Transporting the Fragrance: A Conversation with David Armellini from Armellini Logistics

Episode 196: Join Vonda and Lori for an insightful chat with David Armellini, a second-generation owner of Armellini Logistics. In this episode, David shares the fascinating history of his family-owned company and their trusted transportation services for the cut flower industry. Discover how Armellini Logistics has evolved over the years, constantly improving their methods and maintaining high standards in the industry. David also delves into the unique challenges they face in the transportation of delicate flowers and how they overcome them. 

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

It's really a trust that we have built with our customers through the years, and that's allowed us to do what we do.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson, and we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Lori, here we are at SAF, and we brought somebody in, someone special to talk to today. We did.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

We have Mr. David Armelini, who is president and CEO of Armelini Logistics.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

You said it right. I did.

SPEAKER_05 0:43

Gosh, that was on. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I'm good. I'm good.

SPEAKER_05 0:47

Thanks for letting us grab you.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Here at another beautiful convention.

SPEAKER_05 0:50

Yes, yes, isn't it? And they've already changed out the flowers here.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah, the flowers are awesome.

SPEAKER_05 0:55

It is. It's funny because my husband goes to a lot of conventions and I've sent him pictures of all of these flowers. Because I'm like, I bet at your oil conventions they may have one. And he's like, I don't even know if we have flowers.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

We have flowers.

SPEAKER_05 1:16

We have flowers and they change out breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

I brought up almost three-quarters of a truckload of flowers here.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, that was a lot of flowers we brought here.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

That's crazy. My gosh. And did most of those come from Florida then?

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yeah, we brought a lot, almost three-quarters from South America, from Miami, and then we brought some from California as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

A lot of flowers.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

That's a lot of flowers.

SPEAKER_05 1:40

That's a lot of flowers. All right. Well, we've been wanting to have you on here for a while, and I know we don't have a ton of time, but first of all, tell us really quick about Armelini Logistics. What is Armalini logistics?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

So we're made up of about five different companies. Okay. Armelini Express lines being the main one. That's the trucking company that my mom and dad started in 1945. So we're 78 years. And we transport out of Miami and out of California through most of the country. I think we hit 38 states with service once or twice or three times a week or five times a week, depending on where they're at in the country. So we provide them what's known as LTL service, so less than truckload. So the wholesaler in Chicago or New York can get, you know, two pallets, three pallets, five pallets a couple times a week of flowers. So that's the trucking company. Then we have JA Flower Service that started in 1970. And we do the clearing for either the wholesaler or the Miami importer, where we'll fly their boxes from South America into Miami, and we'll do all the clearing process. And for the wholesaler, we'll, you know, bring them back to our facility and pre-cool them and put them on whatever truck line or airline they want to go on, most of the time being Armelini truck line that they'll go on. That's our clearing company. And then we have Armelini Air Express, as I described to people, instead of in the truck, we're gonna in the Armelini Express lines, we truck the flowers to you. Armelini Air Express will fly the boxes to you. So whether it's a wholesaler or a retailer in, you know, Louisville that needs 10 boxes that you can buy from variety shippers, they'll bring it all to us. We'll put it on one airway bill and fly it to that city for that customer. And then we have Armelini Freight Brokerage. So where Armelini Express lines is all company-owned equipment.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Armelini Freight Brokerage is our brokerage arm. So we use outside carriers, the same ones over and over, and that's more for the truckload side of it. So for the mass market that wants, you know, four truckloads a week, we provide that service for them as well. So we do the truckload side more with outside carriers, sometimes with Armelini's trucks, but more with outside carriers, and then the LTL side we do with Armelini Express lines. So we have different managers to run each one of them. We're so integrated into the flower business that we have to remind ourselves sometimes that we're actually a trucking company that we're not just doing flowers, but we are a you know a medium-sized trucking company. We have about 150 tractors and you know, 300 trailers uh running around the country all the time. So we're we're a decent sized trucking company, but as a family, we have to remind ourselves we are in the trucking business, not just in the flower business, but we've been so dedicated to flowers for 78 years that that's what we do. We do everything of moving it, we just try not to buy and sell it. We don't buy and sell, we just move it.

