Tow Professional Podcast
Tow Professional Podcast
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Picture this: You're driving down the highway, GPS navigation running, when suddenly your phone announces "Emergency vehicle ahead." Thirty seconds later, you spot a tow truck on the shoulder. That alert might have just saved a life.
Behind this life-saving technology is Haas Alert's Safety Cloud, a digital alerting system revolutionizing roadside safety for tow operators across the globe. In an industry where professionals face constant danger working mere feet from speeding traffic, traditional safety methods like bright lights and cones have limitations – they require a driver's attention to be effective. But in today's world of distracted driving, that attention is increasingly hard to capture.
Safety Cloud takes a fundamentally different approach. When a tow operator activates their emergency lights, the system automatically sends digital alerts upstream to approaching drivers through multiple platforms – Waze, Apple Maps, and directly into compatible vehicles from manufacturers like Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, and Volkswagen. This 20-30 second advance warning gives distracted drivers critical time to slow down and move over before they even see the flashing lights.
What sets Safety Cloud apart from competitors is its comprehensive coverage and specific emergency vehicle iconography. While some alternatives only alert through Waze with generic hazard notifications, Safety Cloud delivers emergency vehicle-specific alerts across multiple platforms that reach millions of drivers. Plus, subscribers gain access to real-time GPS tracking, detailed trip metrics, and soon, IFTA reporting – all included in the $199 annual subscription.
The system's growth has been remarkable, now serving approximately 5,000 organizations globally including throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and beyond. For tow operators and their families, it represents more than just technology – it's peace of mind, protection against rising insurance costs, and most importantly, a powerful tool in the mission to ensure everyone makes it home safely at the end of each shift.
Ready to think differently about roadside safety? Contact Tom Parbs at Tom@HaasAlert.com to learn how Safety Cloud can protect your operators and reduce your roadside risks. After all, nothing is more valuable than getting home safely to your family.
Introduction to Haas Alert and Safety Cloud
Speaker 1Welcome one and all to Toe Professional Podcast. Remember, this is your podcast. It's for the pros that have a need to know, that are on the go. This is truly the voice of the towing and recovery industry. I'm DJ Harrington, your co-host, better known as the Toe Doctor, and the real man and the real host of the program is the president and publisher of Toe Professional Magazine, a very good friend of the industry and a dear friend of mine, darren Weaver. Darren, how are you this beautiful day? Because in Atlanta we do not have 97 degrees today 72. It's good. If you watch the Braves it's not that good, but everything else is good in Atlanta.
Speaker 2DJ, it's a great day down here, but it's not a great day to wear your mink coat, I'm going to tell you. So if you're starting out the door with it on, go ahead and hang it back up and give it a couple more months. If you'd like to catch a stroke perfect weather you can get out there and catch you one today. So Birmingham, yes, it's a little bit of the devil's armpit A balmy 97 degrees and somewhere around there with a real fill of 174. So great day to be in the air conditioning man. Dj, I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 2Today we've got Tom Parbs back on, vice President of Haas Alert. And let me tell you this company from the time I met him gosh, several years ago just movers and shakers in the industry and when you go down the road and you hear somebody say, hey, emergency vehicle on the lane, you know it's this man leaving his family, going out, meeting after meeting and staying after it in the industry to make sure that safety is at the forefront in industry. So I'm always excited when we can bring him back on because he is busy and has limited time. But, tom, we're so glad to have you back on the show today, sir.
Speaker 3Thank you. I appreciate that. It's good to see you again, Darian, and obviously DJ, thanks for having me on and yeah, I think, gosh, it has been a long time. Time flies. It does not feel like it's been that long because time goes really, really fast when you're busy. But yeah, in the trenches trying to make people safer and I'm just. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be back on and I know you have a lot of questions lined up that have come from the past and just all the people that you guys know and anything I can do to help and make sure that people go home safer. That's the mission, not just of the company, but the passion of myself and many of the folks that are part of the Haas Alert family. So, looking forward to a great conversation today.
Speaker 2Man DJ, I tell you what a blessing. How much better could it be to build your legacy on the fact of keeping people safe? Uh, we've got many vendors in this industry that does that, and it just warms my heart.
Speaker 1So this is gonna be a good one, and I'm gonna let you start off with it, sir well, the nice thing about it the last time we had time on we had maybe eight and a half listeners. Now we're between 19,000 and 20,000. So all of a sudden it has grown on both ends. Hazard Alert has grown tremendously throughout the towing and recovery industry worldwide, so this is excellent. So here's my first question, tom, and I want to thank you again for being on Any new developments with Safety Cloud by Hazard Alert.
Digital Alerting Developments and Global Expansion
Speaker 3Yeah, absolutely so. Again, I can't remember the last time it was on. But let's just talk very quickly, For those folks who are listening who may not be aware, familiar with what we do, what Safety Cloud is. That's our advanced warning notification system. Think of it as a digital alert. It's a warning digital alert that goes out about 20 to 30 seconds upstream into people's cars through their phones. Natively through the car itself. It disrupts radios and phone calls and distractions All the things that are hurting or killing us out there on the roadway where we're just trying to do our job. We get their attention. Watch out emergency vehicle. Now we also do this in many other industries, like construction. Watch out construction, watch out lane closures, watch out hazards, you know. Watch out school bus, you know. So watch out flooding. We're doing flooding and and wildfire alerts. Watch out right Inclement weather. So when you get those alerts through the navigation partners we work with, that's us If you're getting it inside of your Chrysler, Fiat vehicles, your Volkswagen vehicles which are some new developments since the last time we were on where that's natively just baked into the car, it doesn't matter if you're using an app that's HaasAlert and only HaasAlert that can do those emergency vehicle alerts, the Apple Maps alerting the Chrysler Fiat. So Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, the Volkswagen alerts. Only Haas Alert Safety Club by Haas Alert can do that. So you know, I think last time we were maybe sub 3,000 organizations using this. We're now, you know, I would say, about 5,000 organizations. We are expanded into Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan. Obviously we do a lot in Canada and the United States. We, you know, I think the last time we were just launching with Chrysler Fiat, so all the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, those compatible 2018 and newer vehicles were now launched with Volkswagen and all their model year 24 and newer vehicles. We launched with a third manufacturer, auto manufacturer, Skoda. Now that's more European, but again you're talking millions and millions of vehicles on the roadway today that we're just natively programmed, as native as a seatbelt alert inside of those vehicles.
