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
Navigating Auto Recycling's Future with Profit Team's Mike Kunkel
The auto recycling landscape is undergoing a remarkable transformation from what Mike Kunkel calls "our grandfather's industry" into a sophisticated business sector attracting mainstream financial players and consumer acceptance. This eye-opening conversation with one of the industry's most respected consultants reveals both the tremendous opportunities and significant challenges facing recyclers in 2023 and beyond.
Kunkel's work with Profit Team peer groups offers a fascinating window into how successful recyclers approach business growth. These collaborative communities of 6-8 similarly-sized, non-competing yards share detailed financial and operational data, allowing for deep analysis that "climbs in the radiator and out the exhaust pipe of the business." The process isn't always comfortable—Kunkel notes participants need "thick skin" when their "baby is called ugly"—but the results speak for themselves, with businesses achieving breakthrough performance through structured accountability and shared wisdom.
What makes auto recycling truly unique is its collaborative spirit. Where other industries guard trade secrets fiercely, recyclers openly exchange best practices, successful programs, and implementation strategies. Kunkel points to practices once deemed impossible by industry consultants that have now become standard operating procedure thanks to this collective knowledge sharing. For recyclers considering peer group participation, finding the right match based on business size, temperament, and operational focus proves crucial for meaningful improvement.
Looking ahead to the URG Conference in Orlando (April 10-12), Kunkel anticipates record attendance as recyclers seek strategies for navigating what he predicts will be a more challenging post-pandemic environment. With specialized tracks for different operational roles and increased focus on self-service yard operations, the conference represents the industry's commitment to continuous evolution and improvement. As Kunkel puts it, "when you talk about member benefits, there's nothing more handy than providing the right information to the right people at the right time in the right format."
Ready to take your recycling business to the next level? Register for the URG Conference by March 8th to secure early bird pricing and join hundreds of forward-thinking recyclers committed to industry excellence.
Welcome winner of the URG On-The-Go Podcast. This is DJ Harrington, better known as the cardiologist, and the real host of the program is Amanda Morrison, and she is here live and in person. This is going to be a great one because you have an industry leader that's well-known Last year won the award from ARA, so I wanted to tell you this is a great one, Amanda. I'll turn it over to you.
Speaker 3:Thank you, DJ. Yes, we have a great guest on the show today. We love interviewing industry experts and hearing what their thoughts and forecasts are for the future and just really trying to hone in on your business practices. Mike Kunkel is on the show today. We have him as our guest and he's just been, like DJ said, a pillar in this industry and helping build recyclers up and building their businesses up, and so thank you so much for being on today, Mike.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to get to talk to you all, and any time spent with the good doctors is always a great time for me, so thanks again for having me. You're the best.
Speaker 2:You're the best. Amanda Morrison, you're Director of Member and vendor relationships for URG, so who better than to ask the first question of our great guest? Go ahead.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, so we actually got back not too long ago visiting with profit team. Mike actually had us come in and discuss URG for about an hour and really kind of run down all the different benefits that we go through. And so, mike, what all kind of happens at those profit team meetings and how are they, you know, utilized for their day-to-day business and how do you go about, you know, getting new yards into profit teams?
Speaker 1:Wow, amanda, when it comes to the peer group stuff, the profit teams specifically, right, I tell people that that really involves I have one of the coolest jobs in we really do is you have a group of somewhere between six and eight maybe, and upwards of ten facilities that are of similar volume-wise, not in competitive geographic markets, and they're all furnished a data sheet and on that data sheet kind of goes through the uh you know, kind of climbs in the radiator and out the exhaust pipe of the business. It asks about your in-stock sales, your brokerage sales, your warranty sales, your course sales. How many cars did you buy? How many cars did you buy? How many cars did you take apart? How many cars did you inventory? Who's paying you? What is your past due receivables like, what is the financial structure of it? And we kind of sit down and do an extremely deep dive into those numbers and over the course of a day and a half period covering six, eight facilities, whatever that number is, for all practical purposes, there is not a single problem in the auto recycling industry that isn't poked at and prodded at One of the things to keep in mind about our industry, and you even see this a lot in the upcoming URG conference, with some of the breakout sessions which are kind of sort of titled very close to the same thing but with completely different focuses on it.
