Hey everyone . I'm Brad from Calgary . This is Sean from Cambridge , ontario . I'm Terry from Cornwall , ontario .
Speaker 2Hey , this is Larry from Pit Metals , British Columbia , and you're listening to the Towing Life Podcast .
Speaker 1Welcome to the Towing Life Podcast , where the ditches are deep , the trucks are loaded , but the drivers are not . I am your host , Towing man G , and , as usual , I'm joined by my co-host , friend and former co-worker , the man with very strong opinions , Mr Plane Guy .
Speaker 2What is going on ? G . What is going on ?
Speaker 1Two weeks in a row we're uploading a podcast . Yes , absolutely .
Speaker 2Surprisingly what's going on ? G what ?
Speaker 1is going on Two weeks in a row . We're uploading a podcast .
Speaker 2Yes , absolutely Surprisingly , with the chaos that has gone on and everything else in the business that we've had , we've still managed to do this . So it is nice to be back on somewhat of a routine . You have gotten me up extremely bright and early on a Sunday , where I could still be sleeping , relaxing and enjoying a bit of my weekend in order to do this . But , as usual , I will work to accommodate your fragile state of mind . Well , I'm sorry .
Speaker 1I got things planned for the rest of the day . I got my dad coming over for Father's Day because we're recording this on Father's Day . So happy Father's Day to any of you fathers out there . Absolutely , we're making homemade burgers . It's day to any of you fathers out there . We're making homemade burgers and it's going to be good . Uh , I moved all his shit into my cold room last weekend so that was his father's day present . So he got out of a 400 every 28 day storage unit because they do it every 28 days . Just , people probably should bleep that out because we're still fairly early on in the episode . But whatever , um and yeah , so it's going to be a good day .
Speaker 2So hence why we have to record at currently 8 53 in the morning as g said , welcome back to another episode of the tone life podcast , episode 140 . Um , as we continue to count upwards and onwards , moving forward with the show , it is a great time to mess mention your comments . Questions , concerns opinions , lack of opinions or just pure stupidity is always welcome on this show . So where can you reach out to us and how can you find us ? It is pretty simple . You can head over to our website at wwwtowinglifeca . You can find us on facebook at the towing life podcast , or you can email us directly at the towing life at gmailcom . Don't forget , if you're watching over on the youtube side , you can always hit the like and subscribe and comment down below .
Speaker 2Um , I haven't checked over recently to see any of the youtube comments . G could maybe , uh , let us know if there's been some negative , positive and all of those good things . By the way that he's laughing , I'm assuming there's some comments that um might not like . So , um , yeah , that being said , we've got a lot of good stuff to cover . This week . We're going to go over , uh , some stories from G , some road trip trip stories from myself and a couple stupid photos that we tend to find on the interwebs , as we like to call it .
Speaker 1So the YouTube comments are filled by Joe . He is taking it upon himself to make sure we have an abundance of comments . We've had five comments from Joe over the past 11 days .
Speaker 2No one else has commented so joe's just having a straight up monologue in the comments he said wow , meaning to the toe world again .
Speaker 1I'm assuming that's when he first started watching the video . Um , they're back . Was a separate , separate comment . I think those could be one comment , joe , but I appreciate you . Thanks for the engagement . Johnny Five was a comment .
Speaker 2Yes , johnny Five is going back to Short Circuit , the movie reference we were making that you didn't understand . The laser lips comment Laser lips , okay .
Speaker 1Okay , perfect , up to speed . And four days ago , he says , the predatory towing on the tractor trailers , I believe was in Kentucky or Tennessee and had a lot of truckers and a lot of truckers are not driving there anymore they would park in truck stop where they were told to park , and the towing company would tell him why they were sleeping in the rigs . You need some commas in there , joe . That is according to the news article that I read . As far as I followed through with Okay , that is now , joe .
Speaker 2that is a different thing . Okay , so that is a . There was an issue where I want to say , um I'm going to look it up quickly that not , uh , tennessee or Kentucky , as he said um can't had to come out with a law that you could not boot or tow a vehicle with a person inside of it or something . And there was a lot of laughs on that , that like as if this actually has to be written that as a law . But it was true , because what happened was there was a story out of somewhere some southern state , I don't know where exactly where they were towing private parking vehicles with truckers sleeping in them . Um , which obviously is a no-no , how do you not wake up while your truck's getting hooked up ?
Speaker 1But , besides the fact , well , they probably just be like okay , I'll just sit in here , because then it's a lawsuit , I can sue you for moving .
Speaker 2No , either that or they had the really good sleep , sleep right Like they were . They were deep into Dodo land and didn't feel getting tilted up in the air or anything . It up in the air or anything . But yeah . So that was like , yeah , you can park here . And then they were telling them there was some controversy over that . That wasn't so much to do with the predatory towing fees we were talking about Um . This was a problem with , like I know , in the state of Georgia they'd ran into some um where it was again charging . The government felt that they were charging rates for emergency response to remove vehicles from the highways that have been involved in this , you know , that were disabled , have been involved in an accident , all those kinds of things that weren't justified . So your your story that you read in the news article on the private parking removal with people . That was a whole other category .
