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
How A Blown Engine Became A Business
A blown engine, a rodeo barn, and a dirt lot aren’t the usual ingredients for a thriving auto recycling business—unless you’re David Markham. We sit down with the founder of EAT Partz to unpack how grit, mentorship, and the right tech stack turned a side hustle into a disciplined, growing yard in Middletown, Ohio.
We trace the path from that first teardown to buying property, laying gravel, installing racking, and transforming chaos into a location-based, barcode-driven system. David shares how mentors like JC Cahill, Eric Pearson, and Rob Rainwater fast-tracked his learning, why yard tours matter, and how a collaborative industry culture lets the “big dogs” help new operators avoid costly mistakes. Along the way, we dig into the tools moving the needle: PowerLink for operations, URG’s core program for added revenue, and WHI’s eBay integration for stronger listings and cleaner order flow—now streamlined with URG Sales Support to cut tabs and clicks for busy teams.
We also get personal about leadership, capital discipline, and balance. David’s week blends yard work, rodeo responsibilities, and family life, all anchored by a simple playbook: invest profits back into capacity, build process before scale, and keep learning every day. Looking forward, we explore where recycling tech needs to go—faster photos, flexible cloud workflows, and changes that respect how different yards operate. The takeaway is clear: automotive recycling is resilient, community-driven, and full of opportunity for operators willing to share, systemize, and evolve.
If you enjoyed this story and want more practical insights from the people shaping modern recycling, follow the show, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a quick review so others can find it. Got a takeaway or question we should cover next time? Drop us a note—we’d love to hear from you.
Amanda asked me uh to step in while DJ was gonna be out. And so I have joined along for the ride. Amanda.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you so much, Michael. Yep, we've got Michael on today to help me out. Um, he's gonna be kind of our our little uh side side person just making any kind of comment and asking additional questions as well. So um we're gonna introduce Michael, he's our IT guy here at U United Recyclers Group. I don't know, you guys are probably if you're you know in your URG benefits a lot, and or if your data has gone out of date and/or your images have gone out of date, Michael is the guy that has been the one reaching out and bothering you. So make sure that I'm not the only one.
SPEAKER_03:I'm not the only one.
SPEAKER_04:We do have we do have Wesson.
SPEAKER_03:Wesson also does that quite a bit as well, actually. Um I don't want to take all the blame.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, no, but he's gonna be the one that helps you get uh make sure your your benefits are up to date on uh the data feed side and and helping you out with any kind of IT uh related issues. So um, but today we have a wonderful guest. It's someone that I've met uh a couple years ago now. Um we we just recently went to their yard uh here when we did our last yard tour. Um we actually had them comment on our Facebook page and uh asked us if we could stop down by and and you know we uh we loved the engagement on social media, and so we decided to make the three-hour trek kind of out of the way because we uh we really wanted to see their yard and see what they had going on. So I've got David Markham here from Eat Parts, and uh I think this is gonna be a great show today. David, thank you so much for being on.
SPEAKER_01:Excited to be here. I appreciate you guys' time.
SPEAKER_04:Of course, of course. Yeah, so we uh we want to learn a little bit more about you and and about how you got started in this industry. I know you've you've kind of uh started out that I feel like there's a lot of people that um already know you because you've been very invested in different industry aspects and and and talking to the right people, but you have one of the most unique stories in the industry, I will say. Um, you know, you built a recycling yard uh from scratch, basically. So um that's obviously no small feat and not something that's done very often today. You know, normally it's it's a a family business and and it's been around for a while. So for those of you that don't know you yet, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in the automotive recycling industry?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so how I originally started is I actually went to school for diesel and ag, went to college, and always messed around with trucks and cars with my dad. But uh when I was on my way home one day, my one of my trucks blew up on the way home from school, and the good Lord just put me in the right spot, and I decided to part it out on Facebook. So that is literally the first truck that I ever tore down, sold parts off of was a little tiny garage and tore down and I did it did really well, and then it just started on from there buying more. I love diesel trucks back in the day, so that's where it all started.
SPEAKER_03:That's wild that you cannibalized your own truck to get started. That's fantastic. I love that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and and you started out as DM Diesel, correct? That was your first business name?