Speaker 3As a tier one auto supplier, we continue and will always continue to be a major supporter of the uh wall of the fallen and the survivor fund, which is at the international towing and recovery hall, uh hall of fame um, a museum down in chattanooga.
Speaker 3We recently stepped up to be a big supporter of hit while helping, which is a, a movement that matt spencer started. For those folks who don't know Matt Spencer's story, his son, Keegan Spencer, about 20-something years, 25 years old not too long ago, was struck and killed while literally doing his job. So we've got some amazing efforts that we're doing with Hit While Helping. They've got some races coming up in Bristol, Tennessee, In September that we're going to be at You're going to see us sponsoring the Museum Weekend and the Tennessee Show that's coming up. So again, we've got I can't name them. We've got more auto brands that are on the horizon that our customers are going to inherit, and we've got some interesting, interesting and exciting things that we're going to announce for the towing industry that are coming out soon and we can talk about that later in the conversation.
Speaker 1Fantastic. I want all of our listeners to know it's kind of funny. When we had you on the last time, we had maybe 180 people in the European markets. We had maybe 180 people in the European markets. Now Toe Professional is going now to 700 different locations outside the United States. So we cover Australia, the UK and so forth. So this is really good for all of our listeners.
Speaker 3All right and DJ, to that point, especially when you get out of the United States, when you start talking about Europe and other countries. Haas Alert our safety cloud is completely GDPR compliant. We are ISO rated and we are both SOC 1, 2, and 3 and even SOC type 2 certified. So this is why you're seeing you can use safety Cloud anywhere in the world and it's completely compliant in the country that you're using it in. Wow.
Speaker 1I tell you what this is excellent. That's why we're proud to have you on. Believe me, I'm proud that you're one of our guests today. All, right. Darren.
How Safety Cloud Works and Benefits
Speaker 2Well, I've got another one, so this is a good one. Tom, I'm going to throw this one at you. If a tower is using safety cloud, what do they get with all that safety and how do they connect? So?
Speaker 3that's a really great question. So let me first it's kind of a two-part question, so it's only give you a two-part answer. So how do they connect? We make it. I don't like the word easy, even though it's easy, easy sounds salesy. I like simple, right, and I think our towers, our listeners, I think our communities, all of our customers like simple. So you can connect one of two ways and this is a very prominent way for towers.
Speaker 3You may already have telematics systems like Samsara or Motive or Geotab or it used to be called Webfleet here. Obviously, we've rebranded as Azuga. It's a Bridgestone. Azuga is very popular as well. If you have one of their telematics devices, you already have the equipment. We've already built the integration. We can just activate right through the equipment you already have. There's a one wire connection you'll need so it can read that your lights are on or off, right, your amber lights, your beacon lights are on or off, so we can protect you or turn off the protection. So this way you don't have to train anybody to do anything different. They just do their jobs and their lives are safer. That's one way, very simple. Integration's done, takes about 30 minutes on board and you just have to connect a wire Simple the other way and we see a lot of towers doing this because oftentimes and we love our partners we're agnostic to our telematics.
Speaker 3But we know telematics can get rather expensive and everyone's looking for a lower cost alternative. But then you're missing bits and pieces. You often don't get real time. So what many of our towers love is we have our own transponder. It's a digital alerting transponder. It comes fully activated, no data plans are needed. The satellite, the cellular chip, the SIM card, the data, everything's included in that device. It's our HA7 transponder. It can be hidden, meaning you can put it in a toolbox, you can put it under a seat, you can put it in a glove box. It could be out of sight, out of mind. We have an external puck antenna that you can use with it. So puck antennas you know, I don't know two by two. It's very, very small, as long as that can see the sky. You can hide the transponder. And it is connected with three wires a power wire, so constant to your battery, a ground and then your trigger wire that is fused to the 12 volt wire that goes hot when you turn on your lights. Again, all you had to do is just install that, if you use our box, or just connect the wire to your Samsara, your Geotab, your Motive, your Azuga, and you don't have to train anybody to do anything different.
Speaker 3Now, what do you get with that? So, when you use Safety Cloud, we offer literal, 100% real time, like every second of the day, tracking of where your vehicle is, where it's stopped on the roadway, accurate to within about three feet and are your lights on or off, to create those safety cloud alerts, to warn them. When you're working roadside so you think a tower turns on their lights as they're pulling up to the customer safety cloud is on waiting, waiting, waiting. You stop before your employee or you jump out of the vehicle, I'm already sending up alerts. 30 seconds upstream, that could be a half a mile away. You could be on a residential street that might be two blocks away. City street, it might be a 10th of a mile, but 30 seconds. So people have that time and space to slow down and move over.
Speaker 3And you're going to get a real-time dashboard.
Speaker 3You're going to get real-time, live tracking.
Speaker 3You're going to get trips.
