK JAMES
How about you? What's up? yeah i'm good
00:01:53
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, yeah, everything's good. Another day, another different. We had ah September 11th yesterday, so that was ah that was a long day, but got through it for another year and you know did what we
Industry Events and Weather Jokes
00:02:05
snowjobspodcast
had to do. so that was ah you know It's always good to to pay tribute to the boys. and Just remember, it seems like a lot of our, a lot of our country, if they weren't directly affected in some spots, ah they tend to forget. And it's funny, you know, you remember, you think back to that day and the one thing I remember more than anything is how united everybody was after that happened. like
00:02:27
snowjobspodcast
You know, there was no us versus them, no politics, no nothing. It was all, you know, everybody was united for one common goal. And it's, uh, it's funny how far, uh, it's come and how device, you know, divided the, uh, the country is on certain issues.
00:02:42
snowjobspodcast
So I think we could use a little more of that, uh, that like, I don't know, September, or October of, uh, of, uh, 2001, a little more of that attitude coming back. Cause, uh, it was a good time.
00:02:53
snowjobspodcast
Now it's, uh, just a mess, but we're going to get through it. Right.
00:02:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. Messes something. to see Yeah. It's definitely.
00:02:59
snowjobspodcast
yeah That's it.
00:03:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:02
snowjobspodcast
Oh man. But yeah, it was, uh, it's been good. It's been a good couple of weeks. We got a busy couple of weeks coming up, right? We got, uh, SNS in Pennsylvania.
00:03:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:10
RICK JAMES
Yep. SNS.
00:03:11
snowjobspodcast
And then, and then the last hurrah of the, uh, of the summer fall season for snow guys is probably equip, right?
00:03:11
RICK JAMES
That'll be fun.
00:03:18
RICK JAMES
Quip.
00:03:20
snowjobspodcast
There's nothing after that.
00:03:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah. here. Just know, right?
00:03:22
snowjobspodcast
And then we all go to work and it's time to go to work.
00:03:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah, something like that.
00:03:26
snowjobspodcast
Fun's over. Welcome to more fun.
00:03:29
RICK JAMES
Yeah, really good.
00:03:30
snowjobspodcast
what ah What are you hearing? what you're You're always talking to weather guys. What are you hearing out there in Fargo this year?
00:03:35
RICK JAMES
I don't know, just going off of what I heard from channel burgers, you know, saying by average or below average on here, but I don't know. We'll see. Can ever, it's the weather guys who don't ever know what they don't know what's going on.
00:03:43
snowjobspodcast
They don't know. They don't know.
00:03:46
snowjobspodcast
Weather dudes, dude. They don't know until it's happening. And they still probably don't know until you tell them.
00:03:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:52
snowjobspodcast
oh oh Well, well you know it it'll be here before we know it, so we'll see soon enough, right?
00:03:58
RICK JAMES
Yep, definitely. It'll be, uh, it's coming.
00:04:02
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it's definitely, it's coming quick. It was cold this morning again too. I stepped out
Interview with Don Nelson Begins
00:04:06
snowjobspodcast
this morning. I was like, Oh geez, I'm going to get a jacket out.
00:04:07
RICK JAMES
Oh, really nice.
00:04:09
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. It was like below 40 this morning.
00:04:11
RICK JAMES
it's been Beautiful, beautiful nights here in mornings. Been good. So that's windy. We got a lot of smoke call coming in from Canada right now. So right yeah.
00:04:18
snowjobspodcast
Do you really again, did they ever put it out last year?
00:04:20
RICK JAMES
Wow. I think it's on fire every day up there.
00:04:25
RICK JAMES
Hi.
00:04:25
snowjobspodcast
Cause this was going on last year too.
00:04:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I have no idea. I think, I don't know, the whole place you gotta be burned up by now.
00:04:32
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. What's left to burn?
00:04:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah it's, yeah, it's been pretty hazy.
00:04:34
snowjobspodcast
and feel Going for a whole year.
00:04:39
RICK JAMES
So.
00:04:40
snowjobspodcast
Jeez, that stinks. I remember that last year. we got We got some serious haze last year. It was bad a couple days, but yeah, I thought they put it out. Maybe not.
00:04:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:48
snowjobspodcast
Maybe not. Come on, Canada.
00:04:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:50
snowjobspodcast
Get your stuff under control there.
00:04:52
RICK JAMES
Kind of burned your door a lot out of there, probably.
00:04:55
snowjobspodcast
smoke them out
00:04:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:57
snowjobspodcast
ah of it All right guys listen so today we have a really good one for you all right we have ah a legend here Don Nelson the owner and founder of Glacier snow management from Fargo all right we all know the company All right. It's probably, if not the most recognizable snow company out there. It's got to be in the top five. All right. Thanks to various
Storm Day Event Review
00:05:20
snowjobspodcast
sources. But mostly if you follow Jeremy's Instagram, you know, all the videos he puts every winter that everybody loves checking out.
00:05:27
snowjobspodcast
You know, this is this is the boss. This is the big man. This is the guy that started it.
00:05:31
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
00:05:31
snowjobspodcast
All right. So we get to talk to him today and we're going to hear how he got started. You know how it became what it is now, how we have all these loaders to watch dance around all winter on video.
00:05:43
snowjobspodcast
And, uh, it's, it's a good time. I can't wait to get into this, you know, so for everybody out there, you know, this is a good, good time to thank Don for, uh, you know, bringing us so so much entertainment when the white stuff is flying, because everybody looks for these videos. Everybody looks to see what Glacier's doing. All right. So we're excited for this one and we're going to get to Don right after we hear from team Top Gun and we'll be back to do our week in review.
Partnerships and Events
00:06:40
snowjobspodcast
Alright guys we're back so last week we can review here last week we did storm day review with a few of the Minnesota boys that attended and we also had Jordan on with us Jordan Smith I think the feedback from those guys on that event was awesome it was very honest ah Jordan wanted honesty It's the only way he can make the event even better next year. And that's what they want to do. It's going to help storm out a lot. They nailed it this year. There was not much to complain about at all. ah they They really knocked that out of the park. The energy was great. The planning was great. um you know I really didn't have much for him.
00:07:16
RICK JAMES
it was It was a good show. It ran really well and a lot of good vendors there. It was great networking with the guys. It was fun.
00:07:24
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely. And guys, that's that's the most important thing. when When people ask you for honest feedback, give it to them. Do not sugarcoat it. you know Don't beat around the bush. Give them honest feedback because that is the only way that we all get better. right So just give them the feedback that they need to hear so they can work on it. We're all big boys here. We can all take it. you know Look at yourself objectively, be honest, and you know that's how we all improve. And that's why we love snow guys because usually they aren't shy at all about telling you what's what. you know they'll They'll give it to you.
00:07:53
snowjobspodcast
So we're already looking forward to next year's storm day.
00:07:54
RICK JAMES
don't see your gun
00:07:56
snowjobspodcast
um'm I'm looking forward to it.
00:07:58
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, coming back.
00:07:59
snowjobspodcast
Back to Minnesota.
00:08:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah. ill fire back Yeah.
00:08:01
snowjobspodcast
Fuck yeah, land the straight roads, man. Like I said, I'm going to take a nap when I leave the airport and just put it on cruise control and keep the steering wheel between my knees. We didn't make a turn and we didn't hit a stop light or a stop sign in probably 40 minutes.
00:08:13
snowjobspodcast
It was awesome.
00:08:14
RICK JAMES
Isn't that great? Isn't that great?
00:08:16
snowjobspodcast
Oh, you can't possibly know how great that is until you drive here.
00:08:19
RICK JAMES
I've been out there with you and it's not, Thank you.
00:08:23
snowjobspodcast
it's It's phenomenal. It's absolutely phenomenal. We had a great time out there. ah The storm team, obviously their hospitality is off the chart all the time. ah They always knock it out of the park with whatever they do. So can't wait for next year.
00:08:36
snowjobspodcast
What else do we have coming up? Busy week this week. ah This is dropping Monday, so this week we have S and&S Day in Taylor, Pennsylvania. That's on Thursday. If you have not signed up yet, make sure you do.
00:08:48
snowjobspodcast
There's a ah ah post about it on Facebook, I believe it is.
00:08:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:08:51
snowjobspodcast
They got their QR code on there. That'll get you registered, alright? So make sure you do that if you're in the area. so It's gonna be a great day of networking. It's gonna be a great day. You haven't I'm sure preseason discussions discussions. Sorry, I can't talk um And we're looking forward to seeing
Snow Equipment and Gear
00:09:06
snowjobspodcast
everybody again. All right, it's ah it's pretty cool the the amount of people that came out the storm day was great and hopefully S and&S is the same kind of turnout because the more the better more the merrier, right?
00:09:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it should be a lot of fun guys out there in East coast. Tony's a good guy. So a nice to see his facility. So mary i'll be yeah, Matt's coming.
00:09:24
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I think we get to see Mattie Young. I think he's definitely going. Yeah, Robert and Sean will definitely be there.
00:09:29
RICK JAMES
my Brother Jeff.
00:09:32
snowjobspodcast
So I don't, I think Patty Salmon and Mike San Luisito are out.
00:09:32
RICK JAMES
Yep. Good times.
00:09:36
RICK JAMES
They're out.
00:09:36
snowjobspodcast
I think they got another, they got something else going on.
00:09:38
RICK JAMES
There's something else going on in Connecticut, I think.
00:09:40
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha. All right. Well, you know, we'll see everybody there. SNS is going to be great. Tony knocked it out of the park. His whole team was outstanding last year. They really put on a great first year run event. They know what they had to improve on and do differently this year. So, ah you know, I'm and just expecting ah a great day from them. And that's going to be a great time. What else we got? Storks plows.
00:10:02
snowjobspodcast
They are holding their plow tech school this Wednesday and Thursday, right? That's also going on, uh, about an hour and a half away from Tony. So I'm not sure if the signups are still available for that, but if you're, if you are interested in that going to their plow tech school, uh, get ahold of storks plows. All right. And find out if you can still get on the list.
00:10:19
snowjobspodcast
Next month we got a quip Expo in Louisville So if you're going guys and your snow guys, obviously you are if you listen to this show We want to hear from you, right snow guys If you're heading to equip let us know hit us up with a DM on Instagram or Facebook ah This is kind of a last hurrah for snow guys to get together ah There's no more get together events really until April so it's gonna be a long winter So we'll kiss summer goodbye and and have fun at equip So if you're gonna be there definitely let us know we're both going so it's gonna be a good time and And I think that's it.
00:10:50
snowjobspodcast
You got anything else, Jay?
00:10:52
RICK JAMES
No. Let's roll.
00:10:53
snowjobspodcast
It's getting colder, as Jeremy, ah ah it's coming. It's definitely coming. So head over to snowjobsnationstore.com. Get your Snow Jobs car hearts. What else we got?
00:11:02
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:11:02
snowjobspodcast
We still got hooded sweatshirts, right?
00:11:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. We got that. Yeah.
00:11:06
snowjobspodcast
Got the new Snow Jobs Nation backpacks that everybody's trying to get.
00:11:06
RICK JAMES
Let's get it out of here.
00:11:10
snowjobspodcast
that's
00:11:10
RICK JAMES
Yeah. We've got to clear it out. Don just said he's going to start charging me rent for storage up here. so I will.
00:11:15
snowjobspodcast
Did you set them up? Set them up with a full Snow Jobs spread.
00:11:19
RICK JAMES
I will.
00:11:19
snowjobspodcast
There you go. Set them up. That's great. Yeah, that's, that's a funny of the boxes. Yeah, there are a lot of boxes in there. Oh man. You got anything else before we ah get to the partners here?
00:11:30
RICK JAMES
Let's get into it.
00:11:32
snowjobspodcast
All right. Then that's it. We're going to hear from our partners guys, and we're going to be right back to get into it with Don be back in a minute and a half, I think.
00:14:33
snowjobspodcast
All right. We're back. We've got to welcome a Yeti snow software to, uh, the snow jobs family, their new partner.
00:14:41
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, Yeti is back and I forgot about them coming on tonight.
00:14:44
snowjobspodcast
They are. Yep. They're starting tonight. So want to thank them for coming on board. Everybody seems to absolutely love them. We've done our homework. We've tried to find somebody to talk crap, but nobody wants to say anything bad.
00:14:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we talked to the other, they like them.
00:14:56
snowjobspodcast
Everybody loves it.
00:15:00
RICK JAMES
So but pretty simple.
00:15:00
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. All, we got a bunch of guys, right? Bunch of guys are of our guys use it and love it.
00:15:02
RICK JAMES
Yeah. A bunch of, a bunch of our guys like them. Yep. Use it. So.
00:15:06
snowjobspodcast
So welcome aboard Yeti. It's a, it's great to have you guys. I mean, I love getting products that we have zero people to complain about. That's, that's a rarity where you don't find somebody that hates it.
00:15:17
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:15:17
snowjobspodcast
So, and we looked.
00:15:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Especially our group. Those guys are, they don't figure out anything.
00:15:19
snowjobspodcast
Yes, our our group is very tough to impress.
00:15:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:15:24
snowjobspodcast
Everybody loved it. I didn't hear one bad thing. So that's great.
00:15:27
RICK JAMES
Nope.
00:15:28
snowjobspodcast
Welcome aboard. And thank you for our other partners as well. It's it's it's always great having them. they've They've all been awesome. They really have. yeahs sake i mean for
00:15:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely.
00:15:38
snowjobspodcast
You know, muskox being with us from day one and, you know, Arctic coming on board. Top Gun's been there for a long time. You can't do this without them. And we just, we want to thank them as always.
00:15:49
snowjobspodcast
Um, yeah, got anything. we're Otherwise we're good to, we're good to roll.
00:15:53
RICK JAMES
Let's roll.
00:15:54
snowjobspodcast
Good to bring the big guy in.
00:15:54
RICK JAMES
That's the legend. Yeah.
00:15:57
snowjobspodcast
All right, guys. So let's all welcome Mr. Don Nelson of Glacier Snow Management. Don, how are you? Welcome to the snow jobs.
00:16:05
RICK JAMES
Well, thanks for having me on. How are you guys doing?
00:16:08
snowjobspodcast
We're doing great. I don't know how's things in Fargo out there Yeah, that's uh, that's nuts man, I can't believe it's still burning or it's burning again there can't be much left up there Yeah Geez
00:16:12
RICK JAMES
While we're warm right now, and as Jeremy elated to earlier, we're a little smoky. Yeah. So.
00:16:23
RICK JAMES
I think it's been burning for years. I think it's, it's, it's every, every summer. I think we're getting hit, hit it with a little bit of Rocky mountain burning too though. So mistakes. So it's coming from both directions.
