Day in the Life: OTR, Dispatch & the Road at Bulk

A day in the life at Bulk Transit sounds straightforward until four people who live it start talking. In Episode 9 of Always Pneumatic, Never Static, host Marcus sits down with OTR driver Mike Upchurch, regional driver Bryan Alexander, office manager Lu Ann Saunders, and dispatcher Sara Litzinger from the Foster, Kentucky, terminal for a conversation that covers both sides of the aisle. What does a typical day look like for an OTR driver out on the road versus a regional driver staying closer to home? What does dispatch deal with that drivers never see? What does operations manage that nobody talks about? This episode answers all of it and then some. The conversation stays grounded and informative throughout, but make no mistake, there are stories from the yard and the road in here that will genuinely stop you in your tracks. Animal strikes, bird strikes, and the kind of moments that remind you this job never goes exactly according to plan. But here is what every single one of these four employees kept coming back to: communication is everything. Tune in and find out why. New episodes every Wednesday.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You ever have one of those days where everything goes exactly how you planned? Yeah. Me either. Uh,
but because if you work in trucking, especially at a place like bulk, you already know the deal. You
can wake up at 3 a.m., you can have your whole day mapped out. And by 730, that plan has found
a permanent home in the round file. A load might get moved, customer might push you back. Dispatch

(00:25):
might call and say, hey, don't be mad. But, uh, and now you're going someplace completely different.
The day has totally changed. But here's the thing. And this is what I love about our upcoming
episode here. That chaos that we're talking about, it's not just happening to the drivers. It's
happening in the office, too. Phones are ringing, loads are canceling. New ones are popping up out

(00:46):
of nowhere. Somebody stuck. Somebody late. Somebody's broken down. And somehow all of it
still works. So today we're pulling back the curtain a little bit. We've got drivers, we've got
dispatch. We've got the people actually making this thing run. And we're answering the simple
question, what does a day in the life at bulk really look like? Spoiler

(01:10):
alert there's a lot. You are listening to. Always pneumatic, never
static. The Totally Pressurized podcast, brought to you by Bulk Transit, where we keep the lines clear,
the tanks empty, and the conversation anything but dry. Whether you're running powder pellets or
anything in between. Pull up a seat. Crack the windows and let's hit it.

(01:35):
Bulk and Spur. How's it going out there? Welcome into always pneumatic, never static. I am your host,
Marcus. Thank you so much for being here today. We've got a great episode planned for you, and I
will give you a bit of a spoiler alert here. Already did the interview. In fact, I just finished
it and wow, this one was awesome. A lot of fun, a lot of insight. And really what I would

(01:58):
call, as I said in the cold open, a great peek behind the curtain. You really do get to see a
little bit about the relationship between drivers and dispatch office and on the road in this
episode, so stay tuned. We're bringing in four bulk employees to talk to us, two office
employees and two drivers. And I really like the way that you can see things from both sides of

(02:23):
the aisle. Here with our upcoming interview. So stick around. I'll get to that in just a second.
We've got Mike Upchurch, Bryan Alexander, Lu Ann Saunders, and Sara Litzinger joining us today,
and it is a fun conversation. I really enjoyed it, but the thing went almost like it's like 52 or 53
minutes long. So I'm going to keep this intro short so that we can get to the meat of the

(02:45):
episode, because that's the real good stuff. Uh, homework assignment. You know what's coming down
the pike. Podcast dot Bulk transit.com is the website that's our landing page for the podcast.
And not only can you listen to episodes there, but you can find out everything about each episode.
They're who we're talking to, what we're talking about, and as we continue to produce more episodes,

(03:08):
sooner or later we'll be able to kind of silo those things off into playlists for you. So if you
want to listen to something about safety, there'll be a full playlist there of safety episodes for
you or sort of day in the life type stuff like we're doing today. There'll be a playlist for that.
So that's coming down the pike. We just got to get enough podcast episodes to where we actually have

(03:28):
enough to make a playlist. And since we're still under ten right now, that's going to take a little
bit of time. But the website is up and running again. podcast.bulktransit.com. My guy
Tyler working his magic there. The cool thing about the website is everything that we're going
to do there, all the quizzes and everything like that live on the website. You can find the podcast

(03:52):
at Spotify or Apple or Google or what have you, but you're not going to be able to interact with
it quite the way that people that are going to the website are. So I highly recommend just
bookmarking that page on your phone or your tablet or your computer wherever you're at when
you're listening to this. My guess would be most of you drivers out there probably bookmark it on
your phone and then it's just simple, easy. All you got to do is pull it up every Wednesday morning

(04:16):
and bam, you got a brand new hour content that's all about bulk transit right there in your hand.
So bookmark the website podcast.bulktransit.com and make sure that you're going
there to interact with the quizzes and find out anything else you know. If we end up with a photo
gallery, sometimes we have drivers send pictures into us. Sometimes we'll ask you guys for some

(04:39):
pictures. If we're doing an episode that's kind of themed around something like that, that's where
all that stuff will live. You'll end up finding that there at the website. Uh, once again, podcast
dot bulk transit.com. And for those of you that are interested in joining the podcast, being on
the podcast. There is an email link there for me as well. You can get right to my pocket by going

(05:01):
over to the website, or if you are acquainted with any of the drivers or the office staff that have
been on the podcast before, and you guys hear me, you're going to hear me say this so much like,
this is something I will say in almost every episode. If somebody's been on this podcast and
you are acquainted with them, get my contact info from them. I care not if you guys share my my

(05:24):
phone number around like it's a junior high show game. Okay, just spread it like wildfire. Since
you're not the only people listening to this podcast, I'm not going to give my phone number out
on the air, but maybe someday I'll lose a bet and you guys can talk me into that. Okay, for now, just
go to the website, take the quizzes, enjoy yourself there, find out all of the episodes that we've

(05:47):
been producing and what they're about. It's all their podcast.bulktransit.com. Enough homework for today.
This episode we kind of idea this thing as what is a day in the life
like. And we thought, well, a driver is going to have a much different day in the life than, say,
somebody in the shop or somebody in the office. What if we went ahead and just tried to get a few

(06:11):
different people in, so we could kind of get a sprinkle of the day in the life from multiple
different viewpoints? And that's exactly what we were able to do today. Uh, we've got Lu and Sara
joining us from the Foster terminal, and they are basically Sara is going to handle most of the
dispatch. Of course, you've got, um, Lu there she is, the office manager. She also does handle a little

(06:32):
bit of dispatch from time to time. So we're going to get a really good take on what things are like
at the foster terminal in kind of dispatch and the office management side of things for the
driver's side. You know, we're going to represent that side on this show. We've got Mike Upchurch
and Bryan Alexander joining us. And the types of driving that they do are just slightly different.