SPEAKER_05 4:47

Yeah, and you don't design?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

And we don't design. Definitely my wife will tell you we do I do not design.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

So you are third generation? I'm second generation. Second generation. I am let me go back to that a second.

unknown 4:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

So someone could be using the the JA, right? Is that what you called it? The flower service, as well as the LTL.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

So you're you could actually bring it in from South America and that's what we do to the airport and then get it on the wholesaler in Chicago or in New York. If he wants to buy from South America, we'll handle all he has to do is tell them to bring it to our freight forwarder. Um, we have some freight forwarders in in Bogota and Medellin and Quito. They bring it to us, those 10 boxes from that farm and these 20 boxes from this farm. We'll fly it up for them at a set price per box, and then we'll take it from there and move it over to Armolini the truck lines and then deliver it to them.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Um and what we're really known for in all of this is our service and our technology. Um, we've been the leader in technology. That was one of my things that I started back in 19, I think it was 88 or something, that we started barcoding because it was just too many boxes. I couldn't count that many on my fingers and toes. Right. So we started a barcoding way back when. So we've always been the leader of technology. You can go on our website for our customers and they can track the truck. An ETA is given to them. I tell people it's better than FedEx. It'll tell you it's gonna land at your place at 6.50 in the morning and it gets updated every 15 minutes. So we know where the truck is at, how many miles he has to drive, how many stops he has to make, and so that ETA is constantly updated. So the customer knows when the truck's gonna get there. Do I hold my vans? Do I not hold my vans? Um, so we try and communicate a lot with the customer.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Well, I have been at Bill Doran in Des Moines, Iowa, before, and the guys will say, because we'll be working night doing a photo shoot, and they said the truck will be here at 650 tonight. So just expect them to be opening and getting in. And I'm like, Really? How do you know so close? So that makes so much sense. We didn't know they are. It's just like here goes the door up, and here they come. So it's pretty cool. That I didn't know that that's how they know that.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So we're very big in technology and service. That's what we have to offer. We're gonna try and be very consistent about having that truck there at the same time each week for our customers. Our goal is to make our customers successful in that market. Yeah, the more successful they are, the better both of us are to taking care of that retailer.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

Yeah, absolutely. So go back to your question. Well, I mean, that kind of answered the second part of my question. So you are second generation. Growing up, did it ever cross your mind that you weren't going to stay in this industry or choice?

SPEAKER_00 7:37

It's funny. We we literally grew up the trucking company in New Jersey where we started. My mom and dad started it. Literally, you walked out the back door and you were at the trucking company.

SPEAKER_05 7:46

Okay, yeah. So it was your backyard.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

So it was our backyard. We grew up in it as your playground. Yeah, as a as a playground. We'd jump in and out of the trucks at five years old and have all kind of fun. My mom purposely sent all of us boys away to a boarding school for high school.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So we could learn not to be around the trucks and maybe do something else. And all of us came back into the business. So she said, I'm not sure it backfired or was good or bad, but it is what it is. So we all ended up back into the business.

SPEAKER_05 8:17

So you work with three of your brothers, all of you.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

I have three brothers and a sister. My oldest brother, Richard, has retired a few years ago. William left the company probably 10, 15 years ago, something along those lines. My brother Steven still helped me with sales. He's half retired. And my sister Judy is half retired. She helps me with the accounting side.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

And you're the last one.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

And I'm the youngest. But I have I've got one, two, I've got three nephews and my daughter all in the business. Okay. So we've got third generation in.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

And they're full force.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 8:53

So you were talking about technology. My next question was what has changed in your generation from your dad? So technology is kind of what's changed.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Technology has changed a lot, obviously, from barcoding every box, not only barcode receiving, barcode loading the truck. Now all of the trucks are required to have, you know, back in the 80s and 90s, and actually up until probably 10 years ago, five years ago, you could have a paper log that the driver would have. Now you can't have paper logs anymore unless you have a truck that's older than 2000. So now it's all digital. So as you're driving, it's keeping track of how many hours you're driving and how many hours you're sleeping and all that. So it's a huge change from that standpoint, which we're very happy about that part of it, because the government wanted that 15 years ago and we implemented it 15 years ago. But most everybody else wasn't. So they weren't following all the rules. And so we're glad, and it makes it safer, makes it safer on the road, and that's key for us. Safety is a number one for us for driving up and down the road. It is, as always. It it benefits the one who is not always as good. Um, some of my good drivers can drive longer than it allows. Right. But but it has to have some barriers to it. So it's good. It's good stuff. It makes safer drivers on the road, and that's what we want.