00:16:37
snowjobspodcast
That's no good. Well, you better clear out before the snow gets here. that's ah
Don Nelson's Journey from Beekeeping to Snow Management
00:16:42
snowjobspodcast
That's a definite. That's a must. So you guys are coming off a a pretty low winner. You've been doing this a long time, Don.
00:16:48
snowjobspodcast
Have you had bad, like, winners as bad as that?
00:16:52
RICK JAMES
One other one.
00:16:53
snowjobspodcast
Just one. So in all the time you've been doing snow, only one one one other winner that bad.
00:16:54
RICK JAMES
one up
00:16:59
RICK JAMES
We've only had 25 years, I've only had two winters below 20 inches.
00:17:04
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
00:17:05
RICK JAMES
what What people fail to remember up here, when you guys get dry, some of the country gets dry, there's nothing going on.
00:17:11
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:17:12
RICK JAMES
Well, we get a lot of freezing rain, freezing drizzle, a lot of freezing fog.
00:17:15
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:17:17
RICK JAMES
We're in a valley. And we're you know we're still North Dakota. So when those air masses move through, our nights still go below freezing in the winter.
00:17:25
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:17:26
RICK JAMES
The days may be 40 degrees, even last year we had 40, 45 degree days. It was awesome. I mean, if you you don't wanna push snow, it's awesome.
00:17:32
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. ah
00:17:35
RICK JAMES
um But every night for about an hour and a half, two hours, it would get misty, fog. And for about two, three hours, like from five in the morning till about eight, it was ice, black ice.
00:17:48
RICK JAMES
So we we did a lot of treating, and and treating black ice or ice like that is tough, because you can't be everywhere now.
00:17:48
snowjobspodcast
Oh.
00:17:56
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:17:57
RICK JAMES
So you're ending up treating some lots that don't need it, because you think it's going to freeze, and they may not have, or you're late to lots that throws like that.
00:18:02
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely.
00:18:05
RICK JAMES
You just can't can't be everywhere in an hour.
00:18:05
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:18:08
RICK JAMES
So you're either proactive or reactive.
00:18:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, that's tough.
00:18:12
RICK JAMES
know
00:18:12
snowjobspodcast
that That's a tough winner. That's definitely a tough winner.
00:18:14
RICK JAMES
like We'll take the ice control in the winter like that. We're still moving.
00:18:20
snowjobspodcast
Yep, still paying your bills.
00:18:20
RICK JAMES
Most of our, most of our full-time guys, we're all working. We're moving forward a little bit.
00:18:28
RICK JAMES
It's just kind of painful every time.
00:18:30
snowjobspodcast
Wow, I bet coming off a 55 inch was a 40 something pushes the year before.
00:18:31
RICK JAMES
you
00:18:34
RICK JAMES
77. 77. 77. Oh, how many what?
00:18:38
snowjobspodcast
what What did you do the year before 55 inches the year before 57?
00:18:38
RICK JAMES
Pushes?
00:18:41
RICK JAMES
No, it's 70, 70, 76 inches. Yeah.
00:18:44
snowjobspodcast
Oh, 76.
00:18:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:18:45
snowjobspodcast
Oh wow, is way off.
00:18:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:18:46
snowjobspodcast
Oh, you average 55. That's right. You average 55.
00:18:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. I think we were all, it was, it was a lot.
00:18:49
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha. So 76 and 47 pushes or something like that. God, man.
00:18:54
RICK JAMES
it will be out some And every weekend, every weekend.
00:18:56
snowjobspodcast
That was tough.
00:18:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:18:59
snowjobspodcast
I bet you heard it from the wives, heard it from the girlfriends.
00:18:59
RICK JAMES
ever You know what? Most of our crew, they understand the bonus is structured on snow. Okay. So I know they know we have Fridays off in the summer.
00:19:12
RICK JAMES
So they know it's, if it's, you know, what are you going to do in the winter anyway? I don't think many of our guys like the ice dish, you know?
00:19:17
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
00:19:19
RICK JAMES
yeah So if they're going to work, I know the holidays suck. That's just a fact of life. But I mean, if you're going to work, if I'm going to work on a weekend, I'll do it in the winter and it doesn't really bother me.
00:19:29
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm. Absolutely.
00:19:32
snowjobspodcast
Amen. I agree.
00:19:33
RICK JAMES
Um, and they get it.
00:19:34
snowjobspodcast
I agree completely.
00:19:35
RICK JAMES
And they'd rather have the snow than not snow because of how the bonus structure works.
00:19:41
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:19:42
RICK JAMES
They're going to play the game. They're going to play the game with us, you know?
00:19:47
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, that's awesome. So Jeremy, you want to take us away like we normally do get down to tell us all about how Glacier started.
00:19:52
RICK JAMES
Yep. You bet. All right, Don. It just seems so weird. Yeah.
00:19:56
snowjobspodcast
i know it does and but but yeah yeah Tell us.
00:19:57
RICK JAMES
i know I know the story a little bit. So, but all right, Don, let's tell her. Yeah. Tell everybody how you started Glacier when you started. and Well, ah yeah.
00:20:08
RICK JAMES
So I was a beekeeper. So I graduated with a degree in entomology from NDSU.
00:20:12
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:20:13
RICK JAMES
And I grew up in a, you know, so first I grew up in a dairy farm. So I already knew the pains and toils of not having a life.
00:20:21
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:20:22
RICK JAMES
um Then went to college, got a degree in entomology. I wanted to be outside with entomology. A lot of the the career paths in entomology were lab work.
00:20:33
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:20:33
RICK JAMES
you know Everyone wanted to be out collecting insects and going to the rainforest and finding a new insect. Well, that's not, very few do that. So a job opened up to help a neighboring beekeeper near Kindred, in North Dakota, spare ape berries. And I took the job because I just, well, I had to take the job because my fiance kind of demanded that work.
00:20:57
RICK JAMES
So I and started working there and I kind of fell in love with it, you know, because I already, was in love with insects, which it seems strange to most people, but I fell in love with the job.
00:21:05
snowjobspodcast
Nope.
00:21:07
RICK JAMES
And there was a two years later, another beekeeper near Morton, minute or North da Dakota was selling out. So I bought him contract on deed for honey, and I got into beekeeping.
00:21:17
RICK JAMES
So I was beekeeping quite, you know, full time. And I enjoyed it.
00:21:22
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:21:22
RICK JAMES
I enjoyed, I love snow. I love what we do with where I'm at now. But do I miss beekeeping? Oh, yeah yes.
00:21:31
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:21:31
RICK JAMES
i No employees, right? no Yeah, no employees. The bees don't call me up and complain.
00:21:41
RICK JAMES
you're And you're out and about. you're out and i I'm not a tree hugger, but I like being out in nature. So the bee yard, you're all over.
00:21:46
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
00:21:47
RICK JAMES
you know I had about 120 mile radius from my bee yard's worth. So you're out in the country back country roads, driving fields, you know old farmsteads, old towns, you're everywhere.
Innovative Strategies in Snow Management
00:21:57
RICK JAMES
So it's it was an interesting lifestyle.
00:21:59
RICK JAMES
And I i do myth.
00:21:59
snowjobspodcast
And they're important. There's no us without bees, right?
00:22:01
RICK JAMES
yeah Right, pollination in California is, and what is it?
00:22:02
snowjobspodcast
So they're important.
00:22:06
RICK JAMES
Like two thirds of our vegetable crops need bees, you know?
00:22:10
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:22:11
RICK JAMES
And so I was doing that rigorously, but to make money, we just couldn't make the money in honey. We had to ship our bees south, like to California to pollinate almonds to make the extra money.
00:22:19
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:22:25
RICK JAMES
So for a few years I did that and I'd have to go down there with them, right?
00:22:28
snowjobspodcast
All right.
00:22:30
RICK JAMES
The problem is my kids then were in grade school, you know middle school, and they're in sports now.
00:22:35
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:22:36
RICK JAMES
And that's now I'm down there in the winter, you know and I didn't like that. So about 15 years ago, 16 years ago, I sold out.
00:22:42
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:22:46
RICK JAMES
I got out of bees, and I just turned the corner. and But during when I was beekeeping, I was dabbling in snow removal when I was around here.
00:22:54
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:22:54
RICK JAMES
and ah neighbor ah a neighbor friend of mine talked me into it because I had a skid steer to move the bees around and move paddles around.
00:22:59
snowjobspodcast
Yep. Okay.
00:23:03
RICK JAMES
And he said, well, geez, Don, you got that skid steer and you live in town, you know, there's, we had a big winter that year, 117 inches of snow, okay?
00:23:10
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
00:23:11
RICK JAMES
And everyone was bombed, they were all beat up and it was it was a good time to get in the market because people were looking for other people to do snow removal because they're all wiped out and the the cost got so high.
00:23:19
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:23:23
RICK JAMES
So I jumped in that year and I had a skid steer with a bucket. And I parked at my garage and I started with four accounts.
00:23:26
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
00:23:30
RICK JAMES
you know I just plugged away with four accounts.
00:23:34
snowjobspodcast
Nice.
00:23:34
RICK JAMES
And then next year I added a pickup while a friend had a pickup and then next year I added another piece. And then I brought a partner and Dave Torgerson, a business partner came out ah on board with me and went kind of the rest is history just kind of kept growing.
00:23:46
RICK JAMES
But I'm going to let you know what you see you guys with Jeremy's videos, what you're all enamored with.
00:23:46
snowjobspodcast
Boom.
00:23:52
RICK JAMES
It took a long time. Okay.
00:23:54
snowjobspodcast
Yes.
00:23:55
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:23:57
RICK JAMES
and Why Dave and I are good partners for each other, he's he's very business conscientious about it.
00:24:00
snowjobspodcast
Uh-huh.
00:24:04
RICK JAMES
Don't spend it if you don't make money with it.
00:24:06
snowjobspodcast
Sure. Yep.
00:24:07
RICK JAMES
So we didn't buy anything new for a long time. I mean, we'd buy some pushers, you know, like the avalanche pushers and stuff like that.
00:24:14
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:24:15
RICK JAMES
We'd buy that new or a little pickup salt there. I think that was a salt bar. Yes. Whatever it was. yeah We'd buy some of that low item stuff new, but never buy loaders new.
00:24:26
RICK JAMES
You buy them used because, you know, you can't count on the hours. You can't count. We didn't, we weren't really playing the seasonal game back then. So if it didn't snow, you were zero.
00:24:33
snowjobspodcast
Okay. Gotcha. You didn't make any money. Yep.
00:24:37
RICK JAMES
yeah And and we you know we were looking at some snow insurance, but we looked at that the the window to jump through to get the insurance claim. is just get you You pay so much premium for a little return, and then you're playing that little level.
00:24:48
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:24:50
RICK JAMES
So um we we had a lot of used equipment. And about seven years ago, we took a leap of faith by equipment. Interest rates were low.
00:25:01
RICK JAMES
ah There was probably a little bit of a glut of equipment.
00:25:01
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:25:03
RICK JAMES
This is before COVID, so the equipment prices were
00:25:05
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:25:07
RICK JAMES
Half of what they are now, you know Yeah, yeah you know we were buying we're We were buying big loaders for what we're paying for minis now.
00:25:07
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, a little more reasonable.
00:25:16
RICK JAMES
Yep So we bought a bunch of loaders we started by looking for about a three-year four-year period Jeremy we bought a button, you know, we're bringing a bunch of loaders and It worked You know and it and it was lucky, you know, sometimes you get lucky
00:25:16
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I know, it's insane. It's absolutely insane.
00:25:30
snowjobspodcast
Now, good for you guys.
00:25:32
RICK JAMES
It could have went sideways as fast, you know, then COVID hit and the equipment prices went up, but we already had our equipment.
00:25:40
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:25:40
RICK JAMES
It just kind of worked out. You know, now our value of our equipment is still holding nice. I mean, now inflation's hurting a little bit, but um yeah, so it was a it was very slow organic growth.
00:25:47
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:25:53
RICK JAMES
Now, in hindsight, Maybe you can look at and say it was too slow. you know We didn't take advantage. you know You look at companies like Arctic, Case Snow, they took a lot larger leap of faith.
00:26:01
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:26:07
RICK JAMES
you know But our market, let's say I wanted to take on 200 loaders.
00:26:12
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:26:12
RICK JAMES
We get a deal like they do, where I almost use a loader for free and then ditch them after the end of the year, right?
00:26:16
snowjobspodcast
Sure. Yep.
00:26:18
RICK JAMES
I don't think we could fill them. We'd have to be very aggressive on pricing to push 200 loaders in this town.
00:26:26
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:26:26
RICK JAMES
Because with 200 loaders, I'd need ah companions of another 100 skidders, 100 sidewalk machines. I mean, yeah and for us, in our market, it's a great market.
00:26:35
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:26:40
RICK JAMES
It's just not big enough. You know you need a market of a million to do something like that, which in their markets they're doing.
00:26:41
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
00:26:46
RICK JAMES
Now, could we have diversified in other cities that are neighboring cities? Yeah, could have. But there's, you know, It's a lot of risk.
00:26:57
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, and it's a whole nother headache.
00:26:57
RICK JAMES
Sometimes you're not willing to take it. You got a family, and you got a wife, you you know sometimes it is it worth the risk? I don't know if you guys, I don't do a lot of social media.
00:27:09
RICK JAMES
No Facebook, I do a little Instagram. I watch YouTube because I watch some things like, ah interesting things like politics or national geographic and stuff like that.
00:27:13
snowjobspodcast
sure
00:27:18
RICK JAMES
When I get caught on some of these that, The people that are dying, their last kind of words of wisdom, almost all of them say, I wish I went to work this hard.
00:27:22
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:27:27
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Yeah. I wish I would have spent more time doing something else.
00:27:28
RICK JAMES
I wish I had spent more time with the family, more travel, just enjoyed my time.
00:27:30
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:27:36
RICK JAMES
And they all say it. It's like, and I'm sick.
00:27:39
snowjobspodcast
I get it. I hear you, Don. I'm the same way. I like my little area. I don't need to get any bigger than I got. And um I'm fine being the being the little pond and then, you know, I agree.
00:27:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah. A little different, Steve. A little different for you, Steve. You got the cash call called the fire department.
00:27:56
snowjobspodcast
i do i do have that but
00:27:58
RICK JAMES
you You're a hobby pusher, OK?
00:28:01
snowjobspodcast
Oh, wow, that's a shot ah ah
00:28:06
RICK JAMES
Well, what do you run, Steve?
00:28:07
snowjobspodcast
ah
00:28:07
RICK JAMES
but what How much equipment do you have?
