One of my buddies gave me a shirt . We tell people to send us shit all the time . Send us your memorabilia . I like free shit . We'll wear it on the show .
Speaker 2No , people want us to send them free shit .
Speaker 1Yeah , well .
Speaker 2Tell them to send us free shit first . Okay , I'll send you free shit for free shit . Yes .
Speaker 1As long as you send us free shit , we can sell it for a profit and then we can give you guys free shit . There you go , hey everyone I'm brad from calgary .
Speaker 2This is sean from cambridge , ontario . I'm terry from cornell , ontario .
Speaker 1Hey , this is larry from pitmetals , british columbia , and you're listening to the towing life podcast , where the ditches are deep , the trucks are loaded but the drivers are not . I'm your host , tomei and g , and , as usual , I'm joined by my co-host , friend and former co-worker , the man with very strong opinions , mr plain guy what is going on ?
Speaker 2g . What is going on ?
Speaker 1oh , I'm getting excited because I'm going to have a fire after recording this , so hopefully I'll be able to get this video edited in time for Tuesday .
Speaker 2Nice , burn it to the ground . I don't know what you're burning , but burn all of it the house , the trailer , the shed , just burn it all .
Speaker 1I'm not going to do that . My fire permit doesn't allow fires that big .
Speaker 2On next week's episode , we'll find out how G frauded the insurance company out of home insurance for burning down his property .
Speaker 1The only thing that's close to the fire pit is my truck with a bed load full of wood .
Speaker 2There you go .
Speaker 1It's called a fire . Last time I had a fire I still had the whole bed full of wood and the tonneau cover half rolled up , and all the sparks and embers from the fire were landing on the tunnel cover . So instead of moving my truck , I just grabbed the hose that I have on ready and just hosed down my whole truck . It's like there we go , problem solved , haven't even , haven't even looked at the truck in a week since that fire , so I don't know if there's any damage to it or not .
Speaker 2Your tunnel cover might have a built-in sprinkler system in the top of it for when it rains . Maybe , maybe I can start like a hydroponic garden in the bed of it or something do a little mudding , then park it and as long as it rains and you water your truck every once in a while , you'll have a little wheat field by the end of the summer yeah , who knows , maybe I could get 32 cents on the commodity crop prices out of it jesus .
Speaker 2The things that go on with behind the gates of the cult never cease to amaze me . So welcome to another episode of the tone life podcast . As g said , episode 148 . Creeping so much closer to our live episode number 150 , which we will be having I wrote it down again august 25th . August 25th , 6 pm east , uh , 3 pm on the west coast , or anytime in between that depending on where and when you're listening from , I guess . Um also good time with the live coming up questions , comments , concerns any topics you may want covered , or have that conversation with us on the live .
Speaker 2How can you reach us ? It's simple . You can , if you're watching over on youtube , comment down below . Don't forget to hit the like and subscribe . I always forget to mention it , so I'll start with it this week . You can visit us at wwwtowinglifeca . You can find us on Facebook at the Towing Life podcast , or you can email us directly at thetowinglifeatgmailcom .
Speaker 2Now , while you're over on the website and this is why I say it's the best spot to go you will see our social media feed there , where there is a link for the preorder for the 2024 PTO tow show t-shirts . We've got the towing . Save me from becoming a porn star Now , I'm just a hooker shirts that have circulated over the internet last year when I went to Baltimore . We will have them . They are by pre-order only . They are by pickup at the show only . So if you head over there , you'll see the link on our social media . If you don't have , you can always do it right through our website . You will see the link to it to get the pre-order .
Speaker 2The pre-order closes August 16th , so that's just a couple of days after this episode comes out . That's the next Friday episode comes out on the 13th . Pre-order ends on the 16th . So we have time to get the shirts made and brought to the tow show . So do not forget , head over to wwwtowinglifeca and find the link there to get the pre-order for the t-shirt , or emails directly and we'll get you set up . Send us a message , whatever it is , we'll make sure you're taken care of .
Speaker 2That toe show is coming up quick . That is september 16th 17th , so about a month after that we will be in kitchener for the professional towing association of ontario's 2024 annual toe show . It's supposed to be a great show . We've been working with some uh well , I have been doing nothing . As usual . We're working with some of our friends over the tow show to bring you guys some of the feed and videos from the parade and the procession , like we did last year . So head over , head over to the website , get the information , get the preorder for the shirt if you are going to be there . And if you are , don't forget we will see you in Bingman in September for the tow show .
Speaker 2So busy busy August , September for us .
Speaker 1Plain guy .
Speaker 2Yes , sir .
Speaker 1Where , where can all these fine ladies and gentlemen find our live ?
