How A Truck Fleet Modernized Maintenance Tracking

One missed maintenance date can cost more than a year of software, and we’ve lived that lesson. We sit down and walk through how our trucking fleet’s maintenance tracking grows up over time, from “keep the receipts and remember the next oil change” to a real system that can survive multiple trucks, flips, and teams spread across the country. If you’ve ever stared at a spreadsheet and thought, “There’s no way this scales,” you’ll feel seen.

We break down the stepping stones: the early manual approach, Dad’s fleet spreadsheet era, the chaos of flipping trucks out of storage units, and why shared notes eventually turn into a mess. Then we get practical about what actually works day to day: Trello boards with templates, checklists, and shared visibility across operations, recruiting, and fleet support. From there, Jerry explains the jump to Fleetio for maintenance, why Smartsheet never clicked for some of us, and how upgrading tiers became an easy decision after a single expensive miss.

The best part is the real-world detail: fuel card integration that updates mileage and stores receipt images within seconds, Fleetio Go on the contractor side, color-coded due items, and an issue-ticket workflow that helps a 24/7 maintenance rotation stay aligned. We also zoom out to the fundamentals that never change, especially tire pressure and tread depth, DOT inspections, and why monthly VIRs catch the little problems before they turn into downtime, roadside bills, or safety risks.

If you’re building a fleet maintenance process, trying to improve preventive maintenance, or shopping for fleet management software, this is a grounded look at what we’ve tried and what we’re still improving. Subscribe for the next part, share this with a fleet owner who loves a good system, and leave a review with the one tool you couldn’t run your operation without.

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Transcript

Welcome And Warm-Weather Banter

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Outer Belt. I am Patrick, and you don't know my friends, Silly, buttermilk, Eric, zucchini bread, and Jerry. And we're coming to you from the Outer Belt Studios here in wonderful Dublin, Ohio. It's a gorgeous day outside. How long have we been waiting to say it's absolutely beautiful outside? Forever.

SPEAKER_06 0:33

Long time. Long this week was official shorts in the yard week. Yes. First time in a long time. How'd it feel? Was it nice? Felt great.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yeah? Get that air on your legs. Yep. You know how I had a uh good friend of ours, mine and Eric's, uh, that was down in Texas and just good old country folk. And uh that he was like, I will only wear blue jeans. I will not wear shorts for nothing. And I'm like, no. Like, I don't know if there's a difference between Louisiana and Texas. We're very similar in a lot of ways, but no, we'll wear shorts. Yeah. Screw that. I mean, like, because rattlesnakes can still bite through the pants. They can still bite through the pants, yeah. Yep, they sure can. I guess is it because the cowboy boots don't look as good with the shorts?

SPEAKER_03 1:16

They don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

They do on women, but not on me.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

You have a point. Well, unless you're a girl with daisy dukes on.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, and it matches.

Eighties Tech And Answering Machines

SPEAKER_01 1:27

I could see that. They're but they're bejeweled. Or bejeweled. Bejeweled. Yeah. Eric and I just watched uh last night. We watched a uh uh like six popular things of the eighties. Yeah, popular things of the eighties that are ridiculous now, and they talked about the bejeweler. Do you remember this thing? It looked like a sewing machine. Yeah, I watched the same video. Isn't it great?

SPEAKER_04 1:50

All right, what about the other thing?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Oh, they got a little close to home when they were like answering machines, and I'm like, well, hold on now. We gotta let's not like come on. They were like, and it was actually not connected to your phone, it's set next to your phone, and I'm like, oh, that's hysterical. I remember uh uh when we went from uh tape to a digital answering machine. So we've always had an answering machine as long as I've been live. That's all I remember is having one. Uh, but I do remember the little the little micro tapes. Yes, and I remember having to go because you'd use it and reuse it and reuse it and reuse it. Eventually you would get the hello, this is Sears calling about your service on Saturday. So uh I remember going to the uh K B drugstore, which I guess got bought up by Eckerd's, which got up by Rite RideAid? RideAid was a drugstore that was world recommendation. Okay, so we'll get there. Um but I remember going there and like buying you could you couldn't buy one. You bought three packes? Yeah, you had to buy a three-pack.

unknown 2:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

And then we would do that, and then uh I remember before we'd go on vacation having to like re-record it, like, we'll be gone from this date to this date, right?

SPEAKER_03 3:01

You're telling people we have to be home.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

How great this is before people had home security systems. I'm like, why did we think at some point that was a good idea? Because you trusted your friends that were calling you. True. True. There was not nearly as much spam calling. No, no, yeah, for sure. Yeah, but uh, yeah, so I do remember getting the digital one and how great that was. We're not buying tapes ever again. We have arrived at the pinnacle of technology. We have a pager and a digital uh answering machine.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Do they use the same mini cassettes as uh like for interviews, the recorders?

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I don't know. I I we never had one.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

I was you weren't doing interviews on Dateline?

SPEAKER_06 3:42

No, we never the only way I know is I worked at Radio Shack. Okay, so we sold the same tapes for the micro cassette recorders as well as the answer machines.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

The only one of those I ever really wanted was the one from Home Alone 2, Lost in New York. You remember the the the big uh silver one that you spoke into the microphone that was off it?

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

That Kevin McAllister had.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

That was great. Was he related to you?

SPEAKER_01 4:05

I think I was related to him. I could see that. I could see that. Should look and see if there's a trust fund you need to.

SPEAKER_07 4:12

I need to. I'm just saying. You know he's getting his royalty checks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah. And it's funny that I've seen a lot of people compare him and his brother now because they're both, you know, pretty well-known actors at this point. And uh they're talking about how much his brother works versus how much he works. And it's like, yeah, his brother doesn't have a nest egg of two movies that were gigantic blockbusters that just every month send him a million dollars just for the fun of it. You know what I mean? Like he's gotta go out and make his money.

SPEAKER_07 4:40

He was on uh Jeopardy, Celebrity Jeopardy, not long ago, and he was actually saying how Which one?

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Um Macaulay.

SPEAKER_07 4:48

Macaulay, thank you. And he was saying how they still watch Home Alone in his house, and his kids today don't realize that it's him.

SPEAKER_03 4:56

Oh, that's precious.

SPEAKER_07 4:58

Like they love the movie and they don't realize it's him, and he's he's gonna see how long he can go before he says anything.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

That's neat.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

That's hysterical, but he still looks like he did back then.

SPEAKER_07 5:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

He like, you know, you see some of those child actors when they're adults, and you're like, it's really you?

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Him, you're like immediately, oh yeah, that's yeah, but maybe there's so little that they're not putting two and two together quite yet.

SPEAKER_06 5:17

His kids are like 22 and 23, I think. I don't think that's I don't know how old they are. I don't know how old they are.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

I did see uh interview, uh, it's it's a few years old, but it comes up on my reels every so often of uh Julie Andrews is talking with I think Jimmy Fallon about her grandkids. And uh during that interview, one of the grandkids just realized she's Mary Poppins. Like just put it together. And so she was talking about that when she went to go see him. The boy like walked over, winked at her, and said, I know who you are. Like I just think it's still thinking it's kind of magical though. Yeah, not really equating this is a movie. Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Like, yeah, right. It's her secret superpower.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Correct, it's not suspended belief, it's just belief. Yeah, yeah.

Movie Nostalgia And Childhood Magic

SPEAKER_03 6:01

That's funny. Yeah, not funny, but precious too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Yeah, wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

I Mary Poppins is one of the movies I really do love. Like from my childhood. I always thought like being able to jump into that painting, being able to fly up uh and have tea, hanging up in the air and laughing. Like, and some of my younger memories around the dinner table with mom and dad were laughing. Like we my mom was a very funny person, and my dad would get on these roles too. So we would like have some very funny moments, and I always thought it'd be cool like if we just started floating up in the air. You know, because when you are a little kid, you do think like this might happen. Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

And uh so but no, that was one I just always loved that. Mary Poppins. And and I apparently it was good for your health. Laughing? Uh uh whatever it was, because think of how many people at Mary Poppins are still alive. Two.

SPEAKER_06 6:52

Yeah, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Dick Van Dyke and her, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Like over a hundred.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I looked at the other ones that are in there, and they didn't make it past like the late 60s and 70s. Not not to the 60s and 70s. I mean, like no, I mean like 1960s and 70s. I mean like so. Maybe it wasn't so good for your health. Maybe, oh, that's what it is. Maybe Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews worked together a magic spell where they got everyone's life. It was one of those crazy back-end deals in the contract. It was. Everyone has to die early, but we're gonna live to 172. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

That's funny.

Spring Chores And Home Comforts

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Disney was like, Well, we're gonna make sixteen billion dollars on it. Let's go for it. Oh fun times. So you're out in the yard, it's nice and warm.

SPEAKER_06 7:40

It was very warm, nice and comfortable. It was a nice little breeze blowing too, so it wasn't too hot.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:45

It was nice. It's very nice.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Have y'all had any um of the aromatic uh aromatics from the hills of Columbus? Not yet, but now that you say that, we will tomorrow.

