U-R-G On the Go
An informative podcast for the United Recyclers Group. Each week we will feature an entertaining guest that will share their knowledge and information with you, providing you with tips and tools to help you become a more profitable business.
U-R-G On the Go
From Small Repair Shop to $50 Million Giant: The Chuck's Auto Part Solutions Journey
What if your family's small repair shop could evolve into a $50 million auto recycling powerhouse? Join us as we uncover this remarkable journey with Matt Cramer, Dakota Reinert, Doug, and JR from Chuck's Auto Part Solutions. They share their story of transforming a modest repair operation started in 1972 into a thriving enterprise, detailing key milestones like expanding to a new location in York and learning from industry associations like the ARA. Listen in to hear how Matt transitioned from the racing world to join the family business, bringing his unique perspective and insights.
Gain a wealth of knowledge about the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and how it's been pivotal in balancing quality with scaling operations at Chuck's Auto Part Solutions. We discuss its impact on setting clear objectives, fostering open communication, and building a strong team culture. The episode also covers the critical role of networking and staying updated with industry trends to ensure continuous growth and innovation, alongside the importance of core values in hiring and performance assessments.
Discover the technological advancements revolutionizing the automotive recycling industry, as discussed by Dakota and Amanda Morrison's team at Chuck's. From innovative tools like EZQC to resolving friction points between collision shops and salvage yards, this episode offers a deep dive into overcoming industry challenges. We also explore ways to enhance customer trust and the benefits of URG's warranty programs, emphasizing the significance of education, relationship-building, and data control. Don't miss our recap of the enlightening experiences at URG conferences, where the collaborative spirit of the industry shines.
Welcome one and all to the URG On the Go podcast. You're there, we're here. This is the URG, the true voice of the automotive recycling industry. We have created this for pros that are on the go that have a need to know. I'm DJ Harrington, your co-host, better known as the cardiologist, but the real host of the program is the talented Amanda Morrison, director of Member and Vendor Relations for URG.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, DJ, for that fabulous introduction. We've got great members here to interview, here on the podcast to listen to. We've got Jux Auto Part Solutions from Douglasville and York. We've got two locations and I wanted to introduce you guys. We've got Matt Kramer, Director of Operations. We've got Dakota Renert, Director of Inventory Management. We've got Doug as well, President and Co-O, and then we've also got JR vice president. Doug, I'd like to introduce you first. Can you tell us a little bit about Chex and how you guys got started?
Speaker 3:Certainly. I grew up in the automotive repair business with his grandfather, joined the Army, left the services and opened an auto repair and gas station, and in 1972, he bought an empty lot here in Douglasville that was a former J-U-N-K yard and Marcus Adams removed his repair business over here with 24-hour towing and, as in many situations, the towing business created salvage. And then that evolution slowly directed us away from the repair business and then slowly stopped the towing business and then just focused its passion into the parts and services Awesome.
Speaker 2:I love that. And, jr, do you have anything to add to that on how you guys got started?
Speaker 3:uh well, it was a little acre and a half facility initially, um, and I remember as a 12 year old thinking this is going to be really great, I get a chance to work on cars. And then, about eight months in, at a 12 year old, I'm going geez, I have to work on cars. So it was an experience that I thought was awesome to start with, and then, as dad was teaching life lessons on how to work and being diligent and all that stuff at a 12-year-old, it didn't turn into as much fun, but it was definitely one of the best experiences of my life that he taught me how to work, good work habits and it took me through the rest of my life. So it was awesome. It's quite an evolution going from nothing to $50 million a year company now.
Speaker 2:So it's exciting, Wow, that's impressive. And so obviously we said that you have two different locations. So when did you end up starting that other location and where did you start off to begin with?