Speaker 3You're going to get reporting. You're going to get metrics how many motorists are getting your alerts? How long, on average, were you spending on your roadside calls? All those metrics are included. So, basically, the foundation of free GPS tracking is included when you have safety cloud.
Speaker 3Now, you still get all those benefits if you already have GPS, like through one of our partners, their information ports into your dashboard that you can see on your phone or your laptop, your tablet, you know right your desktop computer, but you're going to get all those metrics.
Speaker 3You also will get access to our lane closure so you have a heavy rollover. You can have dispatch actually start closing down the lanes that warns and controls traffic before your heavy show up. And now, now lots of people know that lanes are merging and there's an emergency vehicle. Right, your tow trucks are there so that they get, they make sure that they know that they can travel safely when you're doing a rollover or you're working with law enforcement or any of the rotations that you're on. And so, in essence, right, it is more real time because it's updated every second and you get all that reporting. It's more real time than most things that are that are out there. But all you have to do is have safety cloud for safety, save your business and your employees lives and your life, and we're just going to include all that other stuff for free.
Speaker 2Man, tom, I tell you just just protecting a life is process much less everything else that's included. So a towing company can get real-time GPS tracking, trips, reporting real-time dashboards when they buy safety cloud to protect their employees. Let me ask you this what about IFTA tracking, which is important for some companies?
Speaker 3Yeah, so you're correct. The foundation of where's your person so we can protect it is really the foundation of GPS tracking. So trips reporting, real-time dashboards that's included when you have safety cloud and that, again, you're buying safety cloud because it's preservation of life. You're protecting your employees, you're protecting your trucks. You know how expensive it is, even if there's a side swipe, so you need to protect against rising insurance rates, you need to protect against workers comp, like all this stuff to preserve life. That's included.
Speaker 3Now you mentioned IFTA IFTA tracking. That is super, super important and that's often why many companies have a GPS provider right when you're required for those taxes. And so, coming soon, if you have Safety Cloud, we're going to incorporate IFTA tracking along with that so we can be your one-stop shop. You want to protect somebody's life. You're going to get the full suite of stuff that you need to run your business simply because you made the decision to make sure that your people are safer. All of that is going to be included coming soon. We're working on it almost done. I have it's not officially announced, but I just want to let them know. This is the first time that anyone's hearing this. It's coming soon. We've been working on it. We're listening to our thousands and thousands and thousands of customers on what would make your business more efficient as a sole source and it's coming soon. So really excited about that. That's coming up.
Speaker 2That's coming very soon, man that is fantastic, Tom, and we appreciate all the hard work to increase the safety for our tow professionals.
Speaker 1Boy Tom, this has been phenomenal. Let's take a fast break. Listen to our sponsors and we'll be right back, because Darren and I have some big questions for our listeners and towers that they're going to want to know about cost and prices. Get ready.
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Speaker 1Welcome back listeners. You know you're listening to the number one podcast, toe Professional on the Go podcast. Each and every week we do our best to bring you informative episodes like the one right now with Hazalert. Tom is doing an excellent job. I want you to know we're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia or wherever you get your podcasts. So, without further ado, let me ask Tom the next one you ready, tom?
Speaker 3I'm ready.
Speaker 1All right, buddy, here it goes. We have heard that there have been some other companies who are trying to do what you do, like Zips and iComb. What is the difference between Safety Cloud and these other options being offered?
Comparing Safety Cloud with Competitors
Speaker 3Wow. So that's a really, really good question. So I want to make sure that I'm answering this question not from a biased position, but as a way to educate the market transparently. So correct, zips has launched a product. I do want to be clear. There are some differences. Zips has manufactured a device that is actually this connection. For Waze only alerting is from Icon. Icon offers the service. They also offer a box and Zips uses that service. So when you're talking about alerting, it's Icon that does Waze only alerting and Zips is providing a box that is powered by Icon.
Speaker 3So let's make sure we're clear when you're buying Safety Cloud from Haas Alert, safety Cloud is the sole source. Haas Alert is a source. We created it, we manufactured our device, we created the service, we have the connections. And here's the big difference we don't alert just on Waze. With a standard road work icon, like Icon and Zips, you are getting a very unique icon, an emergency vehicle icon. Only Haas Alert can provide that, because you are providing emergency roadside services. Whether you're hooking somebody up for a tow, you're doing a heavy recovery and you're out there with other emergency personnel, or you're providing just an emergency roadside service, it's literally an emergency roadside service. You're getting a unique emergency vehicle icon on Waze as well as a unique emergency vehicle icon on Apple Maps. Only Safety Cloud by Hosler can send that information into Apple Maps. Nobody else in the world can, and only Safety Cloud by HaasAlert can send that information into Apple Maps. Nobody else in the world can, and only Safety Cloud by HaasAlert, as a tier one supplier, is providing this information into those compatible 2018 and newer models of Chrysler, dodge, jeep and Ram, as well as the compatible Volkswagen vehicles that I talked about a little bit earlier. Only Safety Cloud is doing that. Only through Safety Cloud you get a real-time dashboard, gps, real-time tracking, trips reporting and, right when we launch IFTA, like we were talking about before the break that IFTA reporting only Safety Cloud can do that. So really, what you're talking about is, from a digital alerting standpoint, the full service of actual digital alerting across all of those alerting partners. Only Safety Cloud can do that. The comparable right.
Speaker 3When we talk about Icon alerting, which is doing that on behalf of Zips, when you buy their safe all ping or you just buy the box from Icon, it's the same service coming from Icon. They are only delivering if you get it from Zips. It's a Zips branded alert, road work, hazard alert on Waze. If it's Icon, it's an Icon branded. When it's Safety Cloud, it's an emergency vehicle alert that can be branded with your company name, your message on Waze, and then the unique icon and Apple Maps that only we can do the tow truck unseen, tow truck ahead alerts through our car manufacturers that only we can do. Plus, you get all of those added benefits that we mentioned GPS, trips reporting, real-time, real-time, real-time stuff. That's good for your business. So that's the biggest difference.