Speaker 1:But there's a lot of different ways to make money in the sale of used auto parts and what everybody needs to do is find what's the right mix for them in there. It's not cookie cutter in there. There are certain things that we definitively know don't work. There are certain things that we definitively know do work, and then there's a whole lot of in between that you have to figure out what your portion is in order to make that work. So that's a lot of what we do in there is kind of working on that mixture, and then we set some very lofty but realistically achievable goals that we run to and we continue to move the benchmark higher and higher in a lot of different categories in there.
Speaker 1:I mean, everybody wants to sell more, but the truth of the matter is what we really want to do is make more money, and there's certain ways to do that. Selling more is certainly a component of that, but another big component of it is the efficiency of it, keeping your ratios right, the scalability of it and with profit team, working primarily with independently owned businesses. The family business is something that you know the entrepreneur is something that is very, very important and passionate about but kind of making sure that we are in fact making money, money and doing it in a point that is long-term sustainable as the models change and evolve from the way prior generations. You know this isn't our grandfather's industry anymore of coming back in, so that's an awful lot of what the profit team peer groups are really doing is just kind of digging in there to find out what your recipe needs to be and what we can do to enhance that and then ultimately give you some tools to work with as far as accountability and implementation actions in order to make all of that work.
Speaker 1:And while it's not for everybody, it does require some thick skin to sit in there while we tell you your baby is ugly and point out all of the warts and imperfections in it, it's done in a way that truly is constructive and once you kind of get past the fact that we're not really trying to hurt your feelings, the group really is working towards advancing your overall cause, which is to sell more parts, be more efficient, make more money from that concept, if that kind of explains it.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent, yeah, and it's cool, cause I feel like obviously we've talked about this before, but this industry is just so different, with collaboration and people willing to share and divulge their information and really kind of show their business as then also being able to, you know, give reference of. Okay, this program is working for me, this is how I'm working it and this is how I set it up right, kind of what you guys talk about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you have to understand. Roughly speaking, 30-35 years ago the person who was in my position is probably would be considered the greatest consultant in the history of the industry uh, as a fellow by the name of Jim counts, and there were four or five things that he stood in very public settings and told me in front of a lot of people that I couldn't do that, you're not going to be able to accomplish that. You know that's not realistic thinking. Not going to be able to accomplish that, that's not realistic thinking. I don't know where you're basing this from and on. Those half a dozen things are now all considered standard operating procedure as minimal benchmarks within the recycling industry.
Speaker 1:So you kind of take that in context of saying that what we're doing is taking a niche business, which is what the local junkyard was back in the day, to a modern auto recycler of today that is being accepted into not only mainstream society but the world of high finance. I mean LKQ is a very successful publicly traded company. Our computer operators are successful publicly traded companies. Private equity is involved in the operation of recycling full and self-service facilities. The scrap metal business has always been a very large component and very big players in that.
Speaker 1:But we're also starting to see mainstream public, whether that be America or Canada or even in the overseas markets, are starting to look and used auto parts are becoming more acceptable and widespread use is occurring. The original equipment manufacturers are digging deeper into what it is that we're doing and what opportunities potentially exist for them and what it is that they're trying to accomplish. All of those things mean that as this industry continues to grow, it becomes more acceptable. There's more opportunity that exists in that, but at the same token there's a lot more pressure that comes along with that. The separation between the contenders and the pretenders will become much, much more and the whole concept of buy car parts will sell will start to falter and we will find ourselves over the next period of time, especially coming out of the pandemic when it was a really good time to be an auto recycler.
Speaker 1:You have a period of pain that goes into where we're going to have to have our sleeves rolled up, dig, dig, very, very deep and be very careful of what it is that we accomplish, make sure that our financial house is in order and that the things are behaving the way that they're supposed to. This is a cause and effect business. If I do X, y should occur, and if it doesn't occur, then the legitimate question of why didn't it needs to be asked and poked at. And that's kind of what you're seeing and one of the reasons why I truly expect a record attendance at URG this year. Ara could be said the same thing. I would make the same prediction for them, because there's a lot of people that are going to be wondering what is going on.