Speaker 1He has another comment here saying there was another news article last week or two weeks ago about a towing company in colorado called watts towing service something like that where where they are overcharging for impound out of private property like an apartment complex . Look into that was very interesting that the state of colorado changed the laws on that because of what they were doing allegedly it's wyatt's towing .
Speaker 2Wyatt um , yeah , why it's towing ? Colorado attorney general announces one . Um , I got a pop-up thing that I can't get rid of . Uh , one million dollar settlement with wyatt towing must change unfair , deceptive business practices . Um , the investigation found that since 2019 , the company towed thousands of vehicles without a valid permit or proper authorization , charge unlawful fees and illegally kept customer funds and engaged in deceptive and unfair business practices to discourage Coloradans Didn't know , that's what you called them from exercising the rights under the state's towing law . So they were doing private parking without a permit . You know they obviously weren't following the rule , following the rules of private parking .
Speaker 2Um , the towing bill of rights also allows customers to retrieve their vehicle if they pay 15 percent of the towing fees , up to a maximum of 60 dollars . The unpaid portion is a debt owed to the towing carrier and the consumer must sign a puc form affirming that they live . Wait what ? Okay Breaking news Colorado is screwed . So , according to this , the AG's office has also said that Watts continued to violate the new tow law and also instituted practices to keep more funds from vehicle sales and reduce the amount of return to vehicle owners or the state , such as driving up storage fees on more valuable services . Okay , so I think I've kind of wrapped my head around this quickly in this very article that we have read live , thanks Joe , thanks Joe . Have read live , thanks joe , thanks joe .
Speaker 2So my understanding to this would be in colorado , if a vehicle is impounded and I don't know if this classifies as all or or just for private parking scenarios um , that you are supposed to accept they can retrieve their vehicle if they pay 15% of the towing fees up to a maximum of $60 . Wow , okay , 15% of the towing fees up to a maximum of $16 . The unpaid portion is a debt owed to the towing carrier and the consumer must sign a PUC form I feel like this is an IOU form , is what they should have called this Affirming that they owe the payment . Okay , that , and it sounds like after it's been towed , kind of like with lien holders , if you have to dispose of the vehicle , you pay your bill off first and then whatever money is left off goes to either the owner of the vehicle or the state , and they were running up their bills to make their amount higher so that the state or the customer wouldn't get the difference Right , like that way they would get , all of you know whatever , whatever auction price they got , whatever .
Speaker 2Um , that is crazy . Yeah , that , the 15 is mine , that is mine , that is like that gets me . Like what do you mean ? 50 like if I were to release vehicles in my area with 15% of the invoice paid .
Speaker 1You go out of business within a month .
Speaker 2Nobody is coming back . No , like I know the U S financial laws are a little different . My camera keeps shifting . I know the U ? S laws are a little bit different , meaning that you know financially there's more penalties if you don't stay true to your financial obligations , right , like I know they're a lot stricter down there . But , like I would say , 60% of my customers , even 80% of the people in which I released that vehicle at 15% , are not coming back . They are taking the vehicle . They are leaving me with that IOU
. So , unless the state is going to look , there's got to be a backup plan that if you end up being owed and they don't come good for it , that the state must cover that . Like there has to be . You cannot force a company to release it at a fraction of their invoice without guarantee of compensation if they do everything right and it doesn't . You you know what I mean . Like that , that seems . That seems excessive , do you ?
Speaker 1think so , especially in Ontario . Here , with all the regulations that have come out , they're trying to our capitalistic society is . It's what we got . I don't care if you are for capitalism or against it , it's what we got , it's what we are working with . And the problem with the towing industry as a whole , from the eyes of the government and the consumers , is that we have to charge our customers accordingly because we are for profit businesses , businesses . With that being said , do you think in the next 20 to 30 years that you're going to see more towing companies no longer becoming companies per se but become part of the government , to where it's a government provided service and they work that into taxes somehow . And the government just deals with all the accidents on the side of the road to cut out all these inflated prices per se , because they're just sick of us doing our job and wanting to get compensated accordingly for it ?
Speaker 2I don't think so , because the reason I say that is you have other problems , like you already have . Like who does the highway maintenance ? They're for-profit companies . Yeah , right , already have . Like who does the highway maintenance ? They're for-profit companies .
Speaker 2No , right in in the province of ontario , fun fact , um , the , the provincial police at one point had their own tow truck . Okay , it was a , like a roll tight flatbed that they could for sensitive um , you know , for for fatals . Were possibly those people trapped inside ? Whatever the case may be , the province had their own tow truck and they would send out to go , and a lot of times this stuff would end up going to toronto or something like that . Right , they recently got rid of it . Their reason , the reasoning was and this is all hearsay , of course yeah , um , the reasoning , to my understanding , allegedly , was that they did not like um exposing their civilian members because that's who would operate , it would be a civilian unit member of the police to the horrors in which they were seeing . Because , don't forget , this roll tarp tight truck doesn't go out for a two car NBC , the fender bender , right , this thing is going out to a where a vehicle caught fire and the guy was trapped inside and and they need to get it back to be able to identify him .