Speaker 3Yes, they do alerting. I want to be very, very clear and I also want to be very clear to the listeners. If it's going to make you safer, I'm a big advocate for it. Buy from us, buy from Zips, buy from Icon, make yourself safer. But there are major differences. Not all digital alerting is the same and I don't think people are educated enough. They think, oh, I get digital learning and they think safety cloud. It is not the same when it comes to how that information is being disseminated and we are the largest provider of this data in the world to Google, to Apple, to the car manufacturers and the most trusted source. So there's a reason why it's different. It's not just digital alerting. It's what is going to actually get that message to the masses, not just one thing that's generalized. That's the big difference.
Speaker 1Our listeners are understanding about the trips to reporting the real-time dashboard. All of that is so vital and it makes a big difference.
Speaker 2So, Tom, all of that is so vital and it makes a big difference. So, Tom, after all that, what? What? The big question our listeners and towers are going to want to know is what's the cost and price difference?
Speaker 3Yes, and so I just want to like. So some people are going to ask how I know this. I actually, as you know both of you know I work with so many towers, some of the most popular, famous names in the business. I asked them to go and buy their products and I went out to their shop here in Chicago and I plugged all these boxes in and I said what works, what doesn't work. I have videos come up to me at any of these conferences. See me, I have the videos right on my phone.
Speaker 3This is, this is just transparent, because I'm all about safety and if I want to speak from a place of education this isn't to disparage anybody. Again, I'd be very, very clear what actually works. So how do I know the price? Well, I literally have copies of the emails that were sent. What's the price? Okay? So if you go to Zips and you buy their safe, all ping, it comes with the box. It's a chunky box. It's I don't know. It's maybe six inches wide, seven inches wide, maybe four or five inches deep. It's four inches tall. It's a big, chunky box. They charge $699. So we'll just say 700 bucks and it's a one-time charge. So they'll tell you there's no subscription charges, data fees, et cetera, et cetera. But because, again, nothing's like real, real time, they don't have a ton of data fees. And again, remember, they're just you're buying that box and then that box is then communicating to a third party, which is Icon, and then Icon is slingshotting that out to Waze, only right, and they charge 700 bucks Icon. If you go to Icon, who's providing that service, you can't buy it directly from icon, you have to use one one of their two suppliers I forget the names again, I have it in an email that was forwarded to me but they charge about 900 bucks. And again, one time now their box is slightly bigger. Uh, both boxes look the same, but think of, like the zips, ping safe, I'll ping is like a junior size of the you know the large fries or extra large fries, if that's, if that puts a picture in people's mind. The zip, the icon box, is a little bit bigger, but they charge 900 bucks. And then again their box is connected to their own service, icon, and then again it sends, it sends that out, and so 700 bucks, one time charge for zips, 900 bucks, one-time charge for Icon. And again you get their box, either one of their boxes and it just posts the ways.
Speaker 3If you're using Safety Cloud, $199 per vehicle, and that is for the year and that includes our full service is for the year and that includes our full service. Wow, what we are going to start doing, and it's not launched yet. So more to come soon. But I want to let the users know. If you only want just a standard alert on Waze and Apple Maps, which no one else can do but us, and you don't need the full suite of GPS and trips, you don't need all of that stuff. We're going to come out with a one-time only charge that is a fraction of the price that these folks are doing, only to give you a generalized way. You'll still be able to brand your message, you'll still get your learning metrics, but you don't need all the fancy GPS, real-time trips and IFTA and all that other stuff. Fantastic. We'll give you a one-time rate. You can reach out to me directly as we're starting to roll that out Now.
Speaker 3That $199 price whether you use my box or you use your own GPS, like we talked about earlier, it's $199. If you need my box, one-time charge of $300. Every year after, right. So you pay 300 bucks for the box. It's 199 for the service. Every year thereafter it's 199 for the service. You already have the box. That's still cheaper. I don't like that word, but, darian, you and I talked about this. That's still less expensive, and I want to be. I just want to be clear. It's not about who's the cheapest for safety right, because if you're talking about your safety jar, do you want something that's going to hit the masses and actually protect you across the board, or something that only does a certain thing in a certain area? What's going to make your life safer? That's the big thing to ask.
Cost Breakdown and Value Proposition
Speaker 2Yeah, without a doubt. So so, Tom, what you're saying. Zips is about $700 one-time charge, Icon is about $900 one-time charge, but it's only a general hazard alert on Waze, nothing else alert on Waze, right, and nothing else.
Speaker 3I want to be clear Save your money. So here's the thing. I don't know if the viewers are going to be able to see the video. We're on a screen share together. You can see my video. So here's what you can do If you want to save your money.
Speaker 3All you care about is just an alert, probably a more specific alert on Waze. Do this. See my iPhone or your Android phone. Open up Waze. It's free to download. It's free to be a user. Cost you nothing.
Speaker 3You're on the roadway. Push this little report tab. Yep, literally push hazard. Literally push car on shoulder or leave it as hazard hit report. That'll take you 15 seconds. You can do that before you jump out of the truck. That's free. Save your money. You don't have to buy boxes. You don't have to buy anything from anybody. You can do that for free. That shows up instantly to the roadway no delays, right. Safety cloud shows up instantly as well, but no delays. You don't have to pay anything for anybody. You can self-report it on Waze. You can self-report it on Apple Maps. Save your money, if that's all you care about. You don't care about anything else. You just literally take 10 seconds. Push a couple of buttons with your finger. Save yourselves the money that is educating the market. Now, if you want the masses to get it where you can get it on Waze and Apple Maps, you don't have to think twice about doing anything, and you want to know that it's working. That's why Safety Cloud has been the most trusted by towers.