00:28:09
snowjobspodcast
Not much at all. We're like under 10 machines. So we're, we're, we're very condensed and very, our area is like in a one mile square of the same road.
00:28:20
snowjobspodcast
We have a ton of accounts. So we just start skids on each end and we got the loader in between and we got a site specific machines on each side. So that's it.
00:28:28
RICK JAMES
I would literally, I would literally wake up once for one minute that night and go back to bed and I would sleep.
00:28:36
snowjobspodcast
I would love to do it.
00:28:36
RICK JAMES
That's how easy to um not how easy that one would be, right?
00:28:37
snowjobspodcast
I love getting out there still. I can't. I know.
00:28:41
RICK JAMES
Jeremy, can you imagine i have ten watching over 10 piece equipment? Yeah.
00:28:45
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I can't imagine what you guys do.
00:28:45
RICK JAMES
um
00:28:47
snowjobspodcast
I just can't fathom it. For me, that's a whole that's a nightmare I would I would not wake up from. It's just, oh, God, I don't know how you guys do it.
00:28:55
RICK JAMES
you
00:28:55
snowjobspodcast
I don't know how any of the big guys do it.
00:28:56
RICK JAMES
but But you didn't start with a hundred. You started with one or two.
00:29:00
snowjobspodcast
No, one.
00:29:02
RICK JAMES
And you add add them in, it's kind of like ah you grew with it.
00:29:02
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:29:05
RICK JAMES
You know what I mean?
00:29:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. You decide how big you're going to get one machine at a time and that's it. And then you, you decide when it's enough.
00:29:10
RICK JAMES
so So to get back here, yeah.
00:29:12
snowjobspodcast
When you're heading here, go ahead, go ahead.
00:29:15
RICK JAMES
yeah If you get back to your story, so it was very organic, maybe a little painfully slow, but but controlled. Yeah, yeah controlled and like I said, I had a really good like I said i my part business partner Dave Torgerson Very business minded and he kept me grounded, you know, and I also pushed him, you know, cuz I'd want
00:29:23
snowjobspodcast
Smart.
00:29:37
RICK JAMES
to try some of these new things, like pushers, the Schmid small salters, grooming parking lots, we're the first ones in town to do brine.
00:29:38
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:29:48
RICK JAMES
We've been very innovative about what we do and we're the first by five, six years. I mean, think about this, in our town, we have five Schmids, ye okay? I wouldn't have guessed another Schmid, but there's three more companies that have Schmids, because we do.
00:30:01
snowjobspodcast
Really? Well, I'm sure there's a lot of people that have a lot of stuff because of you guys.
00:30:04
RICK JAMES
And that myself,
00:30:08
snowjobspodcast
That's across the country too, Don.
00:30:08
RICK JAMES
well but no but some of the stuff just flat flat works okay you can't so it's not that we use it is that they it works yeah it works and they just saw it they saw it and they knew that it if we're using it it's working so that yeah
00:30:13
snowjobspodcast
I agree.
00:30:23
snowjobspodcast
They, that's what, that's what I'm saying. They know if you're using it and they're seeing you using it, you're not going to use anything that doesn't work. And that's a good enough advertisement basically for them.
00:30:30
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:30:33
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:30:33
snowjobspodcast
So yeah, no, that's awesome.
00:30:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah. We use number, we use number three Arctic yeah that was made. ye
00:30:38
snowjobspodcast
That's yeah, we've heard that a couple of times. I was going to ask you
Challenges and Lessons in Snow Management
00:30:41
snowjobspodcast
that. How did you get involved with Arctic and decide you were going all Arctic's all the time, basically?
00:30:46
RICK JAMES
Okay. So many, many, you I can't even tell you how many years ago, Dave and I, the business partner went to a, our first assignment was in Hartford, Connecticut, just
00:30:54
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:30:56
RICK JAMES
two wide open guys walking around, had no clue what the hell we're looking at. And the reason we went there, we came off of a decent year and we had a terrible ice storm, maybe a two inch ice storm and that ice was with us for month and a half.
00:31:08
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:31:08
RICK JAMES
I think you were still, you were probably pushing that year or two for someone else. Yeah, you yeah yeah I was pushing it out. So it was a terrible ice storm. We were using a product from a competitor, but we're buying it from them.
00:31:19
RICK JAMES
Rock, salt, and sand. I think you know where I'm going here.
00:31:20
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:31:21
RICK JAMES
rock We were using rock, salt, and sand, and our highs are around 10 above, lows around 10 below.
00:31:21
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, absolutely.
00:31:25
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:31:27
RICK JAMES
And every time we pushed a lot, it was a snowier winter. Ice was still there. We pushed a lot. Ice was still there.
00:31:34
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:31:34
RICK JAMES
They had a little traction because we had a little bit of sand down, but I just, Dave and I were like, God, there's gotta be something better. But oh, so we go to trade show. We we saw the Simon brochures and it's all the, me I got subscribed to the magazine.
00:31:46
RICK JAMES
So yep, we'll give it a shot. We get to the Simon show and I'm walking around and the first booth I ran into was in Viratec.
00:31:54
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:31:54
RICK JAMES
And I walked to that booth and they had all these different salts on their table and these brochures are melting down to 20 below. And I ran into a guy there by the name of Tom Broadbent.
00:32:03
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:32:04
RICK JAMES
And then I found out there from Minnesota. So it was a bit of a local connection.
00:32:09
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:32:10
RICK JAMES
And I started talking, I said, geez, Tom, I said, we, you know, Fargomore just came off an ice storm and an inch of ice. It never went away until it's warmed up. He goes, what were you guys using? I said, rock salt and sand.
00:32:20
RICK JAMES
He goes, you might want to learn about salts. So from then on, we took the opportunity to start learning about salts. So we brought ice slicer in. You know, we brought it in super sacks.
00:32:31
RICK JAMES
Next year we had ice slicer. That's how we grew. We started putting the ice slicer on lots. Those lots are black.
00:32:38
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:32:39
RICK JAMES
And every, you know, there's a lot of lots we have that they called we haven they called me up and said, what what are you guys using on your lot?
00:32:42
snowjobspodcast
Word gets around.
00:32:47
RICK JAMES
You know, neighboring lot or adjacent lot. And I tell them and they go, where you're going to do the you're goingnna do our lot now. You're going to salt their lot. And if you salt their lot pretty soon, we're pushing their lot and we're doing everything else.
00:32:57
snowjobspodcast
You're pushing it.
00:32:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:32:58
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:32:59
RICK JAMES
So there there was a lot of things that we, you know, Arctic same way. We're walking around there. Arctic had their kind of prototype there. It almost looked like it had shovels on it, you know, on it with bungee straps.
00:33:08
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:33:10
RICK JAMES
And I go, I wouldn't mind using a one of those. I see the benefit, you know, you can use less salt. um'm that Like I said earlier, I'm not a tree hugger, but I hate salt.
00:33:19
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:33:22
RICK JAMES
And we're a huge salt user.
00:33:22
snowjobspodcast
I got you.
00:33:23
RICK JAMES
We put it on roads and we use it on parking lots, but we don't use it on sidewalks. but i I just saw a plow that would mitigate would do a better job, you know, and it's not buckets, you know, we use avalanches for many years.
00:33:34
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:33:40
RICK JAMES
They were fine.
00:33:41
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:33:41
RICK JAMES
They had a purpose back then, but certainly these are violent. yeah oh Yeah, take a manhole and shoot a hundred yards.
00:33:48
snowjobspodcast
ah ah It evolves, everything evolves.
00:33:49
RICK JAMES
ah voice yeah Yeah. But we saw that. I saw the the value in the Arctic. I saw where it was going. It made sense. And we gave it a shot.
00:34:00
RICK JAMES
And we loved it ever since. And we still have that one.
00:34:02
snowjobspodcast
So when you got, do you remember when you first, you got your first Arctic?
00:34:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:06
snowjobspodcast
Do you remember what your first impression was plowing with it? Like, did it exceed your expectations?
00:34:10
RICK JAMES
Amazing. Well, okay, yes and no.
00:34:14
snowjobspodcast
ah Okay.
00:34:14
RICK JAMES
The plot the tracker, we had it on an IT-14. We had a bit an IT-14 that couldn't push it.
00:34:19
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:34:20
RICK JAMES
No snow tires. No snow tires, just spun. The tires were so hard and crappy that it was but a great pusher. just So we understood that it was grinding in.
00:34:30
RICK JAMES
It was wanting to work. you know The other plow can kind of skim along and you could probably you know you could be underpowered and still go in the pile.
00:34:31
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:34:35
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:34:36
RICK JAMES
I'm telling you, the Arctic, if you're cutting, this loader couldn't get it to the pile. If you were going to turn, You can't. You had to go straight. It was terrible. It was terrible. But we figured it out, and we started, you know, back then, I remember it was John.
00:34:45
snowjobspodcast
ah
00:34:50
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah, John. John, it was like, well, you guys should take 100. Yeah. I should have done it. I should have done it. You know, but at that time, I didn't have a million dollars sitting around, right?
00:34:59
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
00:35:01
RICK JAMES
So I just sold every one of them that year. Yeah, 100%.
00:35:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:35:05
RICK JAMES
This city is an Arctic town. I mean, Fargo is an Arctic. everybody's pretty much, I'd say they're 85% arctic. We had them for a few years and no one really, they didn't know what they were looking at.
00:35:13
snowjobspodcast
No shit.
00:35:17
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:35:17
RICK JAMES
They figured it out. They figured it out. So, you know, in that, you know, like we're starting to broom lots a little more now so we can mitigate the salt usage.
00:35:23
snowjobspodcast
Yup.
00:35:27
RICK JAMES
We then went at the same, the same convention. I saw the Schmid salt there. You know, I mean, overly priced probably back then. Um, but we took advantage of a, you know, I wanted to put salt where it needs to go and at a good rate.
00:35:43
RICK JAMES
The salters we had before, you tap on the side, you go, ah, I used a yard, a half yard. And it it it just spread 10 feet no matter where.
00:35:49
snowjobspodcast
Yup, yup.
00:35:51
RICK JAMES
yeah And you had no, you could dial the rate, but were you really dialing the rate? No. You know, that's these are the old ones.
00:35:57
snowjobspodcast
And those Schmids have been absolutely great for you, right? they those They've been great.
00:36:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:36:02
RICK JAMES
I'll tell you one thing about them that makes them really good. the Bypass so anything goes wrong.
00:36:07
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:36:08
RICK JAMES
You can bypass in the back and still salt What how many times a little Schmidt's been broke down Jeremy? Maybe one once and it was a yeah And we were able to bypass the sensor.
00:36:19
RICK JAMES
What do you mean by bypass?
00:36:20
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:36:20
RICK JAMES
You can die electronics on the front you you don't have to use back to the back and you just screw a couple of wing nuts and Turn your PTO on away you go sir yeah yes So absolutely
00:36:23
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. On the pad.
00:36:29
snowjobspodcast
That's German engineering.
00:36:32
snowjobspodcast
ah
00:36:35
RICK JAMES
Love the Schmid's. Now, could I have made more money by having crappier Salters?
00:36:40
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:36:41
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Damn right. But we have a Schmid that's now probably 18 years old. Looks like brand new. You you wash them, take care of them.
00:36:49
snowjobspodcast
I've seen it. It's incredible. It's incredible.
00:36:52
RICK JAMES
The belt still has the nipples in it because we don't use sand. Yeah.
00:36:56
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:36:56
RICK JAMES
It's been a few million pounds of Salter there.
00:36:56
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:36:59
RICK JAMES
many yeah
00:36:59
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I know. I couldn't believe it. I think Jeremy, Jeremy showed me like he was showing me video when he was in the shop and he, he showed me the one he says, how old do you think that is? I'm like, I don't know a year, two years old.
00:37:10
snowjobspodcast
because It's like 18 years, 17 years.
00:37:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:37:12
snowjobspodcast
I'm like, holy crap. That thing's in great shape.
00:37:14
RICK JAMES
So if you take care of them, you take care of them, those will last and we have, you know, that's probably, you know, there's a lot of things we have that if you take care of it last, but for a salter to last 18 years and look brand new.
00:37:27
snowjobspodcast
It's incredible. Yeah. No, that's incredible.
00:37:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you tell me.
00:37:29
RICK JAMES
Now all we've had is a couple of sensors, that's it pretty much. And then we replace a couple of discs and the motors on a disc, obviously they they wear out once and all.
00:37:34
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
00:37:40
RICK JAMES
And it's probably different than you guys. I mean, your guys are shovels when you're in the back of a pickup throwing it on the parking lot. Do they ever rust out?
00:37:47
snowjobspodcast
Fire and shots all over the place. ah We use Westerns.
00:37:50
RICK JAMES
the
00:37:51
snowjobspodcast
we The Westerns have been good for us. We use them.
00:37:54
RICK JAMES
Tornadoes.
00:37:56
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, the tornadoes. We, I tell you, man, they've been, I was just talking to somebody from Western the other day.
00:37:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:38:01
snowjobspodcast
I'm like, I would love to, I would love to give you negative feedback, but you know, we've had the one, I think our oldest one right now is nine years old and the thing has given us zero issues ever.
00:38:12
snowjobspodcast
It has never failed to work nine.
00:38:13
RICK JAMES
How many years? Nine. right That's pretty good.
00:38:16
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it's never failed to work. Keep the, I keep telling everybody, keep the electrical contacts, QD cleaner, redialectric grease it, keep those contacts clean and that thing will have, and don't overload it.
00:38:28
snowjobspodcast
That's the biggest thing. Like be able to close the doors.
00:38:29
RICK JAMES
and
00:38:31
snowjobspodcast
If you don't overload it, you won't burn the motor out and you're good to go.
00:38:35
RICK JAMES
What salt is not overloaded? Come on.
00:38:37
snowjobspodcast
We don't overload.
00:38:38
RICK JAMES
Oh, we don't either.
00:38:39
snowjobspodcast
We don't honestly, we don't need to.
00:38:39
RICK JAMES
We don't either. We don't either.
00:38:41
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, we don't need to.
00:38:42
RICK JAMES
but du
00:38:43
snowjobspodcast
We're in a whole different ball game because we're so close to the shop with all our properties.
00:38:45
RICK JAMES
but
00:38:46
snowjobspodcast
We were back and forth.
00:38:47
RICK JAMES
oh
00:38:48
snowjobspodcast
It's a, you're talking to maybe at worst case, a 12 minute turnaround time to get reloaded, get back.