Speaker 2The worst of the worst they did not want to expose their civilian members who are operating these trucks to that that kind of thing . So they say send the towing company , because they're slightly slow already . We will just keep exposing them to it it was ironic the reasoning they gave that allegedly that's .
Speaker 1The big issue , though , is the police , fire , ems . They all have these resources available to them to deal with PTSD and the appropriate procedures in place for those traumatic events . Now , I'm not saying that the towing industry shouldn't have something like that , but most places don't . Why ? Because it costs money , and a fair few towing companies are already running on fairly thin margins , and probably even thinner margins now that all these practices have been thrown on the towing industry . So there just isn't that budget to hire a counselor full-time to be able to counsel your drivers when stuff like this happens . Our outlook on that is dark humor and camaraderie between co-workers . That's how we normally get through it , and if you're in a place that you're not super close with your co-workers or your management or whatever , you might slip through the cracks and not have a support system per se to deal with that kind of shit , and it's unfortunately the truth right .
Speaker 2So the the group with our government , funded resources , yeah , to help deal with these terrible accidents and these things that you see in the , the smell of burnt flesh and and whatnot and so forth . Like every . I don't think I'm hurting anyone's feelings by talking about that . I mean , we've all encountered at one point or another . If we haven't , if you haven't yet and you're listening , I'm sorry it does happen . Please seek help if you need it , right , but it's , it's the truth , it's . You know , they went well , we don't want to subject our members to this right because they were civilian members , they were not frontline officers driving the you know these tow trucks . So they gave it off to the group , who doesn't have those resources , and and it'd say pretty much , deal with it , right , um , so no , going back to your original question about do you see the province just coming , or you know the province or federal level , however they want to do it just coming out and saying we are going to to do it all as a , a government entity ?
Speaker 2I don't think so . I'm not saying it's not possible way , way , way in the future . I'm just saying we will not see it in our lifetimes or our future kids lifetimes . I don't think it is something that I could see , but that'd be like , you know , the the government taking over farming and saying we're gonna run all the farms . I mean , they kind of do it the way that they they regulate and price everything but at the same time , um , they are still for-profit businesses . Um , it's a false for-profit idea . I think . Um , it's a very controlled for-profit . Uh , the same way that the towing industry and other industries are slowly becoming , um , but to say that they will take over and I don't think they want it , I I mean because , yeah , I don't think they want it , I don't think my tax dollars can handle what the government would pay tow operators .
Speaker 1That's . The other issue , though , is if they do bring out these like if they do go ahead with doing that for the highway accidents and the local police department towing needs you're going to leave the few towing companies that are left to do all the private tows , I'm assuming the disabled , the .
Speaker 2Yeah , the government locked my keys in my car that kind of bullshit .
Speaker 1Yeah well , the rates are going to have to get inflated even more on the remaining services that these towing companies can provide under the capitalistic society , because they lost a good revenue stream of doing accident tows right . So I think it would be a very double-edged sword , because if they're trying to curve the rates and the absorbent , absorbent fees that we charge in quotations for the audio listeners , I think it would do the opposite really .
Speaker 2Well , no , you'd need different equipment . No , I don't think it would necessarily drive those rates up to compensate on that stuff . It's just your business structure would be different based on the units that you'd provide . If you were just doing more service calls and actual tows , you would look at more service vehicles . You would do that kind of thing right . So it's a different . Yeah , I , I can't say it's not . You're gonna up the rate of an unlock by a hundred dollars to offset because you're not getting this . You'd restructure your business in a way um , that , uh , you know , accommodates what your volume is like .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Under state law , towing carriers can only charge a notification fee and storage fees if they've notified the owner of a vehicle about a non-consensual tow by certified mail .
Speaker 2This makes sense . The investigation found about 2,000 owners of vehicles were charged a notification fee of at least $75 without any documentation by Wyatts that the statutory requirement of notification had been met . In other words , they didn't have records of sending out the certified mail notifications and charge it anyways . If a tow vehicle was found to be abandoned at a tow lot , a towing carrier can sell the vehicle to recover the cost of the tow and any other fees incurred by the towing operator . State law previously required the towing carriers pay any proceeds to the sale , of the sale to the Colorado Department of Revenue , which would disperse the money to the owner of the vehicle . Why ? Why should the owner who abandoned the vehicle in the towing yard receive any sort of that money ? Yeah , like , what is your ? Your justification ? I got illegally towed . I said I don't have the money for the . I guess it's a finite .
Speaker 2It is colorado like . It's colorado very like progressive in the sense of bleeding heart , are they I ? I feel like this kind of gives me the idea , on this section at least . But yeah , the investigation also alleged why it withheld information from people who had their cars towed about the law that allowed them to pay only a portion . I would too . That allowed them to pay a portion of the fees up front and get their vehicle and , for a while , required customers to enter into a loan agreement to utilize the towing bill of rights and for a while required customers to enter into a loan agreement to utilize the towing bill of rights .
Speaker 1Um I colorado has been trending uh democrat in the last years due to the rising percentage of young college educated , suburban and unaffiliated voters leaning to the democrat side , so I don't want to get into the whole geopolitical of the whole thing .
