September 3, 2024 • 53 mins
Can poor communication really sabotage your relationships? Join us we navigate the pitfalls of daily conversations with humor and insight. From the importance of eye contact while giving compliments to the complexities of work-related talks, we share personal anecdotes that highlight common communication barriers. PlainGuy's story about misreading his Wife cues and my own slip-up with my boss underscore how timing and listening are crucial for effective interactions.
Privacy can make or break a business discussion, and we have a funny story about why you should always wear headphones at work. We also get excited about the upcoming PTAO annual tow show at Bingman's Resort, where we plan to mix business with pleasure – one of us even combining the event with a spouse’s birthday celebration! Listener comments spark a deep dive into towing techniques, with a focus on dolly systems for flatbeds and exotic vehicles, offering valuable audience insights.
Northern Ontario's towing operators face new provincial training hurdles, and we hear from local heroes like Pierre Deforge and Pierre Lafon about the challenges they endure. We also expose a San Francisco towing company’s fraudulent schemes that shook the industry. Finally, we discuss the future of towing with CAA-Quebec’s electric tow truck, the Lion 5, and reflect on how far the industry has come, from horse-drawn carriages to cutting-edge technology. Don't miss this engaging episode packed with both laughter and serious industry talk.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey everyone.
I'm Brad from Calgary.
This is Sean from Cambridge,ontario.
I'm Terry from Cornwall,ontario.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Hey, this is Larry from Pit Metals, British
Columbia, and you're listeningto the Towing Life Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to the Towing Life Podcast, where the ditches
are deep, the trucks are loaded, but the drivers are not.
I'm your host, Tomei Nji, and,as usual, I'm joined by my
co-host, friend and formerco-worker, the man with very
strong opinions, Mr Plain Guy.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It hurts my feelings that you can't look me in the
eyes while you say that what isgoing on, nji?
What is going on?
Look me in the eyes while yousay that what is going on?
G?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
What is going on.
I don't know where you want meto look, either in the camera,
into your eyes on this screen,or, while I'm normally just
looking at the other screentrying to figure out what the
hell I'm going to talk about inone of these episodes.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
He can't even look me in the eyes while he gives me
all of those compliments.
Yeah, do you do the same withyour girlfriend?
Uh, no, do you look her in theeyes?
Occasionally when you wantsomething or when you're in
trouble both.
So most of the time, all right,I got you most of the time, most
of the time.
Yeah, my wife's the worst forthat.
(01:20):
I actually I'm I'm not bad, I'mgreat at making eye.
I have this serious problemwhere she's apparently still
having a conversation and I'mnot.
I just walk away and I thinkthe conversation is over.
And it happened at the officethe other day, which is really
funny.
She brought a problem to myattention.
Okay, so we're looking over it.
(01:40):
Okay, cool, came up with asolution.
In my eyes, the conversation wasover.
And I walk away and I go talkto somebody and then I come back
and and my dispatch is lookingat me like they got a question.
They're like oh, I can wait if,if you want to finish with her.
And I'm like finish with her.
And I'm like we weren't donetalking.
She's like no, I was like, oh,whoops, um, sorry, I'll get
(02:03):
right back to you.
Um, what's your problem?
Um, of course you made yourwife wait.
Well, honestly, like I I Itruthfully believe, half the
time, and I don't know if that'sbecause me and my owner have
very sporadic conversations, solike we will literally like have
a quick conversation and thenoff to another thing.
(02:26):
Right Like it's, it's part ofthe job.
Yeah.
Right, it's covered.
Our little brainstorming thatgoes on.
Sometimes something pops inyour head, you say it out loud
and then you're theconversation's over.
It wasn't even a conversation,it was a monologue, and so I
think I assume that with my wifeand other people, yeah that
(02:49):
with my wife and other peopleand so they're not done and my
eyes it is, and I'm off andrunning and off to the next
thing.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, I had that conversation last night.
I was talking to the girlfriendabout, oh, I need to go grab
the dog food from upstairs andbring it down, and then we got
talking about finances.
And then we got what I thoughtwas done with the finance
conversation and I went upstairsto go grab the dog food because
I already talked about that andas I'm going up the stairs
she's still talking to me aboutfinancing.
I was like you just startedtalking about finances again
(03:16):
when I left.
Okay, we were sitting on thecouch not talking about anything
for like a minute, so I figuredit's done and as soon as I
leave to go do something.
Oh, I'll start the conversationback no, so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
If it's a listening problem on my part, it is very
possible.
I've never been known to be thebest listener.
Yeah, um, or if it is, maybethat is.
Maybe that is what it is.
It's a a bad timing on her side, like it's too long of a delay,
um, and so you know.
The other person just assumesconversations over now.
(03:52):
I think I'm the only personthat does it with her.
I haven't heard her complainabout anyone else doing it, so
that would lead me to reallydepends on the conversation too.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Like if it's a conversation that there's a fine
line that needs to be walked, Ineed to take a little bit of
extra time to like figure outexactly what I'm gonna say.
Oh yeah, I have a tendency mymouth operates faster than my
brain does, and I know that.
So in those high, high tenseconversations, I gotta like
refrain and actually think aboutwhat I'm going to say prior to
(04:24):
saying it.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I.
I recently had a conversationwith my owner and so I called
him up and I had to talk about.
I don't remember what it wasabout, but I asked him are you
10, 69?
Right, which is is 10 codes forare you in private?
(04:48):
And he goes yeah, and I go okay.
So I go on to whatever rant itwas that I wanted to talk to him
about.
Well, he made an assumption,which was a fair assumption in
his part, that if I was askinghim if he was alone, it's
because I was alone.
Now, obviously, when it comesto business things, there are
certain things that certainthings that you know I can admit
(05:09):
there's things my wife doesn'tknow, but there's a lot of stuff
that I can talk to my wifeabout.
Again, it's part of being apartner, right, um, that I
wouldn't necessarily talk withother employees about, and so I
don't even think about it.
When you know, this specificmatter wasn't one of those
things.
It wasn't a finance, it it?
When you know this specificmatter wasn't one of those
things, it wasn't a finance, itwasn't a you know anything that
was company trade secrets, itwas, you know.
I don't remember what it was,but I knew it wasn't anything
(05:31):
like that.
So when I asked if he's alone,he assumed I'm alone and he had
brought up something I had saidabout my wife in confidence to
him, with her sitting right nextto me on speakerphone, and it
(05:52):
didn't go over well.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
That's when you always normally try to be in the
habit of hey, how's it going?
Okay, yeah, you're onspeakerphone with so-and-so
right, right, one of thebeginning parts of the
conversation 100, 100 and andthe only reason in his mind it
was okay to say is because heasked.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I asked him if he was in private, so he assumed that
you were private as well which,which I was like for the
information at hand, it wasn't,you know, I wasn't outside of
company that could be, you know,involved in that information
yep so he apologized andapologized after and I said it's
(06:31):
like I can't even blame you forthat one I can't, how'd your?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
wife take it no, not, not, well not well, not well
that day.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
No, I bet not.
Um, yeah, no, that was likeoutside of work, that was like
we were at home.
Yeah, it was oof, it was arough one yeah, so on the couch
that night.
yeah, lesson learned.
Um, if you ask somebody ifthey're in private and you want
to have a private conversationwhether it be about your
business, your towing practicesand the ideas that you may have
you may want to ensure you arealso in private, because I would
(07:02):
be the first person you don'twant to talk on speakerphone to.
G has learned this lesson manytimes.
There's a reason that if you goback in previous episodes, he
wasn't wearing headphones.
Yeah, there is a reason nowthat he wears headphones and it
is because of the things thatcome out of my mouth.
So I cannot fault another humanbeing for for being that person
(07:25):
when I have been it so manytimes so is your wonderful wife
still coming to the toe showwith you, even though you're an
idiot, uh, I I believe so, Ihope so, I really hope so.
I mean, I booked a nice air andb airbnb and everything for her,
so I'm hoping that she is um,but yes, it is a great time.
Thank you for reminding me andgetting us back on track.
We will be at the ontario ptaoprofessional towing association
(07:50):
of ontario annual 2024 tow showbeing held at bingman's resort
in kitchener, ontario.
That's like september 13th and14th what?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
it's like two weeks away, 10 days away from the time
this episode goes out.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, no, it's not next weekend, it's the weekend
after.
Next weekend's my wife'sbirthday and the weekend after
is the tow show.
I think I'm going to amalgamatethem together and do her
birthday at the tow show.
That's a bad idea.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's a bad idea.
Don't do that.
She would love it.
No, she wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
She just wants to spend her birthday with tow
trucks.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
No, no, last year, your wife and my girlfriend.
They went to the St Jacob'sMarket and saw the sights, and
your wife took your credit cardand bought some things, so that
was the highlight of her weekend.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's going to be her birthday present
this year, yeah, okay, no,normally what we do and
unfortunately, again, my owner,who's going to be a topic of
many conversations, apparentlyhere.
We normally go to a cottage inSeptember for a birthday.
We have this cottage.
We go once a year andunfortunately he decided that
that was going to be a good timeto book his family vacation at
(09:00):
Disney.
So he's not around.
We're not going to leave, we'renot going to head out of the
area because it can get a littlechaotic, Um, so I'm trying to
plan what it is that we aregoing to do, um, but I'm sure,
I'm sure, why doesn't she?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
just go out and do something for her own birthday.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Cause she's a strong, independent woman and needs her
husband to do everything forher.
Like God, she doesn't listen tothis show, so if you want to
tell her at the toe show, youcan absolutely call her a strong
, independent woman.
It will be September 13th and14th at Bingman's family resort
in Kitchener, ontario, put on bythe PTAO.
(09:41):
They do a wonderful job, thehard work that they put into
organizing this tow show, so besure to check it out.
We will have, by the time thisairs, we will have our t-shirts
in stock, our pre-orders forthose of you that pre-ordered,
and we may or may not haveordered some extras for those
that will be in attendance atthe show that didn't get their
pre-order in because they werenot paying attention, the show
(10:04):
that didn't get their pre-orderin because they were not paying
attention.
Any of the shirts that we haveon the pre-order are available
as well on our website.
If you head to wwwtowinglifeca,you will find a store
merchandise, um.
It'll give you a link to headover and you can get your um
merch.
There's all kinds of swag onthat.
The shirt g's wearing right now.
Um, I'm not.
I have so many of them yet Irefuse to not refuse to wear
(10:26):
them.
I just I throw on a shirt forthe show and representing some
local dirt track racing thisweek.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
We did get a few comments on the last video over
on the YouTube side.
We've got Wicked One.
This is in regards to the dollysituation for flatbeds Right.
Wicked One says just drag theeffer and park with a smiley
face.
Valid.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Figured that was coming.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
We've got a Chris saying they sell carrier dollies
.
We do a lot in exotics and youcan get bigger tires for
Go-Jacks.
I did not know you could getbigger tires for Go-Jacks,
alright.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Thank you, Chris.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And then we also have tonator towing llc.
Shout out to you, tonator.
Uh, we have collins, dolliescart on both of our flatbeds,
good for electric emergencybrakes or electric vehicles.
They do have some limitations,but that's when you go for a
wrecker and dollies yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
So they sent me I don't know if it was them that
sent me.
Somebody sent me, um, that ideathat there was a, um, a dolly
out there, a dolly cart, a dollycart.
I and I had seen it.
Once.
I'd seen the photo, I went ohyeah, I've definitely seen that.
Um, it was a, uh, it's a weirdlittle wheel setup.
(11:44):
It's got little ramp piecesthat you put at the edge of the
bed.
Hmm, um, see, if I can find it,it's a Collins vehicle, dolly
car, carrier, dolly system.
Not sure if it's that, I will,I will find a little top and
anyways, it's.
I had seen it.
Once they had mentioned it, Iwas like, oh yeah, I've
(12:05):
definitely seen it before.
Um, there it is.
I'll share it over on a screen.
Give me a second for those thatare on the YouTube side.
Don't forget, while I'm doingthis, to like and subscribe and
leave a comment down below.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Oh, okay, but see, I'm looking at a picture of it
now.
This guy, yeah, but thosewheels don't turn.
So you got to be straight on.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Exactly that is a straight on system as far as I'm
I'm aware.
But yes, they do have differentconfigurations that you can get
, and those I think are thelittle ramp pieces, um, for the
bed right, because the lip ofthe bed, um, and it's got a nice
center pull point that kind ofcan move around like it's
interesting all it is go jackswithout the caster wheels yeah,
(12:54):
and like I mean, like I said forthe front, yeah, yeah, so it's
not like I don't understand thefull purpose of the tow bar.
Why not at that point just hookon to the controlled arms?
But I guess, if you've alreadygot it, I don't know, I don't
really fully see how thesethings lift up either, like I
don't know what it is that youknow.
I mean, like, how you crankthis up?
(13:15):
Yeah I'd have to like it.
Looks like it just scoop slidestight like you, jack it up and
put I don't know, maybe I'm juststupid well, we all know that
you're just stupid but, but Idon't see any.
Maybe, maybe, if we will, we getflagged for this.
If, if we play the video, I canturn the audio off, okay, so
(13:40):
you put them close together.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Can you make it any bigger?
Oh, so it's got a little flipover.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Oh, okay, so it's like dollies.
Okay, that makes more sense now.
Okay, so it's like dollies onthe wheels.
Really, do you, really?
I mean, you probably shouldstrap it.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, you probably should, especially when you're
going to be pulling with themwell, I mean, I do kind of like
that toe bar because it keepsthe actual toe point lower from
the bumper right yeah, I like itbecause it's better than
crawling underneath it up.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Wait, why'd you put it in neutral?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
because the back tires are still on the ground so
why'd they do the front tires?
I don't know.
It's just a demonstration.
It doesn't make sense.
Maybe the front brakes arelocked up.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Maybe, but like what happened if this was?
Oh wait, we're looking at newtechnology.
Wait a second.
Is this motorcycle?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, you can do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You can use it as a motorcycle with the same piece
my god, the poor audio listenersare not getting the full effect
of this, but please head overto the youtube side and check
this out.
That is kind of sketchy as shityeah this video also looks like
it was filmed a very long timeago and they saw adapters for
(15:07):
missing wheels yeah I meancollins has some stuff figured
out.
Man, I'm telling you they'renot.
They're not.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I mean like if you bought into the system it does
seem like you can do.
It's got broken ball jointthings for your, just your brake
pads and rotors.
You can use it as a motorcyclecarrier plus your generic
emergency brake stuck on.
I think if you already had setof collins dollies and you
wanted to keep your loyalty tothe said company, you could
(15:37):
probably get some use out of it100.
But I mean to go out.
And if your only thing was, hey, I've got an issue, I've
already got the motorcycletransport figured out, I've
already got a set of standardball joint skates for anything
else, I wouldn't go out and buythis system just for the
(16:00):
emergency park breaks beingstuck.
I would.
I think it's good when you canincorporate it, like if you
didn't have a good method ofloading motorcycles by yourself
onto a deck and you're like, hey, this can do that Plus.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, what's a good method for loading motorcycles
on your deck.
Then, like, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
If you have a thing of um, uh, velcro, you wheel the
bike onto the bed, vicro downthe brake handle, put it over on
the kickstand.
Then you can slowly raise thebed up, put a strap on it before
you slowly raise it.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It's still a little sketchy, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah.
This thing's actually kind ofcool.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, I don't think I'd use the motorcycle side of
it, but it is cool.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah.
I mean for those big heavybikes, it could be useful.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Except the tiny little part gives you to flip
them over might be a bit of apain, but no, I'd be, I might
look, I might look at those, thewhole system, system, um, with
everything and, and everythingis listed as uh, twenty four
hundred dollars us on zips, um,I'm not sure if I can get just a
(17:16):
like, I just want two of thosecaster wheel things, maybe four
yeah I don't think I need to gospend um that on it.
But yeah, on Colin's websiteitself.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
The set comes with one pair of aluminum carrier
dollies, one pair of tie-downstraps, one aluminum tow bar,
one pair of bed ramps and thespecs.
It weighs about 75 pounds forthe complete set.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
The dolly weights 25 pounds and it's got a 4 000
pound capacity per dolly pairyeah, so okay, so the set of
four is 2400 on zips, the set oftwo is 1600.
Yeah, and, like I said, youdon't even need like that, that
pull bar from, depending on yourscenario.
Right, you get two back tiresthat are locked up, you put the
two on um, you get.
(18:06):
It's something that I mightlook into.
I'd like to like a little air.
I'm curious to the bigger tireson the um.
Uh, go, jacks that we werediscussing.
I'm interested in that as well,but it was at the.
Was there any more uh commentson or any more comments on?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
the youtube side that I gotta get to or no?
I think that's about it.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
No, so thank you, and do not just drag it in park.
Um, whoever that was, tonator,actually I have a mug of theirs.
Yeah, they brought me a metallike stainless steel, like, uh,
drink cup thing, yep water Waterbox thing, Okay, Uh yeah, like
a tumbler, and I've had it at mydesk since they gave it to me
(18:50):
and I use it Cause I drink a lotof water in the day.
I have the water machine andthe other day I was outside
talking to the guys with it, putit on the bed of my pickup
truck left, um went up the road,went to make a corner.
I was um went up the road, wentto make a corner.
I was in here, tink, tink, tink, tink, and I look back and I'm
like, oh no, it's my tonator cup.
And so I flipped around,stopped in the middle of the
(19:11):
turning lane, put my lights on,got out, got the cup, um, nobody
had hit the cup that's good um,it was a little scratched from
going across the road and, uh,they broke the lid.
Somebody must have ran over thelid.
Um, which was fine becausethey're so interchangeable, like
they're all standard sizetumblers, so I managed to get a
new one.
So, donator, your cup is stillsafe back on my desk, where it
(19:35):
belongs, and not on the bed ofmy pickup truck.
Um, so a couple other things.
So we got to the toe show.
We got into our YouTubecomments.
Was it last week or the weekafter that?
We talked about the open letterto Tasia.
Did we ever actually?
We talked about that on theshow.
I believe so About our inabilityto be able to Get training.
(19:57):
Get training, yeah, and lo andbehold, while we're looking
about show topics, a newsarticle pops up from August 19th
.
Hey, right around the time wewere talking about it.
New Ontario tow truck rulesrequire training not available
in the north.
The government focused on theGTA and didn't care about
anybody else as northernoperator.
(20:19):
We, the east, are with you.
We, the East are with you.
So small towing operatorsprovide an essential service in
Northern Ontario, where smallcommunities are dispersed along
highways that stretch acrossvast distances.
However, some of them tell CBCthey've been struggling to hire
new drivers to assist withroadside emergencies since
Ontario's officially imposed newindustry requirements on July
(20:41):
1st.
New tow drivers must nowcomplete an approved training
program involving onlinelearning and a one and one in
purse in person six hour session, but there are currently only
two authorized trainingproviders in Ontario, and one of
them one of them, CA club grouponly allows those in its
contracted networks to registerin their course.
(21:03):
That leaves rec master as thesole option for private
operators that need to hire newstaff.
This article is over on the CBC.
We will link it.
I will remember to link it inthe episode description this
time.
So it kind of goes over the.
You know we schedule them wherethe demand has been said.
Company president Justin Cruzadding less than a dozen
(21:26):
students from Northern Ontariohave enrolled in the course.
So RecMaster is kind of stuckin a hard spot Because they're
like look, I can't go up toThunder Bay and do a course
every three weeks Because therejust isn't the demand right.
There's costs that come withdoing this and we understand
(21:46):
that.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
But wasn't it when we first went over it?
It said at your choosing oflocation, Wasn't that something
in the TSEA?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Kind of yeah, yeah, but there's got to be an
available course for you tochoose.
There might be three differentlocations they can pick.
None of them are near you.
Pierre Deforge, who owns Le Ttowing, a small tow truck
operator based in north bay,said it's hard enough to recruit
experienced drivers, let alonecertified ones.
Everybody's license is work.
Who's like work whose licenseis working already.
(22:16):
After a few weeks of trying, heeventually hired someone and
paid them while they waited forthe one of the few available
spots for the in-person trainingin toronto wow, that's a nice
guy saying, hey, I'll take agamble on you and pay you while
you wait until this trainingcourse comes available yeah,
getting this person certifiedcost of four is fourteen hundred
(22:36):
dollars in course fees andtravel expenses, which he says a
lot of money to pay for a newhire that might not even end up
wanting to stay on the job.
They should give him a temporarysix-month certificate so people
can see the work really suitsthem.
He said oh my goodness, I'mgoing to the north.
They, you are my people.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's almost like they listen to our podcast I doubt
it was.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
No, I think this is like common sense prevailed in
this in many different areas.
Yeah, um alifon's towing andrecovery in Sturgeon falls.
Owner Pierre Lafon said thelack of access to training in
the North is proof.
The province was thinking aboutthis the South when it designed
this policy.
The government focused on theGTA and didn't care about
anybody else.
He said what about us smallcompanies up North?
We have to travel to do this.
(23:21):
It makes absolutely no sense todo this.
It makes absolutely no sense.
Um legault said he wanted hiscompany to become an approved
training provider as he hasseveral drivers with decades of
experience on his payroll, buthe didn't meet the criteria
listed in the applicationpackage the province sent to him
.
So it's like the package statesthat a potential provider has
(23:44):
to be a community college, aprivate career college, a
business providing educationalservices, a government or a
safety organization, so hiscompany couldn't qualify under
that to become a trainer for thecourse.
Yeah.
Right, but it's not like you'vebuilt this program but you never
set up the structure for it.
(24:05):
Yeah, sure they can have acourse in Toronto every three
weeks.
What is?
the rest of the provincesupposed to do Travel to Toronto
.
Yep, like, seriously, I've gotto send a guy four hours away to
do an eight hour course and andI mean we've all done it where
you could do four, eight andthen four back Right, it's not
(24:28):
practical, most people aren'tgoing to do that.
So you got to know a hotel,stay in there, right, probably.
Travel up the night before, dothe training course, travel back
that day, the next day, likekind of things.
You got hotel, you've got mealexpensive.
(24:50):
Have to for a guy.
You don't even know what'sgoing to make it.
So they're gonna say, well,that's fine, pass the cost on to
him.
Where is a new hire in anindustry like this going to find
?
Like they don't come over withwith savings built up half like
no, the economy is already in atough enough spot.
It's not realistic.
The government can sit thereand go oh yeah, that's the
solution.
You know, that's this, that'sthat like.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
you know everything's perfect, that like you know,
everything's perfect, but eveneven the ideal situation.
So let's say I myself have asafety net built up for a month,
months to three months of myliving expenses and I go and I
try to get a job in the towingindustry because I think it's
going to be a good fit, and Ilost my job, I got fired,
(25:25):
whatever the reason, and I'mstarting to eat away at my three
month emergency fund because Iplan for a situation like this.
My living expenses might be,let's say, $1,200 a month, which
is very low relatively speaking.
And I come to you and say Iwant a job and you're going to
say, okay, well, I'm going toneed about $1,400 for you to go
(25:48):
and do this training course andit could take a month.
Okay, well, in the idealscenario of someone with three
months living expenses with avery low monthly expense, that's
over a month of living expensesthat they need to pay, plus a
month of waiting period.
So that's just not in my eyesand a rational person's mind,
(26:12):
that's too much money and toomuch time to risk for a job that
I may not like because I'venever been in this industry
before.
Like that's just absurd.
I could go and get a part-timejob at a McDonald's or a Tim
Hortons or anything, even thoughI might hate that job, but get
money coming in with a lot lessrisk while looking for a better
(26:35):
job, right?
So, like, what's the incentive?
Yes, you, you heard in thestory where the operator,
probably like the owner of thecompany, was in a pinch and said
I need a driver, I will pay youto do this training course?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, that's 100% what happened.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Because if he's up in North Bay, what's the
population in North Bay?
Like 6,000, 8,000 people,probably.
No, it's bigger than that, Idon't know but like the
population that this company canactually choose from the hiring
pool 2021, it was 52,600.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
52,000.
6 or 8,000 people, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I always think places are a lot smaller than what
they actually are.
I'm always looking on theoutskirts, anyways, but still
50,000, 60,000 people.
How many people would actuallybe willing to become a tow truck
driver in that population?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, no, it's not limited, but it's not high.
And if you look, I believethey're probably the same
distance give or take fromToronto as I am.
You know what they're about,the same distance give or take
from Toronto as I am.
You know what they're about,the same distance.
And they're not the most north.
What's going on in Nippijan,Along these highways, around the
(27:58):
Trans-Canada, Out in Wawa?
These are real names for youguys listening in the States.
These are real names real namesfor you guys listening in the
States.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
These are real names.
What about if someone's in?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
the Sioux Thunder Bay Right.
The.
Sioux, yeah, like, yeah, like,you know, like, if they're going
to have these in, you know,let's say, toronto is going to
be the hub of training.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, and you?
You're a towing company out inthunder bay.
We're not talking flights,because flights probably it's a
(28:32):
15 hour drive yeah, from thunderbay to um toronto.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I thought it was north bay from the uh article
that you read?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
no, the article.
The article is from North Bay.
Okay, so North Bay goes up likestraight up from Barrie.
Yep, and you got.
Sudbury near there, but it's atwo-hour flight and it's a
15-hour drive.
If you had to send somebody fortraining in Toronto, yeah, like
(29:09):
are we?
And there's again not thefarthest.
Now I feel like once you get upin like Petwinuck and stuff
like north north, north north.
I'm a big believer.
I don't even know if there'sroads up there, but if there is,
they just ain't happening.
There's no MTO up there.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Like there's no you got tiny little towns like
Kenora that's up by the Winnipegborder.
Yeah, that would be exactly.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Kenora is another one , yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, how far away are they from Toronto?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
They're even farther.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
They're even farther, so um 19 hours and 30 minutes
with tolls and it's in adifferent time zone.
Yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
So there's all these towns and like there is a major
highway that runs through there,right, like even if you go up
through, um, north Bay andeverything like that, the 11,
like that's a major road, like,so you have towing companies
along all these stretches andwhat are they supposed to do?
So you know, we feel bad and wekind of you know, complain.
(30:18):
We're down in the east end ofit, but northern is is no better
.
You, you know, deep river,pembroke, petawawa, all those
like Ottawa hasn't even hosted,of course, our nation's capital,
which I had to explain to anAmerican recently that he's like
I heard there's no training inOttawa.
Didn't Ottawa pass the laws?
And I'm like, okay, we're goingto do geography here and a
(30:39):
little bit of Canadian politicson how this works.
Um, yes, of canadian politicson how this works.
Um, yes, ottawa is our nationalcapital, it is not our
provincial capital.
Our provincial capital is wherethe tow trucks keep shooting
each other.
Yeah, and and and we're sketchycompanies have created the
introduction of to see, ya, um,I mean, ottawa was actually
pretty sketchy for a bit too,but yep, besides, fact, so it's,
(31:02):
it's nice to see that we're notalone in this fight.
Right, the, the north, and andyou know good on cbc, I find for
covering something, yep,besides the fact.
So it's nice to see that we'renot alone in this fight Right,
the North, and you know good onCBC, I find for covering
something.
I don't read their articles alltoo often but yeah, it goes on
to the show Like we're not alonein this.
(31:22):
So hopefully the governmenttakes some of this seriously,
some of these letters, and youknow, can start either again
bringing in this temporarylicense Cause again, if I can
wait six months and get an eyeon a guy and get a pulse and you
know my thumb on the pulse ofif I think he can be an operator
it it lessens the sting.
It doesn't eliminate the sting,but it lessens the sting of
(31:45):
having to spend that kind ofmoney to send them four hours
away to do a course.
I don't think that it's.
That is even feasible still forthe North, but it lessens the
sting of it.
Right now it is currently setup in a way where you, you, you
just take all the risk and sendthis guy and hope and pray that
he works out.
I don't think that's practicalfor a lot of towing companies in
(32:07):
Canada or in Ontario.
And don't be mistaken, we arethe guinea pig for what is
coming for the rest of Canada.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, it's a cluster and I, when I went and did my z
endorsement, I talked to thatcollege because it's technically
a college that does trucktraining.
They could do the course.
And I said I was like have youguys thought about hosting, uh,
the stuff for the towing, likethe towing training course for
(32:35):
the new?
To see a loss.
And they're like no, we didn't,we, I don't think we can do it.
I was like, well, have youlooked into it?
Like no, but we're a college soI don't think we'd be able to
do it.
I was like no, I you would beable to do it and there is a
demand for it.
The only downfall is you are abrick and mortar facility so you
would have to have the peoplecome to you.
But there's definitely a demandfor it.
(32:57):
I would look into it because itcould potentially be a good
revenue stream for you and Ithink if we can get other
driving schools knowledge aboutthis and get them on board with
it yeah, and have a trainingcourse that they can just put in
once a month, whatever, if thedemand's there would definitely
help yeah
Speaker 3 (33:18):
right no, absolutely, and get this going and, and you
know, more trainers, lessproblems.
Right, like, you can open theavailability.
It still doesn't cover the factof these companies though, like
rec master or like anyone who'sproviding course, have to
provide, like, have to have aneed to go into a region, have
to have enough numbers to makethis profitable.
(33:39):
Again, they're not a non-profitcompany.
No, they're not doing thistraining.
If anything, you could saythey're old training.
They were doing more for thebetterment of the industry.
This they're doing out of purenecessity, yeah, but at the same
time, they have to make profitwhile doing it, and if not, well
, they're not going to be around.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I.
They have to make profit whiledoing it.
If not, well, they're not goingto be around.
I don't know, it's a, it's acluster, and there's a reason
why I'm kind of glad that I'mnot directly involved in the
industry anymore, just becauseno, you were stupid to not get
yours before the deadline.
Yeah, but I wasn't even suresince I didn't wasn't currently
working with a towing company ifI could even apply.
Yeah, that's not one of theapplication questions what
towing company if?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I could even apply.
Yeah, that's not one of theapplication questions.
What towing company do you workfor?
Oh well, I don't know.
And the certificate or thelicense or whatever it is they
call it again, it sticks withyou as an operator, not with
your company.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So once you had that, but did you need to provide
proof that you were a tow truckoperator?
No, so anyone could have justwent out and got a In theory.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, I had a new hire that I hired right before.
Yeah, that I got in like rightbefore and there was no, no, hmm
, no, I'm pretty sure my my likehealth and safety rep, who
comes out to our wrecks andtakes photos, has a tow license,
just in case we had to get herto drive a tow truck now to a
(35:03):
scene for something, you needthe tow license like no, there
was no, which is really stupidlike anyone literally could
apply yeah before the deadline.
now they're like well, you'd bestupid if you want to pay this
money and you're not a tow truckdriver, so yeah, yeah, it's
welcome to Ontario on terrible.
(35:27):
Worst case Ontario.
Um, so I want to follow up.
Remember a story we shared backwhen on the show about a
company in San Francisco thatwas raided by the FBI?
Oh yeah, forgot about that.
Oh yeah, specialty towing downin San Francisco.
(35:50):
Well, the list of charges.
We found a followup, the listof charges have come out against
them and I'm not going to lie,they're pretty clever.
Hmm.
Um, they're pretty clever.
Um, so if in a federal grandjury out in a federal grand jury
, indictment returned august20th, jose vincent, I'm gonna
(36:11):
guess it's jose vincent.
Uh, jose vincent badillo andkiro afanasaev?
Uh, jason naraja and jamierespicio we're charged with.
And Kirill Afanasyev, jasonNaraja and Jamie Respicio.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You're trying to pronounce those names, not I.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Yeah, we're charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and
wire fraud in connection withtwo schemes to defraud auto
insurance companies.
The US Department of Justiceannounced Wednesday so they were
rated on all this fraud.
Fbi, you know you need to put alittle knocking on the door,
FBI.
Yeah, so a couple of them,badillo and Jessica Elizabeth
(36:48):
Naharro, were arrested thismonth and charged with money
laundering and fraud afterfederal prosecutors said they
purchased a wrecked car, thenput insurance on it, then cashed
a $34,000 insurance check forit after falsely claiming they
were in an accident.
(37:08):
The couple own and operatemultiple towing companies in San
, bought a smashed car then putinsurance on it and then claimed
they were involved in a singlevehicle accident and the car was
(37:30):
a total loss by the sounds ofthe check.
And then one of their multipletowing companies that they own
submitted an invoice toinsurance to insurance company
for the towing and storage andrecovery of said vehicle.
Nice, I mean, it's pretty cleveryeah but not clever enough,
(37:55):
because they got caught.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Um well, it's clever, it's just they didn't implement
it in the correct way.
Yeah, it wasn't executed.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, as part of a second scheme, badillo Raspiazzo
are accused of submittingfraudulent insurance claim on a
wrecked car that Afanasyevpurchased in May 2019.
The indictment alleges that thecar was not drivable when they
bought it.
They obtained an insurancepolicy on the vehicle, then
(38:26):
again reported they met, so itwas multiple times that they did
this.
The insurance company approvedthe claim and sent Resposito a
check for $47,856.34.
They were arrested.
A check for $47,856.34.
They were arrested and releasedon $50,000 bonds.
(38:47):
They're due in court September9th for their initial appearance
and arraignment.
There is nothing yet on whatthey what is like maximums that
they're looking at.
Oh, yeah, the police launchedan investigation into the
(39:07):
company in April after a viralvideo appeared to show one of
its trucks trying to tow anoccupied car in downtown San
Francisco.
So, like it all came to lightbecause they started getting
investigated after they tried totow a car with a person like
man, you went on a rough, yeah,so we talked about that, like
(39:27):
last week or two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
If you're gonna do something dumb, you don't want
to draw attention to yourselfand that's just drawing
attention to yourself 100?
Speaker 3 (39:39):
no, it's, it's well, that was probably you know, a
worker doing something stupid,and but no, it's true.
Everyone.
Every time we impounded avehicle or you read it in the
police blotter in our area wouldit be like you know, police
sees like a couple kilograms ofdrugs, yeah, and it's like the
vehicle was traveling 40, 50kilometers above the speed limit
on the highway and you're likewhy If?
(40:01):
You're going to be dumb.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
You've got to be tough.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, and you're about to find out if you're
tough.
Yeah, so no, it's.
I mean, it's a bad look for thetowing industry when we read
these kind of articles like thatwas a joke we made when we were
going through looking forarticles right, we're like, hmm,
we want to talk about this now.
(40:23):
I'd rather not talk about a badthing like that.
And then it's like oh yeah, butI also can't find good, like I
can't.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
I think I looked through 40 different headlines
and there was like one good oneI found one that's decent, and I
say decent because the headlineand I will put a link in the
description.
The headline is CAA-Quebec todeploy first electric tow truck
and I have a picture of it herewhich I am currently saving to
(40:52):
overlay.
It is ugly as fuck.
It is like the ugliest flatbedI have ever seen in my life.
And have you seen a picture ofit playing guy, Are you pulling
it?
Speaker 3 (41:07):
back.
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure I can pull it off.
I'll pull it up on the screenthough.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, it's a cab over truck and it's got like a set
of race ramps underneath thedeck, which is cool, but it's
got zero toolbox space otherthan the headache toolbox that
it has on a for the light pylon,because it's got the battery
where the toolboxes would beunderneath the bed.
So I'm not a big fan of that.
(41:33):
However, the article goes onsaying CA is deploying what it
says is the first all-electrictow truck in North America, a
Lion 5 that will serve theQuebec market.
The move comes 80 years afterthe company introduced its first
horse-drawn towing services.
The towing platform was builtby X-Pac Industries.
(41:59):
Roadside assistance the flopheadportion.
No, it comes 80 years after thefirst horse-drawn towing
service, I guess for caa.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
I want to know how many horses caa had roadside
assistance has always been caquebec's dna.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Well, obviously that's what the fucking company
does.
Uh, and it goes without sayingthat we are taking the lead in
electric towing.
We are have a responsibility toset an example and take
leadership role in protectingthe environment, said mary
solely tremble, a president andce a news release.
(42:38):
The truck has a capacity of 210kilowatt and a range of up to
310 kilometers, which I guess isokay for city towing, but it
would not be, good where we are.
The 800-volt battery packs aredesigned by Lion Electric.
Ca plans to put the truckthrough its paces in a variety
of towing situations and weatherconditions in the coming months
(43:00):
.
They also operate otherelectric vehicles, including a
high and I uh I icon iotic thatI think it's iotic.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
I can't read it.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
I don't have the article open, but yeah, yeah,
ford f-150 hybrid and an f-150lightning, oh an f-150 lightning
.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
They Ooh an F-150.
Lightning they're starting tosee more and more of those.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, I mean we're going to see more stuff like
this.
I'm looking forward to theEdison Motors trucks when they
come out.
I kind of want to talk aboutthem more.
I'm going to reach out to themto see if we can actually get
them on the show.
I'm going to reach out to themto see if we can actually get
them on the show.
But obviously a full electrictow truck.
(43:43):
You're going to run into theissues of you get on scene to do
a wreck and the police need youto sit there and wait.
And well, you're on the side ofthe highway so you need to have
your beacon lights on.
Or what if this recovery takesa long time and you gotta keep
manipulating the pedal that'sjust draining down your battery
to where a hybrid option?
You always have the generatorbuilt in that can keep you
(44:06):
topped up.
We are seeing more and morewhere we have to go and pick up
electric cars that have ran outof charge, and you're going to
do that when electric tow truckthat also has that ability to
run out of a charge dodge isactually, uh, coming up with
very similar technology to the,uh, the edison motors truck.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Yeah, um, they are working on, yeah, where the
electric motors power it, butit's a diesel generator on top
and there's advantages which,like said, we can look into more
, where they can run coloreddiesel and everything, because
it's not the main sourcepropulsion.
Um, ironically, while I endedup down this rabbit hole to see
if cia owned horses, um, I foundcia's timeline oh, uh 1903, 27
(44:54):
motorists gather at queen's park, toronto, to form the toronto
automobile club club.
Um, dr perry e doolittle I shityou not.
Um is the first president.
The founding members ofcanada's first advocacy group
(45:14):
for motorists take mpps on aride to show it is safe to
increase the speed limit fromeight miles an hour to 10 miles
an hour.
Wow, the imperial system backthen.
Yeah, um, yeah, the firstlegislation dealing with motor
vehicles enacted caa publishesthe first official road guide of
(45:35):
canada, 1906 yeah, that's allca was and triple a was was like
a car club yeah, and it gavepeople resources on.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
If you're going here, these are the numbers that
you're going to need or theseare the people you got to talk
to if you have an issue what'scrazy is the first tow truck by
ernest holmes wasn't built until1916 yeah like 1916, canadian
automobile federation changesname from canadian automobile
association.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
That's the first tow truck is around and the caf
becomes ca.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Yeah yeah, so for the first 16, 17 years it was just
if a car broke down, you eitherpushed it or you got a horse 13
years technically from when theum.
Again, that was the when they Idon't know when the car was
actually sold, yeah yeah theyhad prototypes of steam powered
(46:34):
vehicles prior, but it wasn't myyeah, but actual, like what we
consider a modern day automobile.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
But yeah, it is ironic that, uh, literally the
first tow trucks created andthey become ca but we had this
conversation on our last live,I'm pretty sure where they
didn't come out with crash testdummies till after world war ii
then we advocated to increasethe speed limits of 50 miles an
(47:01):
hour in urban centers and 20miles an hour in rural areas.
But yeah, no, it's, it's crazy,um, how far they've come.
But yes, electric tow trucksscary thing, um not scary, I
mean, technology's got toadvance.
And a lot of people say that,like you're a big believer,
right, you do the same thing.
Oh well, it's not practical tohave that kind of range.
(47:23):
You're right, it's not.
But technology isn't going toadvance unless we're using the
technology right, like if youdon't start money in that
industry to help advancementexactly right, like you know,
does it make sense for Tesla toknow?
You know, like there's, there'sall kinds of stuff that you
(47:44):
know it's got to advance, but itonly advances during, um, you
know, when there's productionand there's money going in, when
there's interest in it, whenthere's, when there's money
behind it.
So, will you see, I still thinkyou know hybrid ideas or these.
You know and we'll get into itmore on a future episode about
the you know this Edison motorstyle of truck, right, the Dodge
(48:05):
is launching.
Well, like I said, dodge islaunching one as well.
I can't remember what they'recalling it.
See, if I can get a quick namefor you, is it?
Speaker 1 (48:24):
the dodge, which does make sense because most engines
are ram, charger the ramcharger.
That used to be a great name,that's.
It's not a new name.
They're bringing that back uh,no, but it used to be like a
pickup with a station wagon backover top of the bed yeah, you
can understand the reference inthis ram charger diesel charges
itself.
Yeah, but, generator a lot morefuel efficient.
(48:46):
The wear is a lot less becausethey run on a constant rpm they
can be designed to run at thatconstant rpm instead of the
fluctuating.
Because diesel generators are alot less maintenance hungry, as
over the road diesels are right.
So you you're getting all theperks of that, plus the perks of
(49:06):
immediate torque with electricmotors.
Like I'm not against electricvehicles, like the concept, they
do bring a lot of benefits tothe whole driving aesthetic and
ability to go down the road.
I just don't like the fact thatour infrastructure isn't there
(49:27):
to give you the freedom that acar normally gives you as to
like.
There's gas pumps and dieselpumps within 50, 100 kilometer
ranges, no matter where you go.
So as long as you plan outahead, you know you're good
Right.
And it's only when you getfurther and further North where
you actually have to startplanning out of hey, where am I
(49:49):
stopping for fuel?
Where an electric vehicle?
You got to do that almostanywhere.
You got to plan your routearound your charging stations.
And with in the industry oftowing, where you never know
exactly where you're going to go, that becomes a bit of a bigger
oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yeah, a lot more of an issue.
Or, you know, you run out ofcharge halfway through.
Um, I can't.
There's so many things that cango on on that, so no, but you
know it comes back to what wetalked about last week is is not
stopping innovation, right?
You don't need it.
You don't need it but you mightwant it, right, peter?
That line so many times lastweek that it made my head spin.
(50:27):
But yeah, no, it's, it's.
I think there's going to befuture advances in it.
So I'm very interested and wewill get some more information
on the Edison truck.
Um, that being said, rememberwe will be at the ptao tow show
10 days from the day thisepisode comes out september 13th
, 14th for the professionaltowing association of ontario's
annual tow show.
There's a show and shine,there's a procession, a parade,
(50:49):
there's a bunch of vendors therewere there.
I mean, what more do you need?
Um, a lot of deals on there'sfood this year there's food this
year.
Go to, if you get a chance andyou haven't in the past.
Go to the meet and greet on thefriday night at the waterloo
brewery.
It is such a good time and Inormally leave with such a good
buzz.
(51:10):
Um, the water lou brewery isgreat.
It gets packed in that place,mind, mind you, but the
bartenders are phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yeah, um and we normally hang out on the, out on
the patio.
Yeah, just a little fake.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
Yeah yeah yeah, awesome Little patio fire pits.
Um.
So, yeah, head on over toKitchener, book it now.
There's camping Jeez, haulingdown at night.
I mean to down like a trailer.
Yep, um, he can.
He can like.
If you reach out to him, youcan probably go stay with him.
I think he's got a whole house.
He's bringing a whole housedown.
Yeah, um, him and hisgirlfriend are probably looking
(51:46):
for company, so I mean we gotour dog.
We're bringing our dog and justand just crashing his trailer.
It they have cabins, campingspots.
Um Airbnb is in the area.
There's awesome hotels um thatyou can check out as well.
Um, there's a woman's aluncheon.
My wife normally attends.
I think she's going to beattending again this year Um
(52:06):
really promoting women in theindustry.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
Uh, there's speakers to go that last year, which kind
of defeats the purpose.
Why wasn't she voluntold to goto that?
Yeah, but she really liked it.
Speaker 3 (52:17):
She actually, like I asked her after was it like a
good idea that you went, orwhatever?
And it wasn't that, she wasvoluntold.
It's that we, like the company,wanted to support something and
so we're like, all right, we'llsupport you know, like we'll,
we'll buy tickets to this andand see what we can send and
stuff.
And yeah, I know she had agreat time with it.
She thought it was really good.
So, um, there's that.
There's training.
(52:37):
There is this training that youcan't get for new operators
that will be hosted at thecourse that is they are offering
.
It could be full.
So hurry up and head over toptaoorg and, you know, maybe
confirm your spot, or if you'rethrough RecMaster, it should be
through them.
If you've completed your onlineportion, you might see it
(52:57):
available as an in-person coursein your area soon.
So we will see you in kitchenerat the show september 13th and
14th.
Other than that, we will seeyou again, so we'll will we see
them again next week?
We're gonna see them on.
This comes out on the third andthen it comes out on the 10th
and then it, yeah, okay, so wewill see you guys one more time
(53:20):
before we actually go to theshow.
So, on behalf of myself, mywonderful co-host, mr Tomangy,
we thank you for coming out foranother episode of the Tom and
Life podcast and we will see youagain next week.
Take care, toodles.
Hey everyone.
I'm Brad from Calgary.
This is Sean from Cambridge,ontario.
I'm Terry from Cornwall,ontario.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Hey, this is Larry from Pit Metals, British
Columbia, and you're listeningto the Towing Life Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to the Towing Life Podcast, where the ditches
are deep, the trucks are loaded, but the drivers are not.
I'm your host, Tomei Nji, and,as usual, I'm joined by my
co-host, friend and formerco-worker, the man with very
strong opinions, Mr Plain Guy.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It hurts my feelings that you can't look me in the
eyes while you say that what isgoing on, nji?
What is going on?
Look me in the eyes while yousay that what is going on?
G?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
What is going on.
I don't know where you want meto look, either in the camera,
into your eyes on this screen,or, while I'm normally just
looking at the other screentrying to figure out what the
hell I'm going to talk about inone of these episodes.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
He can't even look me in the eyes while he gives me
all of those compliments.
Yeah, do you do the same withyour girlfriend?
Uh, no, do you look her in theeyes?
Occasionally when you wantsomething or when you're in
trouble both.
So most of the time, all right,I got you most of the time, most
of the time.
Yeah, my wife's the worst forthat.
(01:20):
I actually I'm I'm not bad, I'mgreat at making eye.
I have this serious problemwhere she's apparently still
having a conversation and I'mnot.
I just walk away and I thinkthe conversation is over.
And it happened at the officethe other day, which is really
funny.
She brought a problem to myattention.
Okay, so we're looking over it.
(01:40):
Okay, cool, came up with asolution.
In my eyes, the conversation wasover.
And I walk away and I go talkto somebody and then I come back
and and my dispatch is lookingat me like they got a question.
They're like oh, I can wait if,if you want to finish with her.
And I'm like finish with her.
And I'm like we weren't donetalking.
She's like no, I was like, oh,whoops, um, sorry, I'll get
(02:03):
right back to you.
Um, what's your problem?
Um, of course you made yourwife wait.
Well, honestly, like I I Itruthfully believe, half the
time, and I don't know if that'sbecause me and my owner have
very sporadic conversations, solike we will literally like have
a quick conversation and thenoff to another thing.
(02:26):
Right Like it's, it's part ofthe job.
Yeah.
Right, it's covered.
Our little brainstorming thatgoes on.
Sometimes something pops inyour head, you say it out loud
and then you're theconversation's over.
It wasn't even a conversation,it was a monologue, and so I
think I assume that with my wifeand other people, yeah that
(02:49):
with my wife and other peopleand so they're not done and my
eyes it is, and I'm off andrunning and off to the next
thing.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, I had that conversation last night.
I was talking to the girlfriendabout, oh, I need to go grab
the dog food from upstairs andbring it down, and then we got
talking about finances.
And then we got what I thoughtwas done with the finance
conversation and I went upstairsto go grab the dog food because
I already talked about that andas I'm going up the stairs
she's still talking to me aboutfinancing.
I was like you just startedtalking about finances again
(03:16):
when I left.
Okay, we were sitting on thecouch not talking about anything
for like a minute, so I figuredit's done and as soon as I
leave to go do something.
Oh, I'll start the conversationback no, so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
If it's a listening problem on my part, it is very
possible.
I've never been known to be thebest listener.
Yeah, um, or if it is, maybethat is.
Maybe that is what it is.
It's a a bad timing on her side, like it's too long of a delay,
um, and so you know.
The other person just assumesconversations over now.
(03:52):
I think I'm the only personthat does it with her.
I haven't heard her complainabout anyone else doing it, so
that would lead me to reallydepends on the conversation too.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Like if it's a conversation that there's a fine
line that needs to be walked, Ineed to take a little bit of
extra time to like figure outexactly what I'm gonna say.
Oh yeah, I have a tendency mymouth operates faster than my
brain does, and I know that.
So in those high, high tenseconversations, I gotta like
refrain and actually think aboutwhat I'm going to say prior to
(04:24):
saying it.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I.
I recently had a conversationwith my owner and so I called
him up and I had to talk about.
I don't remember what it wasabout, but I asked him are you
10, 69?
Right, which is is 10 codes forare you in private?
(04:48):
And he goes yeah, and I go okay.
So I go on to whatever rant itwas that I wanted to talk to him
about.
Well, he made an assumption,which was a fair assumption in
his part, that if I was askinghim if he was alone, it's
because I was alone.
Now, obviously, when it comesto business things, there are
certain things that certainthings that you know I can admit
(05:09):
there's things my wife doesn'tknow, but there's a lot of stuff
that I can talk to my wifeabout.
Again, it's part of being apartner, right, um, that I
wouldn't necessarily talk withother employees about, and so I
don't even think about it.
When you know, this specificmatter wasn't one of those
things.
It wasn't a finance, it it?
When you know this specificmatter wasn't one of those
things, it wasn't a finance, itwasn't a you know anything that
was company trade secrets, itwas, you know.
I don't remember what it was,but I knew it wasn't anything
(05:31):
like that.
So when I asked if he's alone,he assumed I'm alone and he had
brought up something I had saidabout my wife in confidence to
him, with her sitting right nextto me on speakerphone, and it
(05:52):
didn't go over well.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
That's when you always normally try to be in the
habit of hey, how's it going?
Okay, yeah, you're onspeakerphone with so-and-so
right, right, one of thebeginning parts of the
conversation 100, 100 and andthe only reason in his mind it
was okay to say is because heasked.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I asked him if he was in private, so he assumed that
you were private as well which,which I was like for the
information at hand, it wasn't,you know, I wasn't outside of
company that could be, you know,involved in that information
yep so he apologized andapologized after and I said it's
(06:31):
like I can't even blame you forthat one I can't, how'd your?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
wife take it no, not, not, well not well, not well
that day.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
No, I bet not.
Um, yeah, no, that was likeoutside of work, that was like
we were at home.
Yeah, it was oof, it was arough one yeah, so on the couch
that night.
yeah, lesson learned.
Um, if you ask somebody ifthey're in private and you want
to have a private conversationwhether it be about your
business, your towing practicesand the ideas that you may have
you may want to ensure you arealso in private, because I would
(07:02):
be the first person you don'twant to talk on speakerphone to.
G has learned this lesson manytimes.
There's a reason that if you goback in previous episodes, he
wasn't wearing headphones.
Yeah, there is a reason nowthat he wears headphones and it
is because of the things thatcome out of my mouth.
So I cannot fault another humanbeing for for being that person
(07:25):
when I have been it so manytimes so is your wonderful wife
still coming to the toe showwith you, even though you're an
idiot, uh, I I believe so, Ihope so, I really hope so.
I mean, I booked a nice air andb airbnb and everything for her,
so I'm hoping that she is um,but yes, it is a great time.
Thank you for reminding me andgetting us back on track.
We will be at the ontario ptaoprofessional towing association
(07:50):
of ontario annual 2024 tow showbeing held at bingman's resort
in kitchener, ontario.
That's like september 13th and14th what?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
it's like two weeks away, 10 days away from the time
this episode goes out.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, no, it's not next weekend, it's the weekend
after.
Next weekend's my wife'sbirthday and the weekend after
is the tow show.
I think I'm going to amalgamatethem together and do her
birthday at the tow show.
That's a bad idea.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That's a bad idea.
Don't do that.
She would love it.
No, she wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
She just wants to spend her birthday with tow
trucks.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
No, no, last year, your wife and my girlfriend.
They went to the St Jacob'sMarket and saw the sights, and
your wife took your credit cardand bought some things, so that
was the highlight of her weekend.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's going to be her birthday present
this year, yeah, okay, no,normally what we do and
unfortunately, again, my owner,who's going to be a topic of
many conversations, apparentlyhere.
We normally go to a cottage inSeptember for a birthday.
We have this cottage.
We go once a year andunfortunately he decided that
that was going to be a good timeto book his family vacation at
(09:00):
Disney.
So he's not around.
We're not going to leave, we'renot going to head out of the
area because it can get a littlechaotic, Um, so I'm trying to
plan what it is that we aregoing to do, um, but I'm sure,
I'm sure, why doesn't she?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
just go out and do something for her own birthday.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Cause she's a strong, independent woman and needs her
husband to do everything forher.
Like God, she doesn't listen tothis show, so if you want to
tell her at the toe show, youcan absolutely call her a strong
, independent woman.
It will be September 13th and14th at Bingman's family resort
in Kitchener, ontario, put on bythe PTAO.
(09:41):
They do a wonderful job, thehard work that they put into
organizing this tow show, so besure to check it out.
We will have, by the time thisairs, we will have our t-shirts
in stock, our pre-orders forthose of you that pre-ordered,
and we may or may not haveordered some extras for those
that will be in attendance atthe show that didn't get their
pre-order in because they werenot paying attention, the show
(10:04):
that didn't get their pre-orderin because they were not paying
attention.
Any of the shirts that we haveon the pre-order are available
as well on our website.
If you head to wwwtowinglifeca,you will find a store
merchandise, um.
It'll give you a link to headover and you can get your um
merch.
There's all kinds of swag onthat.
The shirt g's wearing right now.
Um, I'm not.
I have so many of them yet Irefuse to not refuse to wear
(10:26):
them.
I just I throw on a shirt forthe show and representing some
local dirt track racing thisweek.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
We did get a few comments on the last video over
on the YouTube side.
We've got Wicked One.
This is in regards to the dollysituation for flatbeds Right.
Wicked One says just drag theeffer and park with a smiley
face.
Valid.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Figured that was coming.