00:38:53
RICK JAMES
um ah back in the day when we were we we kept the salt out of Don's farm his dad's farm just south of town that was always a fun drive and when you couldn't see anything going on there reload oh my
00:39:00
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:39:05
snowjobspodcast
Oh, you guys, it's a whole different ballgame for you guys. We're not driving through blinding wind, blown snow and stuff like that that. I mean, those videos are absolutely incredible. the The conditions you guys have to deal with on a regular basis. and it's It's something, guys, you can't appreciate it until you've done it. It's unbelievable.
00:39:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it's, it's, it's something.
00:39:24
snowjobspodcast
but It's something, right? Uh, so you mentioned, you mentioned Don, that you guys, you guys were the first to get into liquids in that area. Are you, how is it?
00:39:35
RICK JAMES
Well, not, not, not completely first.
00:39:38
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:39:38
RICK JAMES
I'm going to give you a little story. Oh yeah.
00:39:39
snowjobspodcast
All right.
00:39:40
RICK JAMES
That's a good one.
00:39:41
snowjobspodcast
oh
00:39:41
RICK JAMES
So there was a lot in town and so it was a, back in his day, it was a prime lot.
00:39:47
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:39:47
RICK JAMES
A lot of people worked there and it was a high-end lot and a local, it was a local competitor.
00:39:53
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:39:53
RICK JAMES
but he had talked to another local supplier that got him into brine, okay?
00:39:57
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:39:57
RICK JAMES
He thought he could try brine. First one in town to try brine. And he got them set up in some kind of sprayer and they did the lot. Problem was, it was probably 20 below, okay?
00:40:08
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:40:09
RICK JAMES
And he put straight brine on.
00:40:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, no additive.
00:40:14
RICK JAMES
about an hour and a half later, this is probably three in the morning. I got a call from the that company and said, Don, can you get your truck over here and send this lot? It's like a Zamboni over here and it literally was like a Zamboni went over it.
00:40:23
snowjobspodcast
Oh, man.
00:40:27
RICK JAMES
I couldn't even turn. you would slide to the percurb lines and we salted it and it worked. I mean, and then I, you know, we were starting to mess with Brian's back then too.
00:40:38
RICK JAMES
And we bought the brine maker and it started messing with Brian's. But what people fail, everyone says, oh, you guys got to pre-treat, pre-treat, pre-treat. Well, that works great maybe where you are.
00:40:48
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:40:48
RICK JAMES
But if we pre-treat a lot and the wind picks up, we get a lot of clippers. So they start with wind. And we'll sometimes we'll get like an eighth inch or a sixteenth inch of snow and then guess what happens to my pre-treated lot six six If I don't treat it, there's a few little drifts in the corners and it's clean you we learned our lesson real quick that you got to really pick and choose what you're pre-treating and yeah Technically
00:40:56
snowjobspodcast
Sure. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Just text to it. Yep. Yep. I got you.
00:41:15
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, no, it's smart. You guys know your area. You know what has to happen.
00:41:20
RICK JAMES
Technically, when we salt, because we use some treated salts on the disc pre-wet, we did we'd brine to. But we're technically pretreating, because we're putting probably a little bit extra on.
00:41:32
RICK JAMES
You know what I mean?
00:41:33
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm. Sure.
00:41:33
RICK JAMES
it's no you know yeah You can't ever dial in exactly to what your conditions are.
00:41:35
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely.
00:41:38
snowjobspodcast
And you guys are doing you guys are doing a ton of pushes without like, let's face it, do you guys actually get rain and Fargo in the winter a lot?
00:41:39
RICK JAMES
we're Did last year. Yeah, last year, right?
00:41:46
snowjobspodcast
but Yeah, but on a normal let's the outside of last year, which was a disaster, not really, right?
00:41:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah. well matt right look at We'll get a freeing look look at a freezing rain here and there, but not not nothing like you guys.
00:41:52
snowjobspodcast
So you guys have residue.
00:41:58
snowjobspodcast
I get it. But what I'm saying is like you guys push so often, usually an inch, two inches, whatever you guys are getting, and then you're salting after that. So there's got to be a certain amount of residue left behind as basically a pretreat, you know?
00:42:06
RICK JAMES
yes yeah That's what I'm saying.
00:42:08
snowjobspodcast
like
00:42:09
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:42:09
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, there you go.
00:42:10
RICK JAMES
ye
00:42:10
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely. It works. It definitely works.
00:42:12
RICK JAMES
and
00:42:12
snowjobspodcast
Are you, are you looking, ah you know, with all the, the Brian that's going on, everybody's talking liquids and stuff and expanding with going green and stuff.
00:42:12
RICK JAMES
we
00:42:20
snowjobspodcast
You said you're, you're kind of a ah a greener guy. Are you thinking of it? You guys going to expand the Brian program in the future or you think you're, you're where you at?
00:42:26
RICK JAMES
yeah Brian is not green.
00:42:31
snowjobspodcast
Brian is not green. It doesn't.
00:42:32
RICK JAMES
not' still fault That's That's not salt.
00:42:33
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah, but it's a lot less salt, right?
00:42:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:42:36
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:42:37
RICK JAMES
Yeah, still salt.
00:42:37
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. It's a lot less salt.
00:42:39
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:42:42
RICK JAMES
We're using more post, you know, like the touch up main driveways are regular salt, there's a go through.
00:42:45
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:42:47
RICK JAMES
And we'll use the Brian to smoke them, bring them down.
00:42:47
snowjobspodcast
I got you.
00:42:50
snowjobspodcast
I got you.
00:42:51
RICK JAMES
We'll do we'll do one on lots.
00:42:52
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:42:53
RICK JAMES
They don't want tracking. You know, even though you we don't pour it on where you like, like I've seen a horror stories in Chicago, Minneapolis, where it's just solid salt.
00:42:56
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:43:03
RICK JAMES
We don't do that.
00:43:04
snowjobspodcast
Got you.
00:43:04
RICK JAMES
But you can still, ah <unk> we're trying to be cautious with the salt, but yet you still want to burn some areas. That's where the brine comes in. And then I don't have to worry as much about the refreeze at night.
00:43:15
RICK JAMES
Cause I still have some granular down there too.
00:43:18
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:43:19
RICK JAMES
You know, if I put straight brine on, I get nervous when it gets to 20 below the next night or 10 below.
00:43:19
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely.
00:43:23
snowjobspodcast
I got, I understand. I understand what you're saying.
00:43:25
RICK JAMES
You know, I mean you know cities and stuff like that they can get away with it Because they got a little bit of a crown to the road They got traffic moving around but parking lot so you ever looked at a parking lot on like a late drizzle day There's ponds all over the place You know and I'm adding water to the lot with Brian I'm literally adding water also and I gotta diffuse that water and if the Sun's not out ain't going anywhere.
00:43:26
snowjobspodcast
You know your area.
00:43:39
snowjobspodcast
Sure. A hundred percent. A hundred percent.
00:43:52
snowjobspodcast
All right, I got you.
00:43:54
RICK JAMES
So yeah, I we know the area.
00:43:54
snowjobspodcast
How?
00:43:55
RICK JAMES
But we're actually setting up another truck this year. So we're going to have another brine truck set up this year. So we'll probably put a little bit more on.
00:44:01
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:44:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Well, we got more clients asking for it. Yeah, more clients asking for it. But we've got to be careful also.
00:44:06
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:44:09
RICK JAMES
It's a tool in the toolbox.
00:44:11
snowjobspodcast
Sure. Yeah, you guys, yeah, you got to have a backup ready to go with the granular absolutely in those temperatures and the wind and all the stuff you're facing. That's 100 percent. ah So like and Glacier, when did you go from when did you make the leap to as big as far as employee wise? Like you're how many employees now you're putting out on a snowstorm you swell up to.
00:44:33
RICK JAMES
so eightyish Yeah, we're probably in the 80-ish in-house.
00:44:38
snowjobspodcast
OK, yeah, and then you got a lot of partners. yeah
00:44:42
RICK JAMES
Yeah, so yeah, I know we're up over 100.
00:44:42
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha. So how quick, how quick did that happen? Like, was it like 10 a year or did you find a year that that like flipped the switch and you jumped like 40 guys steady?
00:44:52
RICK JAMES
I'd say 10 a year. Well, and internally, I'd say like, yeah, maybe seven to 10 a year.
00:44:54
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, steady. Yeah. Like when, okay.
00:45:00
RICK JAMES
you know for
00:45:00
snowjobspodcast
So steady growth.
00:45:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah, add a loader to add a sidewalk machine, maybe add a pickup, you know, for salting, something like that.
00:45:05
snowjobspodcast
Nice.
00:45:08
snowjobspodcast
what has been What has been your favorite machine that you guys have bought? Because you've bought a lot of machines now. What has been the the best machine for Glacier that's, you know, kind of made you the most money?
00:45:16
RICK JAMES
yeah My machine to drive?
00:45:20
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:45:21
RICK JAMES
The 908?
00:45:22
snowjobspodcast
908.
00:45:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah, visibility, ease of drive, comfortable, you can see everything.
00:45:29
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely.
00:45:30
RICK JAMES
Um,
00:45:30
snowjobspodcast
That's what Jeremy says, too. He's the same thing. 908. He likes that.
00:45:34
RICK JAMES
I love the 908s.
00:45:34
snowjobspodcast
He loves the 908s. You love your 908s.
00:45:36
RICK JAMES
I love them, but I do love them.
00:45:36
snowjobspodcast
You're always telling me about the nine. You got to get 908s. Forget your skids. You got to get 908s.
00:45:41
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. I definitely say that, but no, I'm a, I love the big loaders myself. So I like, well, if you, if I'm going to a big lot and you want me to push snow there, if I have to fill in, I want a big load.
00:45:45
snowjobspodcast
I know, but you like the 908s.
00:45:51
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:45:51
RICK JAMES
But if I'm running around, I'd say 80, 70% of our lots are this under smaller, you know, like I'll say like restaurant size.
00:45:56
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm. sure
00:45:59
RICK JAMES
I'll use a 908 every day.
00:45:59
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:46:00
RICK JAMES
Cause I love. It's very efficient, moves around, cleans a lot perfectly. I'm not sitting there like a bull in a China shop trying to turn around and get around corners. 908s are awesome.
00:46:11
RICK JAMES
908s. So what? I'll use 938, same lot. Well, but I'll make more money with the 908. Yeah, I know.
00:46:17
snowjobspodcast
but ah There you go.
00:46:19
RICK JAMES
I like to be high. I like to be up high.
00:46:23
snowjobspodcast
Uh, the compacts are great.
00:46:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah, they're right.
00:46:25
snowjobspodcast
I got a, I got a good one for you. So you guys are the first ones I can say that a lot of guys out there. You're the reason why they went with snow tires on their loaders.
00:46:36
snowjobspodcast
Uh, when, what was there one single event that made you try snow tires for the first time out there or what, you know, what, what got you to do that? Cause I know they're on like every machine you got now, but do you remember when that physically happened that you started with snow tires?
00:46:52
RICK JAMES
do? Well, we started with on a skid steer.
00:46:56
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:46:57
RICK JAMES
We put the trigger heavy duty truck tires on a skidder.
00:47:01
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:47:02
RICK JAMES
And we're like, well, this is a different machine.
00:47:06
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:47:06
RICK JAMES
I mean, it it went, we completely changed the machine. And Jeremy and I and Dave were like, where did we get that deal from snow tire we just put on one load of that yeah we one we put it on we have put on three three okay well we got it from northwest that's right yeah well first we started with a corn mash in the tires yeah to give us weight wait we thought weight was more important than traction okay well if we thought would help us all with traction well all it did was kill our speed going up ramps okay
00:47:29
snowjobspodcast
for weight. Yep, for weight.
00:47:40
RICK JAMES
So, a couple years later, then that stuff, we wanted to get that crap out of the tires because they said this vodka thing. It was a vodka mash. Yeah, it was a vodka mash or when corrode your wheels. Yeah, they were wrong.
00:47:50
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:47:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it was tough, yeah.
00:47:52
snowjobspodcast
Still did it.
00:47:53
RICK JAMES
So, we tried three loaders that winter. The next winter we had all of them. It was not a slow process after the first year because I'm telling you what, you drive a loader on a lot with snow tires and one with all of them.
00:48:03
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:48:07
RICK JAMES
The same lot, you jump between the two of them, you will not go back to the ones with regular tires. The efficiency is twice as much.
00:48:13
snowjobspodcast
That's what we hear.
00:48:15
RICK JAMES
And safety. When you're flying around town, there's times I slid through stop signs.
00:48:17
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:48:22
RICK JAMES
You know, the 360s are flying around the corner with the snow tires. My God, it's set. It hooks you up.
00:48:29
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, you're on rails.
00:48:29
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:48:31
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:48:32
RICK JAMES
And we bought them at a time when we got a, we got a pretty decent deal on the big bulk of the tires. Yep.
00:48:37
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:48:37
RICK JAMES
You know, we're, we're buying them at a pretty, pretty decent rate. We were but still waiting for our milk in.
00:48:41
snowjobspodcast
I was I said no no key and should no no key and should be hooking you guys up because I mean you get you guys put no key ins on the map in the in the US.
00:48:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:48:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:48:51
snowjobspodcast
First ones I ever saw with him, huh?
00:48:51
RICK JAMES
They're. You got him. You got him. You got him because I told you.
00:48:53
snowjobspodcast
I got him because you guys I absolutely got him because of Jeremy telling me.
00:48:55
RICK JAMES
What do you think of him? What do you think of him?
00:48:58
snowjobspodcast
Oh, there it's phenomenal.
00:48:59
RICK JAMES
What do you like? me
00:49:00
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely. It's, I, I tell, I told a couple of guys that were in the same boat with me. They didn't know it's a big price tag and it's gotten even more expensive since I did it. And I tell them you have to try it.
00:49:12
snowjobspodcast
Come run, run my machine for a couple of minutes. And you know what it's like to be in the machine without snow tires. Come try it. And then tell me, you know, tell me that you don't see the difference. And the two guys have come over and they run it and they've been like, holy crap. Yeah, you're you're absolutely right. there It's in a night and day, night and day difference.
00:49:31
RICK JAMES
Well, we'll back up a little bit to cars, to bias tires. Would you go back to a bias tire?
00:49:37
snowjobspodcast
Nope.
00:49:38
RICK JAMES
No.
00:49:39
snowjobspodcast
Nope.
00:49:40
RICK JAMES
No.
00:49:41
snowjobspodcast
Though it's ah what I was able to do with the snow tires last year on the one machine in that one, we were getting three inches an hour of heavy, wet stuff. And I got video of me full pusher making the 45 degree turn right into the pile that I would have slid clear through that turn with any other machine and any other tires. So that they're, they paid for themselves. And that storm is as far as I see it.