Speaker 2I just kind of , you know , I wasn't sure where Colorado Colorado wasn't , you know , a Texas um wasn't a fair enough Um , yeah , so the company was accused of not telling customers they could pay a portion of their bill to get their vehicle out . Uh , like , would you willingly , if you had that law ? I would , you know , do like , I would have it posted , I would meet the government requirement minimum to a T . Right , because that's how you stay out of trouble . Let's be honest , trouble let's . Let's be honest . Towing and government requirements are all about finding the minimum on certain things that hurt you and and applying the minimums . So I would , but I would not be . Hey , I'm here to get my car . Okay , the bill's two hundred dollars , right , okay , well , I don't have two hundred dollars , oh's , okay , like , you can just pay the 15% , which is $30 , and get your car out of here , no problem , let me , let me help you with that . Let me , let me fill out this form that you need to fill . Let me , like , go suck it . Yeah , I am not , unless the law may mandate that I have to , which I don't know what the law actually states they have to do .
Speaker 2But a hundred percent , I'm not telling people if I don't have to . Like , imagine that a two hundred dollar , because it's capped . It's at sixty dollars , yep , which is four hundred dollar invoice , right , anything over four hundred dollars . You are . You know , your percentage point starts going down . Yep , so does the state of colorado . But , like , what is the offset ? How do they get the rest of it If the customer doesn't pay ? And why should the towing company be out of pocket ? And now my understanding is there is an interest they can charge on that . Okay , so , but it's still you're financing a release of a car . That's what you're doing . You're financing the release of a car with an interest rate .
Speaker 1Well , I think we're seeing this a lot more in today's society , where credit is becoming more prevalent and things like Affirm and Apple Pay , where you can break things down into installments , is becoming like a norm for a lot of people , because not too many people save everyone's living paycheck to paycheck , with the higher cost of living and bullshit like that , and there is reasons why people stay broke . I'm not saying that there isn't , but there is . Like people don't have safety nets anymore and if you are in debt , I would highly recommend getting a safety net of at least a month or two of your living expenses put aside and then start tackling more on your debt so you can take care of yourself . Something happens .
Speaker 2And if you're stupid and your car ?
Speaker 1gets impounded , then at least you have some money to get your car back out of the impound lot . But that's not the world we live in . So I think the next step for us as towing companies is to offer payment plans with interest at a stupid interest rate like 32.5 . So it's on par with credit cards to say hey you , you got a thousand dollar towing bill . We can break that down into a two-year payment plan . Um , there's 32 percent interest . You're going to end up paying like 12 , 13 , 1400 by the time everything's all said and done . Hell , it could even be closer to two grand by the time everything's all said and done . And if you stop paying , then we'll put it to collections and done . Hell , it could even be closer to two grand by the time everything's all said and done . And if you stop paying , then we'll put it to collections and then someone will buy it off of us for whatever .
And I think that's something that the towing industry is going to have to go through , because you can buy now and pay later for furniture , cars , like tiny little purchases . You can do it on Amazon for purchases that are $40 . I'm sorry , if you don't have $40 to buy some bullshit off of Amazon . You don't need the bullshit off of Amazon .
Speaker 1I'm sorry that's my little bit of a rant , but finances , I think , plays a big role in this , and just people don't have the money , and I'm sorry that people don't have the money . A lot of people are in the same boat , but at the end of the day , the company providing the service , regardless if you ask for it or not , has to get compensated . And I think the buy now , pay later strategy as much as I hate it , it's here to stay and it does have its uses for certain things . I think that's something the towing companies are going to have to start implementing to try to get paid , because that's what Colorado's pretty much done , right ? They say , well , you pay 15% down , you put 15% down and then they will charge you interest on the remaining of your bill .
Speaker 2Well , you got to watch though , too , because part of this complaint against this why it's towing and one of the ones I didn't read because I didn't think at the time it was going to be important as conversation was they were also accused of charging the maximum rate of interest allowed without going up into you know some other financial section that they would require , so they are capped on the amount of interest that they are allowed to charge as well . No , I don't know . I'm reading the bill now quickly as we do it , so obviously it's not going to be very thorough and it might be something we have to touch back on , um to try and see if I can find what those are or what the um . What happens to a vehicle that you know they take the 15 and they don't pay it back does ? Does the state um cover that ? Um , I have not found anything , uh yet to justify that .
Speaker 1So well , that's , that's the other thing . Okay , so you're saying that the state should reimburse you , but then you're saying here's daddy government coming to .
Speaker 1If we're going to be a private for-profit company , why don't we do it the same way , as I know , banks get bailouts all the fucking time and they're just like another branch of the government .
Speaker 1But if , let's say , I rack up a thousand dollars of credit card debt and I don't pay my monthly , monthly payments , or I don't pay any of the interest , and that interest is gained to a fifteen hundred dollars , well , that credit card company , it's not worth their time to try to fight me over the fifteen hundred dollars . So they'll just sell it to a debt collector for $1,200 . Right . And then that debt collector will try to get you to pay the $1,500 , what it actually is , right . So why don't us , as towing companies , say okay , government , you screwed us enough . We're not going to rely on you for dealing with the mess that you made . We just going to deal with it ourselves and go that route , right . So then you are at least getting paid because you're dealing with another for-profit business . Is it shady sometimes ? Sure it is . But if that's the route that we're going to go to get payment , that's kind of what we should do .