SPEAKER_06 7:55

Okay. Oh, we actually had it a couple days when it was cold, we did get those. Um, but yeah, I'm guessing that tomorrow we'll probably get just a big old noseful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Thank you. Well, the wind's gotta be a very specific direction for that to happen. That's very true. Because if it's if it's a if it's a southerly wind, it's gonna miss you. If it's an easterly wind or it's our westerly wind, it's gonna miss you. It's gotta be that perfect radial of wind.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

I was telling Heather, it also has to be when you're trying to sweep the leaves from last fall. Oh, can't do before or after, just when you're sweeping. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Did you guys go up there today? I did not. I didn't take the chance. However, I'll just say the problem has been resolved. Perfect. Sounds good. Yes. Sounds good. We don't need to edit that anymore. Yep. You don't have to edit it out, you just don't mention it. So uh everybody's cool. Uh I did tell Eric one of those things was like 900 pounds, and when I got back in the van, I was like, my heart was pounding out of my chest because I just, you know, you do that thing where like this is too heavy for me. Yeah. But I'm gonna do it. Yeah. No matter what. Yeah. It's usually when you throw your back out. So I did that. I get back in the van and I'm sitting there and I'm like, breathe normal. Like literally having a focus because of how extraneous it was.

SPEAKER_06 9:20

At a certain age, you look at that stuff then, you go, that's too heavy. And you know that you're gonna hurt yourself if you try and lift it. So you get a younger person to do it for you. That's smart. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

That's really smart. I should have done that. I don't know any younger people.

SPEAKER_06 9:35

I I know a bunch of them, so well that's everybody in the I know in this runger than me. Oh, that's what happens when you're it does. It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

So uh cool. Jerry, how is the air conditioning and uh summer heat doing over in uh the uh other part of Columbus?

SPEAKER_07 9:52

Um it's nice. I like this time of year. Um open the windows, no AC on yet. Trying to save that power bill.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Oof, ours has been on.

SPEAKER_07 10:03

If we open the the back door, the you know, the main door you come in to the garage and open the windows on the front side, it's just right through the house. It's nice.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah, he's like if you do that, you open the doors and the windows, upstairs, downstairs, and then you go to the basement and you get inside the wine cellar. It's lovely. It's perfect. It's perfect. I am shocked at how nice your wine cellar is for your house. It is it's legit. It is. It is legit. I gotta come check it out because your studio is there now, right? Yep. I gotta come see it. Last time you were up on the the very top part uh with the wall that faces the sun all day.

SPEAKER_07 10:42

And that's where Dawn is now.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

That's cruel and unusual.

SPEAKER_07 10:48

That's where it needs to be.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I'm gonna get down a window unit. So uh Yeah. You can't like at my house, you can't keep the top floor cool. It's impossible.

SPEAKER_07 11:00

It's weird. Sometimes it it'll like um the the middle floor, the main floor, will get hotter and the top will be cooler sometimes. Really? Not when the sun is shining in the evening, but like in the evenings, like whenever I'm getting ready to go to bed, like it could be, you know, nine my bedtime, nine o'clock.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Okay. I hear you.

SPEAKER_07 11:21

And it'll be like still a good 78 or whatever on the main floor, and I can start walking up the stairs and you can tell it's getting cooler. We're not turning our AC on. The AC does not come on until it has to come on.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Well, the AC right now doesn't come on at my place at all. Oof. So I ordered ordered one and they were like, okay, it's gonna be like eight weeks to get it in. I'm like, oh, that's that's the kind of news you want to hear. Yeah. When you're exactly right at the beginning of I mean, I guess it's fine because it's already been what, like three weeks or two weeks, I guess, since we ordered it. So and it's been cold, and the heat still works on it. The emergency uh the the expensive heat still works on it, but at least it's heat. Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Um that I think you need it going forward.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

No, I don't think so either. But now I want AC and I don't have it. Yeah. So and we have our line of credit open. Pay for it. Yes. Thank you, Wells Fargo. Today's uh sponsor, Wells Fargo Consumer Credit. Um, say it with me. Zero percent at twenty-four months.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

What's up?

Why Maintenance Tech Matters

SPEAKER_03 12:21

There you go. What are y'all chatting about today?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Uh we are talking about technology and the evolution within the general construct of the maintenance and truck remediation departments. I think we should start with like you know, the beginning.

SPEAKER_06 12:46

In the beginning, to you know, shoeing horses. What? Shoeing the horses that we're pointing in the trailer.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Like this ain't no Norway. We don't need horse meat.

SPEAKER_06 12:59

No horses were injured in the making of this podcast. Yet shoeing. We are doing that thing at the Dublin uh uh stables, you know. But that might happen, but and that's the next podcast, not this one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Are you talking about in the evolution of Highfield or in trucking in general?

SPEAKER_06 13:17

I meant trucking in general. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_06 13:20

Putting the new steel hoop on the on the wheels of the wagon.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 13:24

Yeah. Yep. So originally the trucks were powered by animals, you say? Yes. They were drawn by oxen. Okay. Sometimes horses, but oxen were able to pull more weight. Yeah. So if you were hauling heavy, you were using oxen.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Okay. Uh did they have to be similar-sized oxen or could they be say of different yolks?

SPEAKER_06 13:46

Well, they could would wear their own yoke. Okay. Right? I don't know. Yeah, no, I'm just telling you they wear their own yoke. That the yoke was a thing that went around their neck that they used to pull on to the yoke was attached to the trailer well with with straps and chains, and that's what they would use to pull. So they would wear their own yoke. You would want them similarly sized, yes. Okay. You don't want to use juvenile oxen to pull your your trailer because you know they're not going to pull much weight. I see that. If you're hauling heavy, you want the biggest you can get, biggest, strongest you can get. Now, what was first? The oxen or the reindeer? The reindeer were first. Okay. Yeah. So I mean they're mythical, so if you you can write your own story there, your own lore.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Well, I think it's pretty obvious because if you look at Santa's sleigh, no wheels. Right. No way, no wheels. So it had to be first, right? Yep. That's my understanding. Yep. Before wheels were invented. Way before. Yeah. That's why it was actually that is why Christmas is in winter, because it's the only time they could use the sleigh. Exactly. And during during summertime, it would just get stuck in the in the dirt and the sand. And trust me, potholes, you don't want to go to a pothole. None of that thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

That's why he lands on the roof. That's right, yeah. Because they're generally in the ground.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

100%. There you go. Jerry, see, we are solving historical conundrums. Condundrums.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Condundrums.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yes. With accuracy. Was that conundrum and precision? I I don't I it's not part of my usual vernacular, so nice.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

It's it's good to try new things.

Early Fleet Maintenance By Hand

SPEAKER_01 15:14

It is good. Yes, I agree. I agree. So uh way back when in 2012 uh Eric and Patrick started this crazy idea of what if we started driving a truck? And so we went from there and we uh drove for six months for someone, and then uh six months later, we or at the end of that six months we bought uh a truck from these same people. And uh they gave us an Excel spreadsheet with everything that had been done to the truck, which should have been our first indication that we were buying a lemon. Like, don't get me wrong, trucks need a lot of maintenance. I mean, if you're putting back then you were doing oil changes every 25, 25, 30,000 miles, somewhere in that range. Uh now they're 50 and 60,000, but back then they were 2530. Uh so if you're doing that and you've got half a million miles on it, you've already had what is that, 20 oil changes. So that takes up a big chunk of it. You've had lots of tires, you've had so yeah, there it's gonna be a lot of stuff, but this this would not have fit in fit in an executive portfolio.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

QuickBooks?

SPEAKER_01 16:30

No, they sold it next to Sharper Image. Brookstone? Brookstone.

SPEAKER_07 16:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Do you not remember the executive portfolio and the day planner from Brookstone? No, I don't. No, it wasn't Brookstone. Brookstone was the competitor of Sharp Image. No, it's the other one. Who's the other company?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Oh, I'm thinking of his.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

No, they were in the mall. They had the black uh planners back when, like the leather ones back when you were fancy.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

I actually have one of those from my dad. Franklin Press?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

No. Franklin, Franklin something. Franklin Covey. Franklin Covey. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Never would have got that.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

You were going way back in your files.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Way way back, way back, way back. Uh and they were expensive. They were like super high-end. Yeah. And I only know about them because we would never have anything that nice, because dad's company had a corporate account with them, and so every year, as part of his job, was to go and pick up his new Franklin Covey uh planner. That's that's way back in the day. And then every year when he did that, I would get the old one. So none of my calendars would work, but like the notes and everything. But that's how I'm just saying, that's how much detail we got in this thing. It was ridiculous. It should have been like, whoa, if you've had 300 pages of work done on a truck, it's too much. It's a lot. Um, and then we bought it, it was a limit. But uh Eric and I had to uh figure out all this stuff. So we had to figure out how do we do maintenance, how do we keep uh up with all these dates, right? Like, so we figured real quick on oil changes, we would just notate the next one and we just stay 30,000 and just keep a running count. And then uh we weren't running any kind of reefer units back then, it was all dry van stuff, and the APU was every thousand hours, which made things nice. So we just got to the next thousand-hour interval on the uh trip, and then we started our count from there. And so every thousand hours we just got it serviced. And so it made it very simple. And Eric and I were driving the truck, so when we did our pre-trip, if we saw something wrong, we'd get it fixed.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Um, then when we bought a truck, had it that one had a uh Mercedes-Benz MBE 4000 engine. That was that was a cool truck. 450 horsepower, at the time, strongest engine we'd ever bought. Wow. Um and was the Kinworth? Oh, the Kinworth was the first one. That was the Caterpillar. Oh remember the Caterpillar, don't you? I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and go, Arthead!