Speaker 2Oh , they can find our live on Facebook or on YouTube Coming out . I have a social media post that will be coming out for it . But , yes , you will be able to find our live , either here over on YouTube , if that's where you're listening , if you are on Spotify , amazon Music any of those , I do not believe you can get the live . We will have a replay . That will be the episode that comes out on the Tuesday . However , if you want , you can head over to our Facebook , head over to our YouTube and that is where you will find the live . We'll put a post up the day of uh , giving you the link , uh , depending on where you want to watch it . Um , so , either check out our website or the easiest way is just follow our social media . We're not on instagram , we're not on tiktok , we're not on all these things that I don't understand I think we have a tiktok account we just never do anything with it .
Speaker 2Yeah , as our uh as g is our lead social media marketing uh expert , he has failed severely in his duties severely , that's a new title I just gave him oh wow , thank you does it come with a pay raise ? What ? Yeah , no I'm doubling what I pay you okay , so double of nothing is still nothing 100% You're getting it , Matthew . You should be our accountant . If you want to be my accountant , I'll triple it .
Speaker 1No , because that would actually come with added work that you would expect me to do .
Speaker 2Yeah , if you want to be my accountant , I'll triple that , I'll three times pay .
Speaker 1Hey , just don't blame me . When the taxman comes knocking , I'll three times pay . Hey , just don't blame me when the tax man comes knocking .
Speaker 2Gotta make money to pay taxes .
Speaker 1Come on , aren't you rolling in the dough with this fine show ?
Speaker 2Oh , I'm pretty sure this fine show costs us money week after week after week . You just never see any of it .
Speaker 1We should set up like a donation link or something . There should be a donation link .
Speaker 2I don't mind going like podcast . Keep us from being homeless now . We do it for sheer passion . Not profit , um , profit's nice , but for the most part it's for passion . So remember that whenever you're listening and we have bad days , we don't get paid for this .
Speaker 1We do it for fun yeah , yeah , we haven't had a sponsor on the show in a hot minute . I'm not sure if the listeners actually care . I never really know .
Speaker 2They probably appreciate it .
Speaker 1They don't have ads now , it's great but I didn't hear any complaints about our ads when we were running ads that's because it was my wonderful voice behind 90 of them fair and they're .
Speaker 2They're already just so mesmerized while they're listening that that little bit extra just puts them over the top really , really just everyone's so starstruck hearing your voice let's get , let's get to , let's get to actual towing stuff .
Okay , um , what do you want to start with ?
Speaker 1you want to start with uh , I'll start with my uh , my little story here , because it's still fresh and if we wait any longer I won't be able to remember it . So I was in the bedroom with the girlfriend just before the show started we're not that kind of show .
Speaker 2G , we are not that kind of show . And uh I .
Speaker 1I thought we were starting with a video .
Speaker 1I'm now scared I brought up the question to her . It's like what should I talk about on the show ? Because I wanted a couple minutes to come in here and prep for the show , because I haven't been in the towing industry for coming up almost a year now , in case you didn't know . So it's , I feel like I've been slacking in the topic department a slight bit , so I wanted to do a little bit of added work there . And I said to her I was like so what do you think I should talk about on the show ? Because you know why do my own work if I can get someone else to do it for me . Work smart , not hard . And uh , she said , oh , we'll talk about the toe show stuff .
Speaker 1And our conversation kind of uh went to the word of well , I still need to buy CAA , because she used to be a CAA member . I was like well , and she doesn't normally keep her credit card on her because she's worried that she's going to use her credit card . I was like , well , you should have a picture of your credit card on your phone just in case for like emergencies . I'm a firm believer you should have a picture of your credit card number in case you don't remember the 18 digit long number , right ?
Speaker 2Or we have such thing called Apple Pay now .
Speaker 1Okay , number right . Or we have such thing called apple pay now okay , but I'm still saying you should have a picture of your credit card number on your phone , or at least some way to access . Have that number on your phone for four .
Speaker 2Wait when's it ? One quick second for anyone that's going to try and go back and stop that video .
Speaker 1Apple play does not show apple pay doesn't show all the numbers , so it's pointless so having a picture of your credit card on your phone is good for a lot of reasons just in case you lose your physical card copy and you know it's lost but not stolen , you can still get by . Uh , and she was like , well , no , I won't do that either because , well , I would just use that and I would just always spend it . But I do have a picture of your credit card number on my phone of course you do Nice , so you'll spend my money before you spend anyone else's money .
Speaker 2No , a hundred percent . A hundred percent . I'm pretty sure my wife's got my credit card number , but not hers . That sounds about right .
Speaker 1But I'm a firm believer of always having a picture of your credit card information on your phone , normally deep in your camera roll , just for that premise , like if you're at a store somewhere a lot of stores they can manually enter in credit where ?
Speaker 2where nowadays manually , will take a credit card over the phone ?
Speaker 1well , I mean if you're in a pinch and you say that's the only option and you've already got all your stuff there but like , why not literally just get apple pay ?
Speaker 2having on your phone is is just in well . There's google pay . It's the same thing . Oh like , having it on your phone is just as well as Google pay , it's the same thing , Like having a phone on your phone is just as unsecure .