00:50:04
RICK JAMES
So it was two years ago, it was a big storm and it was one of it was towards spring. So it was a little bit on the warmer side, but it was still wet, heavy, crappy snow.
00:50:12
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm. Yep.
00:50:13
RICK JAMES
And there was a 907-2, H2 is sitting here. And when I come to the shop, if there's a piece of equipment sitting, I call Jeremy, say, okay, I'm gonna grab this piece. I'm gonna go out and push. Where's the fire needed to be put out?
00:50:25
RICK JAMES
So I grabbed the 907-H2 and went about a block away, because ah a bar hadn't been opened up, a little bar we do.
00:50:29
snowjobspodcast
OK.
00:50:31
RICK JAMES
And, uh, there was another loader over there. I think it was nine Oh eight was over there yeah and it was me in the Nile. Well, mine didn't have snow tires. I called Jeremy about eight minutes into that push, I go order two more sets for the two 907.
00:50:44
RICK JAMES
The only loaders we didn't have in the whole fleet and didn't have snow tires for the two 907s. Cause no one really complained. Cause if you're not, if you, if we put you in a loader and you don't know, you're not going to say, yeah but if you know, you will immediately know.
00:50:54
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:58
RICK JAMES
They were like turf tires or something on it. They were, you know, they weren't, they were so bad. I lifted up the pusher and drove it back to shop. Yeah.
00:51:07
snowjobspodcast
I'm done.
00:51:08
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:51:09
snowjobspodcast
I'm out of mouth.
00:51:09
RICK JAMES
Well, I couldn't get off the, couldn't get off the curb because it was an angle lock.
00:51:12
snowjobspodcast
Oh geez.
00:51:14
RICK JAMES
Couldn't get off the curb.
00:51:14
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Oh my gosh.
00:51:16
RICK JAMES
I just kept falling in the curb and I didn't want to rub the curb the whole day.
00:51:19
snowjobspodcast
Oh, man.
00:51:19
RICK JAMES
it
00:51:21
snowjobspodcast
Don, what you know you've built a successful business, obviously. It stood the test of time. It's 20, what, six years now?
00:51:27
RICK JAMES
This will be 26.
00:51:28
snowjobspodcast
26?
00:51:28
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:51:29
snowjobspodcast
So 26 years, you're still you're still getting better, still growing. What lessons did you learn in your early stages as you started or as you grew in the first couple of years that you think are important lessons to pass on to guys that might be in the same boat as you were when you were starting out?
00:51:49
RICK JAMES
I don't know, yeah you just, you wing it.
00:51:50
snowjobspodcast
I got you. You wing it.
00:51:52
RICK JAMES
I mean, sometimes it doesn't make sense and you just do it. ah
00:51:56
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
00:51:57
RICK JAMES
yeah you know did i
00:51:58
snowjobspodcast
Go with your basically.
00:52:00
RICK JAMES
I'm going to bring up the Schmidt Salter. At that time, it was like a $60,000 Salter, maybe 18 years ago.
00:52:02
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:52:05
RICK JAMES
It was ridiculously what we could have bought 10 Snow Dogs.
00:52:09
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:52:09
RICK JAMES
Okay. and It didn't make sense.
00:52:10
snowjobspodcast
you know
00:52:11
RICK JAMES
And Dave, my business partner was like, are you sure? like I mean, this doesn't even make sense. But we went with it. And because of that, we grew.
00:52:23
RICK JAMES
Cause we're doing, cause we're putting the ice slicer in it. We're treating it on the desk with liquid and it looked professional and we were doing it professionally and it worked.
00:52:25
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
00:52:32
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:52:32
RICK JAMES
Now it was a risk cause that was a $60,000 Salter on a $5,000 truck. Yep. It was, it was, it was an old state truck.
00:52:44
RICK JAMES
We put it on, but it worked.
00:52:44
snowjobspodcast
Oh, my God. But it worked. You went with your gut. You went with your gut and it worked.
00:52:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I mean, and and you you're gonna hear all the adage, you're like, you gotta take a chance or um do know your numbers. um If I was always looking at numbers, that's what Dave did.
00:53:01
RICK JAMES
But if I was always looking at numbers, we I don't know if we'd do this.
00:53:04
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:53:05
RICK JAMES
If I was all encompassed with numbers, sometimes.
00:53:08
snowjobspodcast
Good to know.
00:53:09
RICK JAMES
you know um In our market, we're we're always been very innovative. And it did it at the time, did it make sense? like when You know, we went to Arctic Plows and guys are pushing with buckets or go, wow, I'm, why would you take down the time by two hours in this lot?
00:53:26
RICK JAMES
And I'm like, well, I got one guy, one machine I can do twice as much.
00:53:29
snowjobspodcast
There you go.
00:53:31
RICK JAMES
And it's just, you gotta take, I hate to say it, so it sounds so cliche, but just throw it out there. Sometimes it might stick.
00:53:42
snowjobspodcast
I gotcha.
00:53:42
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:53:43
snowjobspodcast
I know I hear it. Listen, that's, I think honestly that that's a bigger part of some business than you think. I think a lot of guys do that. I've said it like they're, they're just times you fly by the seat of your pants and you go with what, you know, you, what you hope is going to work.
00:53:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:53:57
snowjobspodcast
You know, you don't, nobody really knows. I don't think there are some short things, but Amen.
00:53:59
RICK JAMES
Well, I think, I think grit is more of it. I think there's a lot of people that have good ideas, maybe they have the idea, but they don't want to push to implement them. Yeah, you know, um'm I'm still worried about every snowfall.
00:54:14
RICK JAMES
I'm here for every snowfall. I run a salt truck for I want to be part of every snowfall because it's part of my grit, because I want to make sure it's getting done. I sold, I sold the clients, the product, I got to make sure we produce the product.
00:54:21
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
00:54:27
snowjobspodcast
Amen. I love it. I'm the same way.
00:54:29
RICK JAMES
you know, home you walk through our shop, we live and breathe, how we, you know, buy OCD.
00:54:30
snowjobspodcast
I'm never getting out.
00:54:35
snowjobspodcast
Oh, it's immaculate. Your place is incredible.
00:54:37
RICK JAMES
But but it if I walk into a a restaurant or anywhere else in a carpet, the entry carpets a little crooked, I'll straighten it. Because it it drives me nuts. versus your so He'll he he'll go start sweeping if he wants to think he'll go sweep that for and then he'll leave out He'll leave a pile and see who's gonna pick that up If you know all the guys don't walk by and you like how long will that pile how long will it be there?
00:54:56
snowjobspodcast
Ha ha.
00:55:01
RICK JAMES
Who's gonna pick it up? You know, I quit picking it up because I want to see if anybody else will pick out cuz it drives me nuts Yeah, so I was like, I'm not I go I know what that pile means.
00:55:08
snowjobspodcast
funny That is so funny.
00:55:09
RICK JAMES
I just kind of They get picked up. yeah Sometimes it takes a couple days. Yeah But
00:55:14
snowjobspodcast
Oh my God, that's funny. You know what? Let's, uh, let's let Don get a drink real quick and, uh, we're going to take a quick break for some commercials. We'll, we'll hear from our partners and we'll be right back guys.
00:56:29
snowjobspodcast
All right, gang, we're back again. Thank you to all our partners. And, uh, Don, I got a couple more for you if you don't mind. Um, I really, we all want to hear if I know you guys have funny plowing stories.
00:56:37
RICK JAMES
No, go for it.
00:56:43
snowjobspodcast
I want to hear your version of some funny plowing stories, but what do you feel? You know, you've been doing this a long time, 26 years. What do you feel are the biggest issues facing the snow industry today?
00:56:56
RICK JAMES
Labor, getting good people, ah the affordability of equipment and be able to price for it.
00:56:57
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:57:01
snowjobspodcast
Mm. That's huge. Yep.
00:57:04
RICK JAMES
um and It's always the same ones, insurance, equipment, labor. um We were just talking earlier about insurance, you know that.
00:57:13
snowjobspodcast
Yep. Absolutely.
00:57:14
RICK JAMES
and um When I started it was a two inch, you didn't touch it unless it was two inches. I don't want to go i don't want really go back to those days because we do have to push this and we have to charge a lot more to keep the equipment we have.
00:57:22
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:57:26
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:57:26
RICK JAMES
and And an adage I use, and you're part of this now, because you're a fireman, I always say, i when I tell my clients why we're at with pricing where we're at, or a season of why we're at where we're at, I tell them it's, you know, you don't really care about the fire department till your house is on fire.
00:57:32
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:57:43
RICK JAMES
But then you want then you want the best equipment and best trained crew, you know.
00:57:44
snowjobspodcast
True.
00:57:48
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely.
00:57:49
RICK JAMES
Um, so that's what we are for clients. We want to be prepared and be the best when it does, whatever conditions happen, we were the best and we'll knock it out.
00:57:57
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
00:57:59
RICK JAMES
But it, it's getting tough.
00:58:03
RICK JAMES
There's a lot of issues, you know, from slipping balls to, I mean, but I think you go back a hundred years, if you talk to your grandparents and they, if they had a business, they would have to, I think they'd say the same things.
00:58:04
snowjobspodcast
There are.
00:58:14
snowjobspodcast
Sure. Sure. Same issues, different scale. Yeah.
00:58:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:58:17
snowjobspodcast
yeah
00:58:18
RICK JAMES
I mean, we say kids are lazy today and they don't want to work or they don't like long hours. Well, my grandpa might've said that about the younger kids back then.
00:58:27
snowjobspodcast
Amen. Absolutely. You're a hundred percent right, Don. I agree with that. Actually, a hundred percent. um I think the equipment affordability thing is yeah that that's the toughest one, honestly, because it's getting it's getting borderline ridiculous because we can't.
00:58:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:58:44
snowjobspodcast
ah You know, we can't charge our customers. They're outpacing us, basically. the The amount the equipment has gone up in the last four years is outpacing the increases we can put on our customers.
00:58:49
RICK JAMES
where Yeah.
00:58:54
snowjobspodcast
So it's cutting into profits. I think that's probably the biggest problem that we're having right now. Immediate problem anyway.
00:59:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah. And then the interest hurts too.
00:59:02
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:59:02
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:59:03
snowjobspodcast
Because I mean, a company like you guys, how how are you supposed to replace that fleet now you know with with the increase that it is?
00:59:03
RICK JAMES
so
00:59:11
snowjobspodcast
It's just incredible. It's incredible. I can't even imagine it.
00:59:13
RICK JAMES
It's worth more.
00:59:14
snowjobspodcast
It's it's incredible.
00:59:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you can't replace it right now. and
00:59:17
snowjobspodcast
No, they're worth too much.
00:59:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah. But I did, I did see our yield came out at zero percent.
00:59:21
snowjobspodcast
but you
00:59:23
RICK JAMES
Really? Well, they will.
00:59:25
snowjobspodcast
There there's a couple I saw I think case case came out 0% for 36 You can't get any loaders from case.
00:59:26
RICK JAMES
There's a couple that came out at zero percent. I think case came out at two. Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:32
snowjobspodcast
They're all bought already, but you know Amen absolutely
00:59:34
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah kind of so So then it wraps around, take care of your equipment you have when you buy it. You know you take care of it. I mean, I know there's always issues and there was ah more electronic issues today, but if you stay on top of it, you can make them go a little bit further, I think.
00:59:52
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, yep.
00:59:54
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
00:59:55
RICK JAMES
Clean them up.
00:59:55
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely. Wow.
00:59:57
RICK JAMES
Keep them clean, keep them maintenance. I mean, it's just simple stuff, but.
01:00:00
snowjobspodcast
Well, you guys do that. I mean, your stuff is immaculate. It's it's amazing. it's it's It's awesome.
01:00:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we got a mechanic that spends all summer working on them.
01:00:06
snowjobspodcast
Always awesome to see that. oh Sure.
01:00:12
RICK JAMES
and which is what we want, because we don't want to replace it. you know lot We're not Arctic a case where I can treat, well, they don't, but but they can they roll them every year, so why would they care?
01:00:21
snowjobspodcast
No, they don't. But I get what you're saying. Yep. Sure. Sure.
01:00:25
RICK JAMES
If they they had that mindset, why would they care? we're
01:00:33
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. It's staying.
01:00:40
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha. That's cool.
01:00:51
RICK JAMES
When we started using minis, long time ago, we had a 906. And people make fun of me about, what why would you not get a regular size loader? Why do you got the mini?
Stories from the Field
01:01:00
RICK JAMES
I'm like, for these little lots. And then we called it the 906 route, because it did little banks, gas stations, and restaurants.
01:01:06
snowjobspodcast
Sure?
01:01:07
RICK JAMES
Most efficient piece we ever had, best money maker we ever had. People gave me a crap bullet. We put a little 10-foot Arctic on it. It was the best money maker we had. and it's a little 906 still awesome still have it yeah we still have it we can still send it wherever we want we do send it out here and there it's just got the it's one of yeah so i mean we still we still have that 906 it's probably
01:01:23
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. And I can see it too. Jeremy mate used to make that art argument all the time that, oh man, the best, best piece of equipment to get is a compact loader, 10 foot Arctic done. So yeah, I see it.
01:01:40
RICK JAMES
a lot, it's 25 years old. Yeah. ah twenty three so like yeah's twenty what it it two thousand so ninety nine Or Yeah, it's or Yeah, it's Yeah, it's, it only, it's the one he goes, what, 12 miles an hour or 14 or whatever it is.
01:01:51
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
01:01:55
RICK JAMES
I don't know if it's 14. Yeah, I guess 12, but it's, it's, it can still, we still put push on it. It had that cat kind of goofy hookup. So yeah we got to, we got to make like little notches in, in our,
01:02:03
snowjobspodcast
Okay I Got you.
01:02:07
RICK JAMES
plates and our plates that it goes to so there's only a couple that'll go on but we do it and then mean it'll still make us money so
01:02:15
snowjobspodcast
No, that's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, take care of your stuff. It works for you forever. That's awesome ah Don you gotta have them? I know that the glacier guys are famous for being characters ah You know, they're they're they're interesting guys funniest plowing stories
01:02:34
snowjobspodcast
Maybe not funny to you.
01:02:36
RICK JAMES
Well, no some are not because of liability and yeah, well, I don't mind.
01:02:41
snowjobspodcast
They're not funny if you're paying for it.
01:02:45
RICK JAMES
Sometimes if the guys are putting themselves in danger, that kind of, you know, that might suck.
01:02:50
snowjobspodcast
Mm-hmm. Yep.
01:02:51
RICK JAMES
You know, it's all funny until someone gets hurt and it's all me.