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Just uh we came out with an Rhead replacement schedule.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, that was uh late in the late in the history.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

We actually did come up with like we knew every was it eight months or something like that, like clockwork would just replace it.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

And typically like an oil change.

Dad’s Spreadsheet Era For The Fleet

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Yeah, typically it was bad enough that we get like we'd buy one, the next one would be warranted, and the next one we had to buy again. So that's how we were working the system. Oh, what a nightmare. And then we had uh the ultimate solution for that, which we can't talk about. So yeah, it's been long enough. It's been long enough. I don't care, I don't know what the statute of doesn't matter. So uh we uh we bought this Mercedes-Benz engine, and that was a 30,000 mile old change. I think it was like 35,000 mile old change interval, but we decided consistency, 30,000. We're gonna do the same thing as the caterpillars, this one. Eric and I drove that truck, we had put a team in the old Kenworth, and then uh a few months in we actually swapped places, we let them take the the the Cascadia, we took the Kenworth, um, and then six months later, so we bought another truck. And so quickly we started realizing we need a way to keep up with this because this it's starting to be a lot. So the original idea was drivers would be responsible for um keeping up with the mileage. We wrote it into the lease, uh, still do, um, to where you have to get your engine serviced at whatever the appropriate interval is, and you have to get your APU or generator serviced at whatever that appropriate interval is. Um and then on the reefer side, we didn't make anybody um keep track of it because FedEx did that. So FedEx would actually send out a thing saying, hey, and you know, like three weeks, two weeks, you need to have your reef serviced, or you need to have your T val pad test done or your NIST test or whatever. So we actually relied a lot on that um to give us those clues of when we needed to get those things serviced. So we didn't have to track it. Made it very nice. And there were no service policies back in those days, so every single service was a full oil change service. There was no like only check uh do a dry PM or wet PM or anything. It didn't exist. So that made it really simple for us as well. And uh then we would just basically track receipts uh for like if we had a repair done, just throw it in a receipt folder, and then whenever we um if we had like a similar repair, then we would go back and check the receipts and see if there's something that'd be warranted or whatever. So that's kind of how we tracked it originally. It was it was very manual, very manual, uh very a lot of like just remembering things and relying on the teams to take care of stuff. Um as we grew and built the fleet up, we started getting trucks that uh had 50,000 mile old changes, and that was great because a 50,000 mile old change is super easy to you know, 50, 100, 150, 200, right? So it's super easy to keep trap with that. Um and then the generators, our APUs were either 500 hours or a thousand, depending on what model you had. So that was again super easy to keep track with. And then as we grew more, um, we ended up bringing on my dad. When did we bring him on? 24 Sixteen maybe? Somewhere around there, I think twenty fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. Some research. Was okay. You you were driving for us the longest. Do you remember when dad came on or was he already on when you got board when you came on?

SPEAKER_07 22:11

No, I was still calling you when I first started.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 22:14

And then he came on, so he came on when we were still on the road.

Flipping Trucks And Shared Apple Notes

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Oh, or was he on back then? Mm-hmm. Okay. So when he came on and started working with us, he was like, You gotta give me a better computer. And we went and got uh a very high-end uh Sony computer. Uh and we spent like a thousand dollars on it. Oh yeah, super nice. And then we uh went through and he actually built out an Excel spreadsheet. And what he would do is for like first category was all the truck numbers, and then uh up across the top he would do uh like PM service next do and and all this stuff online, and he would track everything that way. And that's how he kept up with with everything. Still very manual uh and not like great for super deep record keeping. Again, we kept the receipts, so we had the records, but just not a running list of what was happening per truck. Um but it was a way to keep it keep up with the fleet and keep it going. Uh and we were still pretty small at that point, weren't a huge fleet yet. And about 2018, 2019, uh we started flipping trucks fairly regularly. Like we were bringing a lot of brand new trucks on and we were um flipping trucks and and moving teams in. And at that time, a lot of times we'd buy a brand new truck, and then a team within our fleet would then get that truck, and then depending on that person's truck, another team in our fleet might get that truck, and then the next truck would be flipped for a new person, right? So like you would you would flip a if you brought one truck on, you may do three or four flips to get it out. And we still do sure some of that these days, not nearly to the degree that we used to. Well, part of that too is we're just not bringing on new trucks like we used to.

SPEAKER_06 24:02

Uh a lot of it too, though, is teams upgrade from a non-bathroom truck to a bathroom truck. And now we've got a non-bathroom truck that we put another team in too. Uh usually a new team, uh a new team, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah. Uh when we started doing all that, all of a sudden it became a jungle of first it was Eric and I, we relocated to Columbus, and Eric and I would uh take care of flipping trucks. We worked out of the CubeSmart, which we recently left, but um if any of y'all know us from pretty much before the beginning of the year, you know CubeSmart. Uh we worked with them for years, and uh we started with a so I didn't know we were gonna go, so we started with a five foot by five foot storage unit. I didn't even know they made them that small. Tiny, tiny little thing in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Wow. Because we thought that was where we were going to position the company and need to be. Sure. And then after doing more like investigating, we were like, eh, we kind of like Columbus better. So we decided to come to Columbus. Um, and we started with a 10 foot by 10 foot here. And then from that 10 foot by 10 foot turned to a 10 foot by 20 foot, which turned into a second ten foot by 20 foot, which turned into a 10 foot by 40 foot, while also keeping the 10 foot by 20 foot, while also then it turned into a what was that last one? Like a 15 by 50 or something? Something like that, yeah. Huge tall ceilings, giant bay door, yeah. 13 foot, so almost big enough to drive into. But not quite. But not quite. Um, so when we were so when it was originally Eric and I doing all that stuff, and it was rough because a lot of times Eric would have businesses uh to tandle on the permitting or the payroll our uh settlement side uh or payroll for the employees because he that was it's always been his side and operations always been my side. That's from day one how we split the company up. And so there would be a lot of times I need to go get stuff done, and he wasn't available. So I would go do it myself or I would Uber to shops and things like that. And uh it just became a lot. So um in late 2019, um my 2018, 2019.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Some one of the beginning of 2019, I looked it up.

Trello Boards Replace The Chaos

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Okay, the beginning of 2019, is that when dad moved up here? Yep. Yeah, so dad and my sister moved up here, and when they moved up here, um I told my sister, come work for me and we'll work together. I didn't know how that was gonna work. Me and her get to get get along okay, uh, you know, fine. But uh we we did not get along at all growing up. So I was like, we'll see how this goes. Um and uh and it worked out really nice. So me and her worked in the yard, um, flipping trucks, and what we did was we had uh Apple Notes, we both had iPhones. I that was requirement for her to come join our company. She was not happy about it. She was a hardcore Android user, loved it, and I told her I'm like, we write everything on Apple Notes, we have a shared note, and you have to have that, or this won't work. And so she got an iPhone and and and made that transition. And uh so we literally have an iPhone, uh, and I've actually got um I gotta think of a way to show is this just like a screenshot of this would be pretty good, you think, Jerry? Sure. So it's just gonna show you um some like how we have this all set up. And so like uh this one truck, this is from 2019, July 2019. Um new drive van, and uh it's at WW Williams. Like that's just a check mark at WW Williams, needs moved to storage, like so it's done, it needs to be moved. So like we manually typed everything in. You can kind of see uh this is on the screen right here how we did it, and then we would just kind of keep a running list and we shared it, and that's how we would get through everything. Now she has a check mark. When Eric and I first started, there were no check marks. I would just put things on and take them off as needed, then we got the check mark system down, and uh it was actually Frank came to the yard uh one time and worked with us and did some YouTube content back in the day. Uh so he did that as well. But he saw how we were doing this and he's like, This is crazy. Like, this is so much stuff on this one shared note that it's kind of organized nice, but like not really. Yeah. And so he went out and actually found Trello. And he brought that to us. And so we uh switched over to using Trello, uh, which I don't think it's called Trello anymore. It's called Trello. Okay, okay. Then they got bought off by someone, is that what happened?

SPEAKER_07 28:57

At Atlasen?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Atlason or something like that. Atlassian?

SPEAKER_07 29:01

Yeah, I never can't pronounce it. They're the primary head company.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Okay, because when they got bought out, they said Trello is now Atlassian. That one. But it's still Trello, they never did just kill it off. Correct. That's funny. So um, so then we switched over to that, and and our Trello boards now are quite uh distinguished. And actually, that is what you're still using in the yard, right? Yeah. It is. Um so when Jimmy and uh came on board and took over maintenance from dad, um, he moved Trello. So now we've got I'm gonna miss something, and y'all chime in when I get something wrong or there's more than I'm thinking of. We you can build these different workboards on Trello, and inside of it you can have all these individual little like I think of them as as postcards.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

They're a card.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Yeah, and and inside of that card you have tons of notes, but even better than that, you have a a checklist, and and every time you knock some off the checklist, it just gets uh moved to the bottom, but it's still there. Right. You can go back and look at it. You go back and look at it, and when you do something, it has a a history of who did it and when it was done. So if someone checked something off as done but didn't do it, you could see it. Or if it was an accident or or what have you, right? Um, or if you didn't know what got done, you could go back and be like, hey, I see you checked this off. Sure. I didn't know it got done. Oh yeah, okay, cool. Like it helps with that.