SPEAKER_01:That was, and when I when I first started, it was DMD Some parts, so worked on diesel trucks because that's kind of what I knew, and parted some out as well on Facebook mostly, and uh dabbled in a little bit of eBay back in the day, very, very minimal. But yeah.
SPEAKER_04:I love it. Yep. So you went from you know parting out diesel trucks on Facebook uh to running a full operation, right? When did you realize that uh becoming a business owner and not having it just kind of as your side hustle was something that you were you were interested in doing?
SPEAKER_01:So when I first started, like I said, I did it in school. So I was still in college when the first truck got parted out, and then I started parting them out. We have a rodeo. So I mean and one other of my guys was parting trucks out in the rodeo barn, literally. We'd have parts laying on the bleachers and everything, and truck parts laying everywhere in the barns and scattered everywhere, and did that for a couple about a year, year and a half, and then I uh actually rented a uh a shop with a little bit of a about an acre lot, and then I was there for four years, and then at the end of that being there, we ended up having the opportunity to buy where I'm at right now, and it was like the perfect timing, just we were like ready for the next step, and this place came up and it was just a blessing. And got to buy this this yard and yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And you're located in Middleton, Ohio, correct?
SPEAKER_01:Middletown, yes.
SPEAKER_04:Middletown, Ohio, perfect. Yeah, we we had seen that you were guys were commenting on Facebook and wanted us to come down, and we were like I said, about three hours away. It's like, you know, he's just started started out, and uh we we knew kind of a little bit of your background, but not fully. And it's just such an interesting way to get started in the industry and and so cool that you've been able to kind of you know get this far, um, you know, building up the business and and uh building your your employees and your clients. So, you know, um like I you starting from the ground up in this industry is obviously kind of unheard of, but what do you believe what made you believe you could do it and keep going, you know, when it got tough?
SPEAKER_01:Um honestly it was just meeting the right people. Like when I first bought the property where I'm at right now, it was a dirt lot in the back with a 40 by 100 building and brought in a ton of gravel and started putting racking up and didn't have a single barcode label, just stuff laying everywhere and not doing it the right way, but I didn't really know what I was doing. But I uh I got right off the rip when I very first got this place. I had checkmate for about three or four months, and they got me connected through my trainer with JC Cahill. And JC really, really, really helped me out, especially at the beginning, just like giving me some guidance and direction on where to go. And I was the first person that ever told me to go to a conference, and then I went to URG, the very first one in 2022, and that was a that was the that was the that was it. That was the what I needed.
SPEAKER_04:I love that. I love that. I love the fact that you came to uh URG and and JC is just a a a huge you know pillar in the industry and he knows so much and he's run a few a few yards and um you know is now doing the VinMatch Pro. And we've actually had him on the show as well a couple of times. Um and I think you know being able to reach out to people in the industry that have done well and had those successes is so key. And you know, I'm glad that you were able to come to the URG conference early on because I'm sure that's kind of given you a leg up, especially, you know, knowing the right people and knowing the right people to reference as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I absolutely would not even be close to where I'm at without going. And I got to meet some, I actually met Eric Pearson at the first URG ever too. And Eric has been such a blessing for real. He's helped me more than I could ever think or imagine, just throughout everything, literally.
SPEAKER_04:There's a lot of really good people in this industry, isn't there? You know, I think that's you know, I say it a lot on this podcast, but that's one of the things that's kept me in this industry. I feel like, you know, these days, especially a lot of people kind of switch up careers often. And I talk about how I want to be here for another 20, 30 years, maybe even, you know, retire from this industry one day, you know, and because I just it becomes your family at a certain point, and and these people are all good people and wanting to help each other and um just so collaborative, and and I think that's what's you know just sets us apart from any other industry out there for sure.
SPEAKER_01:I truly agree. And I've never been in an industry or been around an industry that the top dog, biggest guy wants to help the littlest person, yeah. And like everybody wants to help everybody, everybody wants to see you succeed, and normally it's they want to cut your throat or do something, but this is not like that at all. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_04:100%. All right, so I kind of want to build a picture. So uh can you kind of give us a little bit of a view of the early days? What did the yard look like when it first opened? I know you said you know it was kind of a mess back in 2022, um, and it was obviously you were running the rodeo as well. Um, what did that look like for you know hiring on employees and and where are you guys at with that today?