Speaker 2Well , I Well , I okay , so I want to um this bill in Colorado that I'm reviewing and this , this whole thing that we were talking about , I think it's important to mention , only applies to um concern the rights of a person with ownership interest in a vehicle that has been towed from private property without the person's consent and in connection there with making an appropriation so this is not no , no , no , don't just say non-consensual to private property removal .
Speaker 2Non-consensual toes is what this applies to . So I kind of changed my tune once I , once I realized that they can pay the 15 . Take the vehicle . Who should be responsible for that remaining balance ? You entered into an agreement with the property owner , right Like . This agreement was not entered into .
Speaker 2This is not the case of Ontario , where you are getting called by police to to remove something from a highway with no guarantee of payment and letting that 15% slide . This is not NBCs . These are not excessive . I don't want to say excessive because it's a bad word , but these are not towing invoices that are going to be on the higher scale of things . These are hook and books private property removal . Should the registered owner not pay more than the 15% ? A hundred percent .
Speaker 2The property owner in which you entered into the agreement to should be responsible . He is the one that they are , I shouldn't say he . They are the ones that requested that you remove vehicles from their property and entered into an agreement with you right now . That's the trick . Nobody's going to start that trend . No , because the first towing company that does that is going to lose their private parking contracts . And what are they going to do ? They're going to move to the next company who's not going to do it .
Speaker 2That is where it should be right , like it should be that , and we used to do something similar . So we don't do private parking anymore at all . Even and it hurts me sometimes because sometimes it's our good commercial customers who have a vehicle parked on their property and we won't remove it . We will only remove a vehicle from private property at the request of the bylaw or the police . What's ironic is they'll call the police , ask them if they can have the vehicle removed . They will go , yes , and they will say call this company , call us , and we're like , yeah , we don't do that . Yeah , the reason is is because of the bad , you know , public image , and I think we'd spoke about that before the bad public image . So we won't do it .
Speaker 2But there is a need for it , right , and I know the states . It is a big business , the us , and especially in the cities and I'm sure even in the city , big cities here in Canada , it is a you know , a need to have , but it's such a shitty side of the industry to be in and I don't , you know , I'm not shitting on the operators that operate within it , I'm just saying , like , as a tow operator , for the most part , you know again , we show up and we help people . I mean , you could take that same approach with with PPIs , right ? That's what we call PPIs is that they're helping , they're helping the property owners , they are still helping us , but you are literally .
Speaker 1Well , they're also helping the fire department if that car's parked on a firelight , yeah , I'd say 99% of their calls aren't that .
Speaker 2Yeah , they'll get that one cool one . Yeah , um , right , like they'll get those cool calls . But at the same time you are pretty much just pissing off every vehicle owner that you touch their vehicle . Nobody is happy to have a ppi . Um , I've never been towed for it . I've done towing for it and don't get me wrong , sometimes it's fun .
Speaker 2Yeah , get a bit of a complex getting that thing , getting it out of there , right , like it's cool , um , but it's a shitty side of the industry to be in . It's a necessity , but it's a shitty side . So , um , you know , looking at , there's still like this colorado state telling me that I can do that . I get it . It was probably to avoid charges . You know , they had to control it because people were charging what we would charge for an accident to do private property removal . They weren't notifying people , the car would sit there forever . They'd run the invoices up , like there's all that kind of stuff . So I get it .
Speaker 2I do in a sense , given the nature of that section , I get it , but as long as it doesn't apply to regular towing because , like , if , so , if , if these laws start coming in in different areas , um , you know , we talked about the us and and all their fights they're having , similar to ontario . Um , you know , I think we got to start going after the government for predatory practices because , god damn , you cannot control private industry . That as hard as you want to control it , right .
Speaker 2But um , also thanks , joe , and fuck you for taking up half of our podcast length that was , uh , nowhere near the intent of today's show , but I'm I'm glad we could get into it . That's that's some of the most organic conversations we'll have on .
Speaker 1The show is based on , you know , stuff that pops up and ideas so if you want to take up half of our show next week , feel free to comment in the comments down below with an interesting topic . Hit us up , send us an email towinglifegmailcom , or find us on Facebook . Do a little bleep bloop on one of our posts or send us a message on messenger . There's plenty of ways to get ahold of us .
Speaker 2Now we know why I do those reads . My Lord , you kind of just just just reach out to us . Okay , guys , go find the , find the .
Speaker 1You know there's been there's been studies to show if you tell people to do one thing , they're more likely to do it . If you ramble off a bunch of things that you want them to do , they'll do none of them .