SPEAKER_06 30:25

The one thing I wish it did was when you add something, it doesn't say who added it. Because sometimes you'll you'll you'll see something on there and go, it doesn't quite make sense. I wonder who put this on there.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:36

And you want to try and figure it out. Well, in the yard, it's easy enough to ask Melissa and Heather, hey, did you add this? And if they didn't, then it's like, okay, well, so we actually have maintenance when they add something to Trello, they put their initials and date it so we actually can go back and figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

And I like the thing I missed. I wish we had. I like too, they put their initials. They don't put in maintenance, they actually will put like a exactly. And it gives you an idea of like, hey, need to go back and ask why did you add this? Right. Because sometimes they'll put things on like um the door squeaks when you open it, and you go open and you're like, I don't know which door. And so you open both doors and you're like, they don't squeak. I don't know what the issue is. So you call them back and they're like, Yeah, well, when they're in the sleeper side compartment door or on the passenger side, you're like, didn't check. There you go. Didn't sneak that door. No, no, no. So, you know, sometimes it's nice to have that stuff in there. And I do the same thing. When I add stuff, typically, I don't do it the way they they format the way they do. I probably should. Uh, but I don't. But I typically will like write something down and then I'll put a PL at the end of it. You know what I like? I like when you call me and say, Hey, can you add this to Trello?

SPEAKER_06 31:40

Yeah, but nine times out of it. Because then I format it the way we know how it works. But usually when I do that's because I'm driving. Because a lot a lot of times next time you want to ask for the Trello, hop in the car and give me a call.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

All right. Go for it. I think I see I think I now I'm I'm picking up what you're laying down. Uh yeah, because a lot of times I do I will do that like uh the majority of my Trello stuff is I'm driving a truck like out to Bold or out to Z or somewhere. Or um like we had a team that got uh broke down in California. California and their truck was down forever. So we like it was gonna be a long time. So we got a rental car for them. They came back to Columbus, picked up a I think we did we fly them back? I don't remember. No, they rented they rent a car again, came back to Ohio, they got their uh into a new truck and granite, and then like six months later when their truck was finally done, I flew out to California, picked it back, and drove back. And on the way back, I'm periodically calling and saying, Hey, can you add fill in the blank? You know? Um because I I think I'm fairly detailed when it comes to things on the truck not being right. Yes. Like so sometimes I pick up on things that other people don't. Um, so I like to give that as much feedback because I know too, as much like feedback as I give you, when you get that back in the yard, it I feel like you're more prepared for what you have coming.

SPEAKER_06 33:00

Oh, we certainly are because you spent how much time in this truck driving it where we may not spend enough time to pick up on exactly what you're you've picked up on. So yeah, it makes perfect sense. I appreciate those notes. Yeah, I really do. Um, it's just what I get them, I turn them, I translate them in my head to something that we're gonna recognize in Trello when we go to a shop and say, hey, you know, here's the problem. The other day I went to a shop and there were notes that Don had taken directly from what a driver had emailed to him. Oh, yes. And I don't expect Don to try and translate that stuff because he may take something out or change something, it might mean something completely different at that point. So he gives to us. So we take it to a shop and go, okay, here's what the driver's saying, and not being mechanics ourselves. Yes. Sometimes those things I don't understand them exactly, but at least I give the shop the information and they can go through and try and troubleshoot.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

And sometimes the driver's not being mechanics don't give us the right information.

SPEAKER_06 34:04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Yeah. I've absolutely had people, I mean, you've seen it a thousand times. Check engine lights on. Oh, great. Check engine lights on. That's a big, big deal. A check engine light on means it's about to derate, means you're about to have issues. You get the truck in the yard, it's a mill light. It's a mill light, yeah. It's it's it's no big deal. So like that kind of stuff happens, and it's like, oh thank God it's not what we thought it was.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

But it is nice when you can talk to somebody because then you're like, Yeah, okay, but you're a chugga chugga, but it you know is that from the tire, is that from the fender, is that from whatever?

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

So you can define it more.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

My favorite, and I'm sure y'all's favorite too is just doesn't drive right.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

What's it doing? Yeah, it's just not right.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Second question, what state are you in? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Do you happen to be in Indiana, right? Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

No, Lower Michigan? Well, Arizona. Oh, I haven't.

Trello Spreads Across The Company

SPEAKER_03 34:59

I like Trello. It's very user-friendly.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

It's very it's great. And so now we have, if I'm not mistaken, we have operations. Y'all use it for uh your cards for when you have a truck in it, right? Right. Fleet, uh, we have a fleet information side, which is the other side, so it's when a truck has been leased out. Um, it has all the all the normal con all the normal details uh from operations, and then it has um just a few little details about the the team. Not a lot, but enough for you to quickly make a reference. Um and then we have another board that is for actual contact information for uh the contractors. Then we have another board that uh maintenance uses. What do they use it for?

SPEAKER_07 35:43

Literally everything. Like they're literally tracking they still use that as redundancy for PMs and for the trucks, for the APUs, for the reefers. Um they're following up on DOT inspections, like all of that stuff is listed in there.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Yeah. Wow. It's uh so they've got that running at the same time recruiting. Y'all use it as well, don't you?

SPEAKER_03 36:06

We do.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

How do y'all use it?

SPEAKER_03 36:09

So we use it in the capacity of like teams we've talked to. We've got different like columns because you can have different rows with your cards, and so we do like a hot column. So that's maybe a team that you talk to and they just need to check a few things off, or they're going to a vacation, but when they come back, they'll call you. So you maybe move them there. Um in processing, like it says, uh, once they've been approved, we move it into another column. It says waiting for truck um assignment. So that's basically where we get that from ops um when a truck will be ready, a date. Uh and then once we've scheduled that with the team, then it goes over to approved uh and a date when they're moving in. So we just kind of move it down the line. Yeah. Um and then for our referral program, um we've got different columns for that so that uh Delena and uh Carla can kind of track those payouts for those. And then at some point when all of that's said and done, uh the card gets um archived. So you can still find it, but it just gets archived. We've also got like wait list so for the different carriers and then the different kinds of trucks. So um you know, the FedEx Panther for the straight trucks, and then the tractor panther. So if we've talked to a team and we're like, you know, we don't have anything yet, but when we have something available, we'll give you a call. So we work the wait list when we do have those.

SPEAKER_06 37:31

One thing that's really nice with Trello is you can build templates. Yes, yeah. So like all our new trucks have have a template. So when we when we get a new truck, uh or new to us truck at least, we can take that template, copy it, add the truck number, and it has all the things we need to do to a new truck. Right. Um so Trello really is a project management slash uh sales tool and also a CRM or contact relationship management app because it allows you to do all those things. You know, it's it's it's a pretty slick tool.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

And then recruiting's getting all their personal information to start with. So we're collecting that first name, last name, phone number, and email.

SPEAKER_06 38:10

That contact relationship manager.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

Yes, and then eventually as as they're in they come on board or whatever and they move to a different section of Trello, again, like you said, there's a maintenance one or they there's where we just kind of like have an address book, um, those kind of things. You know, it's a big old copy and paste out of the recruiting's board into a different card in a different section of Trello. So it's it's a really I think I think what do we have? Five five, six boards? I only have access to five or six boards.

SPEAKER_06 38:42

I I mean I have three that I actually use regularly.

SPEAKER_03 38:45

I mean fleet support has their own uh one for Panther, one for FedEx, and basically it's documentation every time somebody talks with a driver. Um so you can see that if recruiting talked about something, you can maybe follow it up with it on the next call. Building relations.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Yep. It's a it's a really cool platform. And we have taken it from like if you go to Trello, you can get like if you're thinking like sounds like my I'd like to use, you can actually get a very uh basic one that's free and use it. And it has a lot of functionality. That's what we originally started with, and then we have progressed and bought more advanced versions of it uh over the years. So we uh we do a lot with them and and and um you know every every couple of years we talk about getting rid of them, and we usually get a massive pushback from the staff of like absolutely not. And so it's like, all right, well, not yet. Uh I think maintenance has three redundancies right now they're using.

SPEAKER_07 39:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Yeah, three redundancies right now, and they're they're not ready to let go of it. Um I know like some of the stuff like the the the stuff recruiting uses the board for. If we did get rid of uh Trello, you would use you can scale down to the basic version, but it limits a lot of our uh visibility. And uh so then we could possibly move to a uh company like Salesforce or some of those other guys, but that stuff's super expensive. Yeah, crazy expensive. Um so it's you know it's and we'd have to vet all these companies and figure out who it is. So it's it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

So that's you know, I mean outside of doing shared notes. That's the only other way I could think of really getting away from yeah, and at that, that would you'd have to be super organized as your own personal amount of information that would have to be moved at this point.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

It is, and securely, that's the other thing, is people don't take that to account. Like we're at a point now where like making sure we have a company that does uh uh have a good privacy policy and does protect the information like uh securely. I mean, you hear about data breaches and stuff all the time, and that's one thing where uh, you know, I think Jerry, when you came on board, we talked about like let's go through all of these processes and stuff we're using and make sure that we are secure. And we upgraded a few things to get it behind a reputable company with a good firewall and and all these security protocols. But it that's that's been a part of it too. It's just making sure we're we're we're keeping all that information secure.

SPEAKER_03 41:16

Um that's a long ways from an Excel spreadsheet.