(06:54):
I'm sure they've done some of the things, uh, the same as the other guy from time to time, but
sounds like Bryan's kind of delivering some, uh, construction sites and Mikes OTR. So, uh, some
really good insight coming up on this interview. I highly recommend you stick around because it's
coming up right now.

(07:19):
Welcome back into Always Pneumatic, Never Static. I am so excited about this next interview. You know,
a lot of times on this show, we'll talk to drivers or we'll talk to office staff. Sometimes we get
them in here together. And today we've got a full house four Bulk and Spur. Employees in, uh, are
joining us right now. And, uh, going to welcome back to the show first, the only one that's been here

(07:41):
before. Say hello to Mike Upchurch. Mike, thank you so much for joining us today, my friend. Absolutely,
sir. And where are you at right now, Mike? Uh, don't just mount to Jonesboro, Arkansas. Okay. And are we
are we headed back towards home, or are we headed out? Uh, headed out. Uh, Nestlé. Nestlé? Uh, they did a
lot of Hot Pockets and the spaghetti dinners and stuff like that. That's my kind of. Stop right

(08:07):
there, Mike. That's how I get inside. There would be real good, but they got it locked down like an
armored armored car there. So, yeah, they always they always keep all the good stuff away from
prying eyes, don't they? Yes, sir. It's food grade, so. Yes, sir. Gotcha, gotcha. Well, thanks for joining us,
Mike. Always a pleasure to have you, uh, our second driver. Oh, of course, of course. Our second driver

(08:29):
joining us today is making his first appearance on the show, and we're happy to have him. Please
welcome Bryan Alexander. Brian, appreciate the time, man. How's everything going for you today?
Absolutely. No problem. It's going well. Uh, you know, we we had a little heat wave here in Ohio for
about two days, and now we're back down to freezing so we could get it back together. We love
our days even more. Yeah, I hear you, but what fun would it be if you could predict the weather?

(08:53):
Bryan, that would be no fun at all for a job like you do. I mean, all that trip planning, you'd get
ahead on all that stuff. That's. No, that's no good. That's for the birds, right? Oh, yeah. Fly by the
minute. Amen, brother. Amen. And where are you at right now, Bryan? Uh, I'm north of Dayton,
almost into a little town called Lima, Ohio, taking some submit to a road job up here. Okay. And, uh,

(09:16):
Mike, I've already established this stuff with Mike because he's been on the show before. But I
always like to ask our guests on the podcast, how long have you been working for Bulk? Um, I'm
actually a week away from my year anniversary. Hey, how about that? Hang on a second. I've got a button
for that, for sure. Give him a round of applause for one year. That's awesome. Congratulations.

(09:40):
You like it? Appreciate it. You like it so far? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Never the same thing every day. And, uh,
always get to meet some new faces. So I'm, uh, I'm right where I need to be. No complaints. That's
awesome. Brian. Well, thank you for joining us today. Looking forward to hearing a bit more about your
day to day. Uh, also joining us here, we've got our office manager and dispatcher from the

(10:03):
foster terminal. Lu. Lu. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for
having me. Of course. And you brought along a sidekick with you today. We've got, uh, Sara
Litzinger joining you. She's the administrative assistant out there at Foster. Sara, thank you for
the time. Thank you for having me. Um, Sara. Also oes 99% of the dispatching. The only time

(10:27):
I dispatch is when Sara is out. Okay, well, you got to change up that email signature. Sara, get that
get that title on there. So a guy like me can give you the, uh, the flowers that you deserve. Because
dispatch is not an easy job. That's all right. I'd rather stay under the radar.
Understandable, understandable. Now, Lu, how long have you been working for Bulk? Because I

(10:50):
understand. It's it's you've you've got some time under your belt. 14 years as of last August. I feel
like that deserves a round of applause as well. 14 years. That's amazing. What's kept you here for all
that time, Lu? It's just they're good people. I mean, they treat you like

(11:10):
family. Where else? I've never worked anywhere. But at 2:00 in the morning, you can
actually get a hold of an owner. Wow. That's saying something. When there's problems that go down.
Right? Okay, I, I love that. And, Sara, how about you? How long have you been with Bulk? I've been here
six years. In February. I started out as part-time, but my husband was actually a driver here and got

(11:36):
me looped into the family network, and I've stuck it out since then. Well that's awesome. I think six
years deserves a round of applause, too. We're just giving everybody a round of applause today. Uh.
That's great. I love having long tenured employees on, because I feel like you get to go just a
little bit deeper, uh, with with what we're going to talk about here today. Because the reason I've

(11:56):
brought you all on and the reason I love having kind of a diverse group of people, as far as the
jobs are concerned, is we're here to talk about a day in the life of Bulk. Let's figure out what
it's like for some of the drivers, for some of the office staff, just what does a day at this job
entail? And, uh, let's just start off, I want a round table. This one, I'm just going to kind of go

(12:18):
around the board. Uh, I'll start with you, Mike. Um, what time does your day start, Mike? And what's
the very first thing that you're dealing with, uh, when you're starting your day out there? Well,
usually all different times. So I'll start with the day. Day over eggs. I kind of do, uh, some over,
over the road stuff and some of the local stuff. But this morning I got a quick 3:00, went down to

(12:44):
the yard and, uh, some I got my information from my load, but I've done my pre-trip and everything on
my truck and trailer and it hooked up, uh, hooked it up at the same time there and then left out,
uh, by 4:00 area. I left out and stopped, uh, got through the

(13:04):
traffic and stuff. I had a little bit of construction coming up and stopped very, uh, little
town, uh, about an hour out, about two hours out and, uh, got fuel and done my, uh, my
take it back so far, about five hours out. And I stopped about an hour from us. Got the, uh, fuel and
and, uh, through my 30 minute break and then headed up on up to the Jonesboro. Okay. So your day can be

(13:29):
a little bit diverse when it starts out, but, uh, it sounds like most of the time you're you're up
pretty early. 3 a.m.. That's that's wild in my view. You know, I try to put this in my, my
perspective just for a second. There's days where you're getting out of bed, getting ready to go do
your job. Where? I haven't gone to bed yet. Over here on the West Coast, Mike. And that just blows

(13:51):
my mind, my friend. Yeah. Sorry. Yes. It's floating. Floating. Times. Floating times. A lot of
time there. What's what's the latest you'll ever get started, Mike? No, no. Overnight or a lot of
times. I'll wait. My wife goes to work. It'll be nine, 9 or 10. Probably the yard. And it head out
for her for the next day. Next day. Load the overnight load. Okay, so a little bit. Sometimes you

(14:16):
get to sleep in just a little bit is what you're saying? Uh, yes. There's sleep in the coffee and a
lot of times breakfast that morning. So. Okay. It makes it makes it nice. Yeah. For sure. Nothing like
going out on the road with a full stomach, man. And for the homemade wrappers a lot. Some leftovers. So
it's a nice box. It's a good day. Nice. Nice. Bryan. What's, uh, what's a typical day look like for you?