Speaker 2Really yeah . Is that why I do nothing when my wife gives me a list of seven things ? But if she just asked me to do one thing , I'll go do it .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah . Because you feel just overwhelmed , like it's a daunting task , when they say these are the 18 things you got to do to get to your goal and you're like , wow , that's a lot of things . But if you just break your goals down into a lot smaller steps , like oh , make your bed in the morning , okay , well , I achieved that goal , right , and you get a little dopamine hit because you achieved something and you completed something . You set your goals small to slowly work towards your bigger overarching goal . So if I say please like this video today , and then next week I say please subscribe to my YouTube channel , it might actually , you know , count up to something like this video today and then next week I say please subscribe to my youtube channel , it might actually , you know , count up to something we're doomed as a society if we need to break hitting your goals into small little chunks that these sensitive little generation can can swallow without you know choking no , it's not that at all .
Speaker 1fuck you for that . No , it's the human condition . No , it's the human fucking condition . If you do smaller things , they're easier to obtain . Like if I say to you I want you to go from nothing , you probably have , like , let's just say , five thousand dollars in your uh bank account . I want you to go up and start a 10 million dollar towing company with nothing else . That's a daunting task even with your knowledge . But if I say I want you to go out and get your towing equipment for doing service calls and start doing service calls , well , that's a lot easier attainable goal , right Aside from starting up the actual business and all the paperwork stuff . You can go out and you can buy some of the equipment and then you can get the ball rolling and you can snowball .
Speaker 1It's always that snowball effect when people say I'll use me as an example I want to start up a farm . I've got 105 acres . Okay , I want 35 head of cattle . I want to be able to stay at home and raise a family on my farm . That's a great goal . But that's a long-term goal . I can do it on a year-to-year basis to where I can see cause and effect over that course of the year . Okay , I want to build a chicken tractor so I can get 30 chickens and start selling them and then I can start eating some of my own meat . Well , that's a more attainable goal . Okay , next year I want to start putting up some fences . Okay , and I start putting up these fences and I get fencing done , okay . Well , now that's open the opportunity for me to start getting cattle Right and it's it just snowballs .
Speaker 2I agree with you on that . Where I was was the reference of set yourself like , make your bed today like well , if you've ever listened to jordan peterson it's a good way .
Speaker 1If you are in a slump and a lot of people are , you're like oh , day-to-day is very mundane , just bullshit . You're just going through life as you're just floating by right . If you wake up in the morning and you make your bed and you can actually say I've done something within your first 10 minutes of being awake , it sets yourself up as a better mood for the rest of the day because you've already accomplished something . You know you should do something . You've accomplished that goal and it's easier to start accomplishing other things . Because when you wake up in your day and you're like OK , well , I got to do the dishes , I got to do laundry , I got to do this and you gotta do that and you gotta do the whole laundry list of things , of generic humans gotta do in the day , a lot of people new people , old people can get overwhelmed with that list of seven things , like you said .
Speaker 2But I think a lot of newer people . We'll call them newer people . Like younger people , get newer people and get a little overwhelmed . A little quicker on it . Like I said , I'm not trying to shit on your strategy for setting goals . I think goals in life , goals in business goals are absolutely important and achieving your goals are one thing . Right , like you know , that is how you get forward in life . I 100% agree .
Speaker 2Like I said , I was just shitting on the softer generation that's got broken up into so small of tasks , right , how many , how many of these , these younger generations , younger operators that you have to like , literally focus on one tiny little thing at a time because they get overwhelmed . Right , like I'm , I'm shitting on that side of it . I'm shitting on the , the newer generation , you know , and the same as my generation was in comparison to my father's and his generation was in comparison to his father , right , this is a trend , um , I had this debate with him and actually I probably have this debate again after today's show about him with him . Um , tonight for father's day , when I see him , you should have it .
Speaker 1You're not too fun .
Speaker 2Nah , you don't know about me and my father's relationship . Okay , it's already broken . Let's um , let's just beat it up a little bit more . Um , but uh , but no , I was like I said the how small of pieces they have to be cut up into to you know , not affect their fragile um thought process or feelings behind it on how small you got to break up some of the , the , the goals . Goals are important , but let's be honest , like we are very softer to a lot of
things .
Speaker 2Back in the day , it was figured out right , I had , I had this conversation with my general manager not long ago where , um , it was like , has this operator been shown how to do this ? And I don't remember what it was . It was something fairly simple of a task , like it wasn't a , it wasn't like a sea can it was ? I don't remember what it was . And he goes have they been shown how to do that ? And I said , no , not that I remember . I'm sure they can figure it out . Well , that is not fair to put on somebody to expect them to figure it out without being shown , and that hit a nerve with me because as much as , yes , training is a valuable , you know , as valuable as ever . Like , training is required . You cannot hold hands through every type of scenario , meaning if I've shown you how to do a scissor lift , you should be able to shown you how to do a scissor lift . You should be able to figure out how to do a forklift . You know what I mean . Like , if I've given you those basics , you should be able to figure out that situation . Ironically , the next day I had to go , do ? I think we talked about the motorcycle in the quarry and when we recovered it , we strapped it down to the wheel , lift sideways , hung it off the boom , like we've done bikes before . And I remember I sent the picture to my general manager and he goes oh nice . I said , yeah , you know who taught me that ? Nobody , we figured it out like you .
