The Liftgate Saga: Why Hyfield Chooses Specialty Equipment

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Would you invest $12,000 in equipment that most competitors skip? We dive deep into why Hyfield Trucking equips nearly all our straight trucks with lift gates—a decision that goes against industry norms but creates strategic advantages at Panther and FedEx.

This equipment choice opens doors to specialized, higher-paying freight opportunities while earning additional pennies per mile that pay for the lift gate within 2.5 years. We explore how lift gate technology has evolved from rust-prone steel decks to modern galvanized beams with aluminum platforms that look brand new even after years of service.

The conversation reveals fascinating behind-the-scenes stories about handling specialized cargo, from NASA shipments requiring extensive safety protocols to seemingly ordinary vending machines that mysteriously demand air-ride suspension. We share how hazmat endorsements and specialized equipment like lift gates can move your truck to the front of the dispatch line.

We also examine Bubba AI, an emerging autonomous dispatcher designed for independent truckers that can search load boards, negotiate rates, and even translate communications for drivers with limited English proficiency. This technology promises to level the playing field for small carriers but raises important questions about AI decision-making in freight transactions.

Looking for CARB testing information for California runs? Our sponsor OTR Services provides mobile testing options in Columbus, Ohio. Visit otr-services.com to keep your truck compliant and avoid hefty fines when operating in California.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And go.
And then I just was thinkinglike we can get you like a nice
throw or a, not a moo-moo,that's the wrong thing.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
We don't want you in a moo-moo.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
A sweater vest, perhaps That'd be nice.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
A sweater vest.
I could see you in a sweatervest, smoking coat, a smoky
jacket yes.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
We could have three of you.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Hey.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
Joanne's has lot of fleece.
Holy, oh, so many.
I feel like most of the storewas fleece If you bring your pet
in there, you got to get afleece shot first.
Yep, sad, but true Sad.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
We might have heard a little rumor about May.
May.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
May might be their ending period.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Of what?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Of Joanne's.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Heather and I went shopping for material for the
choo-choo, for the infamousbirthday choo-choo.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
And.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Successful.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
No, not that, the other thing.
And you went shopping for thatand Vinyl.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh, and vinyl Forgot that we Well, yes, vinyl,
because we've talked about thaton another episode.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
So I had hit up two stores.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
There's five total.
On Sunday, Zucchini Bread and Imade it a two for one and we
hit up the other three storeswhich are sort of the northeast
to the southeast side, and thenwe looped around and we caught
the one on Broad Street.
So we did four out of fivestores on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
So would you say that you just kind of traveled the
outer belt?
We did travel the outer To allthe different joint stores.
Yes, it was the outer belt.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
However, when we first started, she didn't put us
on the outer belt.
She took us some back way, andit was not the back way that I'm
used to leaving from my houseto go to Polaris and she is Siri
.
Google Maps Usually she takesme out and then up through
Powell, which is just like thelittle neighboring city, and

(02:19):
then straight shot over toPolaris, right on whatever
highway that is 743, I think itis.
She had me going back streets.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
Did you have a way to avoid highways?

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I thought about that because we had gone on date
night on Saturday where we hadactually turned off my GPS to
avoid highways because we wantedto take the scenic route.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
But no, she was off, so you and Zucchini Bread went
on date night the night before.
That's what I heard too.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
No, no, no.

Speaker 5 (02:43):
I'm sorry how was it Vince and I went on date night
on.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Saturday night Zucchini bread and I went Joanne
shopping on Sunday, but anyways, a very unique route.
She took us to get to thenortheast section of the outer
belt and it avoided the freeway.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
But the remainder of it was all the outer belt.
What I understood was thatGoogle Maps, the AI, has gotten
smarter, and so you were playingthe song Makes Me Want to Take
a Dirt Road, and then youfollowed that with Dirt Road
Anthem or whatever the other oneis, and it just got confused.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Well, and Heather and I both talked about that.
I'm like maybe she thinks I'mstill on there and hasn't quite
gotten off of avoid highwaysBecause I did turn it off.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
There were mushy love songs on the radio so maybe
it's still thought there wascarryover from the night before
I had Yacht.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Rock on which Vince?
And I didn't even listen toYacht Rock on our date night.
We listened to Murder, mystery,sword and Scale, so I don't
know how she could think I wasstill on a date.
As one does, when you're on adate night, you listen to A
murder podcast.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Murder podcast how to Kill your Significant Other Yep
and get away with it.
But they never get away with it.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
No, they don't.
That's the secret.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, if they got away with it, they wouldn't have
much of a podcast, would theyno?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
But anyway, joanne's is.
We heard they still have a lotof backlog in their main
warehouses.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
So for those of you that are, interested in Joanne's
.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
We've got a little bit of time, Cool, Don't wait
though.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
And so we're going down to the Mid-America Truck
Show this week, which, if you'relistening to the show, we've
actually already been to theMid-America Truck Show.
But are we going to hit everysingle Joe-ins between here and
Louisville?

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I don't think so.
I think I have enough.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Vinyl.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Oh vinyl.

Speaker 5 (04:34):
We actually found two rolls of vinyl in storage today
that you forgot you had.
No, I knew they were there.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Oh okay.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, I knew they were there.
Is's the right kind of vinyl oris that the cupboard?
Final, no, that is by the rightpedal.
I don't know, I don't how oftenour seats gonna need to be
repaired oh well, I mean we'vedone it three times in the three
years.
I've been off the road and thenzucchini break.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Can you go grab my crystal ball yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
So I don't know.
I did grab one extra color thatisn't really in the repertoire
but I thought maybe it might be.
It's kind of a gray.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Could be fun.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
I got gray, just plain gray.
This was a gray, that was kindof a weird color, but I'm like.
Heather just sent me a pictureof blue cushions Bright blue.
I said I don't know that I'veever been in that truck, or seen
that truck.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Is it the Western Star?

Speaker 3 (05:33):
It has a blue table.
That's a very old color scheme.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
It's like sky blue.
I don't know, Not quite royalblue.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
It's like a cross-scene royal blue and sky
blue.
Well, not even sky blue, Idon't know.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
Not quite royal blue no it's like a cross-scene royal
blue and sky blue.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, it's like that blue.
That's great for the radio show.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
So it's an old color scheme.
We actually had a truck, ourthird truck we bought.
Our third truck we bought wasthe same blue color scheme, then
it was a 2009,.
I want to say yeah, because youcalled it.

Speaker 5 (06:10):
Big Blue, or something I called it Blue.
Yep, that was the name of thetruck.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
It was Blue.
So that was the surprise when Isaw this truck and we walked
inside and I'm like, oh my gosh.
Like what a throwback.
And it's a 2022 or whatever.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
It's a newer truck, but I think that the material,
the vinyl that I purchased forstock I think you know the grays
, the tans, black, I thinksomewhere something will
eventually match.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well, and if we never ?

Speaker 1 (06:40):
have to use it.
We can always make like pillows.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, vinyl pillows for use outdoors.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Right.

Speaker 5 (06:44):
Yeah, yeah for all outdoors, right, yeah, yeah For
all weather pillows.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
All weather pillows but.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
I also think maybe For your patio seats and stuff.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, some of the trucks are not so brand new, so
maybe that wear and tear ishappening.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
So maybe more seats might need to be replaced.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Or not replaced.
Refurbished P refurbishedpossible repaired.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
It's possible.
You know, a lot of times too,when people hear us talk about
recovering these seats, it's uh,because they they take the
vinyl.
They may put a fancy somethingin seam or something in there
and that'll bust and then, yeah,it's ripped so you can't resew
it.
It's just something we dealwith.
We get stock.

(07:31):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
We're prepared.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
And we're not really out that much money because a
lot of it's on sale, right.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
It was at 40%, I believe 40% off.
Most of the entire store was at40%.
Some of the candles anddecorations and their home decor
was still at 20%, but most ofthe material was at 40%.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I wonder what their actual cost on that kind of
stuff is.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
The one store had zero thread and most of Joanne's
if you've ever been in Joanne'shave huge circular kiosk of
thread, displays thread and mostof Joanne's if you've ever been
in Joanne's have like hugecircular, like kiosk of thread
displays, yes, and like atriangular, both sides, all your
different kinds of silk,whatever embroidery.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, thread.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
We went in, I think two of the four stores had zero
thread.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I remember going to Joanne's as a kid with my mom
and people were like y'alltalked about this already and we
would go over and we'd have tofind the right Run DMC number.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
And that was always fun for me to have to search
through this wall of Run DMC andyou find the right one and
you're like I got it, I got it.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
What were you going to say, Vince?
Oh, you had a thought.

Speaker 5 (08:49):
I did.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
About Joanne's 20%, 40%, no thread.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
Oh, I was going to say you know, at this point the
inventory in Joanne's has beensold to a liquidator, so it's no
longer the Joanne's companyselling the stuff.
They sell all their inventoryto a liquidation company that
then comes in and sells it andthey make as much as they can

(09:15):
profit from what they bought thestuff from Joann's for Sure.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
They did have like a two yard minimum on most of the
two yards I saw a couple thatwere three yards, but I don't
know what that might have beenlike.
The upholsteries something likethat, but all of the regular
bolted fabric was a two-yardminimum.
No returns, no personal checks,no gift cards.
You know all the things you'redoing when you're going out of

(09:41):
business.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
Mel was telling me too that she saw something in
the Joanne stores a sewingmachine of some sort and that
when you go to themanufacturer's website the MSRP
was less than what Joanne saidtheir normal price was.
So she said they're markingthings up to the regular price

(10:04):
to then discount them, so youthink you're getting a good deal
on it.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, I think we only saw one store out of all of
them that had sewing machines.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
There were a couple.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
They all had something different, Like they
were stocked with thingsdifferent.
One out of the four stores.
There was literally a 45-minutewait to get just your material
cut.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
The others.
That could have been the timeof day that we got there.
There was like a prime middleof the day.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
That's the best time to get your fabric cut.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
In the prime of the day.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
We all know that right.
Now, if you go sub-prime, mucheasier Because the first place
we went was still early and theyhad just opened.
There was hardly anybody there.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
People are still sleeping Breakfast.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, especially on a Sunday Church.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Whatever, sunday brunch, sunday brunch, sunday
supper.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
It was a successful Sunday outing.
It sounds fun.

Speaker 5 (10:57):
It could have been at the dirt track, could have been
Sunday.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Sunday Sunday Sunday Monster jam Did Sunday Sunday
Monster Jam, Did y'all go getcoffee we?

Speaker 1 (11:04):
did, we did.
Where'd you go?

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Sweet Waters Coffee and tea, Okay well.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
In Polaris, I know.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
I was a little disappointed too, but she's
still.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
you know we have this really good place here in
Columbus.
It's a boutique place, it'sStarbucks and it is fantastic.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
I've heard that Very, very consistent.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Every one I've been to tastes exactly like the last
one.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Theirs was good.
I could have used more ice.
For some reason in an icedAmericano we don't use enough
ice, so when I get it tonight Isit always that way?
I've noticed.

Speaker 5 (11:36):
We've had a couple.
We had one Saturday.
That was that way.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, because you and I did it coffee day, so it's
more of a chilled Americano, notan iced Americano.
Yeah, Like, by the time you getit you only have three little
half ice cubes floating.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Now, if you could never find a good Americano,
what does that?

Speaker 1 (11:53):
say Well, we have found one.

Speaker 5 (11:57):
One we found good Americanos.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
We found a couple.

Speaker 5 (11:59):
We found bad Americanos.
I asked Melissa.
I said are we just coffee?
Ignorant because we don't likethe way these really popular
places, popular local places,make their coffee.
Is it just us being just?
We like regular coffee asopposed to this fancy stuff.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Well, most people are getting all the syrups and the
whipping cream, and so you don'teven taste the coffee, correct,
whereas we're doing just icedespresso with heavy cream on it,
yeah no, I agree.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
I think that's the case because I I drink, you know
, a lot of times I'll just getespresso like yeah nothing else.
I'm not even getting the cream,like that's.
Give me your shot espresso,don't put a lid on it, I'm gonna
just pound just as I get it.
And so many of these placeshave really bad espresso.
But if you get a, uh, chocolate, mocha, sippy, uh, when nixie

(12:50):
right, then uh, you can't tell.
You're like, oh my gosh, this isreally good chocolate it really
is, and what's funny is, whenyou get all these places,
they're all using the exact samesyrups and and everything it's.
So it's okay.
Well, all you did was reallyjust kind of change a feature
here or something.
Well, last week we were talkingabout a bunch of different

(13:14):
things and we mentioned that wehad run out of time,
unfortunately because we hadsuch an interesting conversation
going on that we weren't ableto talk about trucks.
And I said you know what, thisweek let's go ahead and start
with that.
Let's get that out of the way,that way we don't again run over
.
So we've been talking.
Last year at the end of lastyear we were talking a little

(13:37):
bit about the story of Highfield, why we do the things we do,
how we came to the truck specsand all these different things,
and so I kind of wanted to keepwriting that out.
A little bit more about truckspecs and kind of a
semi-controversial thing that wedo on our trucks, and that is,

(13:59):
we, with the exception of threetrucks, we put lift gates on
every single one of our trucks.
So a lift gate, if you don'tknow, that's the big platform on
the back of the truck thatenables you to take a pallet
from the ground and bring it upto the air to make it level with
the back of the truck, and thenyou can take a pallet jack and

(14:21):
bring your cargo on into thetruck and bring your cargo on
into the truck.
And if you look at our two bigcarriers, fedex and Panther on
FedEx, most of the FedEx trucksyou see have them and if you
look at Panther, most do not.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Correct Outside of our fleet.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Outside of our fleet.
So the question becomes why?
do we do that and what's thebenefits, right?
So at FedEx, where we gotstarted back in 2012, if you ran
a dry box which means you don'thave a reef ring on your truck,
they didn't require a lift gate.

(15:02):
There's six I want to say fourbars and six and six straps was
all the equipment you'rerequired to have and you could
take that and go run car partsand all this stuff no big deal.
Once you stepped up into theirtemperature validated fleet, at
the time they actually had itbroken out between white glove
and surface freight.

(15:22):
Surface freight was generic carparts and things like that.
White glove was more hands-onstuff, right?
So back in those days you couldactually be a white glove dry
van or a white glove temperaturecontrol truck, t-valve truck,
and so Eric and I were.
We got into white glove, so westarted with a service truck.

(15:44):
And so Eric and I were.
We got in the white glove, sowe started with a service truck.
Then we got into a dry van nolift gate, very basic.
Then we got into the reeferfreight, so we got into white
glove that way in the reeferbusiness.
And then the next truck webought was a dry van, white
glove truck, and we operatedthat, had a, a lift gate, we had

(16:04):
pallet jacks, we had like 10load bars, 12 straps, 24
blankets, back in those days umwow uh, dolly, tripod dollies
and furniture dollies like a lotof equipment in the trucks and
remember those days.
I do and, um, we had a lot ofcustomers at that point that

(16:28):
used a lot of that stuff.
We had, uh, casino customers,so we were doing slot machine
runs all across america don'trequire temperature control, but
they require a lot of hands-oncare.
Um, we were doing governmentfreight.
We were doing a lot of chemicalum, gas, those kind of places,
moving doers and cylinders andall that stuff, and so it was a

(16:50):
really good business to be inwhere you could also haul the
car parts and everything.
But you could then haul thisadditional freight, and so that
was what we did.
But part of the white gloverequirements were a lift gate.
You had to have one.
So that is kind of how westarted down that road of okay,
we're going to go ahead andstart making sure we have

(17:11):
liftgates on our trucks, becausefor the white glove side of
FedEx it was required.
Now, a few years ago, fedexchanged what they did and they
pretty much got rid of using thewhite glove name, surface name.
Now it's pretty much dry andree and reefer freight.
So they have temperaturevalidated freight and they have
dry freight.
That's the way theydifferentiate themselves now.

(17:31):
So there's not really any morewhite glove drive-in trucks, um,
and they are still mandatingthat if you run a t-val truck
which is temperature validated,which is a temperature
controlled truck and mostly usedfor pharmaceuticals, that
equipment has to have a liftgate on it.
Wow, so, uh, we went to pantherand started that process up.

(17:54):
We looked at how do we want tospec out the trucks?
Right, we know we want to workwith panther.
We're going to build trucksspecifically for them, because
panther doesn't really dotemperature freight on their dry
side, I mean on their on their,uh, straight truck side.
They only really do dry freight.
So we were like all right, wewant to come over to panther, we
want to come in with a bang andwe want to differentiate

(18:14):
ourselves by something.
What is it?
So we chose to go a coupledifferent ways.
Well, first and foremost,custom sleepers.
I think that's pretty much whatwe're known for in the industry
is all of our trucks havecustom sleepers on them and
they're really nice trucks.
So that was one thing we did,because that wasn't standard
back then.
It's still not standard today.
There's still a lot of factorysleepers at Panther A lot of

(18:35):
them but there's more customsleepers than there used to be.
We committed to doingheavy-duty trucks, so these are
trucks with three axles insteadof two axles.
And then we looked at theliftgate situation and decided
we already have liftgate trucksin our fleet.

(18:56):
We already know how they run.
Let's give it a shot at Panther.
For a couple different reasons.
One is to open up freightopportunities at panther outside
of automotive freight.
So this does open up stuff totrade shows.
They do some of that uh, airgas type stuff where you can
pick up cylinders and thosethings around.

(19:17):
They do work with some of theauction houses that require it.
So panther does have a need forit.
So we're like all right,there's not many of them and
they have a need, let's providethat need.
And the second thing thatreally helped us out with it is
panther pays a little extra onyour rate per mile if you have a
liftgate, and so because ofthat we looked at it and ran the

(19:41):
numbers and basically saidabout two and a half years into
the truck that extra pays forthe lift gate.
So it's kind of a win-win rightlike our teams make a little
bit more money for every milethey run because we have that
lift gate on the truck and intwo and a half years it's ran
enough miles that the lift gatespaid for, so it didn't really

(20:03):
cost us extra.
We we put the money up frontbut we recouped it back.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
And we're able to haul that freight that no one
else is able to haul.
So that's how we started andthat is the reason we put lift
gates on our trucks at Panther.
A few years in we did move andbuilt several two-axle trucks at
Panther not three-axle stillput the lift gates on them and
had pretty good success withthat for a while.

(20:29):
We still think that there'smore market in the three-axle
trucks, so we went back to that,back to the three-axle trucks,
after experimenting with thetwo-axles for a while and we did
do some.
Actually relatively recentlywas it the beginning of this

(20:49):
year, end of last year?
I think it was the end of lastyear we did some non-Liftgate
trucks.
So we have three non-Liftgatetrucks over at Panther and right
now I can't tell you howthey're doing versus the
Liftgate fleet because we don'thave enough data.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
It hasn't been long enough.
It hasn't been long enough, ithasn't been long enough.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
So you know, I really need a good year of information
to know how it compares.
But right now we do have thosetrucks out there running.
We're not really gettingcomplaints.
Those trucks haven't come backto us, no they haven't.
They're still out there running, which is a good sign.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
The truck hasn't come back.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, so come back.
Yeah, um, so we are.
It's only because we want totap into the automotive freight.
And um, when I say that, youmight be thinking like, well, if
a truck's got a lift gate, whycan't it haul automotive freight
?
Excellent question patrick anduh vince, I think you would be

(21:40):
best person to answer this,since you had to deal with this.
You and your lovely lady wererunning the roads for Panther.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
Yeah, so the biggest issue with automotive freight is
when you pick up or deliver ata automotive facility.
When you go to any loading dockmost loading docks these days
uh, they have an arm thatactually comes out from the
ground.
It raises up and grabs ontoyour bumper.

(22:10):
It's mechanical, thismechanical arm that locks onto
your bumper so you, the truck,can't pull away from the dock
right.
Well, with lift gates you don'thave that bumper because it's
taken off with the lift gate onfor the arm to lock into.
Now, some places they get asupervisor with a key and they

(22:32):
can overwrite that.
So if you drive a truck, youknow what the little box looks
like where they control the armand the door.
If you don't, there's a boxinside the door that has buttons
.
You raise the door and youraise the arm, or you raise the
door and you raise the arm, andif the arm can't latch on to
something, it never gives agreen light inside to allow

(22:53):
someone to go onto your truckyeah and in a lot of places it
is against their policy forsomeone to go into the truck
without a green light showing ontheir side.
So sometimes places you knowthey talk to you, you know, can
you dump your airbags, drop yourlanding gear?
and then they'll talk to yourwheels and then some places they

(23:15):
want your keys as well to makesure you don't drive away before
they're ready for you to.
So some places they'll call asupervisor over.
They'll make sure you're doingthose things.
They'll use their key tooverride the box and allow their
people to go inside eitherunload or load your truck.
So there are some facilitiesthat will not take a truck with

(23:35):
a liftgate and no IC bumper.
They would just flat out refuseto take your truck.
Whether they're loading you orunloading you, they just will
refuse.
They do not allow any overrideat all.
So in those instances, or in alot of instances where we might
get a dispatch that says no liftgates, yeah.
And we'd have to call dispatchand say well, I've got a lift

(23:57):
gate, and there were some wherethey knew they'd override it and
others really didn't, and wedidn't lose.
I think we may have lost oneload because we had a lift gate.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
That we were aware of .

Speaker 5 (24:08):
But we had plenty of other loads that it didn't
bother us.
We weren't thinking am I notgetting freight because I have a
lift gate?
You know, we just didn't know,because we just didn't get the
offers.
We had one load where we gotthe load offer sent to us.
It said no lift gate.
We called before we took theload and said, hey, it says no
liftgate and we lost that load.
But you know, it didn't hurt usa whole lot overall, but to

(24:30):
have access to that freightwould be great if we didn't have
a liftgate.
Yeah, yeah.
On the other hand, we hadaccess to loads that required a
liftgate.
A lot of them, a lot of them,and we could maximize those
loads, because a lot of timesthose loads came with either a
hand unload or a hand load yes,using our liftgate, and we could

(24:53):
maximize our income on thoseloads, because now you need my
labor in my liftgate.
Let's talk.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yes, yeah, it's definitely a marketing chip, for
sure, and that's what we'veseen throughout the years of the
liftgate services.
It gives you the opportunity tomaybe get a little extra bump
in revenue on labor and, ofcourse, highfield pays the labor
to the teams 100%.
So yeah, so it's a little bitnicer to get more of that money,

(25:26):
like just the quantity of loadsand plus, like what I like
about Panthers they're not dumb,so they know if I've got a
truck.
You know that I need a truck inDallas, texas, no New York City
.
I've got to pick a load up fromNew York City.
There's an auction house upthere.
I need a lift gate.
They look at their board.
There's no lift gate trucksanywhere near New York City.

(25:47):
I've got to pick a load up fromNew York City.
There's an auction house upthere.
I need a lift gate.
They look at their board.
There's no lift gate trucksanywhere near New York City.
But they'll look and they'llsee that like all right, well,
this truck's sitting in Laredo,I've got these loads coming out
and this load goes toPennsylvania.

Speaker 5 (26:01):
It goes to Philadelphia, it goes to Philly,
it goes to Philadelphia it goesto Philly, it goes to Philly.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Let me get that liftgate truck on this load,
right, get them up there, andthen they'll be available to do
that load.
Sure, and sometimes you knowwhether or not they'll admit it,
I don't know, but sometimesthat bumps you to the top of the
list, right?
So maybe you're really thefifth person out that day, but
because we need that truck inNew York, you just became the

(26:26):
first person out on a long load.
They did the same thing withhazmat.

Speaker 5 (26:31):
That's why we encourage all of our drivers to
get hazmat.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
if they don't have it , they pay a little extra per
mile and they will absolutelymove your truck if they need you
for a hazmat load somewhereelse.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
We had that happen with one of the teams we
mentored.
They were sitting in Castaic,at the pilot there in Castaic
and they were talking with whatstate is that?
California, california sorry.
Just north of Los Angeles, southI-5,.
Sorry, they were talking withanother Panther team.
It wasn't a high field team,but another Panther team and the
other team was number one onthe board.

(27:04):
They were number two on theboard and, as they're talking to
the team, they got a phone callwith a load offer.
It wasn't hazmat, didn'trequire lift gate.
The other team's like well, whyare you getting that call?
We're sitting here side by side.
Yeah, well, it turned out theirnext load was a hazmat load and
Panther was moving the hazmatteam closer to that load.

(27:25):
So yeah, they were not numberone.
Panther does things differentlynow as far as how they dispatch
and load board position, but itworked out for them that they
had the qualifications for thatsecond load and they got paid to
get to that second load.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely those little things make a huge
difference.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
Oh sure.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
And you know, we get a lot of pushback on like I
don't want to get a hazmat, it'sjust a bunch of money.
And then do I really want tohaul hazardous freight?
Well, the one thing I'll sayabout Panther versus FedEx is
Panther doesn't haul anythingnasty.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
Right.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Everything is very basic, flammable, which is
pretty safe.
I mean most of that stuff thatPanther holds.
Even if you get in a wreck,you're not really I'm choosing
my words carefully you're notreally in danger.
Danger Of exposure, yeah, ofexposure it's more of you just
need to know to tell peopledon't approach your truck and

(28:16):
when fire services get there,let them know hey, this
chemical's on my truck so theycan handle it.
Fedex, on the other hand,totally different story.
They handle nasty, nasty.
So I get some of thetrepidation there.
But again, both carriers arenon-forced dispatch.
So you see something you don'tlike don't take the look.

Speaker 5 (28:35):
We get trucks back sometimes and they'll have a
stack of extra hazmat placards.
And I look at the FedEx onesand I'm like yeah, no, thank you
.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I'm good.
I got very comfortable with itbecause that's what we did so
much of it over at FedEx.
You follow the PPE, you followthe rules.
When you have poison inhalationhazards in your truck, you open
the box while you're standingupwind of the door Like if you
do everything right it's fine,yeah, it's fine.
Again, the nice thing aboutPanther is they don't have all
that stuff, and the reason I'mtalking specifically about
Panther versus FedEx is they are.

(29:11):
Panther is the one that'sreally good about deadheading
and routing a team to where theyneed to go Not deadheading, but
giving them loaded miles.
Fedex doesn't do any of thatstuff.
It's a much screwier situation.
Panther's much better aboutthis than FedEx is, and I love
FedEx.
Don't get me wrong, but this isone area that Panther kills
FedEx.

(29:32):
To circle back to the liftgatething that's one reason why
we've kept them and why I'vekept putting them on trucks.
We did so.
Panther did tell us they'regetting a little more automotive
freight and so that's why weare experimenting with those
non-liftgate trucks to see howthat compares revenue-wise.
But there's still a good amountof demand for the liftgate

(29:53):
freight, which is why we'restill putting them on the trucks
.
The other thing that is one ofthe reasons why we're
experimenting with theno-liftgate trucks is when we
first started buying thesetrucks, a liftgate it was $6,000
or so installed and todaythey're bumping $12,000.

(30:16):
They've literally doubled inprice since we started doing it.
So yeah, it would be a nicething.
I will say this for liftgatetechnology it's come a long way.
The liftgates we put on todayare galvanized steel beams with
aluminum decks.
So in five years they lookbrand new.

(30:40):
They look, great they lookawesome, those old school, like
we just got rid of one, your oldtruck.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
We just said bye to y'all's first truck we did.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
But that truck had the old-fashioned, jerry, do you
remember these?
They were the black steeldecked lift gates.
So, like Layman or whatever,you know what I mean.
Like when you opened them up itwas black steel, it wasn't
aluminum, and after like twoyears of being on the road they
were just covered in rust.
Yeah, oh, you never had onelike that.
No, I didn't oh you never hadone like that.

(31:13):
No, I didn't.

Speaker 5 (31:14):
Child Spoiled rotten when you go to unfold it.
You got to get your whole bodyweight into it to unfold because
they were so heavy.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
They're so heavy and they had that little lip on them
right away.
Right, you immediately have togo up a little two-inch hump to
get onto the deck so we moved toaluminum very quickly after
getting these steel lift gates.
It was a couple years.
We might have built five, ifeven that four or five of these

(31:40):
steel decks and we were like wehate the black ones.
How much would it be if we wentto aluminum decking instead of
having that black steel?
And it was dirt cheap.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
It was like nothing.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
And I'm like, oh, I wish I would have known this
ahead of time.
So we moved to those.
Yes, sorry.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Does that help with weight as well?
It?

Speaker 2 (32:03):
does.
Yes, those aluminums are quitea bit lighter than the steel
decks and you can tell when youopen them and close them.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
It's quite a big difference, which is good for
the truck.
It means you can haul morefreight, right.
So we did that.
So we have a bunch of gatesthat are the aluminum decks, but
they've got the black iron arms.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
Supports.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Supports, and then it was probably four years ago
that they came out with agalvanized option, uh, for those
supports.
So now our gates are galvanizedsteel, which is that kind of
white, not white silvery looking, I don't know yeah, telephone

(32:44):
pole looking thing silver, um.
And then they have the aluminumgates and that's my favorite
combination so far.
They again.
Five years from now they look,or I guess four years they look
brand new.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
They look like they really do.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Now their cart stops may not work.
We may have to get a couplethings.
We put the remotes on them, soif you are sitting next to the
gate you can raise and lower itwith the switch.
But if someone's in the back ofthe the truck, they can
actually operate it with theremote and it's a wired remote

(33:18):
and those things get corroded.
They do.
I've repaired more than a fewyeah, and so those things gotta
get replaced every now and then.
But the actual gate itselflooks great and that's such a
big boost when you are using it,and that's that's such a big
boost when you are using it.
It's not covered in rust, right?
Um, because even on that blacksteel a lot of that rust would.

(33:42):
It would eventually eat throughthe metal, but it it wouldn't
right away.
It just looked ugly like it'snot structurally damaged, no,
it's just's, just thepresentation is horrible.
You're loading a 200 pound doerof helium or something like that
on this rusty liftgate.

(34:04):
It just looks funny.
That's all I'm saying.
I'm really happy with ourliftgate game right now.
We've experimented.
We did layman's, we've doneWaltco's.
We have two Maxons that arebrand new.
I'm anxious to see how those go.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
They're brand new to us.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
They're a couple years old, a couple of.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
Palfingers.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
A couple of Palfingers.
So we've experimented.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
There's a lot of manufacturers out there of
Liftgates.
Huh, there are.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
Maxon and Waltco are probably the biggest.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
I was about to say, they can haul the most weight
right compared to Lehman.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
So it depends on what you buy.
All these manufacturers havedifferent levels of gates.
Actually, the layman, thetwo-cylinder layman, can haul
4,500 pounds, whereas a Walt Cocan only haul 4,000.
Now, that being said, havingworked at liftgate quite a few
times, I never want 4,000 poundsat liftgate.

(35:09):
That's way too much for oneperson to control.
If it gets loose it'll run youover.
It's a lot of weight, you don'tneed anything like that.
That's way too much for oneperson to control.
If it gets loose it'll run youover.
It's a lot of weight.
It's a lot of weight, you don'tneed anything like that.
But those Waltcos I like a wholelot better than the Lehmanns,
because you ever driven behind aliftgate or a truck with a
liftgate and you see the blacktube and there's that shiny
metal piece that comes out of itand it's just like, while the

(35:30):
gate is tucked away and closed,you, while the gate is tucked
away and closed, you see thatpretty shiny piece of steel.
Walt Co does it the other wayaround.
So when a Walt Co is collapsed,you don't see that shiny piece
of silver.
All you see is the little blacktube and the silver comes out

(35:50):
when it actually is being usedRight.
And so what this does is itkeeps all the road grime and
salt and everything off of thatactual tube which is raising and
lowering it.
So it's way more reliable.
Nowhere near as many breakdowns.
Lehman's having all thatexposed.

(36:12):
We replace cylinders all thetime with Lehman and their
customer service was terrible.
I mean they made a really greatgate.
It was a solid gate.
They were fairly reliable.
But we did have to replacethose cylinders quite a few
times and I mean they'reprobably $600, $700 of cylinders
so you don't really want toreplace them, whereas the
Waltcos very rarely do we haveto replace a cylinder.

(36:32):
So that's why we've kind ofstuck with Waltco, even though
it is a little bit less capacitygate who cares?

Speaker 5 (36:41):
We're not using that much.
I mean, we have a 2,500 poundgate on our truck.
Yes, we have 2,500.
I think all of our trucks have2,500 pound gates and you're
rarely getting that much weighton one skid, or a long skid even
.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 (37:03):
If you're putting two skids on there, you might get
up there, but chances are, ifthe skids are that heavy,
they're using a forklift on adock.
Absolutely Not very oftenyou're taking that much weight
off on a on a lift gate.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
we had one time it was a art sculpture thing and it
was about as long as the box.
Okay, so it was.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
We were able to get it loaded with forklift, but
they didn't have the dock yeah,when we unloaded, that was fun
and because we do put the liftgates on, we do put pallet jacks
in the trucks, we do put thedollies in.
We don't necessarily do thetripod dollies, although I think
we have a few floating outthere, but we don't buy them

(37:47):
anymore.
We do put the tin bars in there.
We put the dozen straps so thatthey're equipped for if you do
go to a trade show where they'regoing to load you up with a
bunch of boxes that are justrandomly placed, you can strap
them down easily.
Or if you do an art thing, or ifyou do an auction thing that

(38:09):
maybe you have to have a blanketfor, or something.
We don't do the 24 blanketsanymore, we do a dozen.
We do a dozen, we do a dozen.
We step that down because youget to a point where even at a
dozen it's super rare you'd usemore than a few.
I remember back in the day oneof FedEx's customers.
It was a slot machine customer.

(38:29):
They were ones that man.
They would use every blessedblanket, which makes sense, if
you're sure, if you're tellingslot machines that stuff's got
to look pretty in a casino, itcannot have a blemish on it
right sure so they use tons ofblankets.
Um, but that was really theonly customer I could think of,
jerry, did you ever have anybesides that?
That used not use blankets?

Speaker 4 (38:50):
period, because we had a lot that used blankets but
used that number of them it wasrare, but there were times that
we did art loads where we hadto use every single blanket,
every strap, every bar is thatone of those multi like where
they would do the the truck packof like this box had to go with
it right here, because if wedidn't do it exactly right it
wouldn't fit the one that I'mit's coming to mind is uh, we

(39:13):
did a load to this huge mansionin beverly hills and that truck
was packed from nose to end.
Yeah, they had to get it inthere a certain way and tetris
huh everything was used.
I mean we even had to go buymore straps because they needed
more to make sure that we hadenough to get everything to
where it went.
And then I remember I had tolike go up the road at the

(39:35):
bottom of the hollywood sign, no, and whenever I went to the
driveway, the only way to getinto the driveway was to back
the truck up this long drivewaythat had like two bins in it and
then park.
And then, luckily, whenever Igot everything up there, we
didn't have to touch nothingthough, because they had movers
and people that was likecategoried everything as they

(39:56):
took it into the house and allthat stuff.
But yeah, we had to useeverything.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Yeah, wow.

Speaker 5 (40:02):
We had a load one time we got dispatched on we
required 15 straps.
The dispatch said you need 15straps, no problem.
I stopped by TA, grabbed theextra straps, had the straps and
we used four, no problem.
I stopped by a TA, grabbed someextra straps and we used four.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
Yeah, that would happen a lot.

Speaker 5 (40:18):
I would use blankets a lot too, just to protect.
If I had to strap something,I'd put the blanket between the
cargo and the strap buckle so wewouldn't have anything, just
get damaged.
That's definitely something wehad to worry about with slot
machines.
We had a little time where I didthat on a big crate and we get
to the other side and they hadthree engineers and a bunch of

(40:42):
other people that worked thisplace come out to inspect the
crate before it came off thetruck and they were making notes
about everything.
It was one of those and I waslike I'm glad I put that blanket
in there to protect that strap,because this would have been a
huge deal.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
We did some stuff for NASA back in the day and they
were like that they were superstrict on all that stuff.
You would be securing it, butthey would be overseeing your
securement to make sure that youwere securing it properly.
I would be overseeing yoursecurement to make sure that you
were securing it properly.
I would always get a kick outof those.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
I understand, because it's really really important.
I know you've had thesescientists and everybody come
out and they've worked on thisstuff for years or whatever.
I understood why they weredoing exactly what you were just
describing, but I would alwaysget a kick because then you get
to the other end and it would beone person they were just
jerking off the truck Exactly.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
That happened to us.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
We did one up at a certain place I'm sure we've all
been Breathtakingly beautifulNASA site in the mountains.
We had a safety meeting outsidethe truck.
The truck doors were open.
We had to drive all the way inthe building.
There was no loading.
That's outside.
Inside the building doors areopen.

(42:02):
We're all standing there, we gothrough a safety briefing.
Everybody knows what they'redoing.
All the stuff it's one box.
It goes to the dead center ofthe truck and we strap it on,
put the furniture pads, we dothe load bars and all that stuff
right.
But I mean everybody like okay,mr Fork, love, arterator, so

(42:27):
you're going to do this, this,this step and this step, and
then, once it's inside the backof the truck, this person's
going to pallet jack it to hereand then, when you get the
pallet jack out, you have to dothis, and that it's like
everything was so to the T.
And then we get to like I don'tknow one of the space launch
pad sites across the country andit was exactly that they came

(42:48):
in there with a JLG boom liftand grabbed it out and we're
like all right, y'all have agood day.
Like no inspection of the box,no, making sure it was fine
nothing I feel on the load thatVince is talking about.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
it wasn't so high level on one end, and then we
carted it from east coast towest coast.
Like jarring roads whatever andthen we get to the other end
and Vince is is like we had tohave a safety meeting.

Speaker 5 (43:17):
Debriefing who's touching?

Speaker 1 (43:18):
what who's?
Doing this?
What straps coming off first,left or right, whatever you know
yeah, like it was highlyvolatile and I'm like which.
It may not have been, butthat's that.
That was their persona of itand in my head I'm thinking we
just did.
You know, 2,800 miles onnon-bumpy roads.
Have you ever been on a?
interstate yeah and you're allacting like you know this thing

(43:41):
needs to be taken off with youknow kid gloves and feathers and
a pillow of this and don'tbreathe the wrong way, and yeah
uh, it was very unique and I ittook longer to get it off than
it felt like it took to drivethe whole drive.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Did y'all ever do the crates with the shock sensors?

Speaker 4 (44:01):
Oh yeah, yes, and the tilt sensors, and the tilt
sensors and all that.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
That stressed me out.
I don't know if it was tilt orshock.
I had one of those sensors weshow up at an air forwarder to
pick the cargo up.
It's a big box.
It's a big box.
I mean it's six foot tall, fourfoot by four foot.
It's a big box and the sensor'salready messed up.
And I'm like nope I took apicture of it and they refused

(44:28):
to document it and I sent it outto FedEx and we sat there for
hours waiting on the customer onthe inn that was receiving this
, which had already gone homefor the day because we're on the
West Coast Sat there for hourswhile I chased someone down to
get them to approve us taking itbecause FedEx is like I'm not
taking that liability and Idon't blame them.
I didn't want to take it either, because we share in that cargo

(44:50):
claim.
I'm like no.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
We had one that had to be replaced before we could
leave.
Same thing when they wereputting it on the truck.
They juggled it whatever, andso they're like oh crap, so they
had to redo it.

Speaker 4 (45:02):
You know, and it goes to show just how well the
airbags are on these trucks.
Oh, yeah.
Because you think we wouldalways get those loads with the
shock sensors and stuff and andit's like going across country
and you're bouncing and you'rerocking and you see that box
behind you tilting like this andyou just know everything is
going to be all blown out.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
Everything's flashing when you get there.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
Yeah, and then you open it up and everything's fine
.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
The driver, the cab of our trucks, the driver's seat
is the most uncomfortable spotin the truck.
It's sad to say, but it's true.
If you look at like anentertainer, coach, so like the
rock stars, the country artiststraveling around the country,
when they are going down theroad, where are those people
sitting?
In the very back of the bus, inthe lounge, or in the back

(45:43):
where their bed is, or whatever?
You've got four wheels or, Iguess, eight, six, eight wheels
under you.
You've got two axles, you've gotmultiple airbags.
They ride super smooth.
That's why that space is backthere.
Our back of our trucks is theexact same way.
Now if you go to the very backof the box, if you just put

(46:03):
something on the very back ofthe box, you get a little bit of
that back of the bus, back ofthe school bus, feeling Right.
But even that's different, likeback when I was a kid.
My parents used to always belike back when we were kids our
seats didn't have cushion and wehad rust spots that we could

(46:24):
see right through the floor andthe bus driver was smoking,
grinding gears or whatever.
And I'm like okay, well, Ididn't have that.
But we did have airconditioning on the bus.
We did have heat but not airconditioning, which is great in
South Louisiana where you needheat and not air conditioning.
But our school buses didn'thave air ride suspensions, they

(46:47):
had just leaf springs.
So you were in the back of thebus, you hit a bump, you'd hit
the dang ceiling and fall backdown and laugh, laugh
hysterically.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
You'd be laying in halfway on someone, just
whatever.
So fun.
Nowadays all these buses haveair ride suspensions and I'm
like these kids will never getthe joy of being flown, and
going over a railroad track alittle too fast.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
They'll never get to experience that they need to go
down a gravel road withoutseatbelts.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Oh yeah, yes, exactly , but no.
So our cargo gets the premiumspot, which makes sense.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
That's where they make the money we had a load one
time that requested an air ridetruck and we get there and the
guy's like you got air rideright?
Yeah, we got air ride and theyloaded us with two vending
machines.
They were vending machines fora work site.
So, they vended safety glassesand that kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
But he was sweating that we had air ride for these
two vending machines.

Speaker 5 (47:40):
They were empty.
They were empty, yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Delicate stuff in there.
I guess you know the mechanicsof a vending machine.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
I will say this Air ride is way more popular today
than it was even when Eric and Istarted this business.
When we got started in, airRide was required for white
glove trucks.
It was not required fordrive-ins at FedEx, and so there
were quite a few that werestill out there on the road that
didn't have Air Ride.
We never bought a truck likethat before and I never would,

(48:17):
but it used to be a very commonthing.
Even nowadays, a lot of like.
You've seen these companies.
They're buying up old Rydertrucks, old Penske trucks.
They're yellow and they cut asleeper into the front section
of the box.
If you look at a lot of those,a lot of those are not air ride.
Some are, but a lot of them arenot so air ride like we.

(48:38):
A lot of them are not um so airride like.
We.
Take it for granted becausewe've just always had it.
Even when you hauled glass I'mpretty sure y'all had air ride
on those.
Yeah, we did um, oh yeah, butit's not like industry standard.
Look at amazon trailers.
A lot of amazon trailers don'thave air ride, like it's super,
super common even still.
So I get that concern.
Although v vending machines Allright, you know what that tells

(48:59):
me.
He had one claim yeah, thetruck didn't have air ride and
he's spoiled for the rest of hislife.
We used to do those because wewould do those IBM towers.
Those were required to ride anair ride truck.
They weren't climate controlledor anything like that, but you
had to have the air ridesuspension so they always went
white glove.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
What if it's like a magnet or a scale or something
in them?
Like a magnet or a scale orsomething in them?

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Could be.
Could be Electronics, plasticglass, who knows?
Alright, well, so that's liftgates for you.
I got really nothing else tosay about it.
I know it's a fascinatingconversation fascinating.
Who would think we'd have somuch to say about a lift gate?

Speaker 5 (49:49):
we all have our experiences with them, though
it's a very uplifting subjectthe one time we're fully loaded
and get to the consignee, and wehad a dozen Marines waiting to
unload our truck after we goteverything down on the lift gate
.
The lift gate wouldn't work.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
I've had that happen.

Speaker 5 (50:10):
Somehow.
I don't know what happened, butpushing buttons and I was on
the phone with the trailer shopand trying to troubleshoot it
and I pushed the button and itworked.
I was like let's get this stuffoff while it's working, hang
the phone up the trailer shopand trying to troubleshoot it.
And I pushed the button and itworked.
I was like let's get this stuffoff while it's working, hang
the phone up.
Let's get this stuff off.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Now I have some amazing memories of being on a
truck talking to a shop and someold redneck country boys like
do you have a screwdriver on you?
Yes, sir, I do, Thinking I'mabout to unscrew something.
No, take it and put it acrossthat terminal and that terminal.

(50:44):
And it's going to pop, so don'tbe scared Like.
I've done that a few times.
We don't encourage our driversto do that, but I have done it
myself.

Speaker 5 (50:56):
We do not encourage our drivers to do that, but I
have done it myself.
We do not encourage it.
As a matter of fact, just lastweek a truck came in for a carb
test.
Yes, and when trucks come infor a carb test, I talk to them,
I talk about their truck, Ilook at their truck.
If I see a problem, I point itout.
If it's a safety issue, I callmaintenance.
Yes, hey, this truck is in theyard and it's got X, y and Z.

(51:19):
This driver is telling me abouthis lift gate and that it's not
working with the switch or theremote.
But we got to work.
We got to get Talking tosomebody that did something to
it.
He told me to use a screwdriverand short it out across here
and you're good, yeah, that'sthe last time you do that.
And I called down to thetrailer shop and I said I had a
truck here using a shoe driver,send him down.

(51:42):
And he went down and got takencare of.
So, yeah, we do not encouragethat.
If your truck is doing that,please let somebody know so we
can get it fixed.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
But we have maintenance that's available 24
hours, right, exactly, we do24-7.
We do.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Solenoids, fuses and circuit breakers.
They're good things.
They are, they really are.
But since you mentioned the cartesting thing, I do want to
mention today's sponsor.
Today's sponsor is OTR Services.
We want to thank OTR Servicesfor helping contribute to
keeping this show alive.
If you have, we all know,listen, we all feel a way about

(52:21):
California.
We do and we all understandthat they make things difficult
and challenging.
They do, and we all appreciatehow pretty the coastline is.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
We do.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
And the mountains.

Speaker 5 (52:34):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
And Donner Pass.
During the spring During thespring and summer, but they do
have testing requirements now.
If you're not aware, but yourtruck has to be tested for
emissions control systems.
It's called a CARB test.
These tests have to be donetwice a year in 2025.
Next year they have to be donefour times a year, Every 90 days

(52:56):
.
It's easy to get those testsdone in 2025.
Next year they have to be donefour times a year, Every 90 days
.
It's easy to get those testsdone in California.
The problem is, if you're goingto California, you have to have
it done before you get in thestate.
So we have partnered up withOTR Services to start doing carb
testing in Columbus, Ohio, andthey are doing wonderful things

(53:18):
for us and helping us get thesetrucks tested and make sure
they're compliant.
And if you're out there andyou're thinking I go to
California and I don't knowanything about this carp testing
stuff, you can go tootrservicescom, check out their
website.
They've got a bit ofinformation there about
California.
They've got a.
I believe there's a diagram onthere, right, Jerry?

(53:38):
That says when you know yourtruck is due, Because not every
truck is due all at the sametime, right?

Speaker 4 (53:43):
Yeah, if your truck is registered in the state of
California, they're actuallygoing to go by your registration
.
If you're not registered in thestate of California, it's going
to go by the last six of yourVIN.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Yes, and so there's a little chart on that website.
It's otr-servicescom yes,otr-servicescom, and they have
some information there and theytell you how they can use their
mobile carp testing to come outand see you all across Columbus.
So I want to show someappreciation to them for

(54:12):
sponsoring the show and let youknow.
If you do go to California andyou're not familiar with this,
or if you're driving for a fleetowner and they're not familiar
with this or anything like that,let them know about it, check
it out.
The last thing you want to dois go to California.
I think it's like $5,000, fine,it's a huge fine.
It's a huge fine if you get outthere and you don't have it done
, so it's well worth justgetting it knocked out.

(54:34):
O, it's well worth just gettingit knocked out.
Otr-servicescom.
And again, thank you so much,otr Services for sponsoring the
show.
Nice, thank you.
That leads us to Bubba Bubba,bubba, bubba, bubba.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
I don't have anything else really.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Bubba, bubba bubba, bubba, ai.
Yeah, it doesn't really, itdoesn't really, it doesn't just
go.
It doesn't go.
So, Melissa, I saw this articlethat you sent us and I like it,
and I can't wait to hear youtalk about it.
I do have one thing to say.
Well, yeah, Keep in mind, weare filming this before we go to
the Mid-America Truck Show inLouisville, Kentucky.

(55:14):
Yes, but you were hearing itafter we go to the truck show
Mid-America truck show.
So why this is relevant is thisarticle that you're about to
talk about is being featured atthe Mid-America truck show.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
I saw.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
So we reserve.
My disclaimer is we reserve theright to come back and change
our opinion in two weeks.
Yes, we do the right to comeback and change our opinion in
two weeks.
Yes, we do.
We're going to talk about itnow, green.
Yes, but we may come back andchange our opinions on it,
correct, so don't hold us to it.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
So Bubba AI, I'm super excited.
He's super cute too.
Just want you to know he's gotglasses.
Cute little mustache.

Speaker 5 (55:59):
And he's blue.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
He reminds me of?
Is it Moriarty, the movie withSherlock Holmes?
No, he was a pirate in Piratesof the Caribbean.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
Oh, I don't know what's his name.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
No, there's an actor.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
Johnny Depp was in it , johnny.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Depp played Moriarty in that this guy reminds me of
him.
Oh See his picture right here.
Huh, every time Okay.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
So Bubba AI is launched for independent
truckers and small carriers andit's an autonomous dispatcher,
and I thought this was prettycool.
The tool can search andnegotiate for loads while
truckers focus on driving.
So they're basically talkingabout how drivers.

(56:54):
You know, we're juggling oureveryday life.
Maybe we can't book our ownloads, and this is for people
who are using load boards,whereas what highfield's doing
with panther and fedex?
They're the ones that dispatchit, so you're not looking for
your own freight, which is whatthis app is doing.
So I thought this was reallyneat.
It said that it can domanufacture of bubba ai,

(57:19):
demonstrated to freight wavesbecause that's where the article
comes from how bubba searchesmultiple load boards, engages in
real-time negotiations withbrokers and validates rate
confirmation without humanoversight, like he's doing it
all for you.
So I wonder if, like when youdownload the app, you tell him

(57:43):
what your rates you?

Speaker 3 (57:44):
you what?

Speaker 1 (57:45):
you'll agree your lowest, your, highest, your, and
then he figures out how to doit.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
I mean, that's what I was thinking.
There's got to be someguidelines that you're giving it
some parameters of some kindfor different types of rights.

Speaker 5 (57:56):
Well, it says that bubba uses lane data.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
I was going to say that too.

Speaker 5 (58:00):
So that's a part of it is looking at what that lane
is paying and negotiating aroundthat, I'm sure, versus just
taking a load or overbidding theload.
If the lane is paying $1 a mile, bubba's not going to go in
there and negotiate $1.50 or$0.50.
It's going to try and get thatbest rate for you.
I'm sure you would put your ownparameters as well, sure.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
Bubba can also push back and seek better rates on
behalf of the carrier during thenegotiation.
Can we talk about his name?
Come on, Bubba.
One of Bubba AI's features isits voice-first multilingual
capabilities.
The AI enables truckers tocommunicate in their preferred
language, while translating andrelaying their messages to

(58:45):
brokers and shippers in English.
This helps independent truckerssecure farrier rates sorry,
farrier rates and better deals,regardless of their cultural
background.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
I thought that was really interesting when I read
that.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (59:00):
That it's going to do the translation for a driver.
Yeah, I thought that was reallyinteresting.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
I was kind of curious how that plays into what we
talked about last week or twoweeks ago.
Last week, two weeks ago whatis time?

Speaker 5 (59:13):
Two weeks ago.
What is?

Speaker 2 (59:14):
time we talked about how drivers are required to
speak a certain proficiency ofEnglish.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Is that what Arkansas was curious about?

Speaker 2 (59:24):
I'm sorry.
That was Arkansas'sconversation, Well it was about
Arkansas, but it was about FMCSArequires it for anybody with
CDL.
And so when I saw that, myfirst thought was like I don't
know.
Okay, that seems like it goescounter to what we were talking
about with the law.
But then, the more I thoughtabout it, the more I thought

(59:45):
like you know, what you canlearn enough English to be
proficient to drive but not beproficient to negotiate.
I see where they're coming from.
I do see where they're comingfrom, but I am curious if
they're going to.
I do see where they're comingfrom, but I am curious if
they're going to get pushback onthat.

Speaker 5 (01:00:02):
Yeah, that's a possibility, right, what I read
here the cultural backgroundpart, helping them get fairer
rates regardless of theircultural background is if
someone with a heavy foreignaccent calls and is talking to a
broker and if that broker has abias you know, they get quoted

(01:00:22):
one number versus Exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:24):
Exactly, so this might make that a little bit
different.
Yeah, now we all know howtranslation software isn't
perfect, correct, so there couldbe an issue there, but I think
it kind of levels the playingfield, if we're talking about
being fair.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
Yeah, but the AI thing too has gotten a lot
better.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
When I talk to somebody that I realize is a bot
or an AI.
It's nowhere near what it usedto be.
It has certainly gotten waymore proficient.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
It does say, beyond load matching and negotiation,
bubba AI is designed to managethe entire operational ecosystem
of a trucking business.
Future development plansinclude an autopilot mode which
will let truckers setpreferences and have Bubba AI
automatically find, negotiateand book loads without their

(01:01:10):
direct involvement.
Additionally, hey Bubba that'sthe actual name of the company
who came out with Bubba AI isworking on integrating AI-driven
relationship buildingcapabilities, which will help
establish long partnershipsbetween carriers and shippers.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
I think that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
We want to highly customize the hey Bubba
experience.
Right now, the calls thathappen are more transactional.
Next, we are building a customengine which will have a
complete relationship-drivencontext.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
It's cool, it's interesting to see what's
happening with technology andhow AI is taking over, because
what they've basically done isthey've said hey, small fleet,
you don't need to hire adispatcher anymore, we can do
this for you.
So there's a couple differentways to look at it.
There's the we don't have tohire a person, so someone's lost
a job aspect.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
But there's the other side of it, which is it's less
of a burden on a startup company, on a small fleet, on you know
being able to like.
If you have a five-truck fleetand you are, you know, hauling
cheese out of Wisconsin, thenyou're probably finding backup
loads to get your trucks backevery week.

(01:02:25):
Something like this would begreat to be able to go in and
say, all right, well, thistruck's delivering June 2nd.
I need to find it a load backso that we can keep this thing
going.
So, I certainly see a lot ofbenefit to it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Can't wait to seek them out at the Mid-America
Truck Show.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
I'm excited to see how much you can interact with
it.
I am too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
I am curious too, I will say, with the negotiating
process.
I really want to know how thatplays out.
I hope there's some follow-up,because I could see an AI going
the wrong way with it where it'slike all right, we've got a
situation where this truck'sbeen sitting for X number of

(01:03:11):
hours.
I need to make sure I get thistruck a load, and then accepting
a load too cheap.

Speaker 3 (01:03:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
And then the driver gets it and they're like I don't
want to run for that cheap, butyou've already accepted the
load because you've beenempowered the AI to do it.
So I just I fear, if enoughpeople are on this, does it
become a race to the bottom?

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
I don't know Of course it could.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
It could also be the other thing.
What happens if it becomes arace to the top and then all of
a sudden you've got shippersgoing.
Y'all are colluding.
You know, A couple differentways you can look at it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
What I'm skeptical about is just that AI is not
perfect.
It learns from looking at otherinformation, other data,
correct, and if there's ananomaly somewhere in your
business, how does that affectwhat the AI does?
Will brokers eventually learnthat it's an AI and not want to

(01:04:15):
deal with it or learn how togame?

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
it, yeah.
So there's a lot of questionshere.
Deal with it or learn how togame it, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
So there's a lot of questions here.
I'm curious to see how it worksout.
But, like Melissa said, we'llcheck them out at Matt's and see
what they're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
Jerry, your thoughts, your techie, over there too, I
could see that for sure, I think.

Speaker 4 (01:04:33):
But you also, reading the article, said that they
could put the driver preferencesin.
So I'm sure, like I said before, there's got to be those
guidelines that it's not goingto go outside of that.
And AI has gotten really,really good.
Have you tried Google Gemini?

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:04:51):
It's literally an app you can download on your phone
and have a conversation.
I literally sit down two, threetimes a week and have a
full-blown conversation with myphone, a conversation like I
have with me or you.
The difference is he's cursingus out, do what.

Speaker 5 (01:05:06):
You just scared the crap out of me with that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
Where's Don?

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
I'm with Don 24-7.
I don't need to talk to himanymore.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
I haven't seen Don in a while.
Jerry's gotten big time into AI.

Speaker 4 (01:05:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:05:20):
Interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:05:22):
It's so awesome, though.
If you're trying to make adecision on something, you can
literally talk to it and say I'mtrying to weigh the pros and
cons of this, and it will walkthrough both sides with you and
talk to you like it's your bestfriend for 10 years.
That's interesting.
And help you make that decision.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Well, I don't know if anybody's seen the Last Rookie,
but there's the Gemini or Idon't know what they call it, on
the mission.
But this chick was talkingabout how she didn't like her
friend and so it walked herthrough different versions of
how to kill her Interesting Icould totally see buttermilk
doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
So I'm like I'm not going to take AI for it.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
I definitely think there's got to be some
safeguards with AI.
So I am concerned about wherethat leads eventually down the
road.
But because I could see youknow you have these parameters
and it's like you tell AI hey,let's slide all those parameters
one time just to help me get it, and then does it think every

(01:06:24):
time we're in a pinch.

Speaker 5 (01:06:24):
That's the pattern.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
And then all of a sudden it's like wait, why am I
always running for 79 cents amile?

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Yeah, sure.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
And then I also wonder if it's got like the
understanding of where youdeliver and the amount of rest
time that you need, right, andthen the amount of time it takes
you to get up and get behindthe wheel after a pre-trip and
then on your way to the nextdestination to pick up, like,
does it, does it know, or is itdoing like full next day booking
?
Like how does it know whenyou're ready to pick up another
load?

Speaker 5 (01:07:01):
well, the, the, the founder of um you know what I'm
saying hey, bubba has done otherhe has he has experiences.
It has years of experience inthe trucking technology space.
I'd imagine that he understandshours of service and that kind
of thing and is looking atbuilding that into.
This is only my speculation,obviously.

(01:07:21):
Looking at building that intoit, I mean otherwise, how does
it work?
Yeah, because if it's bookingyou a load, it fails immediately
if it books you to pick up aload before you've delivered or
calculating deadhead mileageversus a rest break.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
So I'd hope that he's got that in there, but some of
the stuff too is like a lot ofthe load board stuff is not time
critical, so there's playinvolved, right?

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Like if you're running off load boards, you're
not putting your freight on aload board if it needs to be
picked up.

Speaker 4 (01:07:56):
9 am or morning?

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
So there's wiggle room right.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
That helps, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
So how much is this going to cost?

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Well, you can get it for three free months.
I did read that here at thebottom.
It said to celebrate its launch, hey, bubba is offering three
months of free access to all newusers who sign up with their
Department of Transportationregistered email.
This is designed to letindependent truckers see

(01:08:26):
firsthand how Bubba AI canimpact your daily operations.
And then, of course, it willalso be showcased at the
Mid-American Truck Show 2025.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
I do love that all these tech companies have really
learned from the drug dealers.
The first taste is free.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
They've really gotten slick with that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Nobody buys a television streaming program
anymore without getting theirfirst month free.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
They really figured that out, but I don't know how
much it costs.
You'll have to do your ownresearch on that.
I don't know that yet.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
And, who knows, it could be built into the
brokering discussion.
You know they book the load for$2.09 a mile.
They pay you $2 a mile.
Right, it could be.
It could be hidden.

Speaker 5 (01:09:11):
It certainly could be Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Robinhood kind of works that way too.
Way too.
If you you work on, like if youwork on robin hood and buy
stocks on there, there's a amicro gap between when you buy a
stock and when it's actuallypurchased, and they factor their
fee into that gap.
So, um, if you buy a stock for18 cents, it really costs them

(01:09:34):
17 cents well that that happenedto big brokerages too.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:09:37):
Where you might buy a stock at 18 cents and the
brokerage can buy it at 17 cents, and that's what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
The difference is it's very manual, Robinhood's
all automatic.

Speaker 5 (01:09:50):
Well it's manual, because you're calling your
broker and your broker's doingthat for you, but anyway, but
back then they were like I gotthe stock for $300, and they
paid $120 for it.
It's called a spread.
Yeah, seen it a bunch of times,yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
There's a whole movie about it, right, was it?

Speaker 4 (01:10:09):
Boiler Room.
No, well, maybe I was thinkingWolf of Wall Street, wall Street
, yeah, wolf of Wall.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
Street Cool Cool yeah .

Speaker 5 (01:10:20):
Well it's not available in the App Store yet.
Well, soon.
Soon, soon soon.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
Yes, all right.
Well, we didn't reallypublicize Mid-America Truck Show
.
I think next week we're goingto have a little short synopsis
of what we did there.
We were only there for one day,so if we didn't see you we
apologize for that.
It was a real quick in and outtype scenario and I bought a new

(01:10:46):
camera for it.
I'm anxious to see how Jerryedits it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:49):
I'm anxious to see how you use the camera.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
I'm anxious to see how you use it as well.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
We're going to come back and we're going to have,
like old, real clicky clack 60mmcoffee can?
Pictures don't move.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
Got 10 minutes of standing still it's going to be
a slide show of just us in frontof one of those old Kodak slide
projectors and we're going tojust be talking about it while
Jerry videos us doing the slideprojector thing.
Kind of like back in elementaryschool they would do the thing
where they put a picture up onthe thing on the projector and

(01:11:28):
then they'd press play and you'dhear a little cassette tell you
the story while you're justlooking at a picture.
And then it would be like beepand you click the next picture.
Yes, I am that old stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Oh, let's hope we figure out the technology that
is.

Speaker 5 (01:11:44):
Absolutely.
I remember when they used toactually have somebody talking
while the other person was usinga chisel and hammer.
Dictation and they were carvingpictures in the rock while the
person talked about whatever thestory was.
Those were the days.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
I wonder if that's what they call giving Dwayne
Johnson a tattoo.
Anyways, it's been a lot of fun.
Again, thank you, otr Services,for sponsoring this week's show
.
It's otr-services's,otr-servicescom, otr-servicescom

(01:12:21):
, otr.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
Not the word dash, dash, the symbol dash.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
Yes, servicescom.
But if you're interested inwhat we're doing over here at
Highfield and you want to chatwith us, you can reach out to us
at highfieldtruckingcom.
That's highfieldtruckingcomH-Y-F-I-E-L-D truckingcom.
If you wish to call us on thephone, jerry will give you those
details 833-493-4353.

Speaker 4 (01:12:45):
Option 1, monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 pm
Eastern Standard Time, or833-HIGHFIELD.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
And if you need that number and you forgot what it is
, it's going to be in thedescription of this video, I
believe.
Thank you all so much forsupporting us and if you enjoyed
what you saw today, give us athumbs up, write us a comment.
If you're listening to us on apodcast format, drop us a review
on that platform.
Whichever one you're using, ithelps us out, lets other people
hear us and learn a little moreabout us and a little behind

(01:13:15):
scenes, peek of Highfield andjust who we kind of are as
people, and hopefully give you alittle entertainment as you go
down the road.
If you didn't like what you saw, hit that thumbs down button
twice.
Please do not leave us a reviewand in the meantime, until we
meet again, stay safe, make gooddecisions.

Speaker 4 (01:13:36):
Don't leave money on the table and keep those wheels
of turning.
Bye, bye, thank you, you.