Speaker 2And what a value, tom I mean. When you look at the cost of vehicles these days $120,000 plus for a rollback, $350,000 for a medium-duty, $750,000 plus for a heavy I mean we're talking about less than. That's like buying floor mats for the car, getting this put in, and it's a tremendous amount of insurance and peace of mind for the owners.
Speaker 1So well done. Hey, tom, before I ask you this question, I have to tell you I was doing a seminar. We had maybe 1200 people in the audience and we're waiting and all of a sudden the door opens up and a guy comes in on a wheelchair and he lost his leg. And so I finished the seminar, I go over to him. I've known him for years. He was changing a tire for triple A and he lost his leg by a car hitting him.
Speaker 1So I sit back and I say to myself how much does it cost? It's the most inexpensive thing. How much does a leg cost? How much does a life cost? How much does your brother's life cost? And when you go to some of these funerals, I'm torn apart, because we've had them in Georgia and great, great people. If they had Hazalert, they would be alive today. And that's all I'm going to say, and I'll get to the next question. But emotionally I sat there thinking this is this is tearing me up and I I have to say so. You work with a lot of towers. We know that small ones, from small groups to large groups and most of the well-known in our industry and everyone in between. What is something that you hear a lot from the owners and operators when it comes to safety and why they use Safety Cloud and how important it is.
Speaker 3I'll turn it over to you. So that's a great question, you're right. Right, there's a lot of small. Ok, I want to be clear. I think maybe small.
Speaker 3So one truck owner operators are just as critical to keeping our country moving as the large fleets that are out there, right, and everyone that's in between. Everyone has a different business, everybody has different needs. So let's mad respect for anyone that's out there in a truck hustling. In fact, some of the biggest towers today started with one truck and built it up Right. Um, so you know, shout out to those folks that are grinding every single day. They deserve to be protected as well as anybody else.
Speaker 3So the probably the biggest thing that I hear from owners and operators um, so people don't see us. How can they not see our lights? Right, there's a slow down, move over law. You're, you're right, you know. But for the same reason, you know that people are average motoring person, right, your family and your friends? They don't. If you're look, no offense, but if you're driving down the roadway listening to the podcast, you're technically a distracted driver. Your brain is paying more attention to the podcast than you are driving, just like when you're on the phone, just like when you're listening to the radio, one of the most dangerous things you can do is have passengers in your car that you're talking to. We just don't realize that as a society. So it's not you, they're not purposely coming at you, but so so what are we doing about it? You can't just keep making lights brighter and more flashier because they require your attention. You can put as many message boards you want on your vehicles and arrow boards and and and and cones and high visibility gear. You have to keep using it. They're important, but all of that stuff requires your attention. You can't read an arrow board or a message board if you didn't know it was there until you're zooming past it. So what did you do to get their attention, to make them aware of it? That's where digital learning comes into place. But the reason that this has been so important for these owners and the towers right, because we have towers where the ownership may not want this. So the tower can call us. The pricing is so inexpensive, they'll call us.
Speaker 3We make a little 12 volt cable so you don't have to hardware anything. You just plug it into the cigarette lighter port. You can take that with you from truck to truck. You know, like Tony the tone man, some of these guys they talk about all the time Like it you. You can use it for yourself, save your life. So at least you go home to your family, right?
Speaker 3But the big thing is, like the people that it was a no brainer. They either had somebody killed or that worked for them, or very adjacent, very close to them. They know somebody that has been killed, the devastation to the family. And then for them to say I knew I could have possibly prevented it and I didn't do anything. There's no way, if something bad happens because there's no guarantees, we all know this If something bad happens, I can sit there and say I literally did everything I possibly could have, because if you didn't, that wears very heavy on their soul. Secondarily, if they haven't had it happen, they know people that it's happened to and that keeps them.
Speaker 3I've had so many folks, regardless of their size, like I wake up in the dead of night when I know I got my guys on rotation, just dreading I'm going to get a phone call, and that phone call rings. I'm out of breath because I'm worried, I'm scared, it's going to be one of these things, right, and so that's really the biggest thing. And then really, the business hat kicks in when you get away from the emotional and they're like look, I got I. I paid $10,000 to replace the door. You mean for 40 cents today I could have protected 40 cents. I could have protected my $120,000 or my insurance rates from skyrocketing because I keep making claims because I'm replacing $10,000 doors or my, my vehicles in the shop. How much money do I lose when my truck's not running Cause somebody rear-ended me, even at a slow speed, right? Or my guy's out of work and now my worker's comp went up because he had to jump out of the way and he twisted his ankle or twisted his knee. You see what I'm saying Like for 40 cents, right? We pay more for a monster drink or a Starbucks coffee than 40 cents to protect the life and the vehicle so that the business hat comes on as well as it. So these are the most common things.
Speaker 3Everybody does it for their own reason and look, if it's not for you, it is all good, totally all good. I stand firmly behind what anybody feels is reasonable for their business to protect their business or protect their employees, whether that's with us or somebody else or not using digital learning at all. You do what you feel is reasonable for your business, if any one of us, even my competition if we can help make you safer, we're going to help make you safer. If it's not for you, all good. But these are the biggest things that these, these owners, right From again, I'm talking the largest there's.