SPEAKER_01:So when I very first started, like I said, when I bought this place, the the building was completely empty, there was nothing in it, and the back lot was 95% dirt. And literally just got a brought in a dozer, leveled a ton of stuff off, and brought in gravel for two months straight. Leveled the leveled the back lot off, and then obviously we've done more and more and more over over the period of time, but then I started putting a rack up, racks up in the back and laying stuff on them and all that stuff, and then actually Eric came down to my yard and helped me understand what barcode labels were and how to do it correctly and all that kind of stuff. So started barcode labeling everything, and now every single part has a location and it's put where it needs to be and you can find it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, would you say kind of the biggest learning curve of it all would be kind of the way to organize it and the way to set it up and maybe you know, starting out on that yard management system and getting organized?
SPEAKER_01:It's definitely a huge part of it. Huge. And I I mean, I feel like I'm learning something every single day with PowerLink and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, just it's so important. The process is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_04:Well, and taking advantage of different avenues too, you know, just like URG, um and you know, different platforms that can kind of help you either get organized or you know, get on these electronic platforms that are so important in today's business. Um, and you know, that's that's so key and having these conversations with, you know, the the JCs and the Eric Pearsons of the world. Um so I know from your converse, our conversation that you've learned um from others in the industry how to kind of grow. Uh, can you tell us some of the people, you know, besides JC and Eric that have kind of helped you along the way and and what those relationships meant to you that you kind of gotten from the URG conference and other conferences that you've attended?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um somebody that got gave me the opportunity to go down to his yard was Marty Hollingshead from um North Lake. I went down there. Marty's an amazing guy. He has such a well-oiled machine. He was he was awesome. Um Rob Rainwater has been helping me a ton in the last a year now, actually. Um I got to I'm I knew who he was, but never got to like connect it with him. And actually I got connected with him at the last URG last year. And he's been mentoring me ever since, and holy smokes. He is a wealth of knowledge.
SPEAKER_04:Made a world of a difference.
SPEAKER_01:Made a world of a difference. Um obviously the conferences are you get something from them every single time, whether that's something from the uh like the classes or but a lot for me is just meeting people, like the connections that you get to meet with other people, and it's been amazing. Um yeah, even like the Facebook group that is on on Facebook. Like I've met a bunch of people, talked to a bunch of people. I'm the type of person that'll message every single person and ask them a question or hey, send me pictures, or do you have any way to help me with this or just stuff like that? And it's been that's been awesome too.
SPEAKER_04:I love that. I love that aspect of it. And yeah, when I I remember coming to your yard and and just hearing about you know what your future plans are. It's it's cool to just kind of see your vision and and understand what you what your goals are and and what you're looking forward to. And and you can just tell that you've talked to people that have been in this industry for a while and and and why you have these kind of future goals and plans. So it's pretty cool to hear your story. So uh I think it's time for a quick break. Uh, thank you everyone for listening. Definitely come back and listen to more uh from David at E Parts in Ohio Middle County.
SPEAKER_00:URG can help you streamline your business for maximum efficiency and increase profits. Access powerful software, unique tools, receive top-level training with industry experts, network with hundreds of respect, exploit e-commerce solution, boost business, receive support, resources, and discounts. Starting at just$150 a month, that's the smartest investment you will make for your business this year. Go to u-r-g.com and click on Become a Member. Your path to a profitable future is just to click away. That's u-r-g.com.
SPEAKER_04:Welcome back, everyone. Thank you so much for listening to URG on the go podcast. We have David Markham here from Eat Parts, and I also have Michael here, my IT guy, uh assisting me here. Uh Michael, um, thank you so much for joining us, Michael.
SPEAKER_03:Of course. Actually, before we continue, I actually wanted to give David a big thank you. And I'll tell you why. Because David, uh, what what a lot of you folks not out there listening right now don't know is that David is also helping the rest of the community by helping us right now. David, let me spend two hours on his computer doing some testing for an upcoming thing that we've got going. I'm not gonna I can't say too much about it because it's not been announced, but I wanted to thank you, David, for letting us hog your computer for two hours while we are and our programmers tested some things on your system. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01:Happy to help.
SPEAKER_03:Happy to help. I love uh technology, so I'm excited for anything. Thank you. It was a we we made a lot of progress today, and I I I cannot thank him enough for the time that he has given us. He even showed me how to do stuff, something in PowerLink that I've never learned how to do before. Now I know how to do it forever.