SPEAKER_05 10:21

Here's my next question. So I don't know you that well. I've met you probably five times just at these events, but every person that I know speaks very highly of you. Like I've never met anyone when your name has been brought up. Someone's like, Oh, I'll give you some.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:40

Please do, because I'm like, God, I wonder if this is for real. Like, is he this nice? Or there's gotta be a dark side somewhere. I'll find it. No, I'm gonna life's too short.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah, I think life is too short not to be happy and make positive things. And that's what I try to push to all of my people. You know, we're gonna have hiccups. I tell people in the flower industry all the time that our industry, what makes us good and separates sometimes the good from the bad is how you handle the problems because we are in a very fragile business and very delicate business of handling fresh-cut flowers. Most trucking companies, when I tell them we haul fresh-cut flowers, they say, We want nothing to do with that. That is so delicate. Yeah, let's stay away from that. You know, we're dedicated to that part of it. You have to be able to handle those problems. You're gonna have problems. There's gonna be late planes, there's gonna be trucks that break down, there's gonna be all those things. It's how well you communicate that to your customer and keep them informed on what's going on. So, you know, and that's what I try to preach to my people. You know, we you just gotta be in front of it. You keep a smile on your face, right? Because these things are gonna happen in the flower industry. Whether you're a wholesaler, a retailer, whether you're a trucking company, uh a grower, you're gonna have weather issues, you're gonna have problems. Um, it's how you deal with the adversity.

SPEAKER_05 11:59

Right. My other question about speaking into that is not only your customers, but your employees. You have four, five different companies, which that's a lot of employees across the board. I mean, that is a lot. And I'm assuming that you have a fairly low retention rate. I don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

We we have a lot of employees that have been with us forever.

SPEAKER_05 12:30

Yes. How? I mean, how do you build what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

It's it's been a family, you know, from my mom and dad to my brothers and sisters, and we try and treat people like family. I mean, you have to have some rules and guidelines, but in general, we try to treat them with respect. My customer service people. If somebody calls up and is, you know, is nasty to you or is cussing at you, whatever, I said, hang up the phone or or have them call me. I'll deal with those people. I don't want my employees to have to deal with that. So it's kind of a culture thing that we're a big company, but we're really not big. So we we try and keep everything in-house. And you know, I was just telling somebody the other day, I've got a driver that is 48 years with us.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Still driving. He's amazing. He puts the second most amount of miles on the road of any driver I have out of the 150. Oh my god. He puts on about 300,000 miles a year, and he's determined to make 50 years. I've probably got 15 people that have been over 40 years with the company.

SPEAKER_05 13:31

So it's just something, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

It's a culture. You know, we try and all together as a team. When something goes wrong, everybody tries to rally around and try and fix the problems. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

You probably have good managers in place.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

You try. I tell people it's one of those challenges that the great news is I have a lot of longtime employees. The bad news is I have a lot of longtime employees because you don't get new blood in. So sometimes we need to bring new blood in to to to see things differently. Because when we tell people we bleed blue, the Armelini blue.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

So and so is that happening a little bit with the next generation coming in? Yes. Are you seeing some of that?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah, yeah. We're bringing a lot of new managers in, a lot of young people coming in, and most of them are awesome. You know, is anything you have to weed through?

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

The ones that that want to work and the ones that don't want to work. So it's a process, it's a challenge, like it is for everybody. But we found a lot of really good people. So I just gotta keep it up because it's constant turnover.