Speaker 3:2016,. First business day of 2016,. We bought the York facility and we were very fortunate. We had a really good deal. It was a repair facility and the back was just a storage area for people that wanted to stage or camper for the winter or whatever. So the yard was kind of stoned already, so it worked out well. We bought it on January 3rd of 2016 and we sold our first part. When was the first part sold? February, what? No, it was like February 4th or something. I don't know the exact date, but a month later we were just mailing cars and selling parts. It was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's awesome. You have obviously been in the industry for quite some time. What advice would you give someone new entering the automotive recycling industry?
Speaker 3:Set a plan for your production volume and then stick to it. Do not ever back off of buying cars to that level. Don't ever buy cars too fast. That's my two major points. Anybody else got something. I think the biggest thing for the evolution for the original location was in the 1970s. We started in 72 and in 76 dad joined ARA. So that was his first exposure of what really can happen in the sharing of ideas and industry. So he took us out of Cornerfield County and showed us what was happening in Los Angeles and Texas and kind of opened dad's eyes on what the business could look like. So that was our first exposure and acceleration by going and getting involved in the industry association.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, and so obviously there's four of you on the call today. I kind of wanted to dig in a little bit more about how you each got involved. Jr, maybe we'll start with you. Obviously I know it's a family business. How did you guys? You know, obviously you've been inundated with your family, but how did you guys all get involved? Let's go start with JR, and then Doug, and then Dakota, and then Matt.
Speaker 3:I started, I was there again. I was 12 at the beginning and I was I left the business.
Speaker 3:actually, in 2000, or, excuse me, in 1983,. I left the business Because at 23 years old, I knew more than my dad did, so we parted ways. I didn't come back to the business until 2008. Excuse me, 2008 is when I came back. Doug had done a great job of growing the business to the point that it was bigger than a one-man operation at that point. So I was able to come back in with my experiences in other industries and bring some organization to the production side and we got on the gas. About a year after that, matt, you can tell your story. You came on next, I guess. Right, I think yeah, you came on next.
Speaker 3:Yeah she had an order she was going to go to, but yeah sure.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3:I started with Chuck Stack in, I think, february of 2014. I was working on race cars and living a single life and I met this fine young lady who happened to be JR's daughter. Didn't really know her at the time, didn't really know him, but through racing and then we ended up getting married and having a child. And then, once we had a child, I kind of had to find a different path or a different career in life, because the racing world wasn't going to fit what we had going on.
Speaker 3:So he offered me a job at the Savage Yard in Douglasville. I took that in.
Speaker 3:whatever, it was February 14th and started out there by doing whatever was asked to be done and then they ended up buying. Because I'm from the York area, along with JR and Dakota, so we were driving an hour and a half every day back and forth to work until we bought the York facility and then we started from scratch there with one dismantler. I was inventory, tech, park puller, dispatcher, all that kind of stuff for a while until we built the business up to be able to need more people. But we did. Really, we were slim pickings for a while until we just kept growing. We started with 25 cars or something and kept buying more every month until we couldn't do it by ourselves anymore and started hiring more people. And I think we're up to 40-some people here now, just in York location and whatever we are 110 as a company.
Speaker 3:So I started doing that a little bit of everything, and then I was able to join the ownership group about two years ago. So yeah, it's exciting stuff, constantly growing, constantly trying to figure out how to do stuff better. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:I love that. And then Dakota, dakota. How did you get involved?
Speaker 4:I've been. June will be ten years for me. I joined the business in June of 2015. I spent five years out of college working in construction as an estimator, project manager and kind of was getting burnt out on that Obviously close family.
Speaker 4:So kind of was talking to JR, my dad, about what my next career move would be and he's like, well, you're pretty good with the analytics stuff, would you want to come take a chance in buying cars? So I said never, really thought I'd be in this industry, but said what the heck? And, like Matt, matt said we were driving an hour and a half to work, uh, each day. So when york came around, that was uh, uh, a good thing. But I got into buying cars and as the company grew, uh grew into the role of uh, inventory, uh, director of inventory management, um, which I'm in charge of basically all the products new and used car buying, pricing and yeah, like Matt said, when New York first started, it was help load trucks at 530, go buy cars, go help customers load parts, whatever for about a year. And then it just kind of exploded from there Impressive.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. And then, doug, obviously you've been involved for a while. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement?