SPEAKER_04:Hey, that's awesome. Yeah, we really appreciate the help, David. And and you know, that's that's what's gonna help us grow and help the whole industry grow as a whole. So you're you're doing a good job and doing your part. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Happy to help.
SPEAKER_04:All right. So I wanted to ask you, uh, you know, but like we were talking about uh this industry's willingness to share knowledge. What uh are some surprising or one key thing uh that you've learned uh from a recycler that has changed kind of thing how you've how you view things and how you do things at the yard?
SPEAKER_01:Um definitely gonna give Chris Daglas a big huge plug because the the uh the yard tours, I got to go on one I think two years ago at URG, and I went on the last one as well. And that just going to the different yards, seeing the different things, and you can ask questions and talk to the people that the yards that you went to and just be able to see the vision of what recyclers are doing that are currently have either ginormous yards or whatever it is, but just being able to go places, see like the operations and how they're doing things and how things are built and how things are flowing, and even I mean, all of them will give you their card and say, We're more than welcome to call and talk to you, or anything like that. So that has been huge for me, just seeing what everybody else is doing.
SPEAKER_04:100%. Yeah, I think that that really, you know, seeing everything that that's also helped me, you know, learn a lot is just these yard tours that Christy, Kristen and I have been going to, um, learning how you guys are utilizing the benefits day to day as well as how you operate day to day is so huge. Um, and and being able to see these the way that everyone does it differently, right? And you can kind of learn from from their success stories and and and kind of plug and play in what works for you at your yard.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. Because I mean you can go to some places and some some places don't do anything online, and some places don't do deliveries, and like there's different avenues and aspects of it of this business that like everybody says, there no one is the exact same, but you can go to all the different places, you can see what they do and take something from it to implement it in your own business to make it yours better and even give other people tips on what you know is good and is work for you, so it works both ways, honestly.
SPEAKER_04:For sure. Yeah, the collaboration piece is is a is a big piece for sure. So you've said, you know, we both kind of have touched on how much we love this industry. Um you wake up ready to kind of be attacking the day and attacking what's new at the yard. What are a few things about the automotive recycling industry that got you hooked in the first place?
SPEAKER_01:Um, what got me hooked, honestly, is just I've always loved cars, I've always loved vehicles, and just being able to do something that I love personally every single day is amazing. And this industry, you can make good money at it if you do the right things the right way and put the right people in the right spots. And just I love the aspect of being able to build a team and being able to build a family that is here and be able to affect the people around me as well.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, yep, totally makes sense. You're and and you know, yeah, exactly. You get to kind of work with the people that you want to work with. You built your own business and and are able to implement the different things that are going to make you successful. So, and it's it's so much fun as a small business owner, too. I feel like just to see the kind of growth um, you know, that you're able to, you know, you implement something and you can see the ROI right away, right? Or, you know, the ROA coming in a month later or however long it can take, because it can take a little bit, you know, uh of trial and error for different things, but um, it's so cool to kind of see your hard work at uh you know come to fruition at the end of the day, right?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. So you still run rodeos on the weekends, correct?
SPEAKER_01:Every single Saturday.
SPEAKER_04:Wow. How do you balance how do you balance the chaos of running a business and still make time for you know your family, your friends, and and your other passions? How do you how do you go about doing that?
SPEAKER_01:Wake up early and just when you're at work, you're at work and probably on my phone more than I should be. And my wife tells me that all the time. But just when I'm here, I'm here to work and get here early and work while we're here. And don't I mean obviously you can you can overwork yourself, but I just personally make time to go on vacations and spend time with family, and it's it's important and you have to do it. I mean, I love work and love being here, and I could be here seven days a week, 24 hours a day, probably, but you just have to make time for friends and family and stuff like that as well. And then the rodeo is just on Saturday, so I mean I have to take care of the farm and stuff during the week, but we have guys that help me feed bulls and all that kind of stuff during the week as well, so it's not a huge burden.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and you guys are are um starting a family too. Um, your wife is just so awesome. I love getting to know her too. She's come to a couple of the shows and events, and and she's fabulous. And um, she kind of works at the yard as well with you a little bit, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she started helping me, getting all my getting everything organized and all the paperwork straight, and it's been awesome. She's helped me so much. And yeah, we're having a little baby girl in February. We're so excited about it.