(14:39):
When does it start? What's the first type of thing that you're dealing with out there? Um, just like
Mike was saying, it's. It varies. I've gone up and left the house at 1 a.m. yesterday. I got to leave
the house about 6:30 a.m.. Felt like I slept in quite a bit yesterday. Um, today I was back up and
moving about 3:00. Left the house about 330. Lucky for me, I'm only about 15 minutes away from our

(15:02):
yard. Um, so I'll get to the yard, grab my paperwork, hop in my truck, do my pre-trip on my truck,
find the trailer, do the same thing there, and then I'm off to get loaded. Kind of depends on what
product I'm hauling as far as what the load is going to look like. We got about seven different

(15:22):
products we haul out of my terminal, so it just kind of depends on what, uh, what fell down the
seniority line and what I picked. And everything else is pretty basic. You know, you you hope to
skip rush hour in any of the major cities, but you always get stuck in and it seems like. And, uh, yeah,
it's, uh, although the product can be different and the places you go are different, you tend to catch

(15:45):
up on, uh, everything being pretty normal. You know, he hopes to not run into any too much
construction or any wrecks flow in your back or anything like that today seem to be pretty smooth.
Although my dispatch location got changed on me halfway through my deliver, my first delivery. But,
uh oh, Sara. Just keep on. Keep showing your toes. There you go. Okay, well, this is cool, because now I

(16:10):
know that, Sara, you might not have dispatched that load for Bryan, but maybe you can speak to me
a little bit about what happens when, uh, something like that. What Bryan just described happens where,
uh, dispatch kind of changes something right in the middle of the load. Is that something that
happens frequently? Is that something that you guys are kind of used to talk me through it a
little bit? Sara. Yeah, it's for the most part, it is not typically normal, but it can be

(16:35):
normal. But we here at Foster, we load out of one of two places, so we already pretty well know
where everything's set up. But the delivery location can change and stuff. So yeah, I mean
we're just kind of a fly by seat, pick up that phone call and say, hey, sorry to do this, but we've
got to reroute you to someplace else. And Bryan, when you hear that call come through, uh, is it

(16:59):
something that, uh, does it does it get under your skin? Does it frustrate you, or is it just kind of
par for the course? And you know that sometimes it happens. Uh, it comes with the territory. I, uh, I try
to let things slide right off, and that way doesn't. I mean, when you're talking about getting
that phone call 430, 5:00 in the morning, it's going to make for a long day if you let that
start your day off the wrong way. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So you just kind of like I said, stay on your toes.

(17:24):
Whatever. Whatever we need as long. I mean, I'd rather be sitting somewhere else than the
dispatch. Just be completely canceled. So. Right. Right. That's a good point. Okay. Awesome stuff
there. I'm glad we got something there that we can kind of touch. Both, uh, both sides on. Uh, but I want
to go over to Lu now and talk about Lu. What's a day look like for you? What time does the day

(17:44):
start for you? I mean, you mentioned already that a that a 2 a.m. phone call is nothing out of the
ordinary here at Bulk. So, uh, when do you turn the lights on? They're at Foster. I usually get
actually in the office between 7 and 715. But when does the day start? It
depends. Actually, they don't stop. I mean, the drivers do know, though,

(18:09):
that mine and Sara's sleep schedule are totally different. Um, if you need
something at 6:00 at night, you probably better call Sara, because I'm probably napping. Uh huh. If
you need something after ten, especially after midnight, don't call Sara. You call me.
Okay. And these are. These are firm, hard rules. Yeah. Like midnight on. I'm.

(18:35):
I'm awake. And the guys know that they're funny because they know our schedule. Yeah, the Foster
terminal drivers. I mean, they can nail us to a tee of who's going to be awake, who's going to respond
and who's asleep. And and what type of chewing out do they get if they make the mistake and call the
wrong number. And they don't get that because they're not going to respond. He's not going to

(18:58):
hear the song. Oh my God, I don't know. Squat. You know what? They're not going to get any kind of
fuss tonight because bottom line is they're not going to call either one of us just because of
our charming personalities. There's a problem or. I mean, yeah, they're not
calling to just talk. Oh, there's a problem. Okay, I understand that now. I'm to be honest with you,

(19:24):
though, I'm having a great conversation with the two of you. I would call you just to talk, but
maybe that's because you don't deal with me all the time, right? Absolutely. You don't see it all
the time. The the favorite thing is. Sorry to call you, but. Yeah. Yeah, I like the one that says,
hey, we got a problem. Uh, no, I would snuggle down in bed. I didn't promise you bother me.

(19:49):
Now, Lu. You told me that you and Sarah have a little bit of a nickname here. Now, I. I will say
this. I'll preface this by saying this might get, uh, it might get edited a little bit. It might get,
um, censored. But I want you to go ahead and say it because we can beep it out if we need to. But what
do you guys call yourselves? Uh, what did you tell me before we went on the air here? Two bitches in

(20:11):
a dispatch. You. And it doesn't sound like that's an offensive name for you. You
kind of own that a little bit. It sounds like. Oh, we're very proud. Trust me, These
guys would run over top of us if we did not stand our ground. Yeah, that's true man. Drivers

(20:32):
can be a stubborn bunch. And it's not to say that that's a bad trait to have as a driver. I think a
little bit of stubbornness as a driver, uh, probably keeps your day from going off the rails
quite frequently. Bryan. Mike, would you agree with that? Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Do you ever find yourself being, uh, a little bit stubborn and think maybe I should take it easy on

(20:54):
dispatch today? Or is it just. No, I gotta stay. I gotta stay stubborn. Yep. It's a constant. I have to
stay stubborn. Okay. All right. I want my loads covered. You know, Bryan and Andrea and all of us
want to pay tax, and we've got to keep pushing. We can't slack up a little. Okay? And our drivers, I
mean, at the end of the day, you can have dispatch from the floor to the ceiling. But if you don't

(21:19):
have a driver that gets that product in that silo, There's where the money comes in. Once that
product hits that silo, then Bulk Transit's paid and we're all paid. So that's a very important
thing to have drivers that are reliable and know how to do the job consistently every single time.
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm wondering, do you want to shout out any of your Foster drivers right now?