Speaker 3:Sure. So in 83, when JR left to go racing, I graduated high school and left to go to college, pursued some computer engineering, then moved on and got some business courses at a nearby college here and then I came back into the business in 87.
Speaker 3:I came back into the business and by that point in time Dad knew all the stuff in ARA and other associations. By that point the computers were coming into play and although he didn't really want to deal with computers, he knew that was the next phase of the business. So he got involved with at that time we've been all around the 98 facility, the only computer in the country. So that was always looking ahead, which made it exciting for me coming back into the company and knowing that we were never looking backwards. From that point again the business continued to grow. I was involved in ARA as a little munchkin going there. The trade shows, beautification, all sorts that were there in Seattle. People changed their businesses and then there was's different exposure. Probably the biggest step for me when I was involved in the business is then getting learning more about the time within QRP and PRP.
Speaker 2:In 2000,.
Speaker 3:we had looked at, we investigated both of them here locally and eventually I was one of the founding members of the PRP Northeast group. So that was our next major stepping stone of improving our taking our business to the next level in the trading network.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a big step that PRP Northeast and those different types of teams that can help kind of elevate your business. I love that. All right, I think it's time to take a break, dj.
Speaker 1:You got it. Let's take a break, folks, we'll be right back.
Speaker 5:URG can help you streamline your business for maximum efficiency and increased profits. Access powerful software and unique tools. Receive top-level training with industry experts. Network with hundreds of recyclers. Employ e-commerce solutions to boost business. Thank you. Go to u-r-gcom and click on Become a Member. Your path to a profitable future is just a click away. That's u-r-gcom.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. Of course you know you're listening to URG On the Go podcast with Amanda Morrison and DJ Harrington. We have a great group from Chuck's on here now, jay Harrington, we have a great group from Chuck's on here now. I want to remind all of you, doug was one time the president of ARA, back in 2011. And I want to thank all of our listeners. We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts and I can't thank you enough for listening in. Amanda. I'll turn it over to you and this wonderful family that we are interviewing today and we'll get some good tips.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you so much, dj. Yes, we're learning tons of different information and I would love to ask if you could give any advice to yourself when you were first starting out in this industry. Obviously, you guys have been kind of involved for quite some time. What would you give yourself or someone starting out? Obviously, we kind of touched on what you would do someone starting out in the automotive recycling industry. But what would you have given yourself advice on about this industry starting out we entered into EOS, which is Entrepreneurial Organization System, a couple years ago 2020.
Speaker 3:Certainly should have done that years ago. Couple years ago, 2020. Certainly should have done that years ago. It's it's. I've read a book called traction by Gino Whitman and it just it's everything you would want to know about running an organized business to the nth degree. We did thought we were doing a lot of the stuff. We just don't do that as good, but having that business model to follow really improved our business dramatically. Guys can jump in here anytime you want here, but there's just great opportunity to improve your company holding yourselves accountable, organized meetings.
Speaker 3:There's just so many things that made us a better corporation than we were before.
Speaker 2:Can you elaborate a little bit about what EOS means and what that stands for?
Speaker 3:From the standpoint of how to run your company. It's on one level. It's about the management and being accountable to get things done and looking ahead. It kind of forced us to take a look at a 90 day, a one year, a three year, a 10 year forecast. But then, once looking and setting that all up was then making us all. I don't want to say we had meetings just to have meetings, but they weren't realistic goals. So the beauty of the EOS is really making us accountable to each other and our whole team. And then those meetings then trickle down, trickle out, I should say, to the production, to the accounting, to the QC, and then each department has its own scorecard.
Speaker 3:We're tracking our numbers for the week. Are we on track or off track? So, not only looking at the big picture of the company, but then with each other department, is each department the chance to succeed? And as soon as some lever starts to go the wrong way, you can recognize it quicker and then as a team you can move that lever, find out what's holding that lever back. You got to correct it.