Speaker 2The towing industry , as much as you know . I think we go too far to the one side on it where we don't train people at all and just send them out and get them to figure it out . There has to be that balance . Right , these new guys , you literally need to hold their hands to a lot of stuff , right ? Is that for the better or for the worst ? Like is it ? Yes , they're getting more training , so you could view that as a positive . But at the same time they're not figuring anything out on themselves because they've had their handheld , I believe , through everything and I've got a couple operators that are still the exception to that right .
Speaker 2I had a kid not long ago . He's a couple months in . I'm at a body shop checking out a call or picking up something , and I happen to see one of our trucks in the backyard . So I'm like I'm going to go over and check them out , see how he's doing Right . I go into the back , it's a little pickup truck missing a whole wheel right . The whole right front assembly is gone .
Speaker 2And this guy's a couple months in , so still fairly green , I think we can agree . And he's got this thing jacked up , put up on blocks , skate , put under it like textbook hookup for a new guy , and did it all without asking any questions . Now he was shown it once . He was shown it once on a rear wheel right , or he was shown once on a , you know , just playing around in the yard , but he was not shown in that specific scenario . He had the mind to take it and go . I've learned this before something similar . How do I apply it in this situation and I think that you know that's what makes a good operator , that's what makes these new guys . You look distracted . You were reading something .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2I swear to God , if it's more motivational videos , I'm cutting your feet off .
Speaker 1No , but it's going back to how you're saying everything's got to be broken down into small , attainable goals , so , no . So the average house price in 1980 , this is just a quick little . I got four tabs open in Canada , right , the graphs are approximately $75,000 for a starter home in 1980 . And in 1989 , the average house price was $150,000 . Right , okay . So double , then you go . Okay , right . The average salary household salary in 1980 was $55,000 and 61 cents For an individual . It was $23,018 . Right , okay .
Speaker 2Because dual income . So I mean you can have Wait,18 . Okay , because dual income . I mean how many dual Wait ? Wait , wait , wait , wait , wait . What year was this ? 1980 . How many dual income households were there in the 80s ?
Speaker 1Well , it was becoming more prevalent after World War .
Speaker 2II .
Speaker 1After World War II , because they brought all the females into the factories , it became more prevalent . You got into the suburban lifestyle . Yadaada , yada , it's just so not towing related I know it's not towing related , but it kind of sheds a bit of a light on a nerve anyways .
Speaker 1So we average house prices 75 000 . Average income dual income household 55 000 . You could have that house paid off in like 10 years , five years , if you wanted to . Yada yada , yada . Right , easy math , okay , 2024 average selling price of a home in ontario uh , eight hundred ninety three thousand two hundred dollars right , it's not fair .
Speaker 1Toronto blows everything up okay , even around me in smaller areas a new new townhouse $600 , $700 , right , it's not cheap , I think so . Average household income in Canada an average annual salary in Canada in 2023 was $64,850 . That's going to take you a lot longer . So in the average house price was two years of your salary 1980 , $55,000 . Average house price two years of your salary 1980 , 55,000 . Average house price 75,000 less than two years , you make more right .
Speaker 1In less than two years , you had enough money to fully pay off that house without your living expenses . Yeah , in 2024 , you're making $64,850 . Well , let's , I'm going to do some quick math .
Speaker 2If you want to know . Tomangia is doing math . Lord , save us all , man . I have definitely hit a nerve with this one , with you .
Speaker 1Hmm , that you have divided by 64 , 850 .
Speaker 2So , like I get what you're saying , it's going to be like 10 , 12 years , so yeah it's almost 14 years .
Speaker 1If all your income went straight to the house , which isn't possible , no , of course . So the goals have gotten a lot larger . Right . To own a home Now you got to have a lot of wealth behind you , a lot of savings , or you're going to be paying for it for the rest of your life , right , so ? Or you're going to be paying for it for the rest of your life , right , so the goals have just looked so unattainable , right ? When you look at home ownership , which is just a big idea in this , it's very hard to motivate yourself because that goal just seems so far off To where .
Speaker 1If you break things down okay , well , this year I want to save $5,000 . I want to put $5,000 into a 401k , I want to put $5,000 into a retirement fund , I want to do whatever In a year to save $5,000 , it's a lot easier than saying I want to buy a house this year , right , so it's easier to motivate yourself because it's a more attainable goal . Right , that's the saying of keep your expectations low to avoid disappointment . That's the saying of keep your expectations low to avoid disappointment . That's a good thing and a bad thing at the same time , because if you say I want to be a millionaire next year . It's very hard to attain that , but if you've broken , okay , well , instead I want to be a millionaire . How am I going to get there ? Okay , well , there's a 10 step . I can see myself doing it in 10 different steps .
Speaker 1So you break that down and every time you hit a step in that goal , you're still working for that million dollars . But you can say , okay , well , I made $5,000 . Or I saved $5,000 this month , or this year and next year . Okay , well , I was able to save $5,000 last year . What if I save $10,000 this year ? Right , and then you save $10,000 that year and year ? What if I save 10 this year ? Right , and then you save 10 that year ?