(21:44):
Because I know that dispatch and terminal management will have some drivers that are just
always there for them. They've got a great relationship, and since we don't have any Foster
drivers on this episode, I want to give you the chance to call any of them out that maybe have a,
you know, made the day a little bit easier on you recently or anything like that. Uh, Sara and Lu.
I'm going to be honest. We have a great, great, great, great drivers. We've got drivers here that's

(22:10):
been here for 30 plus years, and we've got drivers that's been here for six months,
and there's not one of them But we would hesitate to pick up the
phone and call and ask them because they're going to if they're able and they got ours, they're

(22:31):
going to help us. That's awesome. You know, it's something that I've heard from basically every
terminal manager that I've talked to, every, uh, person that's, uh, you know, working with the
drivers, but in a terminal that seems to be consistent through every single one that I've
gotten to talk to. And I'm I'm not through all of them at this point, but I've hit quite a few, so I

(22:51):
love to hear that. Um, Mike, Bryan, I'm going to. I'm not saying that, you know, I'm not saying that it's
all honey pie every day because, oh, interesting to get into it. But at the end of the day, it's funny.
We all miss this fight. And it's like, oh, hey, Lu. Oh, hey, how are you? Like it's. A
thing. It is. You know, at the end of the day, we're all striving for the same goal and that's to make

(23:19):
bulk transit profitable and not. So let me ask you this one, another roundtable question here. And then I've
got a couple questions for the drivers. And then we'll get back to Lu and Sara with some
dispatch dispatch questions and kind of marry the whole thing together. But one last roundtable
question for all of you guys before we move on here. And, Mike, I'll start with you. Uh, on a scale

(23:41):
of smooth sailing to dumpster fire, how often is your day predictable. You know, you're getting up
and you're starting, you know, what's going to happen is that, uh, is that frequent? Is that
something that you're used to? Unpredictable. I was saying that's right. Most of. The time. Most times.
Yes, sir. Yeah, I would say so. I kind of figured the answer from at least one of the drivers was going

(24:02):
to be, uh, dumpster fire every day. I never know it's going to happen. Just. It's the nature of the
gig. But, uh, Bryan, I'll go to you. Same thing. How often is your day out there? Predictable. Um, I'd
say it's about mid range. I mean, when you're out there dealing with the general public on the
roads, you never really can pinpoint how the day is going to go. But for the most part, I mean, when

(24:23):
you when you get your dispatch the day before, you kind of have a pretty solid idea of what your
next day is going to look like. Um, it's not often that you get the call changing where you're
delivering to, um, so most of the time it's, hey, this is what we've got for you tomorrow. You pick.
And that's basically how it goes the next day. Barring any issues with traffic or weather or

(24:46):
anything like that. Sure. No, it's a well-oiled machine. There's no question about it there. But, uh,
sometimes it's just it's things that you can't you can't account for, things that you can't be
responsible for. Sometimes they're going to show up and rear their ugly head. And and, Lu, I'm
coming to you with this question next. Uh, how how often do you guys have what you would call a

(25:06):
predictable day out there at the Foster terminal? They are few and far between.
Amen. Because, I mean, I'm going to speak for Sara. She just stepped out to take a call from a driver.
Um, you know, dispatch, you got load canceling, you got loads adding, and they're within

(25:26):
minutes. You know, you might have three loads. Cancel. The next thing you know, the phone rings
and, oh, we got emergency loads here, here and here. So. And then, you know, you're sitting here and the
day is going smooth, and then you get a call from a driver that says, I've just been hit head
on. Oh, and, you know, I mean, those things happen. And some days it's

(25:51):
an emotional roller coaster. I'll be. Honest. I imagine so. I imagine so do you ever. I think about,
uh, you know, I'm a big, uh, Ninja Turtles fan from back in the day, the original movies. And there's a
part in Ninja Turtles two where one of the guys looks at the other one and he says it's quiet, a
little too quiet. Do you ever have those? It's a little too quiet. Do not say that word. Or even our

(26:15):
terminal manager. And he's great. We, uh. He'll say something about Boy it. Or when he first started,
he'd be like, boy, it's quiet too. And we're like, you do not say those words. Yep. You keep that word
to yourself. We will hurt you. I like it. I see, I kind of figured that that's like, if if things are
quiet, you have to leave that to the imagination. You don't say anything, you don't identify it

(26:38):
because that's what immediately makes it go not quiet. Right? Exactly, exactly. You know,
it's a flip of a coin. We can sit here for hours and nothing, and then all of a sudden it's just
one phone call after another for hours. So, Lu, when you start your day, uh, coffee
first or chaos first? Because your job, your job has a lot going on. So coffee or chaos? When you

(27:04):
first turn the lights on. It's usually chaos. And it's Diet Coke. I don't do coffee. Okay.
That's fine. So it's usually, you know, it's a day like this morning. Um,
I had a call. A driver got to someplace else that we normally don't load out of. His truck wasn't in

(27:24):
the system, which was our fault. But that's how that started out. And then
yesterday morning, a guy was trying to unload, and there was a hole in the silo pipe. So that was the
4:00 call. Wow. Then yesterday you had to call with what? There was three hours load time, three

(27:44):
loads, three hours waiting to get loaded, and then that's just continue throughout the day. Then we
got a phone call from another terminal manager with a gentleman having a little issue,
and we had to go rescue him. And like I said, it's just one thing after another. You just never know
how the ball is going to roll. And honestly, that's probably what kept me staying all these years

(28:08):
because it is not something that you come in and you do the same repetitive job day after day
after day, right? Right. It's kind of, uh, you have to be comfortable being Chicken Little. The sky is
falling sometimes, and you just have to be okay with that, right? Yep. And then you look back and
you think, oh my gosh, how in the world did we ever get through that? And we do. You do every single.

(28:29):
Day on to the next chaos that comes about. And I think that's testament to the people that you
talked about earlier when you when I asked you how long you've been here, you said it's the
people that keep me here and that's why you can get through. Sky's falling moments is when you
have a really good group of people. Right. Right. You know, like our terminal manager. He's great. We

(28:49):
can go. He leaves us alone, basically. But when we need him, he has our
back. Yeah. He is our calming to our fire. Yeah. He's very calm and very where I'm very
emotional and like, oh, boy, here we go. So. And you know, he never raises his voice. He's very quiet.

(29:09):
It's all one demeanor and. Yeah. And then we know, you know, it's our terminal manager's not here.
Then we got back up in Plain City. Like I said, you can get Ahold of any of the owners. Andrea. Brian.
Brad. They're just there for. Any time. They are there. That's awesome. I
love hearing it. I love hearing it. Okay, I want to kick this back to the drivers a little bit. Um,

(29:34):
kind of talking about the reality of the job itself. I know, you know, I've, I've been making
podcasts for truck drivers for going on four years now. And, uh, there's some things that are
very constant, Mike and Bryan with every driver and they're things that are out of the driver's
control. And I wonder which one of these four things, uh, cost you the most time out there. And

(29:58):
these are all things that are out of your control for the most part. Uh, Mike, I'll start with you
here. Which one of these things can cost you the most time? Weather load delays, equipment
issues, or customer sites. Or traffic or customers. I'd say traffic. I mean what the
construction. Go on and say this truck. I don't think it's one of the one of the answer, but. Go