Speaker 3:And it's also built the confidence of our company to speak up and address an issue at a meeting. So all of our meetings have an opportunity for employees to contribute and then we identify those issues. We do our best to discuss those issues and solve the issue and come back next week and talk about the progress of did we get the issue solved or not, and then look ahead to what's the next thing on the list so that issue becomes solved, so we can be more successful the following week and the following 90 days and the following year and keep that whole picture moving forward. So we feel pretty fantastic about the team of 110 employees we have and I think they're grateful to have a voice and they can see things progressing when they do contribute something or ask questions.
Speaker 2:Definitely it would create some loyalty there for sure, making sure that they have their voices heard. So you say you have 110 employees. Is that split between the two locations? Is there one location that's a little bit bigger than the other, or how does that look?
Speaker 3:The GoVisco location has a couple more just because that's where the accounting office is. Our salespeople are almost all remote sales people. We kind of have them split just differently depending on how they log into the store. But yeah, they're spread out, but just probably a couple more in Douglasville. Another thing back to the EOS that we kind of stepped over there was we have a vision for the company and then our values. So we have six core values and we do a lot of our hiring and training and employee reviews on that.
Speaker 3:And we have our six values of team player, accountable, dedicated, excellent communicators, motivated, professional. So, as we're doing employee reviews and somebody's lacking in one of those departments, they can get a plus, a plus, minus or a minus, and you can never be a minus, you've got to work on it. So, if you get a plus, a plus, minus or a minus, um, and you can never be a minus, we've got to work on. So, if you get a minus, you get 30 days to try to improve it. Um, and it seems to um, it's definitely made our team stronger, that's for sure yeah, it sounds like.
Speaker 2:Give you some goals and some different uh strategies in order to make sure you're striving for the best right and it has.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm not I'm not out into the day-to-day thing as much, but Matt has really created well, and Dakota and his department have created a really good environment. We may have one or two people at each store that just can't quite get the right person in the right seat there, but other than that, you're talking about 105 employees. That are just fantastic people. Again, right people, right seats at this point in time, and it's really a pleasure to watch. I've got to tell you, from an ownership standpoint, it's pretty cool to see what Matt does and some of their departments.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. Yeah, it's pretty awesome to be able to see what they can do and implement and see the loyalty of the customers and the employees. Obviously, you want to create that loyalty with the employees first, and then it kind of trickles into your customers, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a great culture they have created. That's for sure, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:So how do you stay updated in industry trends and changes? How do you guys keep up with all of that?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll speak first here. Our Northeast group is a great group of guys, partners, gals that we're always trading information and helping us stay abreast of the trends and changes, as you said. But there's some other avenues that jump in here. We certainly have the. Obviously we're involved. We've been involved with URG since it began also and have loved to see the progression that URG continues to do. As mentioned earlier, DJ would have been involved in that area and not only have. I think a lot of things in associations is not just, first of all, you got to participate, you need to attend it. Secondly, the more you can participate in these associations, the more you get out of it, because the more you get firsthand knowledge on what's going on and you see a little more of what's coming at us and our state associations and the other one I would certainly mention is involved in profit team consulting. So they're constantly challenging us and keeping us abreast of different things we see from the national, local down the local level.
Speaker 4:I think one thing that's important is when you do go to things like URG and ARA, like building relationships with other yards we're in a new industry where most people are very willing to help you if you're looking for help or receive the phone call for somebody looking for help. Just being able to have a community like that created by URG and all these other associations to be able to do that.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. That's kind of the goal right, the goal to get everyone together and network and really learn from each other, you know, and making sure that you can maintain that quality. I guess one thing that we wanted to touch on as well is how do you balance maintaining quality with scaling your operations, such as growing to that secondary location? How do you guys maintain that quality throughout the both locations?