SPEAKER_04:Congratulations. That's so exciting.
SPEAKER_03:Is that gonna be your first? That is our first, yes. Uh, congratulations. I've got uh an 18-year-old, I'm sorry, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, both girls. So welcome to the club. Let's go.
SPEAKER_04:It's exciting, it's exciting. Yeah, I'm I'm expecting my first one here in April of the boy, but yeah, it's it's it's an intense time. It's crazy. So I can't imagine, you know, balancing all of that with a a small business and and uh you know the rodeo. Um, but you guys are just killing it and rocking it over there. And you guys are just both such uh such positive lights as well. Um and can you tell me what Eat Part stands for? I know it's got um it's an acronym, correct?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Elevation Auto and Truck.
SPEAKER_04:Um where did that name come from?
SPEAKER_01:Elevation Worship is my favorite worship band, a Christian worship band, and I it was DMD, so when people would call all the time, be like, Do you work on diesel trucks and all that? I'm like, Well, we did four years ago, but we no longer work on trucks and we sold parts. So elevation, auto, and truck is what it stands for.
SPEAKER_04:I love it. That's perfect. So fitting for you guys. All right. So, you know, you obviously, you know, uh Michael was in your computer for a couple hours today, and you're you're more than willing to kind of help with the development of technology. Um, and you're pretty savvy with technology, um, especially the need for more modern, you know, cloud-based systems. What are your thoughts on where recycling tech needs to go next? And and what do you think the next generation of auto recyclers will want or need?
SPEAKER_01:It just there's so much that is old. And it would it's just like even taking pictures, you have to take any anything, it just needs to be more versatile, like instead of locked down to one thing, in my opinion. But I mean, I understand that especially I mean at my size, it's not very hard for me to change, but like the more I think about it, when you get a ginormous yard and you try and change the process completely to something else, that is I mean, that can bankrupt the business. So I mean anything that's gonna be coming down the bike has gotta be it's gonna take time to get something like that done. And I mean, the stuff that is currently there works, but there's always something better, hopefully, down the road that they can implement. But even I mean, URG, you guys are doing a ton. The the whole core crow game helped me out a ton. Just all I mean, all the stuff, the more the more that gets done, the better it gets, and for everybody, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I was um I was actually talking to a yard management system at ARA. Uh, we had a meeting with um one of them, and they were just talking about how you know all the yards basically do something different within their their own bubble, right? And they've kind of either added on to the yard management systems or are using different technology within the yard management systems. And so it is really difficult to kind of make changes because you'd change it for one person and make it easy, and you may screw up, you know, another person that's really built up different programs on their on their system. So it does it does take quite a bit of um, you know, forethought and planning and and figuring out their customer before they do any kind of updates like that. And so um, you know, we've kind of we've been we've been blessed on on being able to kind of make changes, and it's it's all been pretty kosher with the people that we're doing it with and and having good yards like you that are willing to kind of test it out for us and make sure it's gonna it's gonna work well. So um being able to do that is is key, I think, as a business to you know, helping helping different companies out on you know, letting Michael be in your computer for a couple hours and testing out the software and seeing if it'll work and and that's how we're gonna get further for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. So being able to help.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I love that. So you built something obviously pretty special in a short period of time. Looking back, uh, would you say someone who was considering something similar or starting up a yard from scratch? What would you say are some key fundamental things that they would need to do so?
SPEAKER_01:A lot of capital. Honestly, this is a very uh capital intense business. But I'm the type of person that I don't need a new car, and I don't need I've never had big payments and all that stuff in my life, and I think that's the good Lord taking care of me and put me where I needed to be. But just gotta work hard and you gotta like I put every single penny of m money that I've made back into this business, and that's why we continue to grow, I think. And you just have to. I mean, if I had a bunch of payments and I couldn't put it back into it, it would not be on the the path of it is right now.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, you gotta put in the work, gotta put in the time and put in the investment for sure. Yeah, especially when you're building it up. So yeah, I and you can see it, you can see it in your work ethic whenever you visit the yard, you can see it in your guys, uh, you know, the people that you have hired that are they're they're all you know working and doing their best, and and you guys are all wanting to, you know, take it to the next level, which is really cool to see.
SPEAKER_01:For sure.