Speaker 2In case somebody were to actually , like you know , access , they have the number . The only way you can get mine is by me looking at it , like by unlocking the phone or having the passcode . It's so secure nowadays . I mean , I'm sure there's some scammer that can tap your phone , whatever . They can do that to your wallet too , going down the road , whatever the case is . But like at least then you can tap . So you're , you're capped on how much you can tap , yeah , but like nowhere's writing down credit card numbers anymore , man . Like that is a dying , dying practice because of chargebacks yeah and people .
Speaker 2I don't know when I was in the industry .
Speaker 1that's what we did all the time I would get customers just to send me a picture of their credit card and I'd run it at the shop .
Speaker 2We won't do it . No , we've been lucky through our POS system that we can send them . So first we were doing credit card authorization forms that they would fill out , right , similar to hotels have sent me those when I've got drivers staying out on the road and I'm using my credit card , um , and those didn't even protect us against chargebacks . Um , what has protected us against chargeback is we use Moneris and through Moneris we are able to send a payment request link . So we put in the information , the call number , the amount , the email address , all that , the general description . We send you a request .
Speaker 2From that request , you are responsible , like you would do an online shopping . You fill out your name , your billing address , your credit card number , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah enter . That way , we're not filling it out . Way , we're not filling it out . When we're filling it out , we're responsible , right ? If somebody is using a stolen card and doing that , that is now the insurance on the cards problem , right , because it was the person that entered it . If the vendor enters it , in our case , we're the vendor , we are responsible and we had chargebacks like that and so we stopped doing it . It's a great system , I wish . We're trying to see if there's a way to do it by text that they're hopefully coming out with because email is still a little bit like .
Speaker 2It'd be nice if there was a text link option . Yep , the technology is there and , like older people like you know , some older people don't have email . Most old , like my grandparents , know how to enter their credit cards for really bad reasons , but they know how to use their credit cards online now when they're 80 , some years old . So you know what I mean . Like a text option like that and just , you're covered , you're protected . Weirdly enough , you're not always protected 100% . I wasn't going to , I didn't even think of this story until we got onto this topic of credit cards . We had a customer who had a vehicle impounded , for I believe it was stunt driving or suspended license , whatever the case was came in , picked up his impound claim that my driver caught one of his um ABS wires on a Mercedes . Right , I remember you telling the story . You remember the story , right ? Okay , so um wanted us to pay for the damages . We refused . We , you know , we looked into it , we reviewed the damage . We've seen where the wire was ran up . There's no way to hit it . All that good stuff . Yep , he filed a fraudulent charge with his credit card company , yeah , and provided them the repair invoice and like which didn't make any sense , like this is not a credit card fraudulent charge . He was in our place of business with his card , manually put our you know , put it in , put the pin number in , and now he's current claiming fraudulent because we wouldn't pay . So there's three normally appeal processes . We won one , lost two . We lost the appeal on it and lost the funds .
Speaker 2Wow , for a situation that has nothing to do with a credit card processing company . Your card was not fraudulently used . You went to that business , received a copy of the invoice , paid said invoice and then had a problem with them and decided that your best recourse was going to be like no , that was fraudulent . What do you mean ? It was fraudulent . You were there . I got video footage showing you that I'm explaining the invoice to you lost the appeal . That's stupid . Credit cards suck
when you're a company . Honestly , e-transfers are our main and americans like e-transfer . E-transfer is a way , through email , to send funds directly . It's kind of like using a venmo , but it's .
Speaker 1Everyone pretty much has it linked to their email oh , is that why everyone in the states has venmo or cash app ?
Speaker 2because they don't have e-transfers they don't have e-transfers in the states yeah , wow , yeah , so it's . It's venmo cash app , paypal um that kind of stuff . I don't know why they don't have e-transfer yeah , um let's be honest , it took them forever to get chips in their cards .
Speaker 2Um , really , I believe , yeah , yeah , they didn't have uh , because they didn't have cards I think e-transfer is interact , and interact is canadian , um , so the company who does it interact e-transfers is not in the states . Um , no man , their tap , their tap and their stuff is so different than here . Like it's the same idea . You tap it , yeah , but like I've seen where I have to tap , is it tap and put in a pin , or tap and sign or put in a pin , and yeah , yeah , they have like a weird like us , it's tap and put in a pin , or tap and sign or put in a pin , and yeah , yeah , they have like a weird like us , it's tap and done and pin , that's it . I've had to like put in a pin and sign .
Speaker 1I've had to like tap the point of even tapping them . I don't know like I in drive-throughs , like if I roll through the mickey d's drive-through , all I gotta do if there's no one in front of me , they hand the machine out the window . Confirm my order , I tap on the screen and I'm driving before the machine's even done , beeping to say the process has gone through .
Speaker 2I don't even touch the machine . When I go down to the state , same thing with restaurants . They still do the thing which always boggles me in the states , because they come with the bill and I go okay , credit card , I go okay , and they stand there and we're used to where they bring the machine to the table .
Speaker 3Yep .
Speaker 2Not in the States . You give them the card , they take the card , they go to the back , they run it and then you have that little tip where you would write the tip and the new total . They still do that in the States .