Speaker 3:That's a new question. It's symmetry and trying to get everybody. When we first opened the York store we were taking employees from the Douglasville location and bringing them here to help train and then obviously you'd use that guy that was just trained to train the next guy. But some of the things that have been changed just the scaling to the operation that we used to. When I first started, I mean, the smuggling department was cradle to grave. So they went and got their own car with a four-foot loader and brought it in and took it out and got another one. They went and got their own car with a four-foot loader and brought it in and took it out and got another one.
Speaker 3:Like some of that stuff, you know, you start to look at and think you can do stuff a lot better and just keep that guy in the bay taking the cars apart, because that's what he's hired to do. He's not hired to be a four-foot driver and a mechanic and whatever else he wants to be. So some of that stuff is just you know, the processes in which we, how we handle the parts and who handles the parts has changed quite a bit since the last whatever 10, 12 years. Some of that how to keep it moving. More like that. I mean, it's built like a factory now, where it really kind of was, but it wasn't, but it's really just like an assembly line yeah, One thing works after works on the last thing.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's awesome to be able to kind of educate your employees just by basing it off of the main location. Do you guys end up bringing? Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 3:I want to say one more thing was that you know we've talked about the EOS. Part of this and the scorecards is that you know every department is aware of the numbers. We're all trying to hit together as individual and teams, depending on what's going on, but then they also Matt's done a great job of empowering people within their departments to make decisions, knowing what standards we have to meet, so like we're not looking back at the end of the month to see what happened on the first day of the month. There was constantly a pulse going on and the team members bring their numbers to our meetings, so it's not just like somebody dictating all these numbers. Everybody's involved in what's going on, so that's everybody's focused on the end game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Given your employees some autonomy there, kind of giving them the opportunity to to really dig in and see how they can improve the business for sure. All right, dj. Is it time for for another break.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry Break and then we'll come back for our last segment. Okay, listeners, we'll be right back.
Speaker 5:The URG Scholarship Foundation was founded in 2014 in honor of individuals who give their talent, time and, very often, their own finances, to ensure the growth and success of the automotive recycling industry. We understand college is not for everyone, so each year the foundation offers substantial financial scholarships to auto recycling employees and the children of employees that are attending four-year and technical or trade schools, to assist with their education. Don't leave money on the table. If you have a child or if you're interested in attending continuing education, this money is available to you. Go to u-r-gcom and click on the Scholarship Foundation tab. Urg keeping our industry strong through education.
Speaker 1:Welcome back. You know you're listening to URG keeping our industry strong through education. Welcome back, you know you're listening to URG on the go. Amanda Morrison has a great family up at Chuck's. We're getting some great, great tips. Remember to like and review and share everywhere. If you want to hear another professional group like we have at Chuck's, I all mean dial our hotline number 706-409-5603, and Amanda and I will do our very best to get them on the next podcast. Amanda, I'll turn it over to you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dj. Yes, we've got great information coming from all of these people over here at Chuck's and we wanted to touch base and we were just talking about the economy and I think one of you guys were trying to try to express something. What were you trying to touch base on there?
Speaker 3:That was me. I got touched on something a minute ago and people look at me funny when I say this, but we really are a factory. So Dakota's team is buying 190 cars for York every day. This mailing's inventory's got to inventory 190. This mailing's got to do 190 for the month because there's 190 cars even our next 190 cars coming for the next month. So maintaining that balance is really important. Three-legged stool, if you will. One of those things is a little shorter than the other one. You get out of balance. So we've done a really good job with that over the years. That's really important. Also, it should have been probably something I answered in the very beginning when he asked about what somebody's startup is, it's have a balanced business for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that makes total sense, and you know making sure that you're. You know keeping up with the different trends and all of that too. You know how has technology changed the way you guys operate your business as well, when you're talking about all of those different tools.