(30:22):
ahead and throw. It in there. That's the one in construction. And uh, like I say, most of our
customers were pretty regular customer. Do we I don't know, no room for their product or something
like that. But it's mostly going to be construction issues, traffic, that type of thing.
That's where you're losing the most time on a daily basis. It sounds like. Mike. So Bryan, same

(30:42):
question to you, my friend. Um, would you say that same thing as Mike said, like traffic and
construction, weather delays, customer sites? What do you see yourself losing the most time, uh,
dealing with that's out of your control on a typical day? Um, I'd say for us, it's probably
customer sites. You know, we do a lot of these road jobs, especially this time of year and throughout

(31:03):
the summer. And, uh, when you're dealing with road jobs, equipment is going to break. Things are going
to get delayed for different reasons. Most of the time for us it's I mean, traffic can get
involved with it, but typically it's it's customer sites. Like today we uh, we all got pushed back
probably about an hour to an hour and a half before we could unload from our original, um,

(31:27):
delivery time. But, I mean, it's just one of those things, like I said, comes with territory. You just
gotta stay on your toes. Adapt, overcome and conquer and keep it moving. Sure, sure.
Uh, this is something else I got for you guys here, and I. I don't want you to pull any punches. I know
you've got Lu and Sara listening on the other end, and maybe this is a learning experience for

(31:50):
everybody here, but. Uh, what is a loaded question, right? What's there now? It could
be, but I think I think it's a question that that, uh, offers us all the opportunity to grow within
the positions that we do. And so from the driver's standpoint, Mike, I'll come to you first. What's
something you wish that the office staff understood better about what you go through

(32:12):
during the day? Not really, really sure how to answer it. Uh, probably just the, the the delays on
time and and sometimes, like I say, uh, the customer, you know, like they'll have room or something like
that. I that makes sense. Yeah, sure. Communicate with them. But, uh, I office actually does a
really good job. I'm not downplaying. I don't want to downplay them because they do a great job of

(32:35):
what they're what they're doing, you know? So. Oh, 100%. And and that's that's definitely not why I
asked the question. I don't want anybody to think here that I, I think the office has got some
shortcomings. I already understand what we call Lu and Sara. And so I don't want to get on their
bad side. I'm not trying to say anything like that. But. Uh, but I do know that, you know, there's so

(32:55):
much difference between the two jobs that you guys do, right? There's the driving and the office
side are are night and day from one another. So, Bryan, I'll kick that same question over to you. Is
there anything you wish that that, uh, the office staff in general understood a little bit better
about what you're going through each day? Yeah. It's always their fault. No, no. I'm joking. Um.

(33:17):
That's what I'm talking about. Oh, man, I don't know. I don't know how you did that,
but when you said that, my phone actually physically wiggled as Sara and Lu responded on
the other end. So. But go on, keep us all on our phones. That's all. Yeah.
Um. No, I mean, really, really. I think the only thing that can become hard for the office in any

(33:43):
situation is just the time delay. You know, just just like for us, it's hard to to settle and
predict exactly how the day is going to go. So sometimes that's going to push everything else
behind. Um, I wouldn't say that they don't necessarily get it. Um, but I'd say that
probably falls on communication. You know, we got to communicate when we're running into those

(34:03):
things, so it's easier for them to do whatever they can to help finagle the schedules around or
make the next customer understand what we may be dealing with, that we're running like two
different loads that day. I think offices do a great job. Okay. Where our where we load out of
and our customer is when they hold these guys up two and three hours. And our drivers, you all are

(34:26):
fighting a clock. Right? Yep. And it makes it almost impossible to
pull the two runs that our drivers are pulling. And then you get to a customer and then you're
held up there. And we do get it in our office down here. I mean, and it frustrates
us just as much as it does the drivers. And we start calling customers and start trying to

(34:52):
figure out what are we doing, why are we sitting there three hours trying to get loaded. Mhm. Right.
Yep. Yep. In our office. Fight for us. Fights for us up here too. Just like I said, us as drivers. We got
to make sure that as soon as we notice that that's starting. We need to we need to call and
make that communication clear. So that way they can start fighting for us the same way. Absolutely.

(35:14):
And we can start getting this attention time, you know, then we start notifying this customer. It
seems like it does start to help us. Hey, we're fixing to start billing detention time here for,
you know, these guys sitting here, and then they seem to start picking up the pace a little bit?
Sure. Absolutely, absolutely. Communication is the main thing. Absolutely. I, I totally agree. It's it's

(35:36):
something that is so important and, and with the, uh, the relationship that dispatch and drivers
have, I've always kind of looked at it as sort of like a sibling relationship. It's like a you guys,
you have to be so in tune with one another that it can almost be uncomfortable at times because
you know so much and you know the how the other person is working. Sometimes you might have even a

(35:58):
little bit of reticence. It's like, man, I don't want to call Sara with this right now, but I have
to, right? So it is all about the communication. If we keep that communication level at a at a high
pace, then these problems start to help solve themselves through that communication. Right?
Exactly. Can I just absolutely. You're you're more that you're you're the one at the,

(36:22):
at the customer. So you get go to the chain. So the chain of command to your boss. And then they can
get with the meal like iron meal and get to them to get somebody involved in calling the customer
to get the ball rolling. But they already started on it the better. Sure, absolutely. And even
not so much the customer. It's up to even the drivers keeping in touch with their and saying,

(36:46):
hey, two weeks from now on Friday, I need all that helps the communication there help
balance things out as we know we're getting close to the 27th. That we got three guys off.
So we walked on picking up more loads than we know we can handle for that day. Sure.

(37:08):
So versus a guy you know, which we know, emergencies happen and you don't always get to
plan for them. But the communication between the driver and the office helps so
much. Yeah, I can tell. I can really. Tell. It's it's interesting. Um, I, I
kind of wonder, you know, with the problems that you'll juggle Sara and Lu on a normal

(37:34):
day, uh, just the things that you have to do that are just everyday tasks and everything like that.
Um, is it is it almost like a relief when a driver calls with something like that to break you out
of the monotony of doing the normal things? Are you excited when drivers call? Are you are you
nervous when drivers call? Uh, what? What kind of things are going through your heads when? When you

(37:56):
see a phone ring, let's say it two in the morning. Okay, well, let me just tell you that this is
probably going to be tempered. Since. Censored. What in the hell can you possibly want now?
To blow up. What now? Just saying. Are you safe? Are you okay? And then

(38:17):
we go from there. Yep. Yep. And that's always the first question that gets asked, isn't it? Mike and
Bryan, are you safe? Are you okay? Right. Yeah, absolutely. That's our main concern. We want our
drivers safe and that they're okay. And then we'll deal with whatever comes next. In our case. What's
so important you got to call it seven? It makes it 715 to call me. You can call it early that morning.

