October 3, 2025 • 25 mins
Outdated payment systems have cost trucking time, money, and sanity for decades—but that’s changing fast. Spencer Barkoff, President and Co-Founder of Relay Payments, shares how his team built a platform that eliminates the industry’s most frustrating pain points. What began with lumper payments has grown into a full-service digital network covering fuel, parking, repairs, and more for over 100,000 carriers. From fighting fraud to saving drivers hours of wasted time, Relay is transforming trucking finance with Venmo-style simplicity and enterprise-level security.
Key Takeaways
✅ Lumper Pain Solved – No more 3 AM hold times waiting for a lumper code.
✅ Big Reach – Relay now handles payments for fuel, parking, repairs, and more across 100,000+ carriers.
✅ Cost Savings – Fleets lose 8–10% of receipts annually; Relay eliminates that waste.
✅ Fraud Prevention – Stops fuel fraud rings that targeted magnetic stripe cards in 2022–2023.
✅ Time Back – Drivers avoid hours of lost HOS waiting on payment authorizations.
✅ Relay Pulse – Integrates with 100+ ELDs to enforce fueling policies and flag fraud in real time.
✅ Driver Tools – App includes free access to safe parking locations nationwide.
✅ Tech Breakthrough – Relay integrates with decades-old truck stop and service systems without disruption.
✅ Enterprise Security – SOC 2 Type 2 certified, KYC/KYB verified, with 24/7 US-based support under 30 seconds.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, y'all, let's keep it real.
Nobody likes waiting around orgetting delays when it comes to
getting payments.
Maybe you're feeling up orgrabbing a spot or wanting to
get back on the road, but intrucking we've been stuck with
outdated systems way too long.
And today I'm joined by SpencerBarkoff, the president and
co-founder of Relay Payments, acompany that's changing how we
(00:25):
pay for fuel, parking, repairsand more.
Under his leadership, relay ishelping drivers and fleets move
faster, safer and smarter.
If you're tired of the old wayof doing things, this episode's
for you.
Spencer, my man, welcome to theshow.
Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey Ray, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Spencer, my man, welcome to the show.
Thanks for joining me.
Hey Ray, thanks for having us.
So another episode of that'sDelivered and to kick things off
, just like, get a littlebackground about our guest
that's on and let people get toknow you a little better.
You've been helping build oneof the fastest growing fintech
companies that are out there,but why trucking?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
What's what pulled you into that world?
Yeah, so about almost 10 yearsago now, my co-founder, ryan,
and I.
We met a freight broker whoshowed us all the issues that he
had when paying for lumper feesand all the issues with paying
with a check right and the phonecalls, the time that he wasted
and then the receipt processthat he had on the back end.
And after spending some timereally investigating what he was
(01:25):
saying and seeing if it wastrue, spending time at truck
stops and at the warehousestalking to different folks in
the industry, we both hadentrepreneurial backgrounds and
fell in love with the industryand jumped in to solve problems.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
That's awesome.
I mean you got to be fastmoving today.
With business, there's a lot ofchanges that take place.
You know, let's bring it backto the driver's seat.
When you're out there talkingto real drivers, what do you
hear most?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah.
So you know we didn'tunderstand why you and I can go
to a grocery store and tap ourphone to make a payment, or you
know we pay our friends or ourfamily or kids on Venmo and
PayPal and logistics we're stillusing paper checks or fleet
cards, fleet fuel cards or cashto make these payments over the
road.
And drivers also have the sameexperience right In their
(02:16):
everyday lives.
When they go to the grocerystore, they're tapping their
phones and when they're payingtheir friends or their kids,
they're using Venmo Cash AppPayPal.
Their friends or their kids areusing Venmo Cash App PayPal,
and so our mission was just tocreate the same consumer-like
payment experience that you andI have every day and bring it
into logistics right.
Drivers just want to do whatthey do best drive right,
deliver freight and if you canmake the experience easier for
(02:40):
them as they go from point A toB, it's a win-win-win for the
carrier.
Easier for them as they go frompoint A to B, it's a
win-win-win for the carrier, forthemselves, for whoever they're
paying.
And so what we heard from themmost is make it easy for me,
right, let me just keep drivingand keep moving.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Nice, I mean, what is one of the most frustrating
things that you hear when itcomes to paying for fuel or
lumpers, parking repairs?
What are you hearing out there?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I can go into each one.
But you know the lumper paymentprocess is a fascinating one,
right?
You get to a facility betweenmidnight and 8 am is usually
when these deliveries take placeand a lot of times you don't
know the amount right until thetruck is actually unloaded.
And once you get that amountyou actually have to call the
(03:24):
company.
Right, and that can happen at 3am.
Or you have to call a freightbroker and you actually have to
go get that money code orexpress code and then you have
to find a check.
If you don't have one, writethat down on a check, hand it to
the, to the lumper, who thenhas to call to verify that code
and if anything goes wrong inthat process you have to restart
and call back your company.
(03:44):
We heard from drivers that thiscould take anywhere between 30
to 45 minutes.
I've seen it take up to eighthours, to be honest, at one
point if you can't get someoneon the phone.
And then, once you get thatreceipt, you have to turn it
into your company and we heardon average, companies were
losing between 8% to 10% oftheir receipts and when you're
(04:08):
doing millions and millions ofdollars in lumper fees if you
lose that many receipts, moneyeither has to come out of the
driver's paycheck or the companyhas to eat it.