Speaker 3:We'll explore every technology piece there is to explore and see whether it's worth our while to get involved with it. You can talk to EZ, I think. Yeah, I mean one of the big advancements I mean I think is EZQC. I mean everybody can see pictures. Salesmen always want pictures of everything. Now they have pictures they can see from yards in Oklahoma that's pulling apart for them. They can see their park get pulled, park get QC'd, park get loaded. You can track that thing the whole way through. And another thing with that is the you know the emails going out to our customers in the morning when we set up our deliveries.
Speaker 3:I mean the email is getting that for the customers getting that email notification giving them a rough estimate of what time that part's going to be there. So we've heard a lot of good things about that as well. But just, I mean technology. We don't't you don't carry papers around anymore, right? So you're, everybody has some kind of electronic device they're using, no matter what they're doing. So, uh, it is pretty impressive for, uh, yeah, for a salvage yard, you know, a mom-and-pop salvage yard for sure yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think all of those advances you know just parts procurement, you know CCC, parts trader, all of those different. You know technology, making sure your data is up to date.
Speaker 3:All of those different advancements are going to help you and sell more parts for you right a little bit of a friction point between the electronic venues in our industry, but in fact your friction point winds up being between Collision and the Salver.
Speaker 3:Because of the lack of education on the ARA assurance grid, the religion shops aren't familiar with that. Consequently, they're ordering parts and don't really know what quality they are. And now there's a debate on whether there should be a credit or not, or it's not really the part I wanted, what's the one you ordered, but they don't know that. So we've been working on educating the shops in our area with a simple 15-minute class to walk them through what they mean, what the codes mean. When they see them, they can identify that and know that they're looking for a triple zero part as opposed to an A grade part. So education is a really big deal for us right now. We're calling clients to thank them for their business and looking at credit percentages that aren't good and explaining to them that this is a problem. What do you think our problem might be to help you get this down. So education is a big deal for us right now. For me, that's kind of my platform that I'm working on.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 3:Sorry about that.
Speaker 2:No, that's perfect, because that's exactly what we want to hear. You know, I think that's one of the key pieces about the recycling industry is that people just aren't educated enough about how to order the parts and how they're listed, and it is like a totally different. You know terminology, it's a different language and you know the shops don't necessarily know what that language is. So, you know, it's our job to educate them and I think that's a great point that you have there and just making sure that you're you're also your employees are educated right on how to implement all that and having the correct inventory in there.
Speaker 3:Sure, I need a bigger platform, though, amanda.
Speaker 2:That's another hour-long conversation, right. So what? What technology? What technology advancements are you most excited about for the future?
Speaker 3:when we're talking about technology, I think, other than electronics and vehicles, and trying to get that figured out, to get to find the opportunity for more sales in these vehicles is.
Speaker 3:The hope I have is to get more of the OEM convert, the ability to look up parts, not just for the recycler's sake but for the OE's sake and the repair businesses, whether it's mechanical or collision.
Speaker 3:Now we're all looking at the same part numbers, trying to source parts, because that's another thing we run into with the collision industry is that even the estimating systems can't identify the parts in these cars very well, let alone trying to line line back up with the interchange we have to work with.
Speaker 3:So I know there's some of those experiments going on within our industry trying to tie oem part numbers to our our oem used parts and hopefully there'll be a point in time where we can actually a customer can look up an OEM part on an estimate and be able to easily find, source the correct part with the quality they want to have and have the ability to shop for quality and service not by price, because that's the unfortunately that's another downfall of technology is it's kind of forcing our industry to more an Amazon-based how cheap can I buy it versus quality and service that go along with accuracy, to go along with the part being provided. So that's another differentiator we try to work on and another reason why we want to educate our customers on the ARA quality insurance grid. So they're looking up the right part, they're identifying the correct part and they're getting paid for the work that they need to do.
Speaker 2:Completely agree. Yeah, those are all great points. Okay, I'm going to skip ahead. Just a couple of questions here. But what, what role does your customer kind of play we're kind of discussing this a little bit Play in your business operations, like, what do you guys see from your customer and what do you guys take from that feedback?