Speaker 1Really . So you got to mathematically add the tip yes , wow , yeah . So for you American listeners .
Speaker 2how ? So for you American listeners , how we do things in Canada , the land of maple syrup and common sense is we have our machine and we put in our card , whatever the case is , and there's a tip option right on it , and so you just do everything right there at the table .
Speaker 1Normally , like normal practice is a waitress or waiter will bring you a bill with the machine with it , because cash is dying so much that everyone's paying by card .
Speaker 2they are they worried that americans are going to steal the machine on their way , maybe , or the crackheads are going to want the copper wire out of it , maybe . There , you know what I figured out the other day , what ? This is another fun american conversation . So units of measurement right , we know there's metric and imperial . I can't remember how we got on this conversation . Okay , we know there's metric and imperial . I can't remember how we got on this conversation .
Speaker 3Okay .
Speaker 2So there's , there's pounds , and then there's ounces . Right , we're going slower . This was a weird one because I know and my Canadian friends will know how I know this that there's 28 grams in an ounce , right , and then there's I can't remember how many ounces in a pound . I always forget that one when it comes to , like you know , babies and whatever . So there's 28 grams in an ounce , because it's a weird number , like 28 goes into one ounce .
Speaker 2I always assumed and I knew better that grams was an Imperial measurement , because it makes sense , because you guys have 12 inches into a foot , you have , you know , I don't know how many feet into a mile , and whatnot , and so on and so forth , where I was shocked to remember that grams is actually a metric measurement . There's one gram , there's a thousand grams in a kilogram , there's a , and so on and so forth . Everything is in tens in our metric system . So it was quite interesting gram , there's a thousand grams in a kilogram , there's a , and so on and so forth . Everything is in tens in our metric system . So it was quite , um , quite shocking and surprising to me when I realized which I should have known better that there was no , there's no smaller weight measurement than an ounce , which is mind boggling boggling to me , um , that you Americans have , you know , I guess it's it's point , or it's nine , 30 seconds of an ounce , like . Come over to the metric system . We have cookies and common sense . That's enough of my rant for us measurement . We have lost G throughout all this , which I'm very sad because G is not a mathematician wizard and I think he would have rather enjoyed the conversation about that . So until we get him back , I'm not going to waste his time on an episode , because we are on a bit of a time crunch .
Speaker 2Um , one thing we wanted to talk about today and I guess it's going to be a monologue at this point is crash rap . We are always looking at new ways to I don't want to say capitalize , because it makes it sound like we're trying to take advantage of a situation , but towing companies are always looking at , you know , extra profit centers within the services they provide . Right , we have seen it charging for skates . I've been a big believer of that . If you've got to use specialty equipment , skates go jacks . Um , you know , there's all kinds of little things that you can use to charge for them .
Speaker 2The one thing that I think a lot of people um should really consider a look into is crash wrap . Crash wrap is a thick plastic like a saran wrap that you would put over your Tupperware containers or your lunches before throwing them in the microwave or I don't know if you can really put saran wrap in the microwave , but that kind of idea , like a cling wrap , specifically meant for vehicles that have was involved in an accident and a window is maybe put down and the firefight , the , the fire department , disconnected the battery . Um , maybe the window was damaged and and shattered during an accident . Whatever the case may be , and that vehicle arrives in your impound with the window down , exposed to the elements . One of the easiest ways and so far , knock on wood , we've had good luck getting paid on it is putting on crash wrap on the windows . Right , Because , as an insurance company who's looking to buy a car , even if it's totaled , they are going to send this vehicle to auction . Welcome back G . They are going to send this vehicle to auction . Welcome back G . They are going to send this vehicle to auction . Now , there's only certain components of the vehicle that are still in sellable or reusable state that are going to drive up the price of this vehicle at auction , one being a full leather interior , possibly , or any interior pieces , for that sense . Right , adding crash wrap to a window is going to protect the vehicle from the elements . Even if it's an impound of sorts with a customer , it's going to , they're going to appreciate it because the interior of the car isn't getting soaked and destroyed .
Speaker 2Let's say it's something for an impaired or or some sort of HTA , you know , or criminal impact . That wasn't an accident and you can charge for it . Like we have a standard practice . It's 25 per window and I promise you , if you charge 25 per window , the role will more than pay for itself and and it's and it's an like it's really a non-negotiable fee . It's not some oh well , can you knock off that ? No , because it's a , it's a product . It's shown right there in the photo that we have . It is . You show them that and you go look , we just protected the interior of your vehicle . It's a perfect application of crash wrap and it's sticky as hell . It's comes a little cutter tool . You need the cutter tool or a knife of sorts , because it'll .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's so it's pretty much like cellophane , but for car windows and actually sticky yeah , it's like a saran wrap .
Speaker 2It's like a thick , thick , uh saran wrap , and you can use it in all kinds of different applications and will that stay on the car while you're going down the road ? 99 , I believe so I've never tried normally like we just do it to protect the vehicle while it's in our well , no , I'm thinking like for local police departments .