Speaker 2it just makes it easier to once again snowball yourself into that end goal , right , okay , so the only way that I can save this so that you understand that we can keep the show related towards towing because anyways it is um is no , the towing industry has faced the same problem , right ? Average price of a tow truck back in the 1980s , 1970s , um versus basic rate of a tow was a lot closer of a margin . You look at price of tows now compared to 1980s , they haven't increased much , they've barely increased . We've seen some guys with rate sheets from back when , when you go , we're like $20 more and a tow truck will cost north of you know , 200 .
Speaker 2Yep , you know , a tow truck price has increased 100% , multiple times , like threefold , and yet the price of tows have increased 40% , 30% , all that kind of stuff . So you know , and it's inflation is real , yep , right , and the market can't keep up , but then , at the same time , you can't go . Well , tow trucks need to make more money , like what is like . What is your point on this , though ? That people should make more money or that things should cost less money ?
Speaker 2No , because there's no nice solution to this .
Speaker 1This is . This is kind of calling back to what we're what I was talking about earlier on in the show of why financing small purchases have become so prevalent , right , right uh , because and people are stupid though .
Speaker 2People are like I can't afford 60 , but I can afford five dollars a month with interest , for you know what I mean eight months and end up paying exactly well it's eight months . There would be like 12 , but that's the thing .
Speaker 1Is everything with the same day or next day shipping . Everything's instant gratification . I go to McDonald's , I buy bullshit . I get that reward . I buy bullshit . Well , that's what it is . You stop in a convenience store , you get gas and you go inside and you get bullshit with you . It's sunflower seeds . That's bullshit .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'm a sucker for sunflower seeds Exactly . Well , how much money could you save if you didn't get your sunflower seeds ? It's going to be natural like not that much money over the course of a year . But if you do that with that snickers that you got , or you do that with whatever bullshit that you don't really need and live more minimalistically , you'd be able to have a savings and you'd be able to cash roll yourself instead of going into debt to get new things that you need . Right if , instead , if you had a couple thousand dollars set aside for emergencies and you get your car impounded or you need a new set of brakes , right instead of well , I need my car to get to work , and if I don't have brakes on my car , then I can't work , and then it's just a downward spiral . You're like , well , I guess I got to put it on credit . Well , that's only setting yourself up for failure because you're going to have to pay that back with interest . You know what we're going to do ?
Speaker 2I have a solution .
Speaker 2Okay , we are going to send G to the great state of Colorado .
Speaker 2He can become an official Coloradan which is new information to me today and he will come around to your towing companies and give his life lessons to any customer who decides to 15% pay and finance the rest of their vehicle out and explain to them why it is a bad idea , so that you cannot end up like why it's towing .
Speaker 2You can offer them the services you can say , you know what . You can pay 15% of your invoice and pay the rest later minutes and listen to him explain to you why , why you are making bad life decisions and need to smarten up that . That is what we are going to do . So if there is any towing company in the great state of colorado that would like to have mr toman g as their 15 um refuser , we we call them or or um , uh , you know , negotiator . Yeah , that'll be the deal 15% finance the recipe . You got to sit 45 minutes with this guy so that he can explain to you George Peterson or whoever the hell he talked about and and and the , the economics of the working class and how it directly affects you .
Speaker 1I will make a one simple plug . If you are interested in finances and you do want to better yourself .
Speaker 2Caleb Hammer , you're not selling a help book .
Speaker 1I'm not selling a help book Well , he does offer shit but just his free videos on YouTube . Caleb Hammer he does financial audits . He's out of Austin , texas . If you want to be on a show , you can be on a show .
Speaker 2And he just goes through people's shitty fucking life .
Speaker 1Uh situation , this guy they go like yeah I've got a car payment of this I make this much money and he breaks out a white haired guy . Yeah well , he's not an old white haired guy , he's a young kid , he's like 30 oh , maybe I've seen some other version , some other guy , yeah , yeah calip hammer on youtube .
Speaker 2Look him up , he's funny , funny fucking shit well , this episode absolutely got away from us and I apologize to our listeners . We didn't touch on anything that we wanted to talk about .
Speaker 1We got if it fits , it ships for next week . Road etiquette We've got a Facebook post that's probably three months old at this point if we actually touch to it . We've got your stupid life decisions of doing 3,000 kilometers in three days .
Speaker 2Uh yeah , we got a lot of shit that we got to talk about next week so be sure to tune in next week for another episode of the towing life podcast , where we aim to go three for three in three weeks in a row . Um , without issue . On behalf of myself and my wonderful co-host , mr tomanji , we thank you for coming out for another episode and we cannot wait to see you again next week . Take care , toodles .
The dumbest episode we've ever done . I liked it . It was good . Of course you did , because it doesn't do anything about towing . Yeah , it's fine . No , it's not . I would like to make you point your eyes to the top of the screen here , sir .
Speaker 1And what's behind me , but we've done a lot of videos that have all focused around the towing industry , which is good and bad in a way , because that's what our fucking show is about . I know it's what our fucking show is about , but it's good to get off topic . Sometimes . Some of our best performing shows have been off topic shows because , as much as our fan base likes towing , they're also here for us I think my joke at the end absolutely wrapped that fucking perfectly which one the colorado thing , like we're gonna send you to Colorado and like , yeah , you can take the 15% , but you gotta sit with this motherfucker for 45 minutes and listen to this bullshit .