Speaker 1:What are people doing to counteract that and really starting to diligently go back to work on their business, which is kind of one of the things where URG really gets an opportunity to strut its stuff, because when you talk about member benefits, I mean, boy, there's nothing more handy than providing the right information to the right people at the right time in the right format for everybody.
Speaker 1:And at the end of the day, that's really all that we are all truly trying to do is make a living, but we're also trying to make a living in an industry that the vast majority of all of us that are really involved in it are extremely passionate about. It's a lot of fun. Involved in it are extremely passionate about it's a lot of fun. It beats having a a real job and you can search the world high and low and you aren't going to find a better group of people to associate yourself with than the group of recyclers you know that are here and, uh, you know, love dj to death and he's a whale of a guy, but he's just one of the many, many examples of the people that are making up the auto recycling industry that we're really kind of doing all of this for and having a lot of fun while accomplishing it.
Speaker 3:Yep, I completely agree. Gosh, you're just killing it with this, with everything. Everything you're saying is just perfect, and I completely agree. You know getting to the conference and being involved in Profit Team is just such, and I completely agree. You know, getting to the conference and being involved in profit team is just such a huge advantage for these recyclers, and just really. And also, you know, going to ARA and going to these state conferences and really understanding all the technology changes that are happening right and all the different procedures that are having to be done and with all these fires that are kind of going around just making sure that your team and yourself is educated when it comes to all that stuff too, it's huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everybody needs to work at this and there's no doubt there are points in time where work is easy. There are points in time when work is difficult. We're coming out of a period where it was a little easier into a period where it's going to be significantly more difficult but at the same time, if you're willing to put the work in, it's still a great industry, still a lot of really, really good things that are that are happening and still a lot of money that's going to be made in the future, and that's always exciting exactly, exactly alright, dj, is it time for a break.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's take a break and we'll go from there.
Speaker 4: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. Receive support, resources and discounts Starting at just $150 a month. It's the smartest investment you will make for your business this year. 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 2:You're listening to the URG On the Go podcast. We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. We're lucky enough to have the great Mike Conklin from Procter Co consulting. And, mike, what I would like to ask before we turn it back over to Amanda, if I could ask the question? There are a lot of listeners. We have over 9,000 listeners on a regular basis and there are some people that are sitting there right now in their truck or in their office or on their way home from the yard and they're saying and they're saying maybe I'm ready to be in a peer group. How do you know? Or what are some of the questions that some people say just before they join? Profit team consulting.
Speaker 1:Well, to join a peer group is something that you know really needs to be given some thought and consideration to what it is and what you're going for. You know there was somebody who didn't even own a yard that had interest in opening a self-service yard. That came, paid the money and attended self-service meetings for a year and a half before they actually opened their yard in. So they wanted to get the knowledge base to create a good foundation. We always kind of thought that was a little odd, but they also went from a startup to profitable unbelievably quick because of the foundation that they came off of. So, from that standpoint, there is no such thing as too small or too big. What there is is the wrong group. I mean, you can't put a guy who does, you know, $50,000 a month in revenue next to a guy who does a million dollars a month in revenue and expect it to work, because they don't speak the same language, they don't fight. You know they're in the same industry, they do the same things, but their problems are on completely different levels and so they don't match up. Well, so, getting the right people to the group, which is the right volume size, the right temperament, the ability that they can become comfortable and talk and come in. But the truth of the matter is we're all good at something. What that is may or may not be the best of things or the worst of things, but it is something that we're good at and allows everybody to participate to some way, shape or form, in coming back in and doing it. The fact that we all go through the same trials and tribulations means that we're on the same path. It's just different portions or parts of the path that we're on and there are other people in the room who have already traveled that portion that can give you help and advice and coming back along there, the biggest problem that I have is the mathematics of it. Four people is not a group. There's not enough action. There's not enough discussion point. There's not enough to carry it. 10 to 11 people is too big of a group. The pace is too fast. There's not enough action. There's not enough discussion point. There's not enough to carry it. 10 to 11 people is too big of a group. The pace is too fast. There's no time to invite a man to tell about URG benefits because I don't have time. We got to go, we got to go, we got to go.