(38:39):
You know, so probably couldn't wait for 715 to call me. Right. Right. And as long as you called the
right person, you'll stay out of hot water. Right? That's right. So let's talk a little bit here
about kind of where our, our worlds collide. Because I, I did also I asked the drivers, I said,
what do you wish that, uh that the dispatch and, and the terminal side understood a little bit

(39:02):
more. And I got to be honest, they took it pretty easy on you, Sara and Lu. So now you get that
question. Um, what is your biggest frustration with drivers or what could they understand about your
job that would kind of help the whole thing just run more smoothly? How quick loads
come in and out? Yes. How quick things change. How much of a little buck turtle in the road can just

(39:26):
blow up the whole situation? I mean, you know, understand emergencies happen.
If that emergency is going to happen, I should be your first point of contact to say, hey,
this is just what happened. This is what I can do. This is what I can't do. Instead of waiting until,
you know, close to that second load time appointment and call me and say, oh, by the way, I

(39:52):
had this happen this morning and now I can't cover the cloak. Let us get ahead of the ball game.
Let us get to the customer before the customer comes to us and says, hey, where's this driver?
Where's. Why are we not getting this load today? And then we got to call the driver and find out,
you know, just like the guy the driver said communication. You mean. And you got. That first

(40:14):
hiccup. Let your office know so they can get ahead of the ball game and run a bucker for
you. Got it. Yep. Mike, Bryan, hearing that. Hearing that from the ladies. Yeah. Anything to add? No, I
mean any any of the greatest teams. The biggest thing that they are going to have is clear,
concise, great communication. So I mean, yes, sir. Just to double back on what they're saying is the

(40:39):
faster you can get ahead of it, the more preventive you can be. They may be able to pull
the driver that got off earlier to go run that second load for them. Like they said, they've got
other drivers that if they've got the time they can call them, they know they're going to cover
for them, but if they don't know, they can't do so. Being able to make that communication happen as
soon as you realize, hey, I'm typically here for 15 minutes, but it looks like I'm going to be here

(41:00):
for an hour. I may be running close to my time, depending on what the the distance is from from
your loading spot. So wherever your Chinese location is, you know that that helps the office
get ahead of it and be more preventive to make sure that that customer still gets the load to
find out how, like how dire it is that they get that load, they may be able to put it off till the

(41:21):
next day. Um, but if they have somebody that can just pick up and run it for you and, and save that
dispatch, then I'm sure that that's what their priority is going to be in what they're going to
do. But if they don't know, then obviously they you can't fix what you don't know is broken.
Absolutely. Absolutely, absolutely. All right. It's never good when the customer starts calling you.

(41:42):
It just helps when we can call the customer and prepare them. That's right. Sure. I agree.
So how important Lu is? The, uh. Or excuse me, are the customer relationships that you've formed out
there? Because working there for for 13, 14 years now, I'm willing I'm willing to say that you
probably have some really good, uh, working relationships with some of your customers where

(42:05):
if you do get the ability to get out in front of this, you can smooth it over before the driver
even has to deal with anything. Would that be accurate? Absolutely. I do all the we run
product down at the rail yard, Cincinnati rail yard and that um, even though Sara really wants
that job, I'm just going to hold on to it. I mean, that job, I think

(42:30):
so, you know. I have worked with the lady that handled the rail
yard for 14 years, and me and her have a great relationship, and she
helps me and I help her. And if we see something not going

(42:50):
right, even though she has other carriers in there, she calls me and we work together to where we can
balance it out. And yes, we have a great relationship. That's great, that's great. And it
just makes everything work so much better. You know, we could all come to work pissed off every
day, but that doesn't make the day any shorter. And I think if we just have a little bit of patience

(43:12):
with everybody and, you know, understand that communication is as important as you guys have
just said it is. Uh, we can we can make this whole operation run without a hitch. Man, you guys are
all really good at your jobs. You've all been doing it for a long time, so, uh, I hesitate to
think anything can surprise you, but I use that as a segue to my next part of our interview here,

(43:34):
which is by far my favorite part. This is when we get to the stories. Now, Bryan and Mike, I know you
guys have got wild stories, and I'm coming to you for them here in a second. But Lu and Sara
being where you're at. Dispatch, I know that you've got some stories that you start out at a dinner
table when you're going to tell them and you say to your family members or friends, you are not

(43:56):
going to believe this. I want one of those stories right now. Can you give me a you're not going to
believe this story that happened to you in your tenure here at Bulk. And, Lu, I'll start with you.
But, Sara, if you've got one to lay it on me. Well, the most vivid
one is when our guys drive their personal cars. And Sara wasn't even here, man.

(44:21):
They parked their cars in the lot. And then that's where they say, well, we had a driver come in
one night and our old terminal manager, he was not the nicest person in the world. But you know what
I've come to know after 14 years? No wonder he was mean. No wonder.

(44:42):
And this driver came in with a trailer and went back in and thought he hit something, but just
gave it more gas and pushed this guy's personal car all the way over a bank. Oh.
Wow. That's not good. Oh, no. I don't know how you're supposed to follow that. With our story.
That's what I'm. Thinking. Oh, we had a turkey that came through the front glass and ended up in the

(45:08):
passenger seat. And then the driver gets out and he's sitting in the passenger window, just kind of
looking around like, what in the hell happened to me? Oh, that's. Wild.
Turkeys are no joke. You know, there, of course, lots of feathers a little bit less dense than what
they look. But that is not the first story I've heard of a turkey going through a windshield. I've

(45:33):
also heard a guy hit a tweet bird and the the beak actually pierced his radiator.
And he was. He was shut down after hitting just a little tiny bird. So we got to be careful with it,
with the avian variety out there because, uh, crazy stuff can happen. Wow. That's it's.
Crazy. Like, we had a driver that. I don't know what happened. He got out of his truck. He was coming in

(45:57):
the office. The truck started rolling. He tried to catch the truck. Um, thank goodness. He
tripped over his feet and fell before the truck got him and had busted up his face. Really bad.
Calls me on Saturday. Me and my granddaughter comes down here. Oh, there was blood

(46:18):
everywhere. I mean, you just don't know what you're going to get. Sure. That one sounds like it could
have ended up a lot worse than what it did. It could have ended. Up so bad. So bad. And it I mean,
it really wasn't as bad as what it looked like, but. But still scary. Yeah.
Terribly wrong. Still really scary. Okay. All right. Well, that's. You see why I went to her? I went to

(46:41):
Lu first for a very good reason. All right. I got a follow. Up. I knew she had him. Now, is Sara with
us right now or is she on the phone? I don't know, I'm here. Yeah. Sara, do you have any stories you'd
like to tell from your six years here at Bulk? Most funniest one I think I can think of.
Right off the top of my head is myself and a mechanic chased a kitten through the parking lot

(47:05):
through trailers for over an hour to finally retrieve this kitten, only to tear us from
shreds up and down both ways. Didn't want to be caught. I could have told you after that first
half hour. She looked like. She had scaled the. Prison. Wall, the barbed wire. So now when
kittens get dropped in the parking lot, they get fed in the corner and hope they survive. Okay. All