And so we got in there andautomated that payment and
automated the receipt andeliminated all the phone calls,
the waste of time on dock or thereceipts, the time on dock or
(04:31):
the receipts On the fuel side.
About 2022, 2023, fuel fraudbecame a big problem in the
space.
A lot of the cards that theyuse today don't have chips.
When you and I make a creditcard payment, we enter in our
card and have a chip.
The industry didn't move inthat direction.
(04:56):
When you go to a truck stop,you're still swiping your card.
In organized crime rings, we'reinstalling card skimmers at the
pump and lifting thatinformation off and causing
dispute.
But in this industry it becomesa problem on who's going to
cover that fraud.
Is it the carrier, is it thefuel merchant, or is it the card
company themselves?
And so we took what we weredoing in the lumper space and
brought it into fuel, creating adigital, fraud-free transaction
(05:18):
.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
We guarantee it and this ultimately just led to a
better driver experience, it ledto the trucks moving more
efficiently and it eliminatedany of the issues that come in
with fraud and cash flow.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That's awesome.
What about parking and repairsdo?
There is, because of the ELDmandate, right, and you only
have 11 hours to drive or 14hours being on duty.
When you come up against thattime, you got to know where
you're going to park, andsometimes parking at one of the
major truck stops can be full.
And so we, for free, on ourmobile application, help drivers
(06:01):
find safe and secure parkingaround the United States.
So we have locations that wevetted that are on our
application.
That just gives them morevisibility in where they can
park, and so we provide that asa service to them for free, to
help them in their everydaylives on the road.
And then, when it comes torepairs right, a lot of times
(06:21):
when a driver gets a flat or hassomething happen with the truck
, it becomes again a similartype of process where you have
to find a repair shop that youtrust and know and you then have
to go pay for that payment.
A lot of times, checks are usedin that process as well, and so
what we do there is we providea vetted set of repair and
(06:43):
maintenance locations that weknow work well for the drivers
and then we automate thatpayment, make it digital for
them and automate the receiptback as well to create a
seamless experience.
It's really for that unexpectedpayment that you're going to
have to make if you do havesomething happen to your truck
while you're driving.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Wow, I mean, this is almost like you're getting
luxury accounting abilitiesright there from the seat of
your truck and you guys arerelieving a huge stress point
and that's a big deal for a lotof business problems out there.
That's great.
And then you also launchedsomething called Relay Pulse.
Tell me what's that about?
(07:22):
You know how it helps fleetsand drivers stay on top of their
spending.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So RelayPulse is a dynamic ELD integration that
brings real-time visibility andproactive control to fleets for
fueling.
We connect with over I believeit's 100 different ELD providers
, including major platforms likeMotive and Samsara, and it
automatically enforces fuelingpolicies that the company may
(07:46):
set.
So, for example, it verifiesthe fuel tank capacity that
actually increases and itconfirms the drivers at the
right truck stop and it blocksfueling from taking place if
those checks fail and everyfueling syncs instantly with
their dashboard.
It eliminates any manual auditsthat the company may have to do
(08:07):
.
It surfaces suspiciousactivities before losses may
happen, so it really protectsagainst first-party fraud.
A lot of what we do isthird-party fraud when it comes
to cart skimming, but sometimesyou have bad actors at kart
skimming, but sometimes you havebad actors, and so Pulse helps
a company ensure that everydollar that's being spent on
fuel is actually going into thetruck and prevents against that
(08:30):
type of fraud as well.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, it's awesome.
I mean you covered quite a bitthere.
I mean, think about thefeedback you're probably getting
from drivers when using relaysat spots like Southern Tiremark
or Pilot Boss truck stops Ibelieve some of your big name
locations Is that right?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
come from our customers.
We said to them hey, where doyou guys fuel, where do you need
us to be accepted at?
And so we're supported at allthe big major truck stops Pilot,
loves, ta, maverick, 7-eleven,circle K so anywhere that a
driver needs to fuel up, we'resupported.
We've integrated directly intothe pumps at most of these
locations, which was a lot ofwork, but again, it keeps the
drivers at the fuel island.
(09:18):
They're easily able to get outof their truck, stay at the pump
type in the code fuel if theypass all the security checks,
prompts and limits that thefleet sets for them, and then
they're on their way right.
And if they do need to goinside of the store, we also
integrate there as well.
They can purchase any itemsthat their fleet may that allows
them to.
If they need to get cash, theycan do so as well.
(09:39):
So we've integrated.
Really, the way we've built ourmerchant network is by
listening to the customers andthe fleets and the carriers and
the drivers and telling us wherewe need to integrate and we go
ahead and do it.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Man, tell us give a little eye opener about that.
I mean I'm intrigued how muchwork goes into getting set up on
some of these field islands orthe parking, some behind the
scenes, the lumper in thewarehouse market.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Right, we've worked to integrate directly into a lot
of their proprietary systems.
We have a whole engineeringteam and a whole integrations
(10:24):
team that will work to reallyunderstand what the merchant
whether it's a lumper, a fuelstop, a repair, stop really how
their systems work.
And we go and we read these oldspecifications and different
protocols that have been aroundsince the 80s and 90s and
sometimes even earlier, and weunderstand what it takes to
(10:46):
actually work with them, in theway their systems work, to make
these integrations happen.
And so I think that's reallythe secret sauce there is by
meeting them where they are andwhere their technology is, which
may be 20, 30 years old, butfacilitating payments the way
they need payments to bereceived, but bringing this
modern digital experience forthe fleet and the driver.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Not rely on a card, not rely on a check, not rely on
cash bringing that Venmo PayPal, like experience in the
trucking, but really leveragingthe old school technology that
those merchants still have.