Speaker 3I'm not trying to name drop, but, like go to the museum, look at the board members, look at the folks that you're asking for signatures and autographs from when you see them at the trade shows. They've been living and breathing with it and it has made such a significant difference in the safety and the, the, the mentality, the health and wellness right, the morality of, of, like, the morale of of their employees, of. Look, they're getting notes and letters from the families of what they're doing for their safety. So it ends up being win, win around. But again, whatever you decide to do, I think all of us can agree on this, on this conversation today hey, we support what you feel is best for your business and for your employees. We hope we're a part of that and if not, hey, keep making the roadways moving. I can't be a pedestrian, I can't be a constituent, without our roadways moving. So you have a very critical role. Keep doing that. We're going to support it, no matter what.
Speaker 1See me at a trade show, customer or not, I'll shake your hand, I'll buy your drink whatever you need, as long as you're doing what you feel is best for your business. We support it 100%. Well, darren, and I agree with you 110%. Let's do this. Listeners, we got a great last segment coming up. Tune in, listen up and we'll be right back.
Speaker 5TRAA is the national association representing the US towing and recovery industry. We act as the voice of America's towing industry by offering representation, education and leadership at the federal level. Much of our focus is on representing the interest of the towing and recovery industry on Capitol Hill the towing and recovery industry on Capitol Hill, including promoting positive legislation and opposing potentially negative legislation. Traa is the industry's watchdog on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 5There are so many compelling reasons to be a TRAA member. Besides being the right thing to do, membership gives you exclusive member benefits worth thousands of dollars a year, including exclusive TRAA member discounts from our featured partners, such as Coast Fuel Cards, ev Clever, app, toe Book, wreckmaster, toe Cert, haas Alert Zips, we KeyFOBs, auto Data Direct and Fleet Compliance Solutions, free advertising in our national membership directory and online directory, email updates, invitations to exclusive events and scholarship access. But best of all, you are pouring back into the industry to assure we together make it stronger for generations to come. A special thank you to our partner Gay Rochester of INA Towing for her continued ongoing support service to TRAA and her commitment to safety for our industry. With one over, lose none Become a National Association member today at traaonlinecom.
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Speaker 1Welcome back listeners. Of course you already know you're listening to Toe Professional on the Go podcast. Remember to like, review and share everywhere. We can't thank you enough for doing that. We welcome all messages. If you're an association and you want to put information about your association or an upcoming toast show, please let us know. Our hotline number here at the podcast center is 706-409-5603. And Darren and I will be more than happy to put it on the podcast. If you want to hear an industry expert like Tom Parks, who's from Hazard Alert, it's been wonderful. He's a pro and we're glad we had him on. So, darren, I'll turn it over to you.
Speaker 2Turn it over to you. Well, before I ask the next question, tom, I've just got to follow behind and say without a doubt, having this in place has got to help with employee retention. And I don't know about your house, but I play like I'm the boss, but the wife weighs a lot of the decision making around here. It's got to go her way, and I'm sure there's a lot of wives in the industry that when they hear, hey, listen, they've got an alerting system that is going to help protect me while I'm out there serving on the road and I'm doing my job, I'm thinking you've got a lot of family members that are going. That's where I want you to be, not down the road. So I think that's a big difference too, and I just commend you for service.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean. And it's look, it's not a gimmick, right, Cause they hear alerting it may be, may be new to you and some people are maybe tech not as tech, not technology savvy. That's the beautiful part. You don't have to be savvy, Just put a box in the truck, connect a wire. You know how to do that and the system does the rest of it.
Speaker 3But we're processing I'm not kidding nearly half of a billion, over 500 million safety alerts every year. It's proven. We've been around for 10 years. Right, we are the most trusted source and largest source of this roadside data in the world. To Google, to Apple, to the car companies Gimmicks don't get that right, it has to be proven and it has to be working. And it's been proven. Aaa, CAA, right, Purdue, Federal Highway, NHTSA, all of these agencies have proven that it makes a huge, huge difference when you use it in conjunction, like you use it with your lights and your cones and your head on a swivel and your training and your high-vis and all the stuff that you're doing, all the traditional stuff. Right, you have to now start thinking differently so it works.
Tower Experiences and Safety Importance
Speaker 2I can tell you a 10-hour drive to Bentonville, arkansas, the other week. You can get a little stale riding for a long time, but when you hear the alert go off, like you said, before you get to the message board, before you get to the lights object in a roadway emergency vehicle on the side of the road, tow truck on the side of the road it snaps you back out of anything you're doing. So I love it. So let me ask you this If you had one wish for the industry, tom, what would it be?
Speaker 3So if I had one wish for the industry, what would it be? So my wish for the industry would be to I was just kind of talk about this Think differently. Right, we are in this industry, very blue collar, very traditional, often generational businesses. We're very hardworking and I feel like the industry maybe doesn't get from the public maybe the respect or the recognition it deserves. Right, so often we feel it's a thankless business. But you do keep the roadways moving, right. I mean, america grinds to a halt without you, canada, right, that your country grinds to a halt without the towing recovery, right, emergency roadside community. But for that reason that we're very traditional, very blue collar, very, this is the way it's always been done.
Speaker 3You can't expect to keep doing the same things over and over and over again to get a different result when it comes to your safety. You can't. Traditionally it's lights, it's high-vis, it's cones, right, message boards, arrow boards, they're just another type of light that needs somebody's attention for it to even work. So what are we doing to get their attention? Because we cannot continue to put our lives in the hands of a motorist that is not trained on you or expect that person that's dozing off or texting or talking on the phone, or listening to the radio, or jamming out to music or listening to a podcast. No offense, guys, right, you know how I am. I'm very agnostic and very transparent about safety. You can't expect that they're going to have a habit of oh my God, I need to slow down and move over exactly right here, right now. Remember that because they heard some PSA or because you know you turn on your lights.