Speaker 1:So it's a matter of finding things that are going on within the peer groups. They are for independently owned businesses. You're not going to be in a peer group with a consolidator. I just don't do that under any circumstances. For that the consolidators have their own ability to do comparisons. They don't need me for that, so I don't really have any interest in that.
Speaker 1:So you put the independent recyclers in there and kind of drilling down and doing it as long as they're on the same path and coming back in, everything kind of works. And then, while it is unbelievably painful, the groups do need to be rearranged every couple of years just to give a shot of, you know, new enthusiasm, some fresh blood into it. And the other part is people have grown at different rates and kind of moving things around and trying to keep that healthy which in a lot of ways talks to her towards that cross-pollination, that, uh, that we have within the industry as far as open and sharing, as far as dragging the message and getting other people to kind of take the blinders off and look at their business a little bit differently. One of the big fear factors people have is they don't want to embarrass themselves in that setting with their general lack of knowledge of the numbers, and I assure you that nobody knows the numbers as well as me. If that's the grading scale I don't want to play.
Speaker 1:You count on me to know those numbers and be able to explain those numbers to you in a language that you understand, which is something that I'm very, very good at. And, over the course of time, once you kind of embrace this and understand that in addition to the peer group, there's a certain philosophical you know, fundamental way of running a wrecking yard, that if you participate in the peer groups groups, you kind of get on board with that whole program and and things kind of work out to where we're all speaking the same language, doing the same things, having fun, accomplishing it, eating very well after the, after the meetings uh, you know, the dinner of the first night you know, we're laughing, yucking it up and having a good time, while at the same time learning things that you don't really know and understand, which ultimately helps you make more money, which, if you go back to the very beginning of the conversation, that is, the entire point of being in business is to make money.
Speaker 3:Right, yep, that totally makes sense. And so whenever they do sign up for profit team, what do the meetings look like about? How many do you have per year, and is it mostly zoom or is it in person? I know you have in person, obviously, and we attended those, but and I do know you have zoom, but what does that kind of look like for the yard whenever they sign up?
Speaker 1:the overwhelming majority of the groups I think all the self-service groups meet twice a year in person. The full-service groups almost all of them meet four times a year now. So we cover either a three-month or a six-month stretch of data and we either do a full-blown meeting every quarter or we do a check-in meeting in the off quarter. But two of those meetings are in person and two of those meetings are Zoom based. That way we're eliminating some of the travel and coming back through and basically what we do is we set goals at each meeting.
Speaker 1:We, if it's a check-in meeting, we do actual to goal and do any modifications to the goal, hopefully pressing the envelope as opposed to goaling downward. And if we're really target off track, we have to have some discussions about why we're off track. What do we need to do to get it back on track? In doing it In other instances we're covering the quarterly data sets and then setting the goals for the next quarter and at the beginning of each meeting we do the actual to-goal comparison and then kind of move forward and ultimately we spend right around an hour going into deep detail on your facility and if you come back in three months or six months and nothing has changed. The group kind of gets aggravated at some point in time with you. So that is a key component and it's not necessarily being embarrassed because I don't know my numbers. It's being embarrassed because you didn't work or put any effort into making any applicable changes for the betterment of your business.
Speaker 3:Right, right, and I feel like a lot of. There's a lot of recyclers or owners, specifically, that are working day to day in the business and not necessarily pulling themselves out and looking at those numbers. So, you know, having someone like you to be able to go to and also, you know, the other members that are in there that are, you know, talking about these things and making it so you know they're working on their business, rather in their business is so important.
Speaker 1:Well, and it's your peer group, it's your structure that comes back in. These are the people that you know. Look, when it comes in, when you are the owner or the you know, the manager of the business, you are responsible for motivating everybody else within the business. Whose job is it to motivate the motivator Right? When the motivator is feeling the blues, that you can't, and I mean, there's a bunch of kicks to the shin that you have to take and a few punches to the nose in this business.
Speaker 1:The overall amount of negativity is overwhelming at various points in time. So who do you talk to? What is your support structure? Because there's a lot of people that just don't get it in there. So you know this is it in the way of how do you do these things, how do you go about these things in a way that is constructively positive?