Smartsheet Frustration And Choosing Fletio

SPEAKER_01 41:19

It's a long way, yes, our share our one shared note that I've just invited three people to and we just work off that one thing, right? Right. Um and then uh so since then recruiting and uh operations are still riding the Trello train, but maintenance has moved on, and I can't speak enough about it because um it's it's happened since I've really been involved with the maintenance side of things, so I don't have a whole lot of uh knowledge. I've I've dug around, I've learned uh a few things that I do use on it, I've learned where those pieces are. But if you asked me to draw you a map of what this program could do, I have no clue. Yeah. Uh thankfully, I brought along Jerry. Oh. So everybody say hi to Jerry. Hi. Hi Jerry. Jerry, what is the new maintenance system that we have uh we've we've started using primarily? And uh before you mention that, can you talk to us about you kind of were tasked with we need to find a better way to handle maintenance or track all this maintenance? And you talked with a few other companies. I think Samsara was one of them. So talk a little bit about what you looked at and then how you ended up where you're at, what we're doing now.

SPEAKER_07 42:32

So when I first came in, um maintenance was using um basically Excel on steroids. Uh they were using Smartsheet.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

Oh, that's right. Yeah, I completely forgot about Smartsheet. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 42:46

I hated it. Absolutely. Um I came in and I looked at Smartsheet and just went blank because I just didn't get it. Uh to this day, I still don't get Excel. I'm not an Excel person.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

And Smartsheet is is uh like you said, it's it's uh Excel on steroids. It is completely customizable. Like you could take it and build whatever you want off it. Right? But that also means that if I built a maintenance program and you built a maintenance program, they don't look anything like each other, even though they're on the exact same platform.

SPEAKER_07 43:20

And if you do uh certain sales a certain way or a certain formula and and all that, and this person does it differently, and you don't do it exactly the same, you break it, things fall apart, and it just I hate it.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

You get the money symbol? It's like that's supposed to be a number. Why why do I have a money why do I have a hashtag here? It doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

That little air or triangle.

SPEAKER_07 43:42

So I did start looking around um at your request and finding other companies, and there was other ones that we did talk to, like Samsara. And um, you know, Samsara is for those larger companies out there, they're super expensive. Yeah, um, I think a lot of people know that. Um but we did find Finally whittled down after talking and I had many uh Zoom meetings with different salesmen and and that and the other, and uh we finally narrowed in on Fleo. Yes, which is where maintenance is today.

SPEAKER_04 44:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 44:15

We started off on the um basic version, I guess you could say, realized hey, we need more functionality, and we did step up. That lasted us for probably the first seven months or so, and then at the next tier. Yeah, and then Jimmy was like, Hey, I need this, I need this. So we did have to we're on the top level tier now.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

And it got proficient with what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 44:37

Well, in all in all fairness, we can I say what happened? We had so like there's one thing that that that needed tracked, and we were kind of relying on like the older system to track it because it didn't it wasn't in this part of uh Fleadio that we were in, and we missed a date. And when we missed that date, it cost us like something that should have been about sixty five hundred dollars ended up being like twelve. Oof thousand.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

So um that one whoopsie is a good reason to covered it.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

It covered all of the upgrade for the next like five years. So we were like, all right, upgrade. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:15

That makes sense, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 45:17

And now we have uh, you know, there's a lot of stuff in Fletio, there's a lot of things that it tracks and does, and um I mean honestly, we're still working towards getting more out of Fletio, if that makes sense. Like because there's still more that it tracks that we're not utilizing yet. So I'm still working with maintenance on a weekly basis, you know, trying to get on up to those levels.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

I thought it was great. I was talking with uh Kelly, oh man, probably a year, year and a half ago. And I was driving and we were talking about a truck that was coming back that we were debating selling or not. And so whenever we debate a truck that we're gonna sell, it's a it's a process. And even if we completely slate, we're definitely selling it, we're not ever gonna put this truck back on the road. Um, there's a 50-50 chance it ends up back on the road. Like when I when we sell trucks and we say like, no, they're in good shape, like we would run them ourselves, yeah. We're not lying. We keep them at that level of like we can either sell it or run it.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

Yeah.

Fuel Card Data And Real-Time Miles

SPEAKER_01 46:17

So uh there was one time I was like, you know, I really wish I had I knew how many miles were on that truck, and I and I have a way to do it um manually uh to find out how many miles are on the truck, but I have to go through a few processes and I was driving, I didn't want to pull over the side of the road and look or whatever, and I know what I have access to, she doesn't. And so I was saying, like, I wish I could see how many miles were on that truck, because that would uh that would kind of help me kind of wrap my brain around what I want to do. So I was telling her, I'm like, uh so I didn't want to pull over, and she was like, okay, well, uh, she was like, I can I can look real quick for you, and I'm like, you can look for me real quick. She's like, Yeah, I got I got Fledio open right now, it's on Jimmy's computer. So if you don't know Kelly and Jimmy, they work side by side, so she's able to like walk over, get his computer, and pull Fletio up. So she pulled it up, and she's like, it has this many miles on it, uh, as of yesterday at like, you know, noon or whatever it was. And I'm like, How did you do that? And she said, Well, I've got it right here through Fletio, and I'm like, Yeah, but we don't track it that like we don't track it that tight on Fletio. We do track it, but it's it's like a month by month we track it. And she's like, No, no, Jerry changed that a while back. And so y'all have like within most of the fleet within less than 24 hours of real time, we know how many miles are on it. Uh some trucks might push out a little bit longer, like if someone goes at home time, we may not have that information that tight. Uh, but yeah, it's crazy how much information that the computer that that software has going through it. Is that from the receipts?

SPEAKER_06 47:51

Yeah, I was gonna say if it's from fuel cards or telemetry from the truck.

SPEAKER_07 47:54

The the biggest thing was fuel cards. So we integrated the fueling system with Fletio. So every time a contractor will go out and pump fuel, as soon as they hang the pump up, within 10 seconds, that information is linked back to Fletio. Wow. So we have the sale, we have a um copy of the actual receipt that we go through, uh loves or or wherever we fuel. Loves is our primary. Um, the mileage, all of that is instantly updated in the system.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 48:23

Yeah. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

So I knew we were linking up with Fletio to be able to track um cost. So I did know that. And it was a nightmare, wasn't it? Getting Fleetio and Fleetio to uh and and and our field card to talk. It was uh they just I don't know what the deal was because they advertised like who can do it, and then it just took forever for them to actually make it happen, but it finally did happen. So I knew from a cost perspective we were tracking it. I had no idea all the other information was coming across with it. Yeah, that blew me away.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 48:55

It it does everything, and then we do not track like location on the contractors or anything, but whenever you fuel, since that information comes through on the back end, then it updates like the last, you know, the last time they got fuel, it tells us a general area of where the truck was and and stuff like that. Like there's a lot of information that will come in and is automatically stored.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

And part of that too is Fleo is very generic to a degree, right? So, like my understanding, because I remember when when you first brought me this program, we started talking about it. Well, the I the first pitch, which was from one of the salespeople you were talking to, we were we were talking through everything, and I'm like, none of this applies to what we do. Like it like he was talking about all these different things, and he's like, Yeah, well, you know, we have this 900 uh taxi cab company that uses this, and it's like, I what? I don't I don't care about that. Yeah, like or we have this other comp it was that stuff, what it was uh tons of things like that. I'm like, uh oh, this company, well, they run a um a pizza delivery, like uh not like frozen food pizza delivery, like they go to like grocery stores and stuff, and they have their fleet of trucks outfitted with it in the Birmingham area, and I'm like, good for them. Yeah, like we're all over the country, like what do you mean? Right. So like I didn't see the value in it, and we went three or four times back and forth, I think, until they wrapped their brains around what we do. And you were still brand new, Don was brand new, you were brand new to it as well. This was one of the very first projects made you do. So once I think everybody wrapped their brains around what we do and how we do it and what we track, and that we don't have uh employee drivers, that we are leasing companies, so we have leased out trucks, we want to protect the assets, and and that's what we care about. That's when I think people start going, oh, I see what you're doing. And then they were like, Well, here's all these other things that Fle Dio does that actually fit what you're doing. And it was like, That's what's sold. Oh, okay, yes, that's cool. And then um some of the stuff, I don't know if we've have we started using it yet, like the predictive stuff because there's predictive modeling on the on it that we can do, uh but kind of tracking like how many miles the trucks ran per month and that sort of thing, right?

SPEAKER_07 51:02

I don't think maintenance is using using any of that stuff right now, but there is predictive stuff, like you said, yeah. Um, based on how much we are actually using. It'll actually you can pull up an individual truck and it'll tell you over the cost of time, like, okay, you have on the truck this many years, you have spent this amount of money on it, and based on this particular vehicle, this is how much you can expect to get out of it, and it'll like tell you, okay, here's the time frame you should start looking to sell. Or if it starts seeing that your cost is rising much higher than what the vehicle value is, it'll say it'll recommend to sell and and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_06 51:34

So we're not using predictive modeling to predict a PM or an APU PM.

SPEAKER_07 51:39

Not yet. It is there, but we're not utilizing that yet. Yeah. Because we're staying on that strict 1,000 hours for the APU.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_07 51:46

Yeah. Yep.

Fleetio Go And Digital Issue Tickets

SPEAKER_01 51:47

And then there's a cool, there's an app too, right? Goes to the Teams. Yes. Is that through Fledio as well? Fletio Go.

SPEAKER_04 51:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 51:53

Yeah. They can uh download that, they can see all the information that you see on the desktop, they get notifications, they get emails whenever things are due.