01:02:54
snowjobspodcast
I agree. 100%. Then it's all you, exactly.
01:02:56
RICK JAMES
but How time I rolled the truck. Well, that was icy. Yeah. um
01:03:03
snowjobspodcast
oh
01:03:03
RICK JAMES
the um when my brother used to push with me. oh boy And then we had a gal by the name of Gina Korbel with us.
01:03:08
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
01:03:12
RICK JAMES
The radio chatter would be so bad that I should have been sued.
01:03:19
RICK JAMES
It was entertaining, but it was entertaining at a cringe level.
01:03:23
snowjobspodcast
ah Yeah, I got it. I got it.
01:03:25
RICK JAMES
So um yeah, if we had an HR department, there'd be a file ah as thick as our office. yeah
01:03:33
snowjobspodcast
Oh man, that's great.
01:03:35
RICK JAMES
but You know, as far as stories, yeah I mean, mostly back when we were back when I was doing them, but ah pushing with the phone and doing all that stuff, we were grinding so hard.
01:03:35
snowjobspodcast
That's really good.
01:03:45
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:03:48
RICK JAMES
We didn't have a time, you know, we're all in our own lots. We didn't, we didn't really have anyone around us.
01:03:53
snowjobspodcast
I got you.
01:03:55
RICK JAMES
You know, i'll I was stuck, I was stuck in a lot by myself and mostly it was a radial.
01:03:58
snowjobspodcast
OK.
01:03:59
RICK JAMES
You heard the radial. Um, Yeah, I just can't. i Can you think of anything that happened in the back? Oh, I just remember the story. I was on a phone with you. and And those guys called and said they knocked the satellite dishes over at the TV station.
01:04:17
RICK JAMES
Let me give you the story.
01:04:19
snowjobspodcast
Go ahead.
01:04:20
RICK JAMES
So it was the first year doing WDAY. It was a local news station. monade This was back before digital. So they had the disks, big tower, those transformer disks in the backyard.
01:04:27
snowjobspodcast
Okay. Yep.
01:04:32
RICK JAMES
You know what I mean?
01:04:33
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:04:34
RICK JAMES
Uh, and we're pushing around them and they said, Oh, they gave me, a okay, Don, you gotta be careful around these. You know, this is our feed. We're getting satellite feed in these things. We cannot get disrupted because we'll be ah out of service.
01:04:42
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:04:44
RICK JAMES
Right. And it was Josh Johnson and he was in a skid steer and he gave me a call. He goes, yeah, Don, yeah um, I had a little accident over here. WDI go, Oh, you know, you know, slid off the road or got stuck in the grass or worst case scenario, I'm thinking bump the building, right?
01:04:59
RICK JAMES
Or, you know, I, I hit one of the discs and tipped it or knocked it over.
01:05:00
snowjobspodcast
You know, yeah,
01:05:05
RICK JAMES
I was silent, like, what do I say? yeah I mean, I was, I was thinking, oh my God, I want to be on the news, but for all the wrong reasons, you know,
01:05:14
snowjobspodcast
there's going to be no news. Just going to be snow on the screen.
01:05:16
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah
01:05:16
snowjobspodcast
You knocked over the desk.
01:05:18
RICK JAMES
then when they got back on the air, they go, well, yes, because of our snow operator, you know, glaciers management knocked over our dish, you know?
01:05:22
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:05:26
snowjobspodcast
Oh man.
01:05:27
RICK JAMES
So that one, and then also- It didn't happen though, it was just a joke. No, you made it up. It was a dinner, but it was funny, it was funny.
01:05:31
snowjobspodcast
Got it. I got it. That'll make it. That'll wake you up though.
01:05:34
RICK JAMES
ah three And then another one was, uh, we had a chatty guy, Adam growthman, and we were hauling snow. oh And, uh, another guy hauling snow, Tracy Hazleton. So they dump at the dump site and, uh, they're going down the road now.
01:05:51
RICK JAMES
but the Tracy Hazleton truck did not lower his box.
01:05:55
snowjobspodcast
Oh Jesus.
01:05:55
RICK JAMES
but please He's driving down the street and the truck behind him, Adam Grosvenor was trying to get on the radio and tell him, stop lawyer box, stop lawyer box. But everyone was chit chatting so much on the radio, ye he picked couldn't get through and it took off the street lights.
01:06:10
snowjobspodcast
Oh, man.
01:06:11
RICK JAMES
yeah Yeah. So I got footage of that from the, from the PD.
01:06:13
snowjobspodcast
That.
01:06:15
RICK JAMES
I know the guy he sent, he sent it over. It's pretty, all you see it truck in the box and they're coming out, coming out and then this, it goes black.
01:06:19
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
01:06:23
snowjobspodcast
You got footage of it taking out the camera.
01:06:24
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
01:06:25
snowjobspodcast
That is awesome.
01:06:26
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah. Taking all the whole light, the whole street light, the whole street light.
01:06:29
snowjobspodcast
That is phenomenal.
01:06:29
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:06:31
snowjobspodcast
Oh, that's now that's very funny. I like that a lot.
01:06:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
01:06:35
snowjobspodcast
Oh, my God. What else, Jay?
01:06:36
RICK JAMES
But I, you know, you know, your drive truck. I don't know how a person can drive a truck yeah and not know their boxes up. i don't That's like driving a loader and you're hooked to a pusher and your pusher's not there.
01:06:43
snowjobspodcast
I don't know.
01:06:47
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, exactly. I don't understand it.
01:06:50
RICK JAMES
i The truck would handle where it would be. You only have to glance in your mirror, you know it's up.
01:06:57
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
01:06:57
RICK JAMES
Well, it should have been lighter anyway.
01:06:58
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
01:06:59
RICK JAMES
The boxes in the mirror, is there more, whatever.
01:07:01
snowjobspodcast
oh
01:07:02
RICK JAMES
I mean, whatever. We were pushing pretty hard. Maybe that's why, because he retired, who knows.
01:07:05
snowjobspodcast
I got you. I got you. That's, it happens. It happens.
01:07:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:09
snowjobspodcast
What, uh, what else Jake, what else, uh, what else do we need to to ask Don here?
01:07:09
RICK JAMES
But,
01:07:13
snowjobspodcast
Why we have him? I need to cover everything.
01:07:15
RICK JAMES
uh, well, you, do you guys talk about Steve? Steve? No, we don't talk.
01:07:22
snowjobspodcast
What about me?
01:07:22
RICK JAMES
We don't talk about us easily.
01:07:23
snowjobspodcast
We don't talk about Steve. Now we don't talk about us. We just talk to the guests and learn all, all that kind of stuff.
01:07:26
RICK JAMES
No, we won't. Yeah.
01:07:29
snowjobspodcast
Very rarely do we talk about us, but, uh,
01:07:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Storm chaser done.
01:07:34
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. It's the store.
01:07:35
RICK JAMES
We're going to, yeah.
01:07:35
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah. Yeah. Are you done? You in storm chasing, do an episode word.
01:07:39
RICK JAMES
Well, it sounds like it's here. It's the first one, so I'm in.
01:07:43
snowjobspodcast
Well, we're trying and we want to make sure that you're, ah you're good with it.
01:07:43
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:07:46
snowjobspodcast
Cause it's, it's going to be great. Hopefully, you know, if you guys get snow, we we think we think you guys are.
01:07:51
RICK JAMES
Well, we don't know where it's going to be first, but you know, many, many years ago, uh, Jeremy knows this story many years ago when, uh, those ice road truckers was just kind of hitting the market and you I got approached or ah they called our company, uh, discovery.
01:08:00
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:08:05
RICK JAMES
I think it was discovery, some kind of channel, uh, from California and Hollywood, wherever gave us a call about doing.
01:08:07
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:08:11
RICK JAMES
Same kind of thing for snowstorms, blizzards, but they wanted to have a set date.
01:08:14
snowjobspodcast
Awesome.
01:08:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:08:20
RICK JAMES
And I told them, I said, you can't, it doesn't work like that.
01:08:21
snowjobspodcast
ah Yeah.
01:08:24
RICK JAMES
It's not like ice road truckers or Alaskan fishing, whatever. You just take the boat out and you make a movie. yep They want to know, well, if we come here from this, you know, from the eighth to the 10th, can we do some footage?
01:08:36
RICK JAMES
I go, of what?
01:08:37
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, sure you can.
01:08:38
RICK JAMES
You know,
01:08:39
snowjobspodcast
That's just not snow plowing.
01:08:41
RICK JAMES
So that, that was a big turnoff for them that kind of settled them down that, you know, they, they'd have to stage here for a couple of weeks in order to catch a good start.
01:08:45
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:08:49
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, possibly.
01:08:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I see background and I don't, I don't think they wanted to do that. I think there was better fish to fry than that.
01:08:57
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah.
01:08:59
RICK JAMES
So.
01:08:59
snowjobspodcast
It should be interesting. I think it's logistically going to be a little bit dicey at times, but, uh, you know, if as long as we can get flights for people and get them out of there in 24, get them in and out in 24, 36 hours, it should be fine.
01:09:13
snowjobspodcast
And and yeah.
01:09:13
RICK JAMES
and So is there a film crew then? no so so whos So who's in charge of the film crew? It's Storm.
01:09:20
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. The producer and storm.
01:09:20
RICK JAMES
So he's got he's got people hired to do this. yep
01:09:24
snowjobspodcast
He's got people hired. He's got people that know what they're doing. It ain't Jeremy and Steve running around with an iPhone recording it.
01:09:27
RICK JAMES
so So what are they doing now then?
01:09:32
snowjobspodcast
Nothing, waiting for snow.
01:09:32
RICK JAMES
with them. Yeah, the people Oh, no, no, they're just coming when when the storms.
01:09:35
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, they're just coming when it snows.
01:09:36
RICK JAMES
also he fire yeah ah their dirts on all all winter so Okay, so they're cool.
01:09:37
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, they're just, they're on standby basically. Yeah, they're on call.
01:09:42
RICK JAMES
What do they do now? Then just so you're doing other things like that? Yeah, yeah, they're, they're, they're, yeah, they're film stuff.
01:09:45
snowjobspodcast
they're Yeah, they're doing film stuff.
01:09:48
RICK JAMES
So so yeah, no, it's
01:09:49
snowjobspodcast
But yeah, they know they're, they slowed down. They said, uh, they slowed down going into the fall. So the whole winter they're basically dedicated to us on a, on call, you know, ready to go.
01:09:59
RICK JAMES
So how many places you guys are going to do then, probably?
Documenting the Snow Industry
01:10:01
RICK JAMES
Hopefully six, right?
01:10:01
snowjobspodcast
Hopefully six. Yeah. Six, six is the plan.
01:10:04
RICK JAMES
So is that on YouTube?
01:10:04
snowjobspodcast
So as long as they get snow, but we got alternates in case they don't get snow.
01:10:08
RICK JAMES
Is that on YouTube then? Yeah.
01:10:09
snowjobspodcast
It'll be on YouTube.
01:10:10
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:10:11
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:10:11
RICK JAMES
YouTube, hopefully this, hopefully.
01:10:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. And then maybe then who knows, you know, if we do the right format and it's well received, and which it I think it should be.
01:10:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:19
snowjobspodcast
It's, you know, I mean, if they can have gold rush and stuff like that and deadliest catch, they can have something that.
01:10:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah. But the problem with those, is okay, I'm going to go. i They want drama.
01:10:29
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Well, they might, but they're not going to get it from us. I mean, anything, it if it is, it's natural, but it's not going to be produced.
01:10:34
RICK JAMES
No, I'm go i'm go to pick the and not true um'm gonna put the business hat on for a second here then. A YouTube or an Instagram, not you guys are doing a great job and everything, but it it doesn't get me clients, you know what I mean?
01:10:44
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:10:47
snowjobspodcast
I agree.
01:10:48
RICK JAMES
um So, yeah.
01:10:50
snowjobspodcast
It exposes them to you. That's all. And then it's up to you to reel them in, I guess.
01:10:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah, so I mean,
01:10:56
snowjobspodcast
It'll get them it'll get them to call. I mean, I've I've called actual places off of what I've seen on YouTube just because of how they're doing things.
01:11:03
RICK JAMES
Well, but it depends what it is. Yeah.
01:11:05
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
01:11:06
RICK JAMES
Um, I mean, we more or less wanted to look, to show, show what we do to show, well, no, I know.
01:11:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. we yeah We want to bring exposure to the snow guys doing you know doing the work.
01:11:13
RICK JAMES
I understand the whole premise of it. We also want, we also want to like, even like show like the property matters of what we go through to get their job done.
01:11:21
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
01:11:22
RICK JAMES
You know, cause that, that kind of enlightens their eyes.
01:11:24
snowjobspodcast
Because right now they just think the snow fairies come in the middle of the night and they take care of everything.
01:11:26
RICK JAMES
Yeah. No, I get it. I get it.
01:11:29
snowjobspodcast
So bring attention to the industry, bring attention to the guys doing the work and the quality that actually goes in and and all the planning and preparation that goes into before a storm for snow companies.
01:11:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:11:39
snowjobspodcast
yeah That's a lot of, cause then people ask, oh, what are we, why are we paying so much money? Well, you you know you plowed for five hours. Well, we plowed for five hours, but we, you know, we staged equipment. We got all this stuff done beforehand.
01:11:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah. yeah your pay And paying your expertise.
01:11:51
snowjobspodcast
that That's, that's all, you know, not free. There you go.
01:11:55
RICK JAMES
does Yeah.
01:11:56
snowjobspodcast
So hoping to bring awareness, basically show guys doing what they do and bring awareness to good companies.
01:11:58
RICK JAMES
Well, the problem
01:12:02
RICK JAMES
Snow industry is coming around a little bit. you know It used to be just plow jockeys. It was the contractors or excavators or concrete guys that had a couple of guys and a couple of piece of equipment. If it snowed, maybe we'll hit all tonight.
01:12:14
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
01:12:14
RICK JAMES
you know We're trying to build professionalism in it, but it's it's at night. so yeah and then a lot of people don't And then a lot of people don't want to pay for a service like snow.
01:12:19
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it's not widely seen.
01:12:24
RICK JAMES
you know I spent $10,000 on landscaping.
01:12:26
snowjobspodcast
And i I get it.
01:12:28
RICK JAMES
I got something out of that. I spend 10,000. No, I got nothing. ah Yeah.
01:12:35
snowjobspodcast
I get it. I hear what you say. And that's that's another thing.
01:12:37
RICK JAMES
it's the
01:12:38
snowjobspodcast
I think it couldn't be ah it couldn't possibly be a bad thing to show guys show people that aren't snow people how much goes into doing what we do every time it snows and how much they don't see while they're sleeping.