Speaker 3:in order to make things happen, because if I own the business, if it's the family business, if if I hired on as as the general manager, the operations manager, sales manager whatever it is I've made a commitment to give them everything I got, so I need to give them everything I got yep, yep, and having having those other recyclers in you in the back pocket can really just be a complete benefit to them, right, and having that asset to be able to reach out to. So a lot of these guys end up kind of adding each other on on either chats or, you know, having each other's numbers on hand too. You know their peer groups, that they can, you know, reach out at any point too and ask questions as well, right?
Speaker 1:Well, it's reply all to the distribution list.
Speaker 4:Hey.
Speaker 1:I got a problem with this we got, I mean, just this week. We're having an internal group discussion about the delivery truck lettering, right, I mean because, look, it's a moving billboard, that's good it's. Also, if your truck cut me off the road, a part blew out of the back of your truck and destroyed my windshield, you owe me money. I'm going to sue you.
Speaker 1:You know components, I mean, those are some of the things of, of those are arguments that are playing tennis. You pick a side, I pick a side. We could play all day, right, but what is the right answer? Geez, I don't know. I need to get all the facts put out and then I need to make a conscientious, informed decision about what's best for me, because one way is that's not a one-size-fits-all answer, regardless of circumstances. So you have those abilities in order to do that. We have some private contests going. Auto recyclers are competitive people. So contests and challenges with each other, you know the moral bragging rights, the amount of trash talk through the emails those are all components of what makes everybody click and going back and doing it right. You know, look, there's a fine line.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people that would rather look good and lose and there's a whole bunch of people that don't care how they look, as long as they're winning right, yeah, completely makes sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then you guys are. You guys are also going to be doing a profit, a couple profit team meetings at the urg conference. Right, we're going to be speaking.
Speaker 1:Well, the travel schedule has gotten so brutal on a lot of different things and whatnot and the uh, the groups. Like I said, the the groups are kind of timed on to the first month of each quarter, which urg happens to be in the first month of q2 traditionally. So it kind of puts of the fact that groups were traveling and the whole thing. Urg is getting, with the golf outing and whatnot getting to be a longer event. So in this particular instance there are three groups that are meeting around URG. I think my Florida stay is nine days total for all of that. And so it comes in and we're going to be there early. They can have a day at Disney or whatever. They can play the golf field. The next group rolls in. We do URG and then we have a final group on the back end of URG to do that in there.
Speaker 1:The same is kind of true for ARA. I think there's something on the back end of that. And listen, in this environment it sounds like a great idea. When you're actually doing it it makes for a really long hard week for everybody. But once again it's playing tennis. There's not a right or a wrong way. It's work that needs to be done. There's a price to be paid to be successful, and if you're not willing to do the road work, then chances are you're not going to be able to.
Speaker 3:Right, yep, yep, and being stuck in Orlando for a few days isn't too bad right.
Speaker 1:You know what? Yeah, for somebody who spends 145 days a year.
Speaker 3:I was going to ask.
Speaker 1:Yeah, days a year, I was going to ask. It's just the next talk.
Speaker 3:That's wild 145 days gone, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and and this year it looks like I was just I spent half of January on the road, I'm going to spend half of February on the road and and we're doing some sales training in Australia over the next couple of weeks, that takes care of most of March on the road as well. So so, doing some initial dirt math, I make top one 50 for the year on the road.
Speaker 3:Holy moly, that's incredible. Well, your dedication to the industry is definitely being seen and that's phenomenal, and everything you're doing for these yards. It's showing Just the confidence that they have in their business and what they're doing, I feel like, and going forward in their business has just been phenomenal, dj is it time for another uh break, and I'm with you.
Speaker 2:Let's take a break and, folks, when we come back we'll talk about urg in orlando, april 10th through the 12th, with the great mike carmel.
Speaker 4:I'll be right back 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. 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 2:Welcome back listeners. You know you're listening to the number one podcast in the auto recycling industry URG On the Go podcast. In the auto recycling industry URG On the Go podcast, dj Harrington, amanda Martin and the great Mike Conkle is our guest. I want to remind all of you, if you want to hear another industry expert like Mike Conkle, dial the hotline number here at the podcast center and Amanda will do her very best to get him on the podcast. Dial 706-409-5603. And Amanda will do her best with my help and we'll get them on the podcast. Let's go back and let's listen to Mike Conkle because he's speaking in Orlando at the great URG Team PRP conference. Strange energy. So go ahead, mike.