Speaker 1If they're like sealing up a vehicle that's got a smash window , would this be something they could potentially use to help seal up the vehicle ?
Speaker 2Oh , yeah , 100% . You can tow it down the road like that and it's not coming off . It is . It's sticky , it doesn't leave any residue or anything . It's called crash wrap . There was another name I found for it , called accident wrap or something like that , but it's something that , like I said , any impound with a broken window it's a good customer service thing and it's it's a way to make a couple extra bucks on your bill . That without being a , you know , labeled as a crook or a criminal or any of that . So what happened with your internet ?
Speaker 1you missed our us unit of measurements yeah , I had no idea where you're going with that other than the pounds , like I had no idea where you .
Speaker 2Okay , well you can watch back the episode after later when you're editing it and figure it out . I think you'll rather enjoy it okay , um no .
Speaker 1So I I've got the new starlink modem and I checked it and I checked the connections . I opened up the app on my phone , which is normally a very user-friendly app and this isn't a self-promotion to fucking Starlink .
Speaker 1But if the internet goes down the app is useless If you can't connect to your Starlink because the router went down . The app gives you no information , which is kind of what you'd think . But when you turn to the app , for hey , my internet's not fucking working . Can you give me some insights ? But no , apparently the router just lost connection to the satellite for 35 , 45 seconds , and then it takes its time to reboot .
Speaker 2There was an asteroid that went by . That had to be it .
Speaker 1Probably . Maybe one of the satellites got blown out of the sky . Who knows ?
Speaker 2There you go .
Speaker 1Elon didn't pay a satellite bill no , that's why this thing was like did the ? I'm pretty sure there's always money in that account that the bill gets paid for did they know like this motherfucker is gonna start recording a podcast at 7 pm for 6 30 pm . We'll cut off his internet .
Speaker 2Made recording the girlfriend probably maxed out the credit card that's used to pay the Starlink bill .
Speaker 3Damn it .
Speaker 2That's why she's got that number .
Speaker 1Now we know she actually just bought a kayak . She went to one of those Costco Costco , not a regular Costco , but like a bulk , like an even bulkier bulk Costco . I can't remember .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't know what it's called . It's the best definition of a Costco I've ever heard in my life . I cost it . She went to the Costco of Costco .
Speaker 1Yes , like there's no food , but like big ticket items .
Speaker 2Okay , and she found you gotta buy seven kayaks .
Speaker 1She found this kayak for like $330 . And she's been wanting a kayak for like three years now and most of them are in the $600 plus range . So she called her dad with a trailer to go pick it up and instead of putting it on his , she's got a Jeep Strap it to the roof . She was scared she was doing 70 on the way home Because it ended up being strapped onto the top of her Jeep . Her dad came and helped her strap it up and this is she goes shopping like an hour , an hour and a half away from where we live to be closer to her family , so she can go out with her niece and nephew and everything like that . So her dad was definitely closer than I was , but she was doing like 10 under the whole way coming home with it on the roof of her jeep .
Speaker 2I had a customer lost a kayak on the highway the other day , actually with her , with her roof rack . She had a roof rack for it . That's why they wouldn't let her reload it , because it was on like an overpass with no shoulder and , uh yeah , lost the whole rack and everything . So , speaking of losing parts off your tow truck , he brought this wonderful video for us to enjoy . So here , enjoy .
It is a vehicle on dollies going down the highway being towed by a wrecker with some sort of tire failure . Two lanes over is a highway patrol , which is ironic . They're pacing each other two lanes away and you see the tire lock up the mark and all of a sudden the dollies explode . You see dolly bars . You see dolly truck bouncing across the highway . Doesn't look like anything ends up in oncoming traffic or or the whatnot , but car runs over a dolly bar for sure . See another one laying in the highway . Yeah , um , what a terrible place to have a dolly failure thank christ that operator didn't run his bluetooth chains that day yeah , well , he might have now .
Speaker 2He might have the pans , might have still just held it I doubt it , man hold yeah , I think it would . I think you'd have more luck that it would pop out if you'd stopped and tried to pull . But when it hit the road and it was like that , they just started dragging right away . Yeah , I think so , but we'll never know . We'll never find this driver . But man , how are you not looking back in your mirrors when I'm dollying ? I was constantly checking those dolly tires .
Speaker 1There's plumes of smoke coming from the tires , Regardless if you can see the dolly tires or not . You see the plume of smoke coming out and you're like , oh , that's me . I should probably pull over immediately .
Speaker 2I remember being on certain roads and you would get a little bit of dust off the road that would come up and I would start to worry .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And so now you're like you have to see that in your mirror .
Speaker 1There had to be some sort of failure with those dollies or either operator error or failure , because when the video starts , the camber on the pasture side dollies that we can see in this video . They're at like a 45 degree angle going down the road , already smoking by the time the video even starts .