01:12:48
RICK JAMES
Right.
01:12:52
snowjobspodcast
You know, that's getting done for them that when they show up at 7 a.m. to Black pavement, you know, a lot of work went into that. A lot of professionalism went into that.
01:12:59
RICK JAMES
right
01:12:59
snowjobspodcast
So it should be should be good.
01:13:00
RICK JAMES
A lot of guys missing a lot of key things in their life.
01:13:03
snowjobspodcast
There you go. A lot of guys missing sporting events with their kids, holidays with their kids, you know, stuff like that. That's all for all for the customer.
01:13:10
RICK JAMES
But from an outsider, but from for me, from an outsider, your YouTube thing, I want to make sure it's careful so it doesn't look like we're inefficient.
01:13:10
snowjobspodcast
So all for doing what they love to do.
01:13:16
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:13:22
RICK JAMES
Right. You know, yeah, no, I'm just saying I'm just, umm I'm just kind of playing devils at both sides here.
01:13:23
snowjobspodcast
Absolutely. I don't.
01:13:28
RICK JAMES
Cause if it, you know, if it looked like a bunch of guys goofing off and making circles and smoking cigarettes between, shit you know what I mean? And then, uh, right.
01:13:36
snowjobspodcast
Well, don't do that. Obviously don't do that on camera. ah I hear you.
01:13:42
RICK JAMES
right No, but you know how that, you know, right.
01:13:44
snowjobspodcast
No, I understand that. it's like
01:13:46
RICK JAMES
I think most of our, most of the guys are just hard chargers anyway in the, in snow industry. And it I mean, the professionals, I mean, they have, we have fun, but they get the shit done.
01:13:51
snowjobspodcast
It's if they know they're on camera, there's going to be no fun.
01:13:56
RICK JAMES
right You know, it's, I mean, yeah.
01:13:59
snowjobspodcast
It's going to be all business.
01:14:01
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:14:02
snowjobspodcast
It's gonna be all business. They they know it, but it's I think it's gonna be really good.
01:14:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah. They want, they want to.
01:14:08
snowjobspodcast
I think it's gonna be really good for the industry. It'll be really good for the companies that are involved. And like I said, if it doesn't snow in the six spots we have, we have six alternates. So somebody's gonna be getting snow somewhere this winter.
01:14:18
RICK JAMES
Or just go to Mankato.
01:14:18
snowjobspodcast
we'll We'll have people there.
01:14:20
RICK JAMES
Let's go to Mankato and do snow there.
01:14:22
snowjobspodcast
There you go.
01:14:22
RICK JAMES
and
01:14:22
snowjobspodcast
We'll make it ourselves.
01:14:23
RICK JAMES
um snowmaker
01:14:23
snowjobspodcast
We'll make it on a parking lot. We have a snow machine now.
01:14:26
RICK JAMES
It's gonna snow.
01:14:26
snowjobspodcast
So it's gonna snow.
01:14:27
RICK JAMES
yeah you guys are have You guys will be fine. It'll snow.
01:14:29
snowjobspodcast
It's gonna snow.
01:14:30
RICK JAMES
It's just the timing and you want a decent snow. You don't want some little crapper that doesn't really show what you can do either. right
01:14:37
snowjobspodcast
Sure, absolutely.
01:14:38
RICK JAMES
And I think you almost, you almost have to wait, you know, you obviously to show you want to get one going quick, you know, cause you want to get the exposure and get it rolling.
01:14:44
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:14:46
RICK JAMES
But it's almost like you might want to wait till there's a couple snows on the ground. So it looks like a real vent, you know, yeah I don't know.
01:14:53
snowjobspodcast
It's possible.
01:14:53
RICK JAMES
That's just me from the outside.
01:14:54
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it's possible. that's ah We're going to see.
01:14:55
RICK JAMES
I'm not in the inside here. I'm not on the outside.
01:14:57
snowjobspodcast
We have a, you know, we have a ah producer making those decisions. So that's a, you know, we'll see what happens with that. But yeah, it's good. I think it's going to be great for the industry. I think, you know, anything that brings attention to doing and what we do is a good thing.
01:15:08
RICK JAMES
you
01:15:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah, two years ago, we had to bury them.
01:15:13
snowjobspodcast
Oh, two years ago would have been beautiful.
01:15:13
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:15:15
snowjobspodcast
We're going to stuck up film crew there the whole winter. You were pushing like what every 72 hours.
01:15:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It was
01:15:22
snowjobspodcast
It was pretty steady, pretty steady.
01:15:24
RICK JAMES
nonstop.
01:15:26
snowjobspodcast
Oh, that,
01:15:26
RICK JAMES
They wouldn't have to go anywhere else. They'd just stay here.
01:15:29
snowjobspodcast
Oh, my phone was going off constantly.
01:15:29
RICK JAMES
We're Minneapolis. They had a hundred. So, yeah.
01:15:32
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I know. You guys got crushed. It was incredible.
01:15:35
RICK JAMES
How long do we know?
01:15:36
snowjobspodcast
But oh, man. All right. You got anything else for us, Don? Otherwise, we'll let you go here, bud.
01:15:41
RICK JAMES
Well, well, you guys can, you know, good luck on your show then your YouTube deal.
01:15:47
snowjobspodcast
Thank you so much.
01:15:47
RICK JAMES
I guess so we'll we'll see it first. Maybe.
01:15:49
snowjobspodcast
We appreciate it. Oh, yeah, you definitely will.
01:15:50
RICK JAMES
Um, um other than that, I got, no, not a whole lot to ask yeah you guys.
01:15:58
snowjobspodcast
That's all good. Thank you so much.
01:15:59
RICK JAMES
Give me a little bit. What about you? Uh, what part of the country are you are? You're at the East coast, right?
01:16:03
snowjobspodcast
New York.
01:16:04
RICK JAMES
ah New York.
01:16:04
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. in New York.
01:16:06
RICK JAMES
Okay. Right in middle of New York.
01:16:06
snowjobspodcast
Yep. Worst, worst state in the union by an hour and a half north of New York city hour and a half north, uh, south of Albany. So right. And right between Albany and New York city Hudson Valley.
01:16:16
RICK JAMES
Okay. So you got a little bit, a tiny little, well, a smaller area you do. what whats What's your biggest piece of equipment?
01:16:20
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:16:22
RICK JAMES
What is it?
01:16:22
snowjobspodcast
Uh, three 21 cases.
01:16:24
RICK JAMES
Okay. Case, you get it from Arctic then? Yeah.
01:16:27
snowjobspodcast
ah Yep.
01:16:27
RICK JAMES
um ah think Okay.
01:16:27
snowjobspodcast
I got all my stuff from Arctic. Yep. That's the, uh, that's the only, that's the only deal I really could afford. Honestly, I couldn't afford the extra for what I got a machine with a hundred, 150 hours on one model year old was like 30 grand off what the dealer wanted for a current one.
01:16:39
RICK JAMES
I know.
01:16:45
RICK JAMES
I know.
01:16:45
snowjobspodcast
And I still had warranty on it.
01:16:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:16:46
snowjobspodcast
Insane.
01:16:47
RICK JAMES
Right.
01:16:47
snowjobspodcast
Great.
01:16:47
RICK JAMES
They start to warrant you over again, correct?
01:16:50
snowjobspodcast
They give you one year. So when you get it, it usually has one year left if you're buying a current model machine from Arctic. So it's it was a great deal. I remember the first one I bought, I thought it was a scam.
01:17:02
snowjobspodcast
I thought there's no way they could possibly be doing this. I actually had to call Arctic and get Randy straight on the phone.
01:17:06
RICK JAMES
ah rany then
01:17:08
snowjobspodcast
And once I heard, talked to him, I was like, okay, this must be legit. But I thought I was wiring them the money and I was never going to see a machine show up.
01:17:12
RICK JAMES
All right.
01:17:16
snowjobspodcast
ah It was such a good deal. It was like 28,000 less than the dealer.
01:17:19
RICK JAMES
well
01:17:21
RICK JAMES
Okay. Well, that's a good deal.
01:17:23
snowjobspodcast
so
01:17:23
RICK JAMES
So family, Steve.
01:17:25
snowjobspodcast
Yep, sam my brother I got a brother, sister. I got my my wife and two kids, a five-year-old. I'm sorry, six now. She's six and a nine-year-old.
01:17:35
snowjobspodcast
And my son just ah started playing the most expensive sport on the planet, hockey, and decided to be the most expensive position, goalie.
01:17:36
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:17:41
RICK JAMES
Oh, okay.
01:17:44
snowjobspodcast
So it's been interesting.
01:17:45
RICK JAMES
And, uh, and the clothing the most stinky.
01:17:48
snowjobspodcast
Yes.
01:17:49
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:17:49
snowjobspodcast
Oh, it's hockey players.
01:17:49
RICK JAMES
yes
01:17:51
snowjobspodcast
Reek. Even at that young age, it is so bad.
01:17:51
RICK JAMES
So why do you push no?
01:17:54
snowjobspodcast
It's unbelievable.
01:17:57
RICK JAMES
You're a fireman full time? Why push?
01:17:59
snowjobspodcast
i Honestly, I was plowing snow before I was a ah fireman.
01:18:00
RICK JAMES
what
01:18:03
snowjobspodcast
I've been plowing snow since I was 16, 17. So, uh, I just always loved it. I absolutely, I could not wait for it to snow. I remember having the plow truck at the farm, um, at my grandparents' farm.
01:18:15
snowjobspodcast
And I would go over there as soon as it started snowing and get that plow truck before my grandfather could get in it and try and just try and get them away from it and plow all the snow before he, cause he loved the plow too.
01:18:22
RICK JAMES
fuck
01:18:26
snowjobspodcast
So I used to have to race them to the, uh, to the truck to get
01:18:27
RICK JAMES
so
Balancing Firefighting and Snow Plowing Careers
01:18:30
snowjobspodcast
it.
01:18:31
RICK JAMES
So it's a side love.
01:18:31
snowjobspodcast
um It was yeah, I mean firefighting was always that was always the number one goal, but the snow was a close second I always loved pushing snow I Didn't like cutting the grass so much didn't like cutting grass so much, but pushing snow.
01:18:42
RICK JAMES
Just never thought you want.
01:18:47
snowjobspodcast
I loved it
01:18:48
RICK JAMES
But did you ever think that in the past or future here that step step away from the fire and do grow the snow?
01:18:56
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I'm definitely, uh, I'm, I'm retiring next year. So it's definitely, I, I'm going to do my 25 and I'm, uh, I'm going to be 49.
01:19:02
RICK JAMES
How old are you?
01:19:06
snowjobspodcast
So.
01:19:07
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:19:08
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. So I got on, I got on young, so I'm doing my 25 and I'm out the door and then, uh, yeah, we'll see what happens. I mean, this, uh, I don't know, honestly, I don't, I think I'm good where I'm at.
01:19:19
snowjobspodcast
Um, I like the size we're at.
01:19:20
RICK JAMES
um was employed in the fire all All your guys all your guys are firemen
01:19:23
snowjobspodcast
What's that? All my guys are firemen. it's ah It's a very, very tight group. We have a lot of fun pushing together and it's just a nice, I kind of like the size I'm at headache wise, you know, bigger, bigger, bigger size company, bigger headaches. And I don't, I will, my own worst enemy, I don't delegate well.
01:19:45
snowjobspodcast
Like I just have a tough time finding a lot of people. I have people that see things the same way I do with the same things, bother them, and they have the same attention to detail. But on a large scale, I mean, you know, if you if you need 40 guys, you're not it's going to be hard pressed to find 40 guys and see everything the way you do as far as attention to detail.
01:20:06
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:20:06
snowjobspodcast
So it's ah i like the I kind of like the size we're at and the umm I'm happy with it.
01:20:07
RICK JAMES
Absolutely.
01:20:12
snowjobspodcast
you know we're we're We're very profitable for the size we are and it's been a good time. have I don't like leaving my area because you get too far away from home and bad things happen.
01:20:22
snowjobspodcast
It takes you a long a lot longer to get them fixed.
01:20:26
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:20:27
snowjobspodcast
it It is it's true like I don't ever break down close to the shop I break down when I'm doing somebody a favor 20 minutes away.
01:20:32
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
01:20:36
snowjobspodcast
That's when we have breakages So yeah All commercial yeah, we're all commercial commercial and municipal
01:20:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah. So is it commercial, mostly commercial stuff then see all commercial. So you stand the small, you stand on the smaller units and like, Oh no, there's not.
01:20:48
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, we're, we're small.
01:20:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:20:50
snowjobspodcast
We're our biggest outside of the the three big complexes we do. Uh, we are all like three acres and under really.
01:20:58
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:20:58
snowjobspodcast
That's, that's the max we do.
01:20:58
RICK JAMES
Nice.
01:20:59
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. well We have a lot of one acre and under lots that we just bang out with skids going down the, down the same road.
01:21:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:21:06
snowjobspodcast
It's, it's very, very efficient.
01:21:08
RICK JAMES
I love that because you got a feel of accomplishment. You know, you pull in that big lot and you're there for eight hours.
01:21:12
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:21:14
RICK JAMES
It just, it's mind numbing, you know?
01:21:16
snowjobspodcast
grind ya, grind ya.
01:21:17
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah but Everybody wants big lots, but to get the little ones, you can you make money.
01:21:18
snowjobspodcast
ah
01:21:22
RICK JAMES
Punch one out in 20 minutes, punch another one out in 30 or moving, you know?
01:21:22
snowjobspodcast
I love it.
01:21:26
snowjobspodcast
I love just hearing the, hearing the chat, which we also, we got from, from Glacier, you know, using the, uh, the trucker headsets and the Google meet the phone call to put everybody on the same chat.
01:21:37
snowjobspodcast
Uh, I love hearing that guys are way past where I thought they'd be. They're just so efficient in those skids that they're, I thought they'd be out two lots ago and they're already, Oh no, we did those.
01:21:47
snowjobspodcast
Those are clear already. We're, we're on the third lot now. I'm like, Holy shit, you know, they're, They're, they're very good at what they do. They're good. Even though Jeremy breaks my balls that, oh, it's skids have a, they're so slow.
01:21:59
snowjobspodcast
They have no place. You got to go compacts.
01:22:02
RICK JAMES
I don't I said I like the compacts I said I said I said I said I could I said I could do the same compact thing in your lots what do you do with the skin that's what I
01:22:02
snowjobspodcast
The guys are high. They're highly efficient. You do. You did. That's what you know. That's you like the compacts. and
01:22:13
snowjobspodcast
I tell you there's certain lots we have that it would take me, it would take you longer to move that compact around than it would be to get in there with a skid and get it done just cause you can 180.