Speaker 1:Well, look, it's going to always be exciting and whatnot. And look in some of the things. Right, you know the URG conference is a lot like a duck right, when you look at it above the surface, it's just a duck and it's just floating along on the water. When you look down below it, you finally see the feet moving 10 million miles an hour. And that's what URG's done this year. The breakout sessions they're all out. The lists, the time zones, the time slots they're all listed. Everything is done. You can completely do your agenda for URG, for both yourself and any staff. That's going right. Prp is a part of this. The salespeople, the production team, everybody is there's meat on that bone for everybody in there. But now is the time to really get in there and get dug down in to make sure that you get the biggest return on your investment. That's possible because URG has really set the table well. There's a ton of really quality breakout sessions that are there. I know that I'm moderating a couple of panel discussions. Rob Rainwater and Jer are moderating or participating in a couple of panel discussions as well, so the profit team will be well represented there. Rob and Jer are both doing sessions. We'll be well represented there and I'll be there doing two sessions one on the correlation between quotes, invoices and phone calls how do you grow sales basically A session there, kind of geared specifically towards the sales management salespeople there, and then also digging into self-service. Right Last year, urg was accused of not necessarily hitting the self-service market.
Speaker 1:In their defense they tried awfully hard, couldn't get speakers to agree to do it this year. We've talked about it enough. We've called out enough people that complained about it and said why don't you volunteer for something? That self-service is going to be much better represented this year. So I'm going to be doing a session about the customer experience in self-service, because that really is a whole different ballgame. When you pay to come in, take your chances on finding a part, those types of things that go in there that we really do have to make sure that the customer has a positive experience with everything that's going on.
Speaker 1:So the conference is coming up, the arrangements are fast and furiously being made and I'm sure attendance is pretty brisk. With that being said, I haven't heard any of the early numbers or any scuttlebutt, but truly do expect a big turnout this year as well. So I'm personally really really looking forward to it and my sessions. I'll be starting on working on them over the next couple of weeks, so kind of really really looking forward to getting in, saying hello to everybody and looking forward to meeting a bunch of new folks this year because, like I said, we really truly are expecting a record turnout. Is that correct, amanda?
Speaker 3:Yes, we are, we are and yes, the early numbers are looking really good. Early bird pricing does end March 8th, so definitely sign up before then so you can get the cheaper rates. The hotel block is filling up, so I do believe Saturday the last time I checked, which I think was about a week ago is 70% full. So making sure you're making your hotel reservations for your employees and everyone that's attending. I just had someone reach out that said please nudge my owner. I don't want to miss staying at the same hotel as everyone. So you don't want to have to be at a separate hotel, because you know the camaraderie even after the conference sessions end. You know we have events that go on and then a lot of people just kind of congregate at the bar and it's just a great way to kind of connect with people after hours as well. So make sure you're going to be staying at that hotel, at the Grand Cypress, and so make sure you get that booked out. And yeah, it's been a phenomenal seeing everyone kind of sign up, but you know a lot of people wait until that last minute and we don't want to have you run out of hotel space at least. So make sure you're getting signed up before March 8th.
Speaker 3:But yeah, mike, so I was going to ask you as well what are some of your favorite parts about the conference. I know, obviously, speaking, you're a fabulous speaker. We have you speak every year and thank you for letting people know. We do try very hard to listen to your requests. Recyclers put in requests for speakers and different people, and if you guys see a need from the URG conference, you don't see enough of certain things, we want to hear that feedback as well. But, mike, what's some of your favorite?
Speaker 1:parts about the conference. Mike, what's some of your favorite parts about the conference? Well, look, you know, look, I'm getting. I'm not as old as DJ, but I'm getting there right. So there's a whole lot of history that goes back to this right and back 25 years ago. And look, there's a session that Ron Sturgeon and Bill Popel will be doing at URG. I didn't really pay a lot of attention to it, but it's going to be going into a lot of the history of how we got here.