Speaker 2Yeah , so this guy had a failure . Obviously , it's a reminder to check your mirrors . Um , what's so ? The story that I said I want this reminds me of something . It's that it's the part where the car runs over the dolly bar . Oh , you can tell . This is your video and your internet must be there . We go , it's moved out . Um , so it's when the car hits the dolly bar . So years ago the company I worked for I wasn't even there at the time they had a , um , one of the tow trucks , I believe , lost a receiver , like on this , like one of the slides on your wheel lift yeah might have been that , or it was a receiver for a heavy , I can't remember what it was Lost , one fell off the truck , went to social media .
Speaker 2Hey , if anyone finds the you know this receiver , if you get a turn , that'd be great . So guy reaches out a couple of days later . Yeah I , um , I found it , like . I found your receiver . Oh , found it . I found your receiver . Oh , great , no problem , you want to come bring it to us ? Sure , no problem , as soon as you pay for my oil pan that it took out . Sure enough , it took out his oil pan . It took out a bunch of stuff on his car . He had hit it in the road . Without us posting looking for this thing , he would have had no idea . Yeah , um , so we ended up having to pay for the damn . It would have been cheaper to buy a new , whatever it was , whatever receiver , um , but anyways , it ended up costing more . So , uh , yeah , it's , uh , one of those things , man , stuff
.
Speaker 1Falling off your tow truck and getting hit by a car is never a good day no , I've worked with companies before where they've lost wheel grids right off the back of the tow truck because they didn't either flick the cam lock or they . If the cam locks don't work on that particular truck , they don't bungee , cord them back in , because you're like , oh it's stiff , it's . I haven't greased the wheel grids and I don't know how long , and then they're hard to pull out .
Speaker 1They won't come off on going down the road yeah until they do yeah , until you hit a bump the right way , and then you get to your next toll call and you're shit out of luck and jolly well fucked , unless you can fork it because you don't have the equipment to do your job anymore .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's never a fun time sorry , I'm trying to work on a . I have a work thing at the same time going on , um . So , speaking of bad days for businesses , you seem to have another video that I actually haven't seen yet .
Speaker 1Oh yes , if you wanted to get into that so I was scrolling on my quest to find content for today . I was scrolling the good old toe talk on Facebook and I kept seeing posts for this FBI raid on some towing company . And I was very confused about it , because the posts that I keep seeing is like oh , there's no information . But I tracked down a video that'll play for you here now with audio . I think it's from NBC and I'll just shut up so you can listen to this video , in case you're not actually watching us over on the youtube side of things .
Speaker 3All right fbi agents in swat gear raided a san francisco tow company thursday and arrested its operator and another woman . Jose vicente vadillo and jessica elizabeth najarro were charged with money laundering , as well as a mail wire and insurance . Fraudents carrying assault rifles made their way into the specialty towing office on Oakdale Avenue . Nbc Bay Area's Sergio Quintana spoke to people in the area , including Maria Vasquez , who described what happened Thursday morning . She said agents used bullhorns to shout orders to people inside .
Speaker 1Guys with assault rifles on the roof of cars .
Speaker 3What'd you think of that ? A little bit scary . San Francisco city leaders say they're well aware of specialty towing . Police opened an investigation back in March when this video went viral showing a specialty tow truck trying to latch onto a car in the middle of the street while people were still inside . Badillo and Nahado are scheduled to be in court on Monday . We'll have the latest on this investigation on NBCBayAreacom .
Speaker 2So money laundering is that what they're ? Yeah ?
Speaker 1Yeah , they said money laundering and something else .
Speaker 3I'll just Rifles made their way into the specialty towing office on Oakdale Avenue . Nbc Bay Area's Sergio Quintana spoke to people in the area , including Maria Vasquez and Jessica Elizabeth Najarro were charged with money laundering , as well as a mail wire and insurance fraud okay .
Speaker 2So they're definitely like accident . Like this is a sketchy . This is a toronto tow company . Yeah , this is what to see it was created for . Yeah , but man , you guys don't mess around like us , we have officers going , we're gonna need to look in your yard . You guys are like swag , get down .
Speaker 1Yeah well , I think it's different . If you're doing like a raid , you're going in to get all their files and everything and you need the element of surprising right and being in the glory us of a , you need to come in pretty heavy because you don't know what they've got in that building well , they're probably armed on the other side of it .
Speaker 2Yeah , so no , that is uh .
Speaker 1Yeah , that is wild , um that just makes the industry look amazing , guys , thank you , thank you . Let me give you a big pob good job , good job , good job where ?
Speaker 2uh , san francisco , okay , so it's in california , right , san francisco's in california
. I got shit on by somebody that apparently from last week's episode um louisiana and georgia nowhere close to each other they're , I listen , they're both south of the canadian border , so they got to be close yeah , you can drive for 25 hours and still be in the same province up here in the good old canadia .