Speaker 3You just cannot expect that because it's your life and if they hit you, while it might be your fault, you were injured, you were killed, you paid for it as a business, you got litigated right, you are the one that is going to have to endure through the suffrage of when it happens or the near miss, which is scary as all hell, and everybody knows that. You had to experience it. So it's always been within your power to control things that you couldn't control before. So my wish is just to think differently. If you want to keep doing the same things over and over again, the expectation cannot be a different result. If you start to think differently and we start to add additional things that put us in a better position of safety, right, you start to make the change, you will see the change that you want, and that's people slowing down and moving over us doing our jobs and getting home safer to our families every day. So let's think differently. That's my, that's my wish.
Speaker 2Man Love it. Tom Couldn't have been said, I couldn't have said any better. That's awesome. Dj. Throw this next one to you, sir.
Speaker 1I know our listeners are wanting to know this. So what shows or conferences will you and has alert be at, or what ones are coming up that you're going to be at so great?
Speaker 2I'm sorry, tom, I just want to get DJ to say that again. It started out right as you started, dj, it kind of slurred like it struck. I'm sorry, all right. Yeah, I just drugged right at the first.
Speaker 1Well, let me hey, while we're taking this break, are you going to be at the Ohio show? That's what I want to ask you. No, because Zip is, so I just didn't know If you were going to be up there.
Speaker 3Yeah, I know I'm not Alright.
Speaker 1Yeah, because I was going to get him to do a conference. You know, with Bruce Zip ain't doing a conference. You know with Bruce Zip ain't doing a conference, but he could do a talk. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2Think about that, Tom. If you go there, we'll get to a conference, a speaking point.
Speaker 1And speaking there.
Speaker 3Yeah, but I think it's happening like I'll be in Bristol, I think, around that time, and then I get home and then I have to go to Scottsdale because the AAA annual conference is there, because we're a preferred supplier.
Speaker 2And Tom's animals already try and bite him because he's not at home enough. They don't recognize him.
Speaker 3Yeah, I absolutely. For like nine months I've barely been home. So I'm trying to, I'm trying to navigate my wife and children, not despising my guts. Stand it, brother.
Speaker 1Been there. Go ahead, dj, all right. So let me ask, tom, this one Our listeners want to know what shows or conferences will you be and hazard alert be at, or which ones are coming up that you want us to know you'll be there yeah, so so great question.
Speaker 3Um, as far as toe shows are concerned, um, uh, so in uh I I think it's september 11th or maybe it's sept 12th there is the hit while helping um and uh move over America um event that's happening at the Bristol Tennessee uh racetrack. I think there's a NASCAR race that's going on, so I will personally be there. Haas alert will be there, um in attendance. Um, probably one of uh, one of my favorite um towing event that's coming up will be October 8th through the 12th. That's the Tennessee Tow Show and the Museum Weekend. I highly, highly recommend, if you have never been there, especially for Museum Weekend. They have the auction Friday night. We have the wall the fallen ceremony at the museum that Saturday morning and then there's the museum breakfast that happens on Sunday morning. If you've never been, if there's any one show you could go to, I would encourage that one, especially for museum week, and the auction raises great money for the survivor fund as well as right the wall of the fallen, where they bring family members out for our heroes that have been killed while literally doing their job on the side of the road. There's not a dry eye there, but it's kind of my recharge of why there's passion, why we keep doing this, because I don't want another name on the wall. That's the campaign I started many years ago, darian, if you remember right. No more names on the wall, and I still operate like that.
Speaker 3The Baltimore show will be there in attendance and then there's some few other ones. I mean I think you're in Birmingham, just I think later in August, so later this month, darian, there's a police expo that's happening in Birmingham. I won't be there, but Corey, our CEO, will be there in attendance. I will be at the AAA annual conference because we're a preferred supplier for AAA, so we'll be in attendance there. Some exciting news being announced for all the work we do with AAA and their sister company, caa in Canada. Some really, really exciting stuff and partnerships that we've created with them where we're the sole source for that alerting, doing things that others can't. So there's going to be some other fire and EMS construction and work zone shows that the Haas Alert team are going to be at. So you know, stay tuned. And again, if you see me in person, come say hello Again, shake your hand, answer questions, whatever I can do to help Well.
Speaker 2Tom, let me ask you this If someone had questions and they wanted to learn more, but no sales, pitch.
Speaker 3Can they reach out to you and how do they get in touch with you? Yeah, so great question. I love that you threw in but no sales pitch, because I think I love that. I think all too often people think what cause? Cause, here's the deal. People love that. Oh, what's the price? Well, you just heard my price 199 bucks a year full suite of GPS service. Soon we'll have IFTA tracking. Um, uh, that's, I mean like literally probably better than anything else that's out there. So you heard my price. Um, and if you need a box, you can buy the box from us, or just if anything else that's out there. So you heard my price. And if you need a box, you can buy the box from us, or just, if you already have GPS, you can use your, use your GPS, and we'll enhance all of that. So you heard my price.
Speaker 3But I think people are worried if they talk to me or if they talk to the team, like, oh, we got to send this demo, we got to do this, all this stuff. There's. There's no sales pitch. If you have questions, how does this work? Show me the dashboard. I can't do that on a Facebook message. I can't do that on a text message. I can't do that talking over the phone, so I can do a screen share and show you. So if you'd like me to answer your questions, to show you what you get, that's what I'll do, but there's zero sales pitch. If you want to buy it, it's 199 bucks per truck. That's pretty easy peasy. If you don't want to buy it, all good, I'll still answer your questions, I'll still shake your hand, I'll still be here to support you and I'll be rooting from you, right, because you keep America moving.