01:22:24
RICK JAMES
maybe ah maybe a maybe a doc yeah maybe a doc yeah
01:22:31
snowjobspodcast
But yeah, we like our skids. They, they work for us. It's a, you know, and you gotta, you gotta operate within your price point too. Like the, the compacts are so much more expensive.
01:22:38
RICK JAMES
but there's not much price yeah you know not not anymore you know if you get those big skids they're they're pushing on they're pushing on
01:22:45
snowjobspodcast
I mean, yeah, we, we use the 74 horse. We're all, uh, like our, our primary machine with the skids is the SV two 80 case, which is a 74 horse.
01:22:56
snowjobspodcast
And that, that is plenty 10 foot artics on those. Those things push all day with snow tires. And we just, what's that?
01:23:01
RICK JAMES
right? They don't get the ground doesn't freeze out there. what yeah yeah there's Why don't you just wait a day in the snow melt?
01:23:04
snowjobspodcast
Yes. Yeah. No, our ground really doesn't freeze anymore.
01:23:10
snowjobspodcast
That wall. That's an option, Don. If they'd pay me to do that, I would do it.
01:23:14
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:23:15
snowjobspodcast
ah ah
01:23:16
RICK JAMES
You guys have a couple events last year, didn't you?
01:23:17
snowjobspodcast
but
01:23:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
01:23:20
snowjobspodcast
Oh Yeah, we had we had a couple big ones ah two or three of them that were ten plus last year I think three Year before we had nine inches up until February 28th and then ended with 39 inches we had two storms in March that dropped 15 each so
01:23:20
RICK JAMES
thirty four yeah Wow. um Okay. The year before was slim pickens, right? Was it?
01:23:35
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:23:38
RICK JAMES
So you're not near the Finger Lakes where you'd get lake effect or anything, are you?
01:23:42
snowjobspodcast
No, no, we get nor'easters coming up the coast.
01:23:42
RICK JAMES
No, no.
01:23:44
snowjobspodcast
So the Hudson Valley, we get hammered with nor'easters.
01:23:44
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:23:47
snowjobspodcast
So, you know, I was concrete.
01:23:47
RICK JAMES
You get concrete snow.
01:23:49
snowjobspodcast
Exactly.
01:23:50
RICK JAMES
Concrete snow.
01:23:51
snowjobspodcast
Concrete. But I was actually just talking to a guy today that he's, he's, he's a snow guy in this area. And he said, You know, now that we're not getting much snow anymore, I'm like, dude, you got to stop saying all you guys got to stop saying that and look at your climatology reports and stuff. We are getting the same 40 inches. We always get the problem is we're getting it in less events.
01:24:13
snowjobspodcast
Our events have gone way down where I think 20 years ago we were averaging like 19, 18, 18 events. Now we're averaging like nine events.
01:24:25
snowjobspodcast
Like, but you're getting the same snowfall.
01:24:25
RICK JAMES
Right. What? hu
01:24:27
snowjobspodcast
You're just getting bigger storms.
01:24:29
RICK JAMES
And even if you look at that little piece of data, you are looking at a piece of data in millions of years that means nothing.
01:24:32
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:24:36
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:24:37
RICK JAMES
You can't even use that data for a baseline. I mean, that's what this whole climate thing drives me crazy because they're using 200 years.
01:24:40
snowjobspodcast
I know.
01:24:43
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:24:45
RICK JAMES
That 200 years in our earth's history is nothing.
01:24:48
snowjobspodcast
No, it's a not even a blip, not even a blip.
01:24:50
RICK JAMES
No, it means nothing.
01:24:53
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, we're we're definitely we're definitely getting less events that are producing more more snow, though our our usual like the old I remember when I was a kid, you'd get two to fours, you'd get two inches here, two inches of dusting an inch.
01:24:53
RICK JAMES
We have no, you know,
01:25:06
snowjobspodcast
You don't really get that anymore. Like we're getting substantial or we're getting nothing. I think last year, if I can remember, It was 13 inches, 18 inches, 10 inches, and then one five and like an inch and a half.
01:25:22
snowjobspodcast
That was basically our pushes.
01:25:24
RICK JAMES
like
01:25:24
snowjobspodcast
It was like Christ. You know, I mean, we will but when we went, the one was, the one was, yeah, the one stopped a little too close to dawn.
01:25:27
RICK JAMES
And they were melting. They were melting pretty fast when you were pushing them. and
01:25:33
snowjobspodcast
So it was started warming up. So we had to get the measurement before it compressed.
01:25:35
RICK JAMES
Well, we've said that too. We gotta get out there. Yeah, we gotta get out there.
01:25:40
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah.
01:25:41
RICK JAMES
He's gone.
01:25:41
snowjobspodcast
Cause you know, the weather guys will, they'll cut your total and they don't understand that it it sometimes means thousands of dollars if they cut you by two inches, three inches. So no skin off their back.
01:25:50
RICK JAMES
You guys, you guys give weather guys crap on this channel? All the time.
01:25:55
snowjobspodcast
Don feel free. Who do you want to, who do you want to go after?
01:25:59
RICK JAMES
so I can't believe he doesn't listen to our show, Steve.
01:26:02
snowjobspodcast
ah I'm kind of, I'm kind of shocked.
01:26:02
RICK JAMES
You know, I'm not a big, I do a couple podcasts. I do a Bill O'Reilly, a New Yorker.
01:26:09
snowjobspodcast
Okay. Yep.
01:26:10
RICK JAMES
um and Like I said, I'm not a big social media guy. and it's and i I find it's a rabbit hole sometimes.
01:26:15
snowjobspodcast
All good.
01:26:19
snowjobspodcast
Amen. I agree.
01:26:20
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:26:20
snowjobspodcast
I'm not a social media guy either.
01:26:21
RICK JAMES
and
01:26:22
snowjobspodcast
I got forced into it, Don.
01:26:24
RICK JAMES
yeah Yeah, he called me one day and that was it. But I guess it's there's so much.
01:26:28
snowjobspodcast
That was it.
01:26:32
RICK JAMES
You know, I feel bad for kids today. When I was growing up, you had to work for things. You had to work to find it, you know, there's guys like Walter Cronkite that would just tell you the truth.
01:26:42
snowjobspodcast
Mm-hmm.
01:26:42
RICK JAMES
and And you didn't have all this garbage going on all over the place with Snapchat and Instagram and everything else. If I was a kid today, I don't know if I could handle it.
01:26:51
snowjobspodcast
I agree.
01:26:51
RICK JAMES
I don't know if I could diffuse it all. I'm so glad.
01:26:55
snowjobspodcast
I agree. One of my biggest fears is ah it's tough. yeah I mean, it's a lot tougher. I say this to my parents. It's a lot tougher being a parent right now than it was for them to be a parent to me.
01:27:06
snowjobspodcast
yeah We didn't have a lot of these you know evils and and and stuff.
01:27:08
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:27:10
snowjobspodcast
and yeah know the the the so The screen time, it just the screen time alone and the amount of influences that are on it, forget it.
01:27:11
RICK JAMES
No, but the you couldn't. Yeah.
01:27:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you couldn't send pictures on a landline.
01:27:21
snowjobspodcast
No, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It's. a
01:27:24
RICK JAMES
You know, and then when I was a kid, really young, it was a party line, we're out in the country party line, you know, the old switchboard.
01:27:32
snowjobspodcast
Yup.
01:27:33
RICK JAMES
So I'm not even kidding you. My mom would listen to other neighbors talk. It was very heartening.
01:27:41
snowjobspodcast
Oh my gosh. That's funny. Oh boy. All right. Well, I think we got it, Don. I, I, I think that was awesome.
01:27:49
RICK JAMES
Well, thanks, guys. you
01:27:51
snowjobspodcast
That was great to get you on. Finally. I mean, we keep hearing glacier. We hear it all the time. I'm glad we finally were able to get you on and talk to you.
01:27:59
RICK JAMES
Well, it probably wasn't the you know, the jubilant like joking and uh, probably, you know, that, oh, I mean, yeah, know it was good.
01:28:05
snowjobspodcast
That was great. Oh, I thought it was great.
01:28:09
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It was good. That's fine.
01:28:11
snowjobspodcast
I thought, no, I thought it was great.
01:28:11
RICK JAMES
I mean, yep.
01:28:13
snowjobspodcast
I had a lot of fun. That was, it was, it was a lot of fun. You, you nailed, you nailed a lot of stuff for a lot of guys. This is all about making snow guys better and helping them. You know, if your journey helps, you know, a couple of guys out there, that's what it's all about.
01:28:26
snowjobspodcast
That's what the show is all about. And I think you put a lot of information out there that that guys can use, like just for me, it's OK if you don't have everything planned down to the minor detail. And sometimes you go with the seat of your pants, you know, and you just basically roll the dice.
01:28:40
snowjobspodcast
I think that that's going to help a lot of guys.
01:28:43
RICK JAMES
Well, but i'll I'll wrap it back.
01:28:46
snowjobspodcast
OK.
01:28:47
RICK JAMES
I think a lot of success is built if you can just grind.
01:28:51
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
01:28:51
RICK JAMES
It may not be the perfect idea, but if you grind, it may turn into one.
01:28:54
snowjobspodcast
Amen. Yeah. Hard work will always win.
01:28:57
RICK JAMES
um you know A lot of people have great ideas, but they don't stick to them.
01:29:03
snowjobspodcast
Amen. Amen. It's chess, not checkers.
01:29:05
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:29:08
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:29:08
snowjobspodcast
The long haul.
01:29:09
RICK JAMES
But I do like chat or checkers better than chess.
01:29:11
snowjobspodcast
I do. I do like checkers playing checkers.
01:29:12
RICK JAMES
so
01:29:14
snowjobspodcast
Yes. But as far as the length, it's definitely yeah definitely more of a long game sometimes.
01:29:17
RICK JAMES
yeah I'll play checkers any day.
01:29:20
snowjobspodcast
But.
01:29:22
RICK JAMES
chest yeah I can't always remember the moves because I don't play enough.
01:29:26
snowjobspodcast
I hear you. Uh, well, all right, Don, thank you so much for coming on with us.
01:29:30
RICK JAMES
that
01:29:31
snowjobspodcast
Really appreciate it. Can we have you back again sometime?
01:29:34
RICK JAMES
ken ill well after i After I see that YouTube video on your snow chasers, then we'll have a chat.
01:29:35
snowjobspodcast
Put you on a panel.
01:29:40
snowjobspodcast
Okay. All right. Sounds good. Sounds was good.
01:29:43
RICK JAMES
so
01:29:44
snowjobspodcast
I hope I make it out there. I hope your first snow is in like November or early December and I'm not getting any of it so I can make it out there for it.
01:29:52
RICK JAMES
You don't get into after Christmas. what do you even like ah He doesn't get into after Christmas. And he's got six six machines. Yeah.
01:29:59
snowjobspodcast
We've got, we've got whatchamacall, let's see, what's our earliest snow recent years.
01:30:02
RICK JAMES
Oh, he's nice.
01:30:04
snowjobspodcast
Uh, we had ah October 31st, maybe six years ago.
01:30:10
RICK JAMES
halloween
01:30:10
snowjobspodcast
Um, yeah, Halloween, maybe six, seven years ago, we had six inches.
01:30:11
RICK JAMES
Halloween. Okay.
01:30:15
snowjobspodcast
Uh, then we had one, I think November 13th. Uh, either a year before or a year after that one.
01:30:21
RICK JAMES
You guys think about them. Yeah. Well, lately you haven't had, it's been like after Christmas for you, Danny.
01:30:25
snowjobspodcast
No, lately. Yeah. Everything shifted 30 days the last four to five years since COVID really, everything shifted 30 days.
01:30:32
RICK JAMES
but virus yeah it there That virus caused a lot of issues.
01:30:32
snowjobspodcast
So we're getting work. It did. It's still causing it.
01:30:37
RICK JAMES
the
01:30:38
snowjobspodcast
I like, we've never got snow after Patty's day. Usually now we're getting snow into April. Sometimes as late as like the second week of April.
01:30:45
RICK JAMES
but That's the same here though. um are We're getting more spring events.
01:30:51
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:30:51
RICK JAMES
Our springs are a little our springs are a little cooler and wetter.
01:30:51
snowjobspodcast
I won't, We used to have early winter events too. And those just seem to not be as prevalent anymore. The last five or six years where now, now, like Jeremy said, like we're not, we're not getting much, if anything, before Christmas, I think I've only had to push on Christmas once in the last 10 years.
01:31:09
RICK JAMES
Oh my God. every here I think every other Christmas
01:31:10
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Yeah, it's tough.
01:31:13
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:31:13
snowjobspodcast
It's tough for you guys. I know no you're in the snow belt. That's what happens.
01:31:17
RICK JAMES
I have been, I bet in the 25 years I've pushed, I have been home because then on Christmas or Christmas Eve day or Christmas day, Jeremy and I and some of that might, I'll make my kid and some other people that are tied in more of the business, we're the ones that go on push because everything's mostly closed up the hospitals, right?
01:31:30
snowjobspodcast
Mm-hmm. Sure. Yep.
01:31:34
RICK JAMES
So we'll cover it because we understand they have families, I'm not going to want to bother them. I bet at least a third of the Christmas days I pushed. Oh God, yeah. Yeah.
01:31:43
snowjobspodcast
Wow, that sucks.
01:31:44
RICK JAMES
And then I love the fact we don't have Black Friday is anymore. Yeah.
01:31:47
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:31:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:31:48
snowjobspodcast
Oh, there you go. Yep. Absolutely. Thank you, Amazon.
01:31:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Cause we used to, uh, if you want to count on an event, Black Friday.
01:31:53
snowjobspodcast
oh
01:31:57
snowjobspodcast
Well, there you go.
01:31:59
RICK JAMES
Well, thanks guys.
01:31:59
snowjobspodcast
All right. Well, thank you, Don. We will definitely have you back on. I appreciate the time. I know Jeremy does and we're going to wrap it here then. So, guys, thank you so much for ah for doing this episode of the Snowjaws podcast.
01:32:12
snowjobspodcast
Want to thank Don for giving us the time. Wish Glacier all the continued success in the future. You know, we have Don to thank for all the tip touching and team pushing we see Glacier doing with Jeremy's videos.
01:32:24
snowjobspodcast
So.
01:32:24
RICK JAMES
no exactly yeah
01:32:27
snowjobspodcast
oh We're gonna see Glacier in action. Hopefully on storm chasing with the snow jobs this winter, but everybody have a great weekend All right, be safe out there guys and keep pushing
01:32:47
RICK JAMES
No, no.