Speaker 2Yeah exactly yeah so um so yeah , they're all relatively close . Yeah , I did like a 10 hour drive and I went through like four states . Like what the hell ? Um , but yeah , I know it absolutely looks terrible . Um , the towing industry , and I'm sure I never seen that video of them in the road . The car is backing up and they've got the self-loader and they're trying to to back up and catch up to them . Like that didn't look good either .
Speaker 1Yeah , like a main intersection in town um one of the other videos that I watched was apparently that company . They couldn't specify if it's that company or not . They pulled their operating license because of some shady shit , but they didn't know if it was the actual company in the video , because specialty towing is a very common thing to have in someone's name specialty towing oh really , um , apparently that's what this guy was saying . He's like some mayor or whatever .
Speaker 2But yeah , that was A towing A action , a , b towing A , like they're just yeah , you want the first letter , you want the first spot in the phone book back in the day is what they did a lot of theirs for .
Speaker 1But apparently they pulled their operating license for that area and that's where this video was taken . So that was adding insult to injury of upon reckless reversing trying to hook up to a car in an intersection with two other people in the same car that you're trying to hook up like .
Speaker 2That's just stupid there is so many more companies that make the industry look bad than companies that make the industry look good , and the problem is is that the companies that make the industry look good don't get recognition for it . Right , they don't . They did for a while . We have TV shows about it Look great . There still is some companies that are making it look good , but for the most part , this is what people see .
Speaker 1It's uh , yeah , it's a real big I got a , I got another good thing for you and we're just banging through topics here . Um , we had a comment left on the last video from jesse and uh , what about the ?
Speaker 1triple a roadside photos and something no , I think he was cut or a follow-up from that one from previous episode . He says my company I work for protects our identities by . Every guy has their nickname . Even the three-letter roadside knows us by them . Like , my name is the joker and I have jokers all over my truck . And the other guy's nickname is woody from toy story and another guy's name is little devil , just little devil l-i-l . And the other guy's name is 007 for james bond and , to tell you the truth , it helps to bring the gang closer together . Even the bosses have their nicknames , even though my boss's name is on the trucks . Now I'm kind of picking up from that comment that they have those nicknames even though my boss's name is on the trucks . Now I'm kind of picking up from that comment that they have those nicknames on the side of the door yeah , I like that's what I'm kind of getting to .
Speaker 2I I like the idea . I've always said , um , I wanted to work recently with our guys and it's something I still want to look into about . I don't like putting a driver's name on a door , whether it's a first name or whether it's a nickname , I don't know what it is but I find it just leads to a certain sense of entitlement .
Speaker 1That's my truck . Why were you in my truck ?
Speaker 2Exactly , I already have that problem and their names aren't on the doors . Yeah Right , at the end of the day they're company trucks and when the company needs them for something , use them , like you know . But I like the idea of the driver getting to name their truck . Like , when a new truck comes in , the driver that is assigned to that gets to nickname that truck and that nickname stays with that truck until it's eventually replaced , right ? So if you know , uh , what was the stories back when of ? Uh , the king of the queen of hearts and the driver , the truck , was known as the queen of the hearts , cause queen of hearts , cause he was the ace behind the wheel . Um , like , like things like that , like the mistress , the , like , all those things . I'm all for that . The truck gets a nickname and the the nickname stays with it . That I'm uh , I'm all for . Um , the nicknames now are just unit numbers , right . Two , three , two , two , two , four , um , so there's not as much . Member .
Speaker 2We had a truck where we got to , like , we got to pick our numbers , right , when we worked together . We got to if that , if you were getting a new truck , you got to pick its unit number , which is a from a company standpoint , that I look at now is a terrible idea . Like you want your unit numbers in sequence , yeah , um , so you know , we had one driver and it was the year , the model year and then the number , the unit number they got to pick and we had an employee , an employee who they went it was 20-86 and when he quit , got fired I don't remember how he left . The owners went , changed the unit to like 20-8 because they obviously it wasn't on good terms and they said we're not keeping the number that he gave it on there , which is just again a paperwork nightmare when you're trying to what was that ?
Speaker 2truck eight I think I was truck eight .
Speaker 1Yeah , okay , yeah , yeah , yeah , that was truck eight was a good truck truck .
Speaker 2eight was a great truck , um , and same one when I bought , yeah , yeah like .
Speaker 1That company had unit 4 , unit 6 , unit 8 , and then it jumped to like 7 , 22 , 55 , and 77 .
Speaker 355 , yeah 77 , yeah .
Speaker 1Like just all over the board .
Speaker 2Because I remember mine it was . They asked me what do you want to number it ? And I said I don't care , and it was the first truck that the new owner had bought after his dad died . Right , because every other one his dad had bought . And so I knew , and his number , I think , was seven . His thing was always seven , with all of his , you know , sports or whatever . So I was like I don't know , want to call it seven . We already had 77 , which was taken up , you know , want to call it seven ? Sure , okay , cool , call it seven , sure , okay , cool . So I don't care about it . We already had a truck , eight .
Speaker 1So yeah , exactly it made sense in the sequence like I wasn't gonna go like 37 yeah , or like 36 , like some random number .