Wow, that's huge.
I mean they're definitely goingto help out with the fraud, the
identity theft, digital scams.
I mean that's a huge problem inthe transportation industry.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
What goes on behind the scene to make sure that it
is secure when it comes to theirmoney.
So think of us as really like afintech platform that has built
in security and ease of use.
Right, you know we're SPOC 2,type 2 certified, which really
means that everything fromencryption and access control
meets enterprise level standards, right?
So we understand that we'reworking with 10 of the top 34
(12:03):
higher carriers, or 10 of thetop 10 LTLs almost about 100,000
carriers and when someone signsup, they have to pass our KYB
process and KYC checks.
Really, our KYB process and KYCchecks, really Identity checks,
business details, ownerverification IDs really we make
sure that we're not onboardingfraudsters, right, and every
(12:25):
transaction is encrypted, it'ssecurely logged, it's really
only accessed by people youauthorize and because it all
happens in real time, ifsomething doesn't add up say a
fuel purchase at a wrong truckstop you'll know right away and
can stop it instantly.
So we take security incrediblyseriously.
(12:46):
We know that every dollar welike to say to the engineering,
every dollar, needs to end upwhere it needs to and we can
never go down, right, becausetrucking is 24-7.
And so we know we're only asgood as those two standards and
so every dollar goes where itneeds to go and we don't go down
, and that's really what's keptus ahead and allowed us to grow
(13:07):
and build the trust from themarket and from the industry
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So let's zoom out.
There's a lot of old schoolprocesses that are still hanging
out there in trucking.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Beyond payments, what do you think is the next line
of tech upgrade that's coming upprocess?
You know, proof of delivery isstill paper you got to actually
scan that in and invoicing isslowed down because a lot of
it's still paper.
A lot of that can be digitized.
A lot of that can be automated.
You know there is some workgoing into that.
(13:48):
People are moving to theirphones or to apps, or I know
folks are looking at AI andseeing how they can, you know,
automate those processes as well.
But those are some other areasin the industry that we see that
are ripe for more digitizationand automation that can help the
industry continue to keepmoving and make it easier for
(14:09):
everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
And where do you see this all headed over the next
year?
Is it AI or automation and youknow, is this?
We're just kind of probablyscratching the surface, or is it
possibly these tools like Relayare going to be something
they're going to be around for along time?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So I think the next three to five years, you know,
instant payments will become thenorm, right, real time payments
.
You won't have to wait for daysfor drivers or vendors to get
paid.
You'll have data systems.
You know, just like what we didwith Pulse telematics, eld and
routing, they'll start reallytalking to each other so fleets
(14:49):
can make better and fasterdecisions.
Now, ai is an interesting one.
We've looked at it for ourbusiness a little bit.
We do see different competitorsor not competitors, but
different folks in the industrytrying to see how they can
leverage that.
But you know that one's goingto be an interesting one.
But you'll be helped.
You know they'll help optimizecosts.
(15:09):
You'll be able to flagdifferent potential spend
patterns or potential fraud, youknow, just like it can in any
industry.
We'll suggest some differentvendors that you could use.
We've heard actually I ran intoa company that's trying to
predict maintenance beforebreakdowns even happen, and so
(15:29):
that's might be an interestinguse case that we see.
But really, when it comes tothe next three to five years, I
think it's just going to be morearound leveraging all the
different systems that you have,uh, using data to connect these
systems more seamlessly.
But I do think instantelectronic payments right,
bringing the industry into moreconsumer grade, like payment
(15:53):
technology.
We've done a lot there.
I think that continues.
So you know cash is king, right, and so that's where I really
see the next big wave ofinnovation.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
I mean, you just think aboutthose truckers out there.
They got used to somethingthey've been doing for so long.
So let's say you're in thefront seat and how have drivers
been adapting?
Can you share a story, maybesomething that's surprising or
inspiring, that you know, remindyou of why this all works and
(16:28):
why it matters?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
this all works and why it matters.
Sure, I've got a couple.
I mean, you know, 90, I thinkit's like 97% of drivers have a
smartphone, right, and so theyou know we we add over 5,000
drivers a month to, uh, oursolution for for paying for fuel
.
Um, the adoption we've takenreally seriously, and what I
mean by that is we have a hugefocus on customer service.
Um, we handhold the driversevery step of the way.
(16:52):
We'll actually work with afleet and onboard those trucks.
We'll call every single driverbecause we know that we want to
just give it to the fleet andsay good luck.
We work with them hand in handto actually get these drivers
onboarded 24-7, 365, us-basedcustomer service.
You can call us 1-877-RELAY-10,877-735-2910.
(17:15):
We pick up the phone in lessthan 30 seconds and it's
somebody in the US that thedriver can talk to.
You call some of ourcompetitors and it's not the
same type of service, right?
And so we take those reallyseriously.
I was at a distribution center acouple months ago and the
(17:36):
manager of that warehouse sayshey, I just want to let you know
thank you for what you all havedone when it comes to
digitizing these payments andnow that I don't have these
checks, I don't have to go tothe bank at the end of the day,
and a lot of these locations arevery rural, right, they're in
the middle of nowhere, and sodriving to the bank can take 20
(17:57):
or 30 minutes.
At the end of a shift and thatwarehouse manager said I just
want to let you know that I'mnow able to get home to my kids
and actually put them to bedbecause I don't have to drive an
hour to make this bank deposit.