Speaker 1:But there was a point in time where ARA and URG just flat out didn't like each other for doing that. And you guys have come, especially in the last couple of years. You guys have come a really long way in patching those things up. You guys have come a really long way in patching those things up and ARA had been a bit of an old boy network and URG was full of the young guns that were, you know, really really blowing and going like the lions of the mix per se, compared to ARA, which was more the elephant of it, very, very big, very strong, very powerful, but slow to change. The Lions, young and progressive and coming back, and that's a very good analogy of those organizations from a long time ago. So if you fast forward to today, you just have that spirit of learning, that ability, expectation of sharing of knowledge that comes out from there, of sharing of knowledge that comes out from there, and there are so many people in there that are wanting to participate, share with what they know, that you end up having an environment that just creates creativity. Right, I mean, it's just the right mixture, mixture, the right thing for so many things to come out.
Speaker 1:And so between and so it's all of it from the, from you know, the I don't. You know I have a group meeting so I don't do the golf outing. But starting that thursday after the golf outing, the camaraderie that's in there, and I would imagine the golf outing would be the same way. You know that's in there, and I would imagine the golf outing would be the same way, you know that's out there. But that, that, that fellowshipping that starts Thursday night. It goes through all the breakout sessions into the hallway, through the trade show, through all the different various speakers and meals that go on, and it's a continual rehashing of people or reiterating things from prior years and after. I mean, I've been to every URG except the very first one, and so you run into so many people that you haven't seen, they haven't been there in a while. They're coming back, the people that you see every year. So it's just a continual mingling, melting pot of ideas. That's just unbelievably fascinating.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and that's what I you know, I started in this industry about six years ago now and I think that's just kind of what kept me in this industry is just the feeling of camaraderie and collaboration of all these recyclers and it is like a big family I think. I say that maybe every podcast that we talk about the conference. But you know, you see, you see all your friends again and to say hi and check in and and have a conversation with them about life and business and and just kind of mix it all in and it's it's such a fun, fun event to be able to go to. So we appreciate everything that you do for URG and how you speak at URG every year and representing us and you guys are just a great presence to have at the conference every year. Wow.
Speaker 1:It's just a great time and, as I said, it's the one place of you know. There's a lot of things that happen in the industry that I could care less if I'm a part of or not. Urg is not one of those by any stretch. That is one of the things that you know. You move mountains to make sure that you're there and for the people that have never been, it's well worth the investment for doing it.
Speaker 1:So it's just kind of in the no, the no-brainer and, from a personal standpoint, anytime I get to spend with the good doctors, always a uh, a great time, because the dj is just a wonderful resource in our industry and what he has done for paving the way for people like me to get to be able to do what I've been able to do couldn't be done without the work that those guys put in before us.
Speaker 3:Agreed, agreed, yep, yep. Dj's a star. He's a star in this industry. Everyone knows the doc.
Speaker 2:I do, mike. Urg is a family reunion. There's over 87 well-known industry experts that are going to be speaking at this conference and so all of a sudden, you look back and you see the Mike Conkles and the Shannon Nordstroms and the Ryan Falcos and the Rob Rainborders. We are so gifted that URG and I'm going to predict this is the very best speaking group they have ever assembled, because of Amanda and Kristen. They have done a phenomenal job of getting the best of the best speak at URG and TPRP.
Speaker 3:We're pretty good at convincing people. I feel like Kristen can sell ice to an Eskimo, so she's good at getting people to sign up and say, hey, you suggested this, let's get going, let's do something about it. So it's been great. It's been a fun experience to be able to and talking to all the speakers as well and just getting them set up and getting those speakers connected as well. And if you're interested in speaking at the conference and have information that you're wanting to get out, please let us know and we can maybe save a spot for you next year too. So if it's valuable for the industry and it's something that other recyclers are wanting to hear about, we want to hear about what your suggestions are, for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, mike, I'm going to tell you thank you so much for all you do for this industry and you, you know you're very, very kind with your words. Urg and DPRP are the best and everyone. Mark your calendar, april 10th through the 12th to be in beautiful, sunny Florida and welcome in the URG Scholarship Foundation. All right, amanda, your closing thoughts.
Speaker 3:Awesome, all right, thank you, dj. So, yep, so make sure you get signed up. March 8th is when the early bird pricing ends, so be sure to book your hotel as well as your conference, and make sure that your team is coming as well. So we want to see you there April 10th through the 12th.