(47:30):
right, well, uh, you know what? I've. I've been to a lot of terminals that have yard cats. Uh, and they
don't run on anybody's schedule but their own, and I. Exactly. Kind of sounds like that cat was good
being feral until you guys got your hands on it. And then it needed to let you know. Hey, this isn't
the lifestyle I'm looking for. That is very true. We're in a really rural

(47:53):
area, so we get lots of dogs dropped off cats, especially cats.
And so, I mean, we don't want them to get hit because we are on a main highway too. So
we tried to get the animal shelters and stuff involved or, you know, like the kittens. We try to
find somebody that wants the kittens. But as far as cats, after Sara's little escapade, we pretty

(48:18):
much just feed them. Yeah, we feed them and let them go on their little merry ways. Yeah. And if
not, we're going to wrap ourselves in bubble wrap first before we go out there trying to rescue it.
Right? Yeah. I'm not. Sure how we're going to explain these injuries to Andrea. But. Well,
She'll. This the baby bobcat? Yeah. Yeah. Well, Mike and

(48:42):
Bryan, I know that those stories are hard to follow, but, uh, wild stories from, uh, from your time
driving. I know they're out there. What's something that, uh, if, again, I like the idea of you're
sitting around the, uh, the table with your family or your friends, and you're starting the the story
by saying you're not going to believe this. Uh, Mike, do you have one of those for us? Uh, mine.

(49:05):
Mine is a foul one also. I was going to, uh. Of course, Corpus Christi was close to the beach, but,
uh, me and another driver with four cell phones, and then we just had CBS, and we were driving down
through there, and, uh, egret, the tall, uh, egret. Uh, birds usually out in the pasture. But anyway, one
of them had hit my windshield and they got caught. And somehow or another like that, that time we had,

(49:28):
uh, brackets for the mirrors on there, like, they're the plastic one now that had brackets on there.
And somehow or another, he got it. Got his neck inside that bracket. It was in front of my mirror.
And I told my buddy, I said, hey, hey, slow down just a minute. I want you to look over here. He looked
over here. I've been bird hunting over here, so. Oh, and. Those are. Those. Those

(49:51):
egrets can get pretty big, right? Yeah. I covered the whole and covered the whole mirror. And I was
hanging down there, just flopping in the air. Then we pull over at the rest area for the evening.
There it was. The, there uh, fell out. It was gone the next, next morning, you know. But it was quite
the time I'd been been bird hunting. You know, but. You never know what's going to happen out there

(50:12):
on the open road. Huh, sir? Bryan, how about you, man? How about you? Any crazy stories like that?
Uh, yeah. There was, uh, so I was it was the end of my day. I was headed back to the yard. And we're
not in a very rural area, so I'm watching, and I'm on a two lane highway, four

(50:32):
lane highway, and I'm watching this hawk come across the median. I'm like, of course this is how
it's going to pick up a tight because it's flying a little low. I'm Hawks are usually pretty good.
Yeah well he didn't. And he clipped like the upper passenger part of my,
uh, windshield. The Hawk was fine, but when I looked over, he had dropped a big four foot corn

(50:57):
snake, and it had wrapped around my mirror. What? Um. It would have been amazing. Nope.
Gone. Oh. The snake. The snake was dead. Um. And before I could get down the off ramp, it had
already fallen off of of my tractor. But I did have to take the water hose out, because the whole
side of my tractor was covered in blood from the corn snake from house when the hawk got it. So

(51:21):
that was, uh, that was pretty fun. I mean, I was only doing like 45 mile an hour because I was coming
down the off ramp and, uh, the hawk clipped the windshield, dropped its food, and dinner was
hanging off my mirror. So I did it. I think now I. Think I can
comfortably. Yeah. You want to see a fat girl run? You just show me a snake. We're gone.

(51:47):
That's it. I'm the same way. I hate them. They can walk, but they ain't got legs. It's not right. And,
uh. I can. I can comfortably say, Bryan, that Hawk was trying to gain altitude. It just bit off
more than it could chew. Uh, very literally. Yeah. Uh, that's great guys. Well, listen, this
has been an awesome conversation. I love ending with the funny stories there, because I think it

(52:12):
really does put a bow on this thing and say, you just never really can know what's going to happen
in a day in the life at Bulk and Spur. And I greatly appreciate all your guys's time. Uh, for those of
you that are making your first appearance on the show today, Mike already knows this. But I like to
give everybody a chance to just wrap everything up with some final thoughts. And for those of you

(52:34):
that haven't done this before, your Final Thoughts segment can be anything you want. If you want to
shout out other employees, you want to say hi to family. If there's anything that we left on the
table that you didn't get to say that you want to, now's the time to say it. Uh, Mike, since you are
versed in this, I'm going to start our Final Thoughts segment with you, my friend. Thank you for
the time today. Uh, final thoughts from you before we let you go. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you for

(52:59):
inviting me back. And, uh, uh, I think it's neat. Neat round table with, uh, office, office
personnel and and the drivers. I think that's a great idea. And had fun. Fun, uh, discussion. And
everybody stay safe out there. Yeah, absolutely. You stay safe to watch out for those egrets. Okay.
Absolutely. Yes, sir. Thanks, Mike. Bryan, on to you for your final thoughts, my friend.

(53:25):
Um, yeah. So, I mean, huge appreciation to both themselves. Uh, I had been out of the truck for a
couple of years doing the the job I was at before where I was. I was doing IT in prison. Um, I had
never, never ran any, uh, pneumatic trailers or anything. They still gave me a chance. Put me
through the training. Um, just in the short year of being here, I've been able to move

(53:49):
my then fiance and our kids in together. Um, we've got married, so them giving me the opportunity has
definitely, uh, allowed a lot of things that may not have happened had I not got the opportunity.
So big appreciation to them. Um. Big thanks. Big thanks to the family for sticking around why, uh,
I got used to the new job, you know, I was getting up at 8 a.m. and then had to start getting up at

(54:12):
two, 3 a.m., so there was a big adjustment for everybody to make. Big thanks to you for having me
on the podcast. For the ladies to Mike. Um, it was a great conversation. Look forward to potentially
having more in the future. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. You're welcome back anytime. And I've
got one more round of applause for you to say congratulations on the new marriage, man. Hope

(54:33):
everything's going well there. I appreciate. It. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. It's an exciting
time in life. And to find a job that can actually make those things happen for you. Getting into a
new place, getting everybody the same spot. It's a special feeling, and we all deserve it. All right.
So great. Thank you for sharing that Bryan. That's awesome man. And again. Awesome. You're welcome back

(54:53):
here. Any time everybody that comes on this show is welcome back. Nobody's gotten under my skin yet,
I promise. Uh, Lu, let's go to you for your final thoughts. Thank you so much for your time today. I
hope you enjoyed your time here on the show. Uh, final thoughts before we let you get back to your
busy day. Um, you know, Bulk Transit. You're not going to find anybody, any

(55:15):
company. I don't think that is as compassionate about treating you as family as they do. Me and
Sara both worked here during the Covid. I had just gotten custody of five of my grandchildren
for an emergency situation and the schools were closed. As Sara has children
too, they understand that you have a home life and we were able to juggle everything around

(55:41):
and still get our work done. And Bulk Transit is 100% behind your family life too.
Well said there. And you know, drawing on that experience, working during Covid, getting your
custody, your grandkids. None of that stuff is easy to go through and also have to worry about work
as well. But it sounds like it was made a little bit easier on you because of the place you work.