Speaker 3:Well, I touched on this earlier, so we started a program here a couple months ago where Doug and I are calling the good top customers. We'll call them right. They spend a lot of money, their return rate's really good. Thanking them for business, kind of informing them on some of the services we provide that they may or may not remember we have. And then we're calling the ones and we're very focused on return rates right now in the spirit of trying to save money, money. So we're calling 10 to 20 of the customers that have a challenging return rate, if you will. So as a company we average about 21% return rate of collision. We're like 23% of collision, like 16, 18 on the mechanical shop side, and we're just trying to get this lowered. So we're making those calls informing them of what their return rate is, which most times they're really surprised about that. They don't know it. So when we bring that to their attention, we're asking them what we have to do to do different, what we've got to do different, and we're really getting some good feedback.
Speaker 3:Again, sometimes we get lumped together with everybody. Parts come and they're damaged. Well, we'll close it, because in some cases it may, but we work really hard at making sure when our product leaves our shop. It's what it says it is on the invoice. So, again, educating them on codes, right? That's important. So, doug, what else we got? I think your initial knee-jerk reaction is this customer's got a hard return rate. We should fire them or shut them off. And JR has done a great job of getting some deeper conversations. I mean, a couple times we've found out that they had a change of employee in their parts department.
Speaker 3:And they don't even know they went from a.
Speaker 3:I mean, some of these shops went from a 14% return rate to a 37% return rate in 30 days just because they put a new employee in and didn't understand, like, how the business works and they can get paid for work and it should be what they ordered, and so there's different things along the way.
Speaker 3:And then we also go back and look at our credit percentages based on the return reasons. So some of those reasons are based on we didn't meet the customer's expectations and some of it is. We can go back to the customer and say, well, here's the total losses you had, here's the order wrongs. So we can go back and look at those return percentages you already mentioned. May seem excessive to some, may seem excessive to some, but if you take out some of the things that are customer-based and the core credits that get returned, I think our overall return percentage is around 12% over things we have control over. So, just having those conversations, we found that the bill has not only improved the credit percentage but in many cases has increased sales, because they know we care about their bottom line too. So it's not just about our bottom line.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:It's opened some doors and some conversations to have follow-up conversations. Some of them even have asked JR like hey, can you give me your report for next month? They don't know whether they're improving or not. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's great. I mean all the information you can get your customers is going to be beneficial right. The more you can show the value of what you're doing and really care about the customer, the more they're going to want to come back. Sure.
Speaker 3:Building trust. I know everybody in sales talks about relationships. Personally, it's trust, like that word is bigger than relationship. Once you get that person, that's what you do. Right, when you take your car, take it somewhere that you trust they're going to do a good job. Right, exactly, put a house on your roof.
Speaker 2:Who are you going to get Someone you trust right? So building that trust is really important and I think we've done that with these phone calls. We showed it, as Doug said, shows that we care and we're working hard at everybody being economically sound, if that makes sense. Yep, yep, I completely agree. Okay, I want to touch, I want to kind of change gears a little bit. How has your partnership with URG benefited your business and how have you guys utilized it in your day-to-day?
Speaker 3:The warranty program was one of the best things that you guys developed.
Speaker 2:That thing is awesome yeah.
Speaker 3:You jumped on that bandwagon right away and have never, never ever, turned away from it. You've saved us so much money on product that previous to that program we probably would have got another one, gave it to them, replaced it and threw away a perfectly good engine. We've seen the numbers. It's well worth it. I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but if you're not involved with the URG, warranty program, you're losing money.
Speaker 2:I'll leave it at that. I love it. That's a great promotion. Yeah, I feel like you know, and there actually are a few yards out there. We did a presentation at ARA asking if there are people that didn't have warranty programs and there are yards out there that don't have warranty programs and it's a huge moneymaker and it can really kind of help benefit your yard and if you're not having to deal with it, if your salespeople aren't having to deal with those claims, it can really take the time away from them and can build more sales that way, right, Sure, again, it's a trust builder.