SPEAKER_04:All right. Well, yeah, yeah, we'll we'll talk about that here when we come back. Uh we're ready for another break, so please stay tuned and hear more from David at EPART.
SPEAKER_00: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-or-g dot com and click on the Scholarship Foundation tab. URG, keeping our industry strong through education.
SPEAKER_03:All right, and we're back. Thanks for hanging in with us here on the URG Project. Podcast. Um we're going to continue here with Amanda and David and myself. We're going to continue to poke David's mind and learn what makes him tick.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you, Michael. Yep, you've been listening to URG on the go podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. We've been talking about David starting off from scratch and creating Eat Parts and his journey. And before we left for break, we started talking a bit about his team. So let's talk about you know the Eat Parts and how you've developed your team and how many team members you have and about how big the yard is.
SPEAKER_01:Right now I have three acres. We have a 40 by 100 shop that we currently do dismantling and pretty much everything. The parts are stored outside and wrapped up correctly, like engines and transmissions, stuff like that, which somebody gave me a great idea for that because I do not have the space inside. Um shipping containers, obviously, with with racking in them for storage. And uh currently I have four guys that help me out, and then my wife helps me as well. And me.
SPEAKER_04:That's awesome. That's awesome. And and you guys, about how many cars are you guys dismantling per month right now?
SPEAKER_01:Right now, about 15.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:12 to 15.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:And I would love to be at 30 to 50.
SPEAKER_04:So kind of your goal here in the future is getting up to 30 to 50 a month.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. That would be a hopefully a short-term goal.
SPEAKER_04:I love it. I can see it. I can see you getting there quick. So you you've been using PowerLink and learning eBay and and other tools. What tools and systems have made kind of the biggest difference for you so far?
SPEAKER_01:Obviously, the the URG core program has helped me out a ton to make extra money. I personally need to get better at sending them out faster, but we're getting better.
SPEAKER_04:You just got to get your processes together, but yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Um, we got obviously have power link and e-link, which is listing for eBay, and that helped out a ton at the beginning. And I got the WHI, which is through URG, I think. Yeah, it is for eBay, and that is about to be a game changer. I I haven't focused on it a ton, but I'm learning more and more about it. And I think it's Troy. Troy's a trainer, Troy is amazing. He is legit. Like that dude is awesome. And I've been doing some AI stuff with stuff for eBay, and it is uh yeah, it's about to be a game changer for that. That's helped out a ton.
SPEAKER_04:I love hearing that. Yeah, that WHI has been a game changer for a lot of our yards recently, and and you know, it is owned by eBay, it's an eBay subsidiary, and I always, you know, I think it it kind of comes down to we have some people that are using two different integrations and they're comparing and they're saying WHI is uh now outperforming their original store. And you know, I think it's because eBay is gonna want eBay to do the best, right? It's kind of in in my mind, it just kind of is a no-brainer that you know you would want, um, and eBay has you know given a lot of interest to URG and URG members because they're really seeing the traction through it, um, and the numbers are just growing and multiplying. So um that's awesome that you're on that too. I think that really will help you. And and Troy and that team is is fabulous too. They work very closely with us. Michael uh deals with with some of those issues as well. Like if there's anything that's going on with the data feed and and doing some certain things with eBay, you know, Michael's kind of up up in that in that territory as well.
SPEAKER_03:Oh shucks.
SPEAKER_04:Oh shucks.
SPEAKER_03:The uh I and I think one of the I think another thing that you can really um jump into with the eBay thing is that you know we we're integrating it directly into our current systems, our URG sales support systems. Um, and you you know, you were one of the first to jump into the new connection that we've got, the new integration. Uh so thank you for that, David. Um, I'm looking at it right now and everything's humming along hunky door. I'm glad that everything's working out for you.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, for sure. Good point, Michael. Yeah, we're now those orders and and we get those those eBay orders to go directly into your yard management system, but now you're gonna be able to view those within uh URG sales support. So the member dashboard as well, Michael. Thank you for pointing that out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you you you're you're essentially in one less web page now, the way we're doing it. So you you know you you log on to URG sales support, you're still gonna you're gonna stay in URG sales support. You don't have to go to some other random website, some other location to see how your eBay thing is going. It's great.
SPEAKER_01:For sure. It's just amazing. I hate 57 different things up on my computer at all times.