(56:04):
Lu. They take a lot of stress off of ya, especially if you have children. I mean, I raised
both of my kids while I worked here, and then I raised my grandkids, too. I've got one left. She'll
be 18 in January. Wow. And, um, I don't think I could have done it
anywhere else. That's amazing. That's I. You know what, Brian? Andrea. Brad, I know you're listening.

(56:29):
That's some pretty high praise right there. That just came from Lu. Thank you so much, Lu, for your
time. Uh, Sara. Thank you. You're welcome. And, of course, you guys are welcome back on this show
anytime. We'd love to have two bitches in dispatch. I can't believe I just said that. I don't believe
I have a very high opinion of you, but it is a name that you kind of own. So, uh, I appreciate you

(56:51):
guys playing along with me there. Um, Sara, can we get some final thoughts from you before we let
you get back to it? Yeah, I'm going to kind of. Go off the loose. Here. I mean, I couldn't ask. For a
better place to work for. I mean. They. Have commentated anything that we needed, you know, kid
wise, you know, leaving, taking to the doctor, going from there like, is that eight ball games, the

(57:13):
whole nine yards. I mean, Andrea and Brian. And Brad are. Excellent to work for. I mean, anytime we have
a problem, all we have to do is pick up a phone and they answer and they help us the best to, you
know, their ability to be able to help it. Well said there, Sara. Thank you so much for your time.
Sara Litzinger, Lu Ann Saunders, Mike Upchurch, Bryan Alexander. You guys knocked it out of the

(57:37):
park today. Great job. Thank you so much for your time. We'll get you all back here on always
pneumatic. Never static again soon okay. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Thank you. And you're
safe out there on the road. Thank you. No more snakes. Amen to that. Yes. No
more snakes.

(58:07):
Great stuff there, Bryan, Mike, Sara, and Lu. Thank you all so much. That was a fantastic
interview. I love episodes like this because this right here is all the stuff that you don't see.
Uh, everybody sees the truck going down the road, right? We all see that. In fact, many of us four
wheelers get frustrated by it. And, uh, that's a big no no, but the things that nobody sees. How about

(58:32):
the 3 a.m. wake ups? How about the phone calls that start with, you're not gonna like this? Uh, the
load that changed halfway through your day, or the dispatch office that just went from dead quiet to
absolute chaos in 30s. And I gotta say, after hearing this today, I don't think there's a single
person listening to this that would trade jobs for the day. Drivers are out there dealing with

(58:54):
traffic, customer delays, construction, weather, birds apparently just coming out of the sky and
trying to kill them. I I've never heard I mean dropping snakes, falling snakes. That's another
thing you're dealing with out there as a driver. What is going on? I'm good. I'll stay right here
behind my computer and behind the mic. I appreciate you guys to no end. Okay. Uh, but then

(59:18):
let's think about this from the other side of the aisle, flip it to the office. And it's not exactly
a spa day over there either. You've got phones ringing nonstop, loads canceling and reappearing
five minutes later, trying to stay ahead of customers, trying to stay ahead of problems, and
trying to fix things before anybody even realizes that they've broken. And I think that's the

(59:39):
biggest takeaway from this whole conversation today. This only works because everybody works so
well together. The driver said it, the office said it. Communication is key. That's the whole
game. Because the second communication breaks down, that's when the day turns into a full blown
dumpster fire. And we've all been a part of those before. And look, it's still going to happen

(01:00:01):
sometimes anyway. That's the nature of the beast. I thought Bryan said it. Well, it comes with the
territory. You can do everything right and you can still end up with a car getting pushed down a
hill in the lot, a turkey in your windshield. A kitten that turns into a UFC fighter. Or a
snake. A dead snake hanging off your mirror. Which, by the way, if that happened to me, I'm just gonna

(01:00:25):
have to have a new truck. I'm sorry, but a snake has touched it. And not just a dead snake, but a
dead bloody snake. And I, soft hands over here don't have the wherewithal or the
motivation to clean this up. Let's just give this to another driver. I'll take a different one.
Everybody's fine. Okay. But through all of that, I digress. You heard something today that we hear

(01:00:50):
over and over again here on always pneumatic, never static. People stick around
14 years, six years. Drivers with decades in and drivers just getting started. But you heard it,
Bryan. The guy with the least experience of the whole crew said, I love it here. I'm. I moved my
fiancee and kids in got married. Things are going awesome. And, that's because of the people, right?

(01:01:15):
It's not just the job's not easy. We know that. That's simple. That's simple math, right? But the
people that do the job do it so well and communicate so well that even when things do go
sideways and they will, you've got dispatch picking up the phone at 2 a.m., you've got drivers
stepping up to cover loads, and you've got managers that don't panic when everything hits at

(01:01:38):
once. That's what keeps this thing moving, and that's what keeps people here. And honestly, that's
what makes Bulk, Bulk. So to Lu, Sara, Mike, Bryan, you guys were awesome today. Seriously, this is
one of the episodes where people listening and especially drivers thinking about making a move
to a different company, they're going to hear this and go, okay, that's what it's really like. We just

(01:01:59):
heard that from the horse's mouth and that's what really matters. So we greatly appreciate you guys
for coming on today and being honest, sharing the stories, even the slightly terrifying wildlife
stories. Um, and for everybody listening, stay safe out there. Obviously, drivers keep that shiny side
up. And remember, if you take anything away from this episode today, communicate early and often.

(01:02:23):
Mike and Bryan will tell you that's the name of the game, and Lu and Sara will tell you. If you
don't want them barking up your tree, then keep the lines of communication open. And uh, also, if a
hawk drops a snake on your truck today, I'm sorry. I don't know what to do in that situation other
than just you can call me and ruminate and we'll we'll discuss it a little bit, but I you gotta you

(01:02:46):
gotta get a new truck. We'll see you guys next week. And that's all she blows for today's
episode of Always Pneumatic, never Static. Your number one and probably only Pneumatic Trucking
podcast, brought to you by Bulk Transit. Thanks for rolling with us today. Till next time, stay safe.
Keep those lines clear and keep it pumping.