Speaker 2:You get advertising. Ase certified master mechanic is going to call you from our warranty department.
Speaker 3:They're going to take care of you. Let's diagnose what's going on with this part and fix it, if we can replace it if we have to.
Speaker 3:Wow, I think you mentioned some people don't have a warranty program. I think that's probably one of those things we wish we would have known in the beginning. It doesn't have to be a cumbersome program. There's lots of different warranty options out there. Encourage Amy if you don't have one, you're welcome to reach out to us, but reach out to any other recyclers. There's lots of different ways to skin the cat, but they're all profitable. Um, you just got to get the ball rolling and um, it does pay huge dividends.
Speaker 3:I think another thing within urg and what they did early on in in uh in data was the ability for allow it, allow the recycler to have control over the data. So instead of letting every time dick and harry in the back of their computer system, like it was done a long time ago, it's nice to be opening up a portal and know who's getting our data and you're making sure they're only getting the data points they need. It has also been comforting in the world of technology we have. Now We've got to worry about what's getting bought and sold and scammed. We're thankful for that.
Speaker 2:100% yeah, that's we're thankful for that.
Speaker 4:100% yeah, that's a big thing for us and, from my standpoint, the data exception report to be able to look at your data weekly and make sure that all your damage codes and comments meet and what could be getting filtered out and being able to fix. That is a huge thing that if people are not checking that minimum once a week, they, if people are not checking that minimum once a week, they're totally missing out on that ability to make sure their data is getting pushed out. Exception free.
Speaker 2:You guys are just URG experts over here. I need to send all my new members to you all. This is awesome, yeah. No, those are all wonderful, wonderful points. Yeah, the data exceptions report has been huge to you know, making sure that that's accurate. I think that's been, you know, like we were talking about making sure that you know the shops know what you're talking about. I mean, you got to make sure your inventory is correct, first and foremost right, so that's, that's a great report. I'm glad you pointed that out. Are you guys headed to the URG conference here in April?
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Hey good. Who's all coming? Who of the groups coming?
Speaker 3:I believe, I'm going.
Speaker 2:Good, good, that's awesome Good good, that's awesome, Yep.
Speaker 3:So what are some? What are some great? You know things that you've got, that you've been a part of through the URG conferences. What are, what are some of your favorite parts? Sessions were big for me to be able to learn. Amanda, you're probably too young, but if you could recognize what a yard was in 83 and I came back to it in 2008, it was a whole different world.
Speaker 3:Trading interaction, networking and so on. After I got to a point of being educated, then the networking part of it is. The biggest thing for me now is going and seeing whether it is the biggest thing for me now is going and seeing whether it's vendors. You know, having a plan when you go down there to go look at X vendor, x vendor, whoever it is that you want to try to get a relationship started with and networking with the other yard owners and employees. That's just huge to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree. Yeah, the networking is huge and I always I feel like you guys are always really good about going out and talking to new people and really getting in there and networking with everyone. It's such a good time. It's always good to be out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Dakota talked about that earlier, though. This industry is just crazy cool in that fashion. I worked in construction for 20 years while I ran a construction company and we did underground utility installations and everything was hush-hush. You couldn't share anything with anybody because you had your secrets to win the bids. I came back to this industry and was like holy smokes, this is so refreshing, it was amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's what's kept me in this industry for so long is just the friendly people and people like you, and you know I see you at CIC and can sit next to you and talk to you for a few hours and it's like we're just one big family. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:It was.
Speaker 2:Awesome, DJ. Do you have anything you want to say before we wrap up?
Speaker 1:No, I think this has been a great one. This will be one that's archived and they'll listen to it again and again. I can't thank them enough for being on the program and yes, in Orlando April 10th through the 12th make sure you're there.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you guys so much for being on and thanks for listening to URG On the Go podcast, Amanda. Thank you so much, JJ, good to hear from you again man.
Speaker 1:You got it.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thank you, guys, that was amazing.