SPEAKER_04:Right. Well, and if you're if you're having to log into so many different platforms, especially your salespeople, that's gonna take them away from selling, or they're gonna it's gonna take them away from you know, dismantling, doing what they're needing to do for their day-to-day processes. So the the faster we can get you different solutions, the the better off you'll be. So it's awesome to hear about all of that. All right. So um, from your perspective, David, what does the future of the recycling industry look like for you and just as an industry in as a whole?
SPEAKER_01:Industry as a whole, what I've always said, which I haven't been in it for 50 years, so and I didn't buy it from my grandpa or get it from my parents, but I really think that it's a recession proof business. Now, are people gonna buy a door panel if there's a recession or something that they don't need? No, but I mean if your engine blows up in your car and you still have to get to work, you still have to buy an engine. So I mean, definitely definitely could slow down, but I think it's a great business to be a part of, and I mean everybody always is gonna need car parts.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, and to your point, like I I have a 2015 uh vehicle, and I'm you know, I'm preparing to have a a baby and and trying to buy a house here eventually. I'm not looking to buy a new car, and if something goes wrong, I want uh you know a quality, potentially OEM used part, and you know, that's where I'm gonna get it from is this is is you guys and you know the recycling industry. And I think that's one of the hardest parts is that a lot of the modern day consumers don't even realize that it's an option as well. Um, and I think Michael has even gone to you know different recycling facilities here in Texas to to get I have.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I have it's great to do. I and at one point, if you recall, Amanda, we discussed starting another podcast trying to get your car fixed.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, kind of a blog, a blog of because I have I I have some body damage. I'm not you know the best driver out there. So just little little fender vendors here and there at the airport. Um, but just uh, you know, we can ship. Right, right. Hey, I'll send you some pictures.
SPEAKER_01:Amen.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so um that's you know, then in my mind, you know, I don't want to buy a new car, especially with how much you know the interest rates are right now, too. Goodness gracious. Like I don't want a giant payment that I'm gonna have to have to look forward to every month. I I have my cars paid off. I don't I don't want another payment. So being able to find car parts for a reasonable price is is just huge for sure. And I think it'll just get more and more well known.
SPEAKER_02:I hope. The hope for sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:All right. Well, uh finally, what do you hope people take away from your story? And um, whether they're new to recycling or or have been in it for generations, what's kind of your advice for for the industry?
SPEAKER_01:My advice is work hard, help others, because I would not even be close to where I'm at right now if it wasn't for other people that help me out to get to where I'm at currently and even from here on. And uh it's just this this industry is is a blessing, it really is. And just being able to be connected and have pretty much like family in it and be able to make an impact for the people around you is is awesome.
SPEAKER_04:That's perfect. Well, it's been wonderful talking to you today, David, and we really appreciate you being on here uh and giving us some insight about your business and and what's going on. Uh, where can people find you and uh you know be able to reach out to you if they have any questions about the industry or what you guys are doing over there?
SPEAKER_01:They can shoot me an email. It's David M at eatparts.com and parts as well with a Z.
SPEAKER_04:Perfect. And yeah, I know you've been been pretty proactive about wanting to get together with other yards and and trade parts and and do add to tiering and all of that. So, you know, definitely keep that in mind, all of our listeners. Um, that's one of the reasons why we like having people come on the show is telling you their story and and have it be a collaborative network for for everyone. So feel free to reach out to David. And if you're needing uh uh to you know get any more information about URG or about URG members, or if you're wanting to get connected with anyone that we've had on the show, please feel free to reach out to me as well. Uh my email is amorrisonam at u-r-g dot com or give us a call at 512-887-3951, and I can help you out. Thank you guys all so much. Michael, thank you so much for being on again today with us.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. It was great talking with y'all.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and David, again, thank you so much for being on and sharing your story with us.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely, thank you. And also, if anybody does need anything, Amanda is the best for real. She will get you connected and she will put you with the right person. And I mean that seriously.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, thank you, David. You're very sweet. Yes, it's and and you know, working with all you guys is so much fun, and and it's a passion of mine. It's been it's been a wonderful job, uh, job here. I can't believe it's gonna be seven years now at URG here coming up. So it's pretty crazy. Pretty crazy. Awesome. All right, thank you so much again, David. Everyone, thank you so much for listening today. Uh, please come back and listen to URG on the go podcast. We'll see you again soon.