SPEAKER_06 52:02

I I thought it was cool. I was actually I I don't use Fledio. We have I have access to it, but the stuff that we do when we upload a VIR from our truck, yeah. Uh Mel usually does that. But a team was going through, I asked them when their uh carb test was due. They were in the yard, and he had mentioned something about their MIL light getting fixed last week. And I said, Well, when's your carb test due? And his wife had was the one that had Fleo and she pulled it up, and I was able to look over her shoulder and see they had a permit that's due or coming close to being due, and it was yellow. And their carb test, I think, was still green, everything else was was okay, but it actually color-coded it and it has across the top. Like legends. Thank you. Yeah, the legend, thank you, across the top, so you knew what what that meant.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

I thought that was pretty slick. So I don't have the driver side because I have an an an administrative login, I guess is that what it means is admin login. Or admin, yes. So when I log in, I see like everything's different. Oh, it's a massive platform with it's like I have so I have no clue what the uh so um we've been doing a lot technologically speaking from our app. You've probably been getting the app updates. We've just had it down for a couple hours for maintenance and stuff. So we've been doing a lot of of stuff with our app, and it's come so far from what it was, and I'm super excited about what's happening and where it's going, uh, and some of the things that have been implemented recently. And um you were talking, Melissa, uh we had a big uh group meeting a couple weeks ago now about it. Um and you were mentioning like, hey, how can I see that side of it, the contractor side of the app? Because you don't see that, you see the other side of it. Sure. And um so you were able it Jerry was able to, I guess you have a mirroring software on your computer or something, you were able to like show so you'd be able to see it and kind of get an idea of what they're looking at. Um I I guess I probably need to do that with video at some point because I have no idea what the drivers see. Right. Because my my version, when I log in, it goes to the giant sheet where I see everything. Uh and it's everything. It's overwhelming. If you don't know what you're looking for, it's a lot. Um, but like for me, I look at warranties, I look at um expenses cost, look at repairs when I see a truck that's had out uh uh uh abnormally high repair cost. Because just because you have a high cost of repairs that month doesn't mean necessarily your truck's gone bad. Because if you replace all your tires, that's a ton of money. That's a ton of money, it skews things, right? Or if you get so at uh between 500 and 600,000 miles, we typically extend our warranties on our trucks. That gets lumped in because it's a one-time fee, it doesn't get amateurized out. So that that uh shows up and that'll majorly skew some things. Or if you were in a wreck and say they were replacing your hood or they're replacing whatever, that stuff skews the numbers. So it's not just enough to see like, hey, this truck had a high month. We gotta go back and look why did it have a high month and what all got done. And so that's the kind of stuff you look at when you're trying to figure out kind of what it does with the predictive of of telling you whether or not you should sell the vehicle. We look at it and go, okay, based on our knowledge, is this something that's like is starting to die on us too much? Or is it like, nope, this all makes sense uh type situation. So that's that's the side of it that I really get into on that end, and it's really detailed about everything. I mean, we've I've even found uh Jimmy hates when this happens. Like because I was looking at 2024's numbers, and I did find where like an estimate was put in, and then right below it an invoice was put in, and so it it looked like it was charged twice and it artificially raised the price. And so they just had to go through and delete out the estimate, so we only recorded the the invoice, but like simple mistake, sure, super simple mistake, right? So like that's the kind of stuff that I but it's that detailed, and you couldn't tell from the description um you could only tell when you actually pulled up the digital image of the actual invoice and the actual estimate where I'm like, oh, this is literally the exact same thing. Um so it's I I that's very cool to be able to have that much information. And then uh if I'm not mistaken, so on the app we do the drivers do a uh a uh vehicle inspection report, right? Y'all do one at the yard as well. That's Sud Melissa C's. VIR.

SPEAKER_03 56:27

Vehicle inspection report, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:29

And so that's like what just basically a monthly pre-trip? It is correct.

SPEAKER_06 56:34

It's it's it's it's more involved than your pre-trip because it wants to know things like are your buttons on your cabinet doors and your sleeper working? And okay. So it's it's it's a lot more involved than the pre-trips. So it's cust so it's customized? It's customized.

SPEAKER_01 56:48

Okay, cool. Very nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:49

So you still do your daily for your carrier. Yeah, and then you once once a month you go through and do everything else where we want tire pressures, tread depth, tread depths of each tire. Of each tire. Yeah. Yeah. We again we want to know we we want to we're trying to find those little problems before they become big problems. Yeah. Whether it's stuff that you would normally put on your day on your daily VI or to your carrier, or in your sleeper of stuff that's not a necessarily a safety issue, but it's gonna be more expensive if we don't fix it now. Or it can it can hang tight until you get back to Columbus and get to the yard and they can replace the push button on your cabinet kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Our quality life, right? Like if you're if you're yeah, if your cooktop goes out and you want your cooktop replaced, if we know about it, sure, that's a 15-minute install. Assuming the glue was done properly by the last people. Uh it's a 15-minute install. We can do it in the yard, we keep them in stock. Like it's super easy to change them out.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

Uh truthful on those.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

You do have to be truthful.

SPEAKER_03 57:50

You know, and yes, is there going to be downtime to get whatever you put on there fixed? Of course. But get those little things fixed before it becomes you're down for two weeks because now it's a huge problem.

Tire Truth And Safety Consequences

SPEAKER_06 58:01

Yeah. Or you pencil up your tread depths on your tires and they're illegal. And we've gotten how many trucks that had, you know, levels that tread depths that are so low that we would have replaced them. They might be illegal, but we we would Highfield would have replaced the tires already because of the the level that they're at. So don't pencil up that stuff. Actually, go through. It's a safety thing. It really is. It truly is a safety issue.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

We very rarely like we have won the safety award for both FedEx and Panther multiple times. Yeah, Eric's got several of them in his office. Um, we we are a very safely, we rarely have inspections that aren't perfect. Like, not even like a blewish. I mean like they're usually just perfect. Yeah. Um if we get an out-of-service every single time, maybe one sum wrong, but every single time, it's uh tire uh tread depth. Every single time. Or or or just flat out blown tire. Yeah. Um which is like that's the most basic thing we should be doing is checking our tire pressures. Sure. Um and and checking our tread depths. And it's it's a safety issue and it's a legal issue. Like when we get a truck put out of service and we get a truck tire replaced on the side of the road, A, it's extremely expensive. Yeah. You know, uh a$600 tire installed at a Loves costs us six, seven hundred bucks with insulation rate. Right. On the side of the road, it's twenty five hundred dollars. So like it's that drastic of a difference.

SPEAKER_02 59:25

How long does that take approximately? What you're down for a couple hours to at the most a day-ish? Yes. Not even. Okay. So now you let that go, your tire blows. Rip off all the destroys other parts of your truck. Yeah, yeah. Now how long are you down?

SPEAKER_01 59:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:44

Yeah, or are you still no? I won't let you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

I mean, like you lose a steer tire, it's a 50-50 chance everybody walks away happy. Like it's it's dangerous, dangerous. That always shocks me when people don't take care of their tires. Again, by law, you're we're we are required to do it every day. Uh by our carrier's rules, we're required to do it every day. Uh just for the safety of like, I don't feel like this being my last drive ever. Right. Do it every day.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:14

And not just thumping the tire. Correct. Actually, sticking it with the air pressure gauge that Highfield provides in your truck to check your pressure. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

Yeah. Yeah, that was a commitment we did uh two, three years ago. Yeah. Maybe even longer now. We've uh tire pressure and and and tread depth. We don't give we don't even like excuses anymore. Um but uh yeah, no, it's it's it's it's a it's a huge deal. And so once a month we just ask you to verify that with us. Um and we're only gonna put you out of not put you out of service, we're only going to pick the truck out of service uh or at least require it to be uh fixed before the next load if it's a DOT safety issue. Right. Right? Like if it's a uh my cooktop doesn't work, it's gonna be at your leisure. You can come swing at Columbus and and grab one. Right, right. Um we've had a few people too, like they're like, Can we just have the cooktop mailed to the house?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

And I send we send them the link and say, like, yeah, here's the place to order it and um get it sent to your house. And and then uh if it died naturally, I we cover that expense. If it died because you dropped a can of Campbell soup on it, which happens more often than you can imagine, um then it's on you, obviously. But uh yeah, it's so funny, those cooktops too, they're like eighty eighty-two dollars on Amazon. They're like nine hundred at bolt. Same exact same exact one. Same exact one. Yep, and then you gotta pay a minimum one hour, which is$140 to have it replaced. Oof. And it takes five minutes, 15 minutes, okay. Unless the growers are screwed on it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

I was gonna say how much are recharging when people come to the art and invited in coffee. It's coffee. Yes, coffee and a donut. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:02

So the other thing is if if they have an issue in their truck and it's not one of the yes-no things, can they then uh in that VIR put like, hey, I have a uh my visor's leaking water? Can they say that?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:15

Absolutely. At the bottom of each section, there's a free form section that they can type in notes and put whatever they need to put to alert us. And then if they you know, if it's January 15th and they have an issue, do they actually have to do a whole new VIR and they put fill that in or is there a the driver can actually go in if it's not the beginning of the month, which is when we have them do the VIR, uh, which is by the fifth of each month or seventh, excuse me, we want that in. So if they are doing their pre-trip on the 10th and they notice something that is not immediate that needs to be done, but they need to alert maintenance, they can go right into their Fleet Ego Go app, create an issue on their truck, it pops up immediately on maintenance side. They see it, they can address it, they can reach out to the driver. Is it something that needs to be fixed right away? They can make notes on it. The driver and maintenance can go back and forth on the notes. Yeah, they can take care of everything all right there.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:12