Speaker 2That only means anything to you . Yeah , exactly , so . No , I like the idea of nicknames . Um , I , I like the idea of nicknames among staff . Right , I do have one that I refuse to call it um . He had a nickname , um for an incident that happened at a christmas party , uh , where he , uh , you know , chucked a lot of cookies everywhere .
Speaker 2Um , and I refuse to call him that yep um , but I do because it's also named after a famous disney um character who breaks a lot of stuff . Um , so whenever I do call him that , it's normally after something has been damaged and we call him wreck it . Um . So yeah , I like the nickname idea . It does build a good uh , you know , morale and have fun among the guys and everything else . Um , I don't like the idea of putting the name on the truck . I've always kind of been against that . The company name is what goes on the truck , a nickname for it mall for , but it's just a certain entitlement thing . I've ran into it too many times .
Speaker 1That's my truck I've been in the situation where I'm showing up somewhere in a truck that has someone's name on the door that's not my own and like , oh hey , bob , it's like I'm not bob . Well , it says bob , sorry , it's his truck , I'm just driving it today . Yeah yeah , conversation that you don't need to have yeah , I just don't like it .
Speaker 2I don't know what it is . I , I uh , I really I don't know . I've never liked the names on the doors no I've never had my name on the door . Maybe that's why , maybe I'm bitter . Someone will be out there saying that .
Speaker 1Well , the only reason he doesn't like it if your company is set up to where that driver is in that truck 12 out of 14 days every two weeks , and there's a 0.01 chance someone else is going to have to drive that truck for the life of the truck , sure put that guy's name on the door . Maybe it'll make him take a little bit more pride of the truck . But yeah , apples to oranges , I don't think a little name on the side of the door is really going to make that operator take any more pride of that truck , to pair to what he's already going to .
Speaker 2Well , yeah , exactly Because he's already you know , like that's already his assigned truck . Whatever the case may be , like he's already taking pride in it , it's not going to do anything .
Speaker 1If he's going to be living out of that truck basically which a lot of operators do he's going to be taking care of that truck regardless , unless he's just not that type of guy to really give a shit which , which those guys absolutely do exist .
Speaker 2Yeah absolutely do exist . So , no , it's a . I don't know . I think I feel like we kind of got a little bit all over the place today . Um , you know from everything from FBI raids to dollies falling apart , to credit cards . Should you keep them on your phone ? Um , and kayaks and crash , rap and us measure units of measurement . You guys are really pooched in on that one . Um , don't forget , guys coming up .
Speaker 1Americans will measure anything with any sort of measurement device before they use the metric system . I don't know like six chickens long .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah , it's 72 bald Eagles . Yeah , um , yeah , I know a hundred percent they will . Just the metric system to them and until until they use the metric system . I've met Americans that have like , once they get an understanding of the metric system , they're like this makes sense . Water freezes at zero , it boils at a hundred . It makes sense .
Speaker 1But that's what they say . Metric is how water feels . Fahrenheit is how people feel , like a hundred and fair , and a Fahrenheit is fucking hot , right , fair enough . And anything below 50 is getting kind of hot Right , fair enough . And anything below 50 is getting kind of chilly Right .
Speaker 2Okay , so that's where they . You've got more deviation . That's such a bullshit way to prove their logic , but I guess .
Speaker 1Well , it's what I've heard , right , and I personally most Canadians use a lot of in-between Like how tall am I ? I'm six feet , six foot , I don't know . I think that's like 180 centimeters , but that's just weird to fucking say yeah , no , 100 percent .
Speaker 2Uh , how much do you weigh ?
Speaker 1it's in pounds , right , but how fast do you drive ?
Speaker 2well , you , we use kilometers , miles per hour , interchangeably a lot , but they mean completely different things but pounds , pounds and kgs is one that we is easy enough to convert if you actually start using it . Yeah , um , right , like they're very the 2.2 is very easy on those . But no , it's like , yeah , they have just weird me , it's that it's this many in this , like grant , like weights , especially right , it's tens or something , hundreds or something , thousands or something . Like it's just all in zeros where you get me , and it's like you know 30 , yeah , it's just . Yeah , it's how many yards and a feet meter , I don't know . Anyways , um , that being said , don't ?
Speaker 1forget into the moon . No , the , the imperial system , has been to the moon .
Speaker 2All right , fair enough um , don't forget coming up on august 20 , because I keep forgetting it 25th , 6 pm , eastern 7 3 pm on the west coast we will be doing our 150th live episode . Um , you'll find it over on youtube as well as facebook . Be sure to join us for that . And if you plan on attending the 2024 professional Towing Association of Ontario's Tow Show being held in Cambridge or Kitchener had Bingman's in September do not forget to get your pre-order in for your t-shirt if you would like to purchase one from the show . August 16th is the deadline and then we will be closing the pre-order and we may bring a couple extras with us , but there is no guarantee we will have your size or any left by the time you get there . So , um , be sure to check out the live . We'll see you again next week and take care toodles .