Upcoming Shows and Getting in Touch
Speaker 3If you want to get in touch with me, you can reach me via email. It's Tom at HaasAlertcom and that is spelled H-A-A-S-Alertcom Tom at HaasAlertcom. And if you want to reach out to me on Facebook, just look up Tom Parbs. You'll see my bald head, my glasses and my beard and you can send me a friend request and shoot me a quick message. And if you're interested, if you email me or send me a message and you want to chat a little bit more, I'll send you my cell phone number and you can give me a call or send me a text and I can answer your questions verbally. I can answer your questions in an email. And again, if you want to actually see it, just let me know. I can send you like a Zoom link. I can show you around the dashboard, all the stuff that you get, and then you can decide if it's for you or not. But $199, we like to keep it simple, hey, tom.
Speaker 2I really appreciate what you're saying because, listen, I'm the same way. If somebody calls me and says how much is the ad, I'll just straight up tell them. But do you really want to know that, or would you really like to know what goes into it and how we could partner with you and what all of this could do together for your business? So I'm the same way. If you want a price, I can tell you, but nine times out of 10, after I tell you that you're going to want some more information, you're going to want to know how this makes sense. And that's what Tom's saying. You can always get a price, but, guys, dig in and get that information so you can make the intelligent buying decision and get the best product for your company.
Speaker 3Yeah, I mean. And again, if you're going to compare, like ask the questions okay, is this real time? How can I see that it's real time? How can I see that it's working? How can I see my emergency vehicle icon on Waze? How can I see that on Apple Maps? Is it going to show up in the cars? I know, if you ask those questions, we're the only ones that can show you that, right, but like, remember, it's not, like, oh, I'm digital learning people because it's not the same. Right, there's a difference. And if you really, really, really want to save your money, because I'll tell you that, oh, I only want to put, just, I just want to alert to happen on Waze. I don't need anything else, I don't care about anything else, all good, cool, I'll show you, literally.
Speaker 2Take me 30 seconds, I'll show you how to do it with your finger, for free, but if you want, the masses and you don't want to think about it and you want to know that it's working and you want it branded and you want all that free GPS stuff $199. Love it, Love it, Tom. We appreciate you so much coming on the podcast explaining whyas Alert is known for safety when it comes to the industry and for protecting our tow professionals. Again, listeners, if you want to know more about it, haasalertcom, H-A-A-S alert, A-L-E-R-Tcom. Also, pay attention to Tow Professional Magazine. We have a special section that you'll find in the industry news. It's a safety corner and it's brought to you and sponsored by Haas Alert and what they will be doing is including information, safety information to keep our tow professionals safe out there and keep them up to date. Up to date. So it's a great partnership with us to be able to get that news out there of what Haas Alert's doing in the industry and keeping folks safe. Anything you wanted to mention on that, Tom?
Speaker 3No, it's amazing to partner with you on that. I'm excited I'm not going to give too much away. I've got a really awesome towing professional. He's out of texas. He's going to be kind of our first um. Um, from a toer's perspective, what is he doing for safety? Why safety is so important. Um, why being a part of the association to make sure you're getting legislation for safety in your state is important. Uh, things that you can do. Um, and he's a no complaint, get her done kind of guy. A lot of people know him so I'm just going to tease the listeners with that, but make sure you get your digital or your print copy of tow professional so you can read uh, the safety corner that's going to be in the. Uh, the upcoming issue.
Speaker 2Yeah, and that upcoming issue, guys, you'll not only see it, uh, not only will be hitting mailboxes, um, here for September, but also it will be at the Mid-Atlantic Tow Expo that's coming up in North Carolina. We'll have it at the Midwest Regional and that is the issue that will be at the Wall of the Fallen. It'll have the names of the fallen on it and that special call out from House Alert will be in there, the safety corner. So, uh, make sure you take a look at it. If I'm thinking of the person that I think it is, I think they got a blue truck that's gorgeous. It might, might, be that I've seen at the shows md um, I don't know. I might be close. Nope, I'm off, not even close, all right. Well, we'll find you better. You better stay tuned, yeah stay tuned.
Speaker 3He's amazing and he's very vocal. Many other state associations have asked him to testify in front of their state legislators on safety and the things that he's helped done, and a lot of people know him from Facebook as well. So more to come. I'm just going to tease that it will be worth the read. Look, look, the total professional. And I and I realized I'm on your podcast but, like, I've always been a big fan of it, even from day one, when I didn't know much about this business several years ago. But it's because of that and the content that's in there and being with you and around all the listeners Like it's. It's. It's been so important. So make sure you get your copy when you're in person, make sure it hits you, get your signed up to get a copy, so it hits your mailbox and, again, make sure you're on the email list to get the digital copy. So there's some great stuff. They're going to be there, but, but biasly, they're going to love the safety corner that's coming up.
Speaker 2Love it. Love it Well, as always. Folks, before we cut out, I certainly want to say a prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you for every one of our vendors in the industry. No-transcript protection around them, keep them safe, bless and increase them for their passion, their love and their service to this industry. We ask that in your precious name. Amen, and listeners, as always, we thank you and appreciate you listening. You've made Tow Professional the number one podcast in the industry. We thank you for it. Keep listening. We'll have more industry experts on here, like Tom Parbs, vice President of Haas Alert. You need to reach out on the products haasalertcom. Take a look, make the decision to protect every one of your tow professionals today and it will be a peace of mind that will be the best money you've spent to protect your employees. Thanks again, until next time, god bless and be safe out there.