I do like, I've not, again, I've not seen that side of it on the app, but I have seen the back side of it where like if there's an issue on the truck, um, there's a there's a there's a on the admin side of the of the uh uh program, I'm not gonna say app because this is more like web website based, but um, there's a section where it's got all the open issues on the trucks. And um is is that where so some of them are like uh red and some of them are yellow? Is that is that priority because of like hey, this needs to be resolved immediately, or is that like hey, this has been open for a long time, we need to close it?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:50

Priority on how it needs to be resolved. So if it's yellow, it could be something that can wait kind of issue, warning. Um, if it's red, overdue, major, critical, it needs to be fixed right now. You know, they blew a steer tire and they're on the side of the road. Gotcha. That type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:05

And that's good because um our maintenance program, we have three people running maintenance uh right now. We have Jimmy, Eric, and Don. And they are um they run an offset schedule. It's a it's a it's a weird schedule. It's 24 hours a day, so it's gonna be a weird schedule, right? Like that's a lot. Um and then on the weekends, it's still 24 hours a day, but you may have to call and leave a voicemail and wait for someone to call you back. Um, it's more of an on-call type thing. And and in our in our in our business, you typically run May through Friday. It's very rare you run the weekends, right? It's good because if you have that blowout on the side of the interstate at noon and you are um, you know, working with someone on that, and the the the tire company gets to you by three, well, that person's already off. They're not they're not working anymore, like that they're off for the day.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:59

So having those notes and having someone who has no idea this is happening be able to pick up on it, or hey, it's three o'clock, we haven't gotten any re resolution on this, what's going on? Let me let me reach out. Oh, they did come and they're already on the road, but they didn't tell us. Okay, we'll we'll make a note of that and be able to fix it. It is cool. I've seen that side of it. I didn't know so, but maintenance can put it in too. So if I call Jimmy and say, hey, or I call maintenance and get any any of them really and say, Hey, I've got this issue with this truck, they can also put it in, right? I don't have to use the app.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:27

So if it is, to my knowledge, this is the way Jimmy runs it, um, because Jimmy is our maintenance manager. Um, if it is any issue that needs to be addressed other than a light inside the sleeper, you know, something that's very simple. Our refrigerator light doesn't work anymore. Yeah. If it is any type of issue that is on the truck, they create an issue for it. So if you call into maintenance while you're talking to them, they're creating an issue and filling all the information out that you're giving them, and that is saved so that way. Everybody in maintenance knows what's going on. They're also talking on the back end with chat. Yes. Back and forth. Yeah. And then that way, as it gets resolved, then you're going in and you're resolving that ticket. And you can resolve it by either just closing it out with a note that it was fixed, however, or if it was actually gone to a shop, then they can they close it out by putting in the uh service entry. And that is the full detail of all the cost and all that stuff and receipts and all that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:28

That's cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:28

Yeah, that's pretty select. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:30

That's really awesome.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:31

I remember when you start VIRs on paper. Oh yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

What?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:38

That's how you start your VRs originally. Before I don't remember the before uh was you didn't do them, I did. Before Smartsheet. Before Smartsheet, yeah. It was paper.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:49

Well, maybe.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:50

No, it was not maybe. It was. It was. Yeah. See, I remember back in the day when you had this thing called a logbook. Yeah. And and you it was arts and crafts time because you had to draw a line.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:03

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:04

And then you had to like draw the line up and then over and then down and then over. And then if you knew you were going to drive two hours, you couldn't draw two hours because you hadn't driven it yet. So if you did go too far, you were breaking the law. And then when do you sign it before or after? Because he needs a certified log, the officer does, but if you haven't finished your day, you're authorizing that you're certifying these logs that you haven't been finished. Oh man. I don't miss those days. Um but yeah. Eric and I never had uh we had VIRs with the carrier uh that we had to submit. Um, but we never had to answer to a maintenance person for that kind of thing. I guess those first six months we did. But that was again, there was no apps or anything back then.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:51

I remember when they got Fleetio and the Georgia crew came and sat at the table and for hours. I do he I remember hearing gumbling and I think there could have been tears and uh why are we doing this? A little pushback, but um I think all in the end it was it was well worth it because look where you are now with it.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:11

Absolutely and we still have room to grow.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:13

Yeah, sure. I remember uh that experience because I walked into my uh dining room and it looked like we were launching Artemis uh three or whatever it is, and and and Neil Armstrong was in the back corner just in case we needed them. Like it was bananas. There was an MTV award moon man there.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:34

Like it was like what's how many screens were up and laptops were open?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:39

Oh, it looked like we were running an Apple store. That you ever walk into an Apple store and you just see like the long table with all the all the iPads lined up, and then they have the iPhones next to them, and then they've got everybody's got their little uh air buds because if someone takes a call, you gotta jump on that, you can't have it out. Like, that's what it looked like. It looked like we were running a model like an in-home Apple store. That was funny. Like a Tupperware party, but for Apple. Exactly. That was another huge technology thing we did. We switched everybody from uh PC to Apple. That was an expensive endeavor. I bet it was. Uh but there's no going back.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:16

Well worth it. Well worth it. So much so long sevity on the on the devices. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:22

Yes, and I hear that if you break your keyboard, they'll fix it. Yeah, three times. Three times.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:29

Oh, no. Yeah, the warranty sure. Yeah.

A Flight Detour That Proves Efficiency

SPEAKER_03 1:09:33

You were on standby on Saturday and didn't even know it, Sir Jerry. Because if they couldn't fix my letter R and T on the keyboard and they were gonna suggest something else, I was instructed to give you a call and see what I should do.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:47

So what you don't know is that dad and I went flying, so we took a four-hour flight. I didn't know that. That was a trip. Yeah, that was my longest flight to date, four hours. Wow. Oh yeah. Oh, I felt it. That was the first time that was the first time because uh Heather, you and I flew together. And it was 3.2, 3.7, something like that, yeah. Three and a half hours. Six, seven. Six, seven. And and that it was fine getting off out of the plane by that. On this four-hour one, I was like, oh, this seat's a little firm. And we were in a different airplane, so maybe that's part of it. Uh no, no, not yet. But uh we were in we're actually in a newer airplane, so I bet the seat wasn't as soft.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:28

Probably not.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:28

Probably not. None of the people.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:30

But you didn't have to hold the door.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:32

I didn't have to hold the door, the door didn't open up. Uh actually the other opposite issue where we had to actually run the air conditioner.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:38

Wow. Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:39

It was quite warm. So Saturday was a beautiful day. Uh we flew out, uh it was the forecast was that so my goal was leave Columbus, fly to Fort Wayne, and then we're gonna go up to uh Port whatever it is, and then we were gonna go uh over to Cedar Point, which is not open yet, and fly around Cedar Point, and then fly back. That was my goal. And I didn't think I was gonna it wasn't gonna take up enough time because I had some at 3.8 hours I wanted to fly. Uh so I figured, eh, maybe we'll fly into Mansfield or one of these other airports, do a couple laps in the pattern that just chew up time and then go home. So we started flying up towards Fort Wayne, and I was watching the forecast. We delayed our flight an hour. I was watching the forecast, I'm like, man, the the the clouds are just not coming down. Let's just take off and head that direction, and uh we'll fly at 2,500 feet. So that's uh 1,500 feet off the ground, so it's you can see everything. Um people out mowing their lawn, you know. Like you can see everything uh at 1,500 feet. It's not ideal for cruising long distance. It's fine, it's safe, but it's just not ideal. You want to be higher than that. So we're flying, and all of a sudden, those clouds, which are like 500 feet above our heads, are like getting slowly closer and closer to us, and I'm like, well, this is not good. This is the opposite of what's supposed to happen. So I'm looking and keeping an eye on what's going on. There was an airport close to us. Now, for me to log this flight, I have to land at an airport that's 50 miles or further away for the task I was trying to accomplish. And this was 63 miles away. So I'm like, okay, we can land that airport, and then we'll figure out what we're gonna do. So I literally landed, taxied over to the ramp, got my iPad out, and I'm like looking at the weather, trying to figure out what we can do, where can we go? Because I've got to I've got to chew this many hours up, I have to, and to accomplish my goal, and we can't do it here. Like it's clearly gonna get worse as we go. So I'm trying to figure it out, and the forecast is wrong, which it's almost never wrong. That's one thing in aviation, aviationweather.com, you can look it up, they are they are dead on. They are really, really good. They blow weather channel and everybody else out of the water. They are wrong. It happens. And uh so I saw that Indianapolis was actually clear, and I'm like, well, let's go to Indy. So we I I plotted a chart, a trip, and there's a lot of weird airspace around Indy. So it there was like nine different points of turns that we had to do to get there. Uh, but we did. We flew all the way around Indianapolis and flew back, and uh sure enough, uh maybe 30, 40 minutes into the direction of Indianapolis, the clouds disappeared. We were able to go up to 5,500 feet, and uh, and then all of a sudden you could see everything, and it's beautiful. You know, you go from like seeing people pushing lawnmowers to like vistas of lakes, and you know, it just gets pretty. So we were up there flying and uh made the big loop and then came back, and um, that's how I chewed up my four hours. Nice. It was cool going through Indy uh on the south side of Indy. The north side was very hazy, but on the south side it was crystal clear and beautiful. And I saw the um Lucas Oil Stadium and it made me think about when we went to uh the inferno room and we went to um DCI marching bands. Yes, and we went there for their cut the competition and saw that, and I was like, oh, we gotta do that again. That was a lot of fun. Um so I don't know, that was it. Then we flew back, everything was uneventful. I mean, you know, it's crazy. I this is an example they you you you ever hear people talk about, like jets fly really high because it's better fuel economy? Yeah. So at 1,500 feet, or 2,500 feet, but 1,500 feet off the ground, the the plane I fly is smart, so it knows that we're gonna land with 13 gallons of fuel. When we climbed to uh first 6,500 feet and then 5,500 feet on the way back, um on the climb, it's like you're gonna land with negative nine gallons, but it's like that's because I'm burning a lot of fuel going climbing, right? Once we got up to cruise, it was like you'll land with like 19 gallons. And we did, we landed with over 20 gallons of fuel. Wow because just going that little bit of difference made that much of a difference with how much more efficient the engine can run. Sure. So like when jets are flying way, way, way up there, they're sipping fuel compared to when they're on like leaving the ground or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:03

We're in the most going up and coming down.

Integrations Next Week And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 1:15:04

Yeah, so that was that was kind of cool. I had a really good time. Uh it was a beautiful day. It just it started out really rocky and ended up being gorgeous. And it was my dad's first time flying with me. I think it's his first time ever on a small plane, so um fun. Very fun. Yeah. Back to our topic. Um squirrel. The uh the app, the fleet. It either now does or will soon integrate with the Highfield app, correct?

SPEAKER_07 1:15:32

It already does.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:33

It already does. Um I want to hear about w w how it integrates and what it tells you next week.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:44

Um, because next week I want to hear about the High Feld app. I want to hear where we started and kind of how we've gotten to where we've gotten. I want to hear that that lineage because um I know it was one of the first things we talked about, and it's it I feel like it's just now really starting to turn into a mature app. Would you agree with that? Absolutely. For sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:05

So um so so after that podcast on the the one after that, can we talk about the tune technology in the yard?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:13

Perhaps, if we have time. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:17

Yes, we will. I'm hoping we'll have time. Produce. I'm gonna put down, we won't.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:22

I'm gonna I'm gonna prophesy and say I want to hear about that new AC controller.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:26

How about the whiteboard? Oh that's what I want to talk about. The whiteboard. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:31

And we just did, done. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:33

We're bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:36

Well, uh, I hope we didn't bore you to death. We I know we kind of got in the weeds a little bit with uh technology and everything, but uh it it seemed like something it'd be fun to talk about, and there's more for us to discuss.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:47

So think about where we've come from. I mean, and we weren't with you in 2012, we started in 2019. Yes, like I mentioned, the paper VIRs, which that wasn't a thing even when we started, it became a thing later on, but to see where we progressed to um deal with the integration with app and fleedo today for the first time for me, well the first time I think we've done that at all, what was cool, and just to see how that's growing is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:10

Yeah, it's really cool. I love it. And and we talked about the trucks and how we got where we're going on those, and there's been some more developments on the trucks we can talk about later. Yeah. That that'll be the week after, the week after the week after the week after trucks. Right. Um that's gonna be that's gonna be season two, three, four, eight, what? Five. Five. Season five. We'll talk more about trucks in season five.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:30

We even changed things when you and I came on board.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:32

You did.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:33

You know, the whole way the inspection of a truck goes, and then I think even that's morphed over time. So that would be fun, something fun to talk about. Oh, yeah. I think we've touched on it before in another video, but why not talk about it again in the future?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:45

It would be fun to talk about like the 400 pounds. How did how did the checklist start? When someone asked me what's your what do you do as a checklist? And I'm like, I walk around the truck and look at it. Yeah. And they're like, Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then we were like, we're gonna put together a checklist with like 30 points and now anyways, that it would be a fun topic. Yeah. Uh uh operations in the yard and and where it went to where it's at, that's gonna be in um four weeks. And uh yeah. Well, if this was somewhat interesting to you, uh, cool, I'm glad. Uh it it's something we we're just we're just trying to give all the high-field insights. So if you take the entire outer belt, when by the time we run our course, you will be able to start and run a fleet of trucks. You will. That's our goal, is just to give you all the information. Uh I was once talking with um Eric uh Eric Eric Frank and Donna at a FedEx fleet owners meeting. And I said these are all fleet owners. Yes. And I said, We can sit down with someone and tell them everything we know and exactly how to structure your company and how to run your trucks and how to uh uh uh do the model and how to be compliant and all this stuff and how to advertise and and feel no guilt because no one is gonna take it and do it. Every like we can give you all the keys to the kingdom and everybody's gonna be like, yeah, I think I could do this better.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:19

They they they won't have the patience to work through it even if they do. Oh the patience. Yeah. Oh the patience. Oh the patience.

unknown 1:19:26

Oh the patience.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:27

Kind of reminds me of that doctor photo. I'm glad we all got the memo today. All the men are wearing khaki shorts and black shirts, and the women are wearing black pants and gray t-shirts. Yeah, I think that's amazing. Yes.

Subscribe Requests And Listener Thanks

SPEAKER_01 1:19:41

Right? Go us. Well, how about the fact that we're all using insulated cups? Yeah. There's no glasses, there's no no Jerry's got a can over there. Well, we're working on him. Okay. Working on him. Well, uh, if this is interesting to you and it sounds like uh something you might like to listen to uh going down the road, certainly uh subscribe uh to us. Like the we're gonna try that again from the top.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:06

Just let Jerry have it.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:08

No Jerry always gets it.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:10

I know. He's got it, he's got it down. Take it away.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:19

Just an SNL flash. It was great. Well, if you've enjoyed hanging out with us and kind of listening to us yammer on about the history of the company and how we got to where we got, uh, this podcast might be over you.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:33

Uh if you're new, uh, you should do what Jerry says now. Visit us over at highfieldtrucking.com if you're interested in learning more about Highfield and all that we have to offer over here. You can reach out to our recruiting department Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. We do have a live chat on there that you can chat with recruiting or send us over a form through the contact us. You can also reach out to recruiting at 833 Highfield. That's 833-493-4353. Option one. Again, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If you have a comment about the show or suggestions for future shows, please leave a comment down below. We do read all of those, or you can shoot us over an email at the outerbeltpodcast at gmail.com. Don't forget to hit the like button and the subscribe button. It really does help us out with the algorithm, and we really would appreciate it. I'd like to say a huge thank you to those who have been listening to us on the streaming platforms wherever you get your favorite podcast. Last week we did have 214 downloads in one week.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:36

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:37

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:38

Well, go. That's awesome. I I I, you know, we we do this every week, and sometimes it's like, why? But uh people are listening. It it means so much when we go to the yard or we go to a uh a meeting or we do a zoom or something, and people say, like, oh yeah, well in the outer belt the other day, and it's like, whoa, okay. Um, Vince, Melissa, I always hear y'all talk about it. It's like the outer belt this, out about that, uh, from other teams, or the chicks get a lot of love, or Luke Shar gets a lot of love. Boogie gets a lot of love. Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's it's it's overwhelming to get all that uh I had a truck and travel call today. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:16

You know, I mean I I know not to I mean Sim and Derek have been off the road, but um just content helps people.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:24

It does.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:25

You know, people are watching if if it's what they want to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:28

Yeah. Um I can't believe Eric and I found this industry before that existed.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:32

And the sharing of things on YouTube, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:36

Back then it was very like competitive, and they were like, we don't talk about it. We don't want like it was almost like Fight Club. Like people didn't want don't talk about expediting. Don't talk about expediting. Like, we got a honey hole here, we're making a lot of money. Right. Don't mention it to anybody. Uh so it it was a very different world back then. But uh and then back when Jerry was got into it, um, they were chiseling uh news reports on the stone. And uh yeah. So uh thank you all again for hanging out with us. We hope you have a wonderful week. Uh if you know anybody that might enjoy listening to us gammer on to help kill an hour going down the road, be sure to share our podcast with them. Um and until we meet again, stay safe, make good decisions. Don't leave money on the table.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:19

Thank you, Those Wilder Turner.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:22

Good night.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:05

So, you know, from no VIR to paper VIRs, and now it's on Fleetio, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:10

The whole paper VIR was actually based off of my recommendation. Long, long time ago, back in 1912, whenever I started driving. Yes. The original fleet owner that I was with had a form that we filled out paperwise and everything, and that is actually what I sent over, and that is what our VIR is based off of today. Cool. That Jimmy used.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:36

I re you know what's funny? That's awesome. I remember that conversation.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:40

I emailed it to you and him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:43

Yep. And but I remember that conversation with you about like, hey, this is we used to do this VIR thing. I think it's something we probably need to consider doing. And because after you sent me the email, we actually talked about it. Uh you were driving. I was driving a truck, but I don't think I was driving. Was I hauling freight? No, wouldn't it be? No. No, I was just I was just driving somewhere. Picked a truck I was driving. Might have been double A or something, because I've driven a double A how many times now? Uh and I talked to you about it, and I'm like, I like the idea. Is it necessary? Like I remember going through the whole thing and being like, all right, yeah, this is let's let's let's do this, let's let's go this direction. What I do not remember at all, period, for the life of me, is this paper VIR that we had people take a picture of. Yeah, we genius scanned it.