And that's the type of storiesthat keep us going.
Right, like, we know that we'reserving a very underserved
(18:17):
industry when it comes totechnology and innovation.
It's still archaic in some ofthe things that we do.
But when we hear from fleetsthat, hey, you've eliminated
fraud for me and now I don'thave to deal with cashflow at
choose or that worry, or hey,now I don't have to, you know,
wait 30 minutes to make a phonecall at 3 AM.
(18:38):
Uh, one of our taglines back inthe day was hey, relay, we let
you sleep right, cause you don'thave to.
Driver doesn't have to call youat two in the morning for a
check.
The payment's ready to go.
Um, those are the types ofthings that keep us going.
For the fleets it's businessoperations processes, better
experience for everyone thatworks there, no fraud For the
drivers in an industry that hashigh turnover right, how do you
(19:01):
keep the drivers moving andhaving a good experience?
For them, just getting in andout of the dock or in and out of
the fuel stop is a betterexperience on the road.
Uh and so.
And then for the warehouseworkers, it's again getting rid
of some of the liability when itcame to those paper checks
where, if they leave one intheir pocket and go home and
(19:23):
wash their pants and ruin thecheck, they're on the hook.
Uh and so it's.
Really.
It's a win-win-win foreverybody involved.
And those are the types ofstories that keep us going, keep
us moving, that we love to hear.
We share them.
Every month We'll have acustomer spotlight where we'll
interview a customer and we'lltell the story to the company.
(19:45):
Got to love helping people,right?
If you're not, if you don'tlove serving this industry, then
this isn't the place for you,and it's been very motivating to
hear the stories and theoutcomes that we've had for
these companies.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, serving is definitely going to be helping
and you're going to reap thebenefits from that, because
people are going to keep comingback and wanting more.
So awesome, great job.
I mean, man, that sounds likeyou guys got your eye on the
ball.
You're doing quite a bit there.
What do you see the future isfor the company?
Are they looking to expand,maybe to something new in the
(20:19):
horizon that they could lookforward to, maybe like factoring
or something?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, I don't know if we're going to get into
factoring, but you know what wedo is we listen to our customers
right Again, the 100,000 fleetsthat we serve.
You know we listen to ourcustomers right Again, the
hundred thousand fleets that weserve.
Uh, you know we say to them hey, where else do you have payment
problems?
Where else, who else do you pay?
On the road?
That's a challenge.
Um, right now what we're reallyfocused on is expanding our
(20:45):
merchant network.
Uh, so, anywhere else that acarrier may need to make a
payment, we have teams who arewho are working on adding those
to the relay network.
We're going to do some goodannouncements here over the next
three to six months about someother partners that we're
bringing on who want to workwith us to digitize and automate
payments, and so that's a bigpush for us.
(21:07):
And then there are some otherpayments that happen at the
ports or some other paymentsthat we may get involved in.
But again, we just go where ourcustomers tell us to go.
We have quarterly meetings witha lot of them, learn where they
also make payments and wherethey need us to automate and
digitize, and we just followwhat their lead, and that's how
(21:30):
we continue to innovate for themSweet.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Well, I mean just before we wrap it up, there's
quite a few drivers out therelistening maybe want to jump
into and get these tools startedfor themselves.
What's one small step that theycould take to get started to
see the difference forthemselves?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Sure.
So you know, if you're an owneroperator, you just go to the
App Store and download RelayPayments.
We have a whole program calledour Clutch Network where we've
actually gone and pre-negotiatediscounts on behalf of the
carriers that they can use usfor automating their fuel
payments and getting good deals.
In the meantime, if you're afleet, check out
(22:07):
RelayPaymentscom, reach out tous or call us at
877-RELAY-10-735-2910.
And we're there to help you getset up, automate your payments
and make you know cards andchecks and cash a thing of the
past.
And so we're here to help.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Nice, you know.
Last thing we want is peoplelosing more cards out there and
having to send them new cards orthey expire, or I mean, man, it
can be very frustrating uhtrying to get all those cards
straightened in the right truckor whatever.
So, yeah, let's uh eliminatesome of that stuff.
Great, um, so anything else youwant to share, or a tip that
you want to hand out for thedrivers out there?
Maybe some of the customersthat are already listening that
have used you guys, um, what'sone thing you want to tell them,
(22:50):
listening that have used youguys.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
What's one thing you want to tell them?
Sure, I would just say that youknow we get to work with some
of the best folks in theindustry right 10 of the top 34
hires, 10 of the top 10 LTLs,100,000 carriers.
We thank them for allowing usthe opportunity to serve the
industry.
We're really focused on greattechnology to serve the industry
(23:14):
.
We're really focused on greattechnology, transparent pricing
and fees.
Everything we do is month tomonth.
Everything we do is month tomonth.
We don't lock people in thelong-term agreements.
We know that if we're nothelping and serving, you don't
work with us.
Right, and we do that becausewe stand by what we've built
right.
We have a really high what wecall say-do ratio and then our
customer service 24-7, 365,us-based customer service.
(23:35):
I've been on calls withpotential customers and I will
call our customer service linein real time to show them that
we're not making stuff up here,tenants, and continuing the
opportunity to serve thisindustry.
It's a great one, we love itand we just thank you for having
us on and for the opportunityto share our story.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
That's awesome, man.
I think you guys are doinggreat things and I'm rooting for
you guys to keep going, andyou're going in the right
direction.
So to help the industry growand help everybody else, I know
teamwork is what we need.
We can't get this stuff done byourselves, so we need each
other.
So that's great.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Thanks, roy, appreciate you having us on.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, so big thank you to Spencer and all your team
and the company out therethat's doing things and taking
the time to talk with us andwork with this team at Relay or
doing things that bring realchange into our industry.
And if you want to learn more,to check them out the Relay Post
or other tools that are outthere visit RelayPaymentscom.
And remember to all you guys ifyou have anything you like that
(24:36):
you see you want to share withpeople from this show, feel free
to do so.
Change doesn't always come easyin trucking, but it's happening
and it makes life a lot easieron the road, a little smoother,
when we look forward to whatthese changes can happen.
So keep it safe, keep rolling,and this is your host, truckin'
(24:56):
Ray, signing off until next time.
All right, y'all, let's keep it real.
Nobody likes waiting around orgetting delays when it comes to
getting payments.
Maybe you're feeling up orgrabbing a spot or wanting to
get back on the road, but intrucking we've been stuck with
outdated systems way too long.
And today I'm joined by SpencerBarkoff, the president and
co-founder of Relay Payments, acompany that's changing how we
(00:25):
pay for fuel, parking, repairsand more.
Under his leadership, relay ishelping drivers and fleets move
faster, safer and smarter.
If you're tired of the old wayof doing things, this episode's
for you.
Spencer, my man, welcome to theshow.
Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey Ray, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Spencer, my man, welcome to the show.
Thanks for joining me.
Hey Ray, thanks for having us.
So another episode of that'sDelivered and to kick things off
, just like, get a littlebackground about our guest
that's on and let people get toknow you a little better.
You've been helping build oneof the fastest growing fintech
companies that are out there,but why trucking?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
What's what pulled you into that world?
Yeah, so about almost 10 yearsago now, my co-founder, ryan,
and I.
We met a freight broker whoshowed us all the issues that he
had when paying for lumper feesand all the issues with paying
with a check right and the phonecalls, the time that he wasted
and then the receipt processthat he had on the back end.
And after spending some timereally investigating what he was
(01:25):
saying and seeing if it wastrue, spending time at truck
stops and at the warehousestalking to different folks in
the industry, we both hadentrepreneurial backgrounds and
fell in love with the industryand jumped in to solve problems.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
That's awesome.
I mean you got to be fastmoving today.
With business, there's a lot ofchanges that take place.
You know, let's bring it backto the driver's seat.
When you're out there talkingto real drivers, what do you
hear most?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah.
So you know we didn'tunderstand why you and I can go
to a grocery store and tap ourphone to make a payment, or you
know we pay our friends or ourfamily or kids on Venmo and
PayPal and logistics we're stillusing paper checks or fleet
cards, fleet fuel cards or cashto make these payments over the
road.
And drivers also have the sameexperience right In their
(02:16):
everyday lives.
When they go to the grocerystore, they're tapping their
phones and when they're payingtheir friends or their kids,
they're using Venmo Cash AppPayPal.
Their friends or their kids areusing Venmo Cash App PayPal,
and so our mission was just tocreate the same consumer-like
payment experience that you andI have every day and bring it
into logistics right.
Drivers just want to do whatthey do best drive right,
deliver freight and if you canmake the experience easier for
(02:40):
them as they go from point A toB, it's a win-win-win for the
carrier.
Easier for them as they go frompoint A to B, it's a
win-win-win for the carrier, forthemselves, for whoever they're
paying.
And so what we heard from themmost is make it easy for me,
right, let me just keep drivingand keep moving.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Nice, I mean, what is one of the most frustrating
things that you hear when itcomes to paying for fuel or
lumpers, parking repairs?
What are you hearing out there?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I can go into each one.
But you know the lumper paymentprocess is a fascinating one,
right?
You get to a facility betweenmidnight and 8 am is usually
when these deliveries take placeand a lot of times you don't
know the amount right until thetruck is actually unloaded.
And once you get that amountyou actually have to call the
(03:24):
company.
Right, and that can happen at 3am.
Or you have to call a freightbroker and you actually have to
go get that money code orexpress code and then you have
to find a check.
If you don't have one, writethat down on a check, hand it to
the, to the lumper, who thenhas to call to verify that code
and if anything goes wrong inthat process you have to restart
and call back your company.
(03:44):
We heard from drivers that thiscould take anywhere between 30
to 45 minutes.
I've seen it take up to eighthours, to be honest, at one
point if you can't get someoneon the phone.
And then, once you get thatreceipt, you have to turn it
into your company and we heardon average, companies were
losing between 8% to 10% oftheir receipts and when you're
(04:08):
doing millions and millions ofdollars in lumper fees if you
lose that many receipts, moneyeither has to come out of the
driver's paycheck or the companyhas to eat it.
And so we got in there andautomated that payment and
automated the receipt andeliminated all the phone calls,
the waste of time on dock or thereceipts, the time on dock or
(04:31):
the receipts On the fuel side.
About 2022, 2023, fuel fraudbecame a big problem in the
space.
A lot of the cards that theyuse today don't have chips.
When you and I make a creditcard payment, we enter in our
card and have a chip.
The industry didn't move inthat direction.
(04:56):
When you go to a truck stop,you're still swiping your card.
In organized crime rings, we'reinstalling card skimmers at the
pump and lifting thatinformation off and causing
dispute.
But in this industry it becomesa problem on who's going to
cover that fraud.
Is it the carrier, is it thefuel merchant, or is it the card
company themselves?
And so we took what we weredoing in the lumper space and
brought it into fuel, creating adigital, fraud-free transaction
(05:18):
.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
We guarantee it and this ultimately just led to a
better driver experience, it ledto the trucks moving more
efficiently and it eliminatedany of the issues that come in
with fraud and cash flow.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That's awesome.
What about parking and repairsdo?
There is, because of the ELDmandate, right, and you only
have 11 hours to drive or 14hours being on duty.
When you come up against thattime, you got to know where
you're going to park, andsometimes parking at one of the
major truck stops can be full.
And so we, for free, on ourmobile application, help drivers
(06:01):
find safe and secure parkingaround the United States.
So we have locations that wevetted that are on our
application.
That just gives them morevisibility in where they can
park, and so we provide that asa service to them for free, to
help them in their everydaylives on the road.
And then, when it comes torepairs right, a lot of times
(06:21):
when a driver gets a flat or hassomething happen with the truck
, it becomes again a similartype of process where you have
to find a repair shop that youtrust and know and you then have
to go pay for that payment.
A lot of times, checks are usedin that process as well, and so
what we do there is we providea vetted set of repair and
(06:43):
maintenance locations that weknow work well for the drivers
and then we automate thatpayment, make it digital for
them and automate the receiptback as well to create a
seamless experience.
It's really for that unexpectedpayment that you're going to
have to make if you do havesomething happen to your truck
while you're driving.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Wow, I mean, this is almost like you're getting
luxury accounting abilitiesright there from the seat of
your truck and you guys arerelieving a huge stress point
and that's a big deal for a lotof business problems out there.
That's great.
And then you also launchedsomething called Relay Pulse.
Tell me what's that about?
(07:22):
You know how it helps fleetsand drivers stay on top of their
spending.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So RelayPulse is a dynamic ELD integration that
brings real-time visibility andproactive control to fleets for
fueling.
We connect with over I believeit's 100 different ELD providers
, including major platforms likeMotive and Samsara, and it
automatically enforces fuelingpolicies that the company may
(07:46):
set.
So, for example, it verifiesthe fuel tank capacity that
actually increases and itconfirms the drivers at the
right truck stop and it blocksfueling from taking place if
those checks fail and everyfueling syncs instantly with
their dashboard.
It eliminates any manual auditsthat the company may have to do
(08:07):
.
It surfaces suspiciousactivities before losses may
happen, so it really protectsagainst first-party fraud.
A lot of what we do isthird-party fraud when it comes
to cart skimming, but sometimesyou have bad actors at kart
skimming, but sometimes you havebad actors, and so Pulse helps
a company ensure that everydollar that's being spent on
fuel is actually going into thetruck and prevents against that
(08:30):
type of fraud as well.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, it's awesome.
I mean you covered quite a bitthere.
I mean, think about thefeedback you're probably getting
from drivers when using relaysat spots like Southern Tiremark
or Pilot Boss truck stops Ibelieve some of your big name
locations Is that right?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
come from our customers.
We said to them hey, where doyou guys fuel, where do you need
us to be accepted at?
And so we're supported at allthe big major truck stops Pilot,
loves, ta, maverick, 7-eleven,circle K so anywhere that a
driver needs to fuel up, we'resupported.
We've integrated directly intothe pumps at most of these
locations, which was a lot ofwork, but again, it keeps the
drivers at the fuel island.
(09:18):
They're easily able to get outof their truck, stay at the pump
type in the code fuel if theypass all the security checks,
prompts and limits that thefleet sets for them, and then
they're on their way right.
And if they do need to goinside of the store, we also
integrate there as well.
They can purchase any itemsthat their fleet may that allows
them to.
If they need to get cash, theycan do so as well.
(09:39):
So we've integrated.
Really, the way we've built ourmerchant network is by
listening to the customers andthe fleets and the carriers and
the drivers and telling us wherewe need to integrate and we go
ahead and do it.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Man, tell us give a little eye opener about that.
I mean I'm intrigued how muchwork goes into getting set up on
some of these field islands orthe parking, some behind the
scenes, the lumper in thewarehouse market.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Right, we've worked to integrate directly into a lot
of their proprietary systems.
We have a whole engineeringteam and a whole integrations
(10:24):
team that will work to reallyunderstand what the merchant
whether it's a lumper, a fuelstop, a repair, stop really how
their systems work.
And we go and we read these oldspecifications and different
protocols that have been aroundsince the 80s and 90s and
sometimes even earlier, and weunderstand what it takes to
(10:46):
actually work with them, in theway their systems work, to make
these integrations happen.
And so I think that's reallythe secret sauce there is by
meeting them where they are andwhere their technology is, which
may be 20, 30 years old, butfacilitating payments the way
they need payments to bereceived, but bringing this
modern digital experience forthe fleet and the driver.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Not rely on a card, not rely on a check, not rely on
cash bringing that Venmo PayPal, like experience in the
trucking, but really leveragingthe old school technology that
those merchants still have.
Wow, that's huge.
I mean they're definitely goingto help out with the fraud, the
identity theft, digital scams.
I mean that's a huge problem inthe transportation industry.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
What goes on behind the scene to make sure that it
is secure when it comes to theirmoney.
So think of us as really like afintech platform that has built
in security and ease of use.
Right, you know we're SPOC 2,type 2 certified, which really
means that everything fromencryption and access control
meets enterprise level standards, right?
So we understand that we'reworking with 10 of the top 34
(12:03):
higher carriers, or 10 of thetop 10 LTLs almost about 100,000
carriers and when someone signsup, they have to pass our KYB
process and KYC checks.
Really, our KYB process and KYCchecks, really Identity checks,
business details, ownerverification IDs really we make
sure that we're not onboardingfraudsters, right, and every
(12:25):
transaction is encrypted, it'ssecurely logged, it's really
only accessed by people youauthorize and because it all
happens in real time, ifsomething doesn't add up say a
fuel purchase at a wrong truckstop you'll know right away and
can stop it instantly.
So we take security incrediblyseriously.
(12:46):
We know that every dollar welike to say to the engineering,
every dollar, needs to end upwhere it needs to and we can
never go down, right, becausetrucking is 24-7.
And so we know we're only asgood as those two standards and
so every dollar goes where itneeds to go and we don't go down
, and that's really what's keptus ahead and allowed us to grow
(13:07):
and build the trust from themarket and from the industry
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
So let's zoom out.
There's a lot of old schoolprocesses that are still hanging
out there in trucking.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Beyond payments, what do you think is the next line
of tech upgrade that's coming upprocess?
You know, proof of delivery isstill paper you got to actually
scan that in and invoicing isslowed down because a lot of
it's still paper.
A lot of that can be digitized.
A lot of that can be automated.
You know there is some workgoing into that.
(13:48):
People are moving to theirphones or to apps, or I know
folks are looking at AI andseeing how they can, you know,
automate those processes as well.
But those are some other areasin the industry that we see that
are ripe for more digitizationand automation that can help the
industry continue to keepmoving and make it easier for
(14:09):
everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
And where do you see this all headed over the next
year?
Is it AI or automation and youknow, is this?
We're just kind of probablyscratching the surface, or is it
possibly these tools like Relayare going to be something
they're going to be around for along time?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So I think the next three to five years, you know,
instant payments will become thenorm, right, real time payments
.
You won't have to wait for daysfor drivers or vendors to get
paid.
You'll have data systems.
You know, just like what we didwith Pulse telematics, eld and
routing, they'll start reallytalking to each other so fleets
(14:49):
can make better and fasterdecisions.
Now, ai is an interesting one.
We've looked at it for ourbusiness a little bit.
We do see different competitorsor not competitors, but
different folks in the industrytrying to see how they can
leverage that.
But you know that one's goingto be an interesting one.
But you'll be helped.
You know they'll help optimizecosts.
(15:09):
You'll be able to flagdifferent potential spend
patterns or potential fraud, youknow, just like it can in any
industry.
We'll suggest some differentvendors that you could use.
We've heard actually I ran intoa company that's trying to
predict maintenance beforebreakdowns even happen, and so
(15:29):
that's might be an interestinguse case that we see.
But really, when it comes tothe next three to five years, I
think it's just going to be morearound leveraging all the
different systems that you have,uh, using data to connect these
systems more seamlessly.
But I do think instantelectronic payments right,
bringing the industry into moreconsumer grade, like payment
(15:53):
technology.
We've done a lot there.
I think that continues.
So you know cash is king, right, and so that's where I really
see the next big wave ofinnovation.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
I mean, you just think aboutthose truckers out there.
They got used to somethingthey've been doing for so long.
So let's say you're in thefront seat and how have drivers
been adapting?
Can you share a story, maybesomething that's surprising or
inspiring, that you know, remindyou of why this all works and
(16:28):
why it matters?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
this all works and why it matters.
Sure, I've got a couple.
I mean, you know, 90, I thinkit's like 97% of drivers have a
smartphone, right, and so theyou know we we add over 5,000
drivers a month to, uh, oursolution for for paying for fuel
.
Um, the adoption we've takenreally seriously, and what I
mean by that is we have a hugefocus on customer service.
Um, we handhold the driversevery step of the way.
(16:52):
We'll actually work with afleet and onboard those trucks.
We'll call every single driverbecause we know that we want to
just give it to the fleet andsay good luck.
We work with them hand in handto actually get these drivers
onboarded 24-7, 365, us-basedcustomer service.
You can call us 1-877-RELAY-10,877-735-2910.
(17:15):
We pick up the phone in lessthan 30 seconds and it's
somebody in the US that thedriver can talk to.
You call some of ourcompetitors and it's not the
same type of service, right?
And so we take those reallyseriously.
I was at a distribution center acouple months ago and the
(17:36):
manager of that warehouse sayshey, I just want to let you know
thank you for what you all havedone when it comes to
digitizing these payments andnow that I don't have these
checks, I don't have to go tothe bank at the end of the day,
and a lot of these locations arevery rural, right, they're in
the middle of nowhere, and sodriving to the bank can take 20
(17:57):
or 30 minutes.
At the end of a shift and thatwarehouse manager said I just
want to let you know that I'mnow able to get home to my kids
and actually put them to bedbecause I don't have to drive an
hour to make this bank deposit.
And that's the type of storiesthat keep us going.
Right, like, we know that we'reserving a very underserved
(18:17):
industry when it comes totechnology and innovation.
It's still archaic in some ofthe things that we do.
But when we hear from fleetsthat, hey, you've eliminated
fraud for me and now I don'thave to deal with cashflow at
choose or that worry, or hey,now I don't have to, you know,
wait 30 minutes to make a phonecall at 3 AM.
(18:38):
Uh, one of our taglines back inthe day was hey, relay, we let
you sleep right, cause you don'thave to.
Driver doesn't have to call youat two in the morning for a
check.
The payment's ready to go.
Um, those are the types ofthings that keep us going.
For the fleets it's businessoperations processes, better
experience for everyone thatworks there, no fraud For the
drivers in an industry that hashigh turnover right, how do you
(19:01):
keep the drivers moving andhaving a good experience?
For them, just getting in andout of the dock or in and out of
the fuel stop is a betterexperience on the road.
Uh and so.
And then for the warehouseworkers, it's again getting rid
of some of the liability when itcame to those paper checks
where, if they leave one intheir pocket and go home and
(19:23):
wash their pants and ruin thecheck, they're on the hook.
Uh and so it's.
Really.
It's a win-win-win foreverybody involved.
And those are the types ofstories that keep us going, keep
us moving, that we love to hear.
We share them.
Every month We'll have acustomer spotlight where we'll
interview a customer and we'lltell the story to the company.
(19:45):
Got to love helping people,right?
If you're not, if you don'tlove serving this industry, then
this isn't the place for you,and it's been very motivating to
hear the stories and theoutcomes that we've had for
these companies.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, serving is definitely going to be helping
and you're going to reap thebenefits from that, because
people are going to keep comingback and wanting more.
So awesome, great job.
I mean, man, that sounds likeyou guys got your eye on the
ball.
You're doing quite a bit there.
What do you see the future isfor the company?
Are they looking to expand,maybe to something new in the
(20:19):
horizon that they could lookforward to, maybe like factoring
or something?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, I don't know if we're going to get into
factoring, but you know what wedo is we listen to our customers
right Again, the 100,000 fleetsthat we serve.
You know we listen to ourcustomers right Again, the
hundred thousand fleets that weserve.
Uh, you know we say to them hey, where else do you have payment
problems?
Where else, who else do you pay?
On the road?
That's a challenge.
Um, right now what we're reallyfocused on is expanding our
(20:45):
merchant network.
Uh, so, anywhere else that acarrier may need to make a
payment, we have teams who arewho are working on adding those
to the relay network.
We're going to do some goodannouncements here over the next
three to six months about someother partners that we're
bringing on who want to workwith us to digitize and automate
payments, and so that's a bigpush for us.
(21:07):
And then there are some otherpayments that happen at the
ports or some other paymentsthat we may get involved in.
But again, we just go where ourcustomers tell us to go.
We have quarterly meetings witha lot of them, learn where they
also make payments and wherethey need us to automate and
digitize, and we just followwhat their lead, and that's how
(21:30):
we continue to innovate for themSweet.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Well, I mean just before we wrap it up, there's
quite a few drivers out therelistening maybe want to jump
into and get these tools startedfor themselves.
What's one small step that theycould take to get started to
see the difference forthemselves?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Sure.
So you know, if you're an owneroperator, you just go to the
App Store and download RelayPayments.
We have a whole program calledour Clutch Network where we've
actually gone and pre-negotiatediscounts on behalf of the
carriers that they can use usfor automating their fuel
payments and getting good deals.
In the meantime, if you're afleet, check out
(22:07):
RelayPaymentscom, reach out tous or call us at
877-RELAY-10-735-2910.
And we're there to help you getset up, automate your payments
and make you know cards andchecks and cash a thing of the
past.
And so we're here to help.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Nice, you know.
Last thing we want is peoplelosing more cards out there and
having to send them new cards orthey expire, or I mean, man, it
can be very frustrating uhtrying to get all those cards
straightened in the right truckor whatever.
So, yeah, let's uh eliminatesome of that stuff.
Great, um, so anything else youwant to share, or a tip that
you want to hand out for thedrivers out there?
Maybe some of the customersthat are already listening that
have used you guys, um, what'sone thing you want to tell them,
(22:50):
listening that have used youguys.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
What's one thing you want to tell them?
Sure, I would just say that youknow we get to work with some
of the best folks in theindustry right 10 of the top 34
hires, 10 of the top 10 LTLs,100,000 carriers.
We thank them for allowing usthe opportunity to serve the
industry.
We're really focused on greattechnology to serve the industry
(23:14):
.
We're really focused on greattechnology, transparent pricing
and fees.
Everything we do is month tomonth.
Everything we do is month tomonth.
We don't lock people in thelong-term agreements.
We know that if we're nothelping and serving, you don't
work with us.
Right, and we do that becausewe stand by what we've built
right.
We have a really high what wecall say-do ratio and then our
customer service 24-7, 365,us-based customer service.
(23:35):
I've been on calls withpotential customers and I will
call our customer service linein real time to show them that
we're not making stuff up here,tenants, and continuing the
opportunity to serve thisindustry.
It's a great one, we love itand we just thank you for having
us on and for the opportunityto share our story.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
That's awesome, man.
I think you guys are doinggreat things and I'm rooting for
you guys to keep going, andyou're going in the right
direction.
So to help the industry growand help everybody else, I know
teamwork is what we need.
We can't get this stuff done byourselves, so we need each
other.
So that's great.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Thanks, roy, appreciate you having us on.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, so big thank you to Spencer and all your team
and the company out therethat's doing things and taking
the time to talk with us andwork with this team at Relay or
doing things that bring realchange into our industry.
And if you want to learn more,to check them out the Relay Post
or other tools that are outthere visit RelayPaymentscom.
And remember to all you guys ifyou have anything you like that
(24:36):
you see you want to share withpeople from this show, feel free
to do so.
Change doesn't always come easyin trucking, but it's happening
and it makes life a lot easieron the road, a little smoother,
when we look forward to whatthese changes can happen.
So keep it safe, keep rolling,and this is your host, truckin'
(24:56):
Ray, signing off until next time.
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