SPEAKER_05 14:29

Yeah. Yeah. What's the biggest area in our industry right now that you're curious about that you're like, hmm, I wonder what what I want to delve into more research on this.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

I I guess I would kind of change it a little bit and say one of the biggest challenges I think going on is with the the consolidation in the Miami shippers consolidating to the mass market. There's four or five big Miami importers that are buying up farms left and right in South America. And the more they buy that production, which is okay, but that means less for the traditional side, which is where we really put a lot of focus on, is that wholesale retail side of life that puts less in the marketplace for that wholesaler to buy. Now, there's good and bad to that because when there's a tight supply, that means the the prices go up and the wholesaler makes money and the retailer makes money. Um, but it becomes that balance of how much product is going to be out there if the mass market keeps sucking up all the production. Um, so it's a little dicey out there right now.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Because you've had a quite a demand, really, for moving the freight from one place to another up until this point. And that's what you're kind of like, okay, how much of that is gonna be moved through a different source, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah. The mass market's a whole different segment of our industry that that operates differently from trucking to obviously going through the mass markets through the distribution channel. That to me is one of the things that I think concerns a lot of wholesalers are is there gonna be enough production for them? It always seems to even itself out, but it's it's certainly a a change going on in our industry.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

I have a question. I think a lot of people don't realize when you're shipping flowers from they come in the airport, they're cleared through there, then they go into cooler and they they're cooled down, right? From there, you put them into a climate-controlled trucks, correct? And do they still do the ethyl block or anything in that air? For a while that was happening, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Ethylblock is yeah, I have probably two or three mass markets by truckload that buy a truckload of volume, and they have us put ethyl block in there. We don't do ethyl block anymore on a regular basis. We were doing it for a while to certain markets. I had like the Denver market was paying for it, and I was putting it on the Denver truck all the time, and some other areas we were doing it for, but we're not doing any of that now. But yeah, all all the trucks, all of ours are refrigerated. And you know, it's funny when you tell people that we actually heat the flowers all winter long. Oh yeah. As we're driving to Chicago when it's minus two out, so the refrigeration unit turns into a heater and is pumping heat into the trailer, trying to keep them from freezing.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Yeah, that's right. So climate control is better than saying refrigerated truck, right? Because it's like maintaining.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

So we try and keep them, we have them set at 35 degrees, so we're trying to hold that temperature at 35 degrees for them and not freeze them and not get them too not get them too hot.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

It's a lot more complicated than people think to get the flowers from one point to another and to the wholesaler and and all of that. I mean, and you also have to be able to get into how many wholesalers after hours and deliver those boxes.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

So every wholesaler that we deliver to, we have a a key or a combination into their facility, and that's how we're able to give the consistent service that we do is by being able to get to that place at seven o'clock at night, and we go in and deliver and and close the doors at eight o'clock, and we go to the next one and get in their door. And you know, it's one of those things that I I tell people that again, I deal with a lot of trucking companies. I'm on some boards of different stuff, and they're like, You do what? You you deliver flowers, you open their doors, you you you have access to their place. And you know, my dad and mom started that years and years ago, and it was a trust factor that we're gonna go into your place, and I said, What other industry do you go into that's going to deliver five thousand dollars worth of whatever that happens to be flowers, and the person's gonna come in the next morning and count and say, Yeah, they're all here.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Um they're all here, and everything else in my warehouse is here. Everything else is there. Because I mean, you have run of the whole place, truly.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

I mean, you could go in one door and out the other, and in many wholesalers we have access to the full place, some wholesalers we have access just to the cooler, which is great, which is what we like. Sure. But yeah, a lot of them we have full access to everything.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

But you know, trust, mic.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, it's a it's really a trust that we have built with our customers through the years, and that's allowed us to to do what we do and making so many deliveries and deliver so quickly up and down the road. Almost no other industry does this. I'm not just saying Arm Lane does it, other truck companies do it as well, but right, but our industry does that, and it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Yeah, especially if you're on other boards and you hear that, they're like, What?

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Oh, they think they think I've lost my mind.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Or they think your customers have lost their mind. One of them. Yeah. Like you're doing something right, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_05 19:41

I have a question. What's ethyl block?

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Ethyl block is a product that one of the I forget who who markets it, but it's a flowers, as soon as you cut the stem, they're starting to die.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

And ethylene is what kills them, the ethylene gas that comes off. So ethyl block is designed, it's a chemical that releases in the air and it kills the ethylene that's in the air.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

So it makes the flowers continue to last longer.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

So we put it inside our trailer because it's a contained environment. And it's a basically a bucket. You open it up and shut the doors, and it puts this gas into the trailer that kills the ethylene as you're driving down the road.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Got it.

unknown 20:25

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

And a lot of times, because they're delivered quickly, you don't even need it, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:29

So if it's closer to it's always good, it's just a matter of just it comes down to does somebody want to pay for it?

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Yep, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

And when you're in a truckload, it's one thing. When you're an LTL, well, I had a hundred boxes, she had three hundred boxes, and who wants to pay? I want to pay for it, I don't want to pay for it.

SPEAKER_05 20:44

Oh, so it's like an additional charge. Yes, it would be an additional charge. Got it. Okay, got it. What was the biggest obstacle issue you had in the last year in your industry?

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Can I count COVID?

SPEAKER_05 21:02

Yeah, you can if you want.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, that was a that was a big challenge. Yeah, especially because in our again, we're unique compared to a lot of trucking companies. We run two drivers in a truck. One's sleeping while one's driving.

SPEAKER_05 21:16

Wow, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

That's how it goes up the road quicker. And then when COVID hit, we had a whole lot of drivers say, I don't want to drive with somebody else. Right.

SPEAKER_05 21:26

Yeah, because COVID.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Because of COVID. Right. So that made it very challenging. Now I had a bunch of drivers because most of our drivers have been teamed up together for a while.

SPEAKER_04 21:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

So they were like, I'm okay driving with you. So a fair amount of them worked, but we lost a lot of drivers during that because they said I'd rather go drive for a company that just drives single than drive team for those reasons. So we lost drivers through that. And it was a it's one of those dynamics that almost all of us faced is yeah, I had more people. Trying to give me business and I had less resources to do the business. That was certainly a big issue.

SPEAKER_05 22:05

But you you came out of it.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

We came out of it. Came out stronger.

SPEAKER_05 22:09

Yeah. And you have enough drivers now? Because there was even coming out of COVID. Again, I'm just thinking of other industries for trucking too. There was a shortage of truck drivers.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

There is. It's actually funny. There's actually more drivers in the industry today than there was three years ago, five years ago. So there's more back into the industry. But the difference is most of them when COVID hit, trucking rates went crazy. They went real high.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Yes, they did.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Because you couldn't you couldn't get stuff moving. Right. So people were paying a lot more, whether it was for the plane or the truck or whatever. So because those rates jumped up so high, then what happened is a driver, some of them who worked for me, not many of them, but they went out and bought their own trucks and became their own truck driver. Because they could make a lot of because they could make a lot of money. Well, that worked for a period of time. What has happened over that time is those rates that went really high six months ago went really low. Right. And fuel prices went high.

SPEAKER_05 23:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

So those drivers who tried to make it independent on their own, a lot of them had they went out and bought a real expensive truck. Now they can't make their payments. So there are a lot of drivers that are driving independent, not wanting to drive for a corporate as ourselves, because as a corporate, we follow all the rules. We do all the right things.

SPEAKER_05 23:39

But you also have benefits in a steady salary. I mean, this is it's steady money coming in.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

So there are more drivers. Most of them don't want to drive for a carrier, but we are seeing more drivers come in. Our account is going up, so it is getting better. Um, but it's it's a very tough job. Yeah. It's you know, as a driver, one of the one of the biggest challenges we're facing is marijuana.

SPEAKER_04 24:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Because as a truck driver, the government changed it, I don't know, two years ago, something like that. Where now we have to double the amount of random tests that we have. So we have to randomly test X amount of drivers every week for drugs.

SPEAKER_05 24:20

Yeah, they can't be driving under the influence.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Well, that's true, and we don't want that. But the difference is if he smoked marijuana six days ago and has been off for six days and then drive and still in his system.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

How long does it stay in your system?

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Weeks.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

So, you know, that's the challenge. We're as regulated as pilots. Um, as I said, any other job, I can hire you, you can work for me, you can go home, do whatever you want, as long as you show up at work and you work and do your thing. But as a driver, so a lot of drivers have been uh fired over the years. Even if it's legal in their state, even if it's legal in their state, even if they have a legal card to do it, yeah, they can't, as far as the trucking industry. Yeah. Because there's no way to as an alcohol, I can do an alcohol test on you right now and see if you've been drinking.

SPEAKER_05 25:18

Right, right. But it leaves your system after what, I don't know, 24 hours.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

X amount of hours. But for marijuana, there's no way to say, are you high right now? There's no test for that.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

There's no test for that.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

So it eliminates a lot of drivers that maybe are good drivers and only do it, you know, on their days off. So that's a big challenge for our industry.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Interest engine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:43

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe somebody needs to invent a better test.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

I mean, whoever does is gonna make a lot of money. They're trying, trust me.

SPEAKER_05 25:56

Anyone that uses heavy machinery, anyone that has to do that.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Right, and we're a drug-free workplace, so we have to every not only for our drivers, we do it for everybody. Anybody who works for me has to pass a drug test. A lot of them don't pass. So that's a challenge in today in Florida.

SPEAKER_05 26:14

I mean, you can legally smoke in Florida, but not if you're but not if you're working or if you're driving or flying or operating heavy machinery. I mean, there's a lot of things there, so it's gonna be catch 22, I guess. All right, my last question has nothing to do with flowers. Okay. Are you a reader? It's okay if you're not.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Somebody just asked this in one of our committees, and I said, Well, if you if you like reading fishing magazines, that's that's what I'm saying. Oh, well, there you go. All right. Okay, I read some novels. I just got done reading another novel, John John Grissom.

SPEAKER_05 26:51

Oh, I like John Grisham.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

I forget the name of this one. But yeah, I like reading some of those once in a while.

SPEAKER_05 26:57

Are there any books in your 38 years of life? There you go. That you remember as like, wow, that really was kind of a game changer for me.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

I don't know. My book was the the book from my dad, basically.

SPEAKER_05 27:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

Work hard, show up to work every day, treat your people nice. That that was modeled for you. Yeah. I I just followed his model. I I wouldn't say there's a book that that stood out necessarily to me. It was following my family's book of of hard work and rewarding your people and taking care of customers. That's what we try and do.

SPEAKER_05 27:37

And then you you model that for your kids.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 27:40

And she does you do you see a lot of your influence in her?

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 27:46

That's gotta be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Oh, it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 27:48

Yeah, I know she gets excited with that. And my son as well.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Yeah, it's the pride that you see when they do something, you're like, wow. Yeah, they were paying attention.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

You know, they didn't sound like they were, but I guess they were.

SPEAKER_05 28:00

Yes, that's right. I also heard a rumor that you have a little grandbaby. I do have a grandbaby.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

And I just love it. I just love it. She's a year and a half old.

SPEAKER_05 28:11

Oh, does she live in Miami?

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Uh she lives about five miles away from me, so I get to see her all the time. Uh, if not, I'm FaceTiming a couple times a day. Oh, oh, it's it's game-changing.

SPEAKER_05 28:23

You and Tim Farrell. You can put these two in a room, lock them up. He's got six now. Oh gosh. Yeah, six under four, under the age of four. Yeah. Wow. And all you have to do is ask.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

And the pictures will fly.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

Well, just like you, drag number six yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Here's my picture.

SPEAKER_05 28:41

Let me see. Oh my gosh. Podcast listeners, you can't see it, but she's really cute. She's adorable. She's very cute. So yeah, he's he's here, and he had grandbaby number six yesterday, and it's killing it. But they keep sending all the pictures, so he can't wait to get home. So that's what matters.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

That's what matters right there.

SPEAKER_05 29:04

That is the only thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

Another generation.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

I was gonna say, number four.

SPEAKER_05 29:07

Here it comes. All the generations. So, well, thanks for sitting down with us. I know you're a busy man, but man, we really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Okay, it's it's a wonderful industry. It is. We gotta keep it to keep sharing how wonderful it is and for all the things that we just mentioned that weren't great, but there's a whole lot that's great, and it's all about people.

SPEAKER_05 29:26

It's all about the people, it's all about the people and the flowers.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

And the flowers.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

So please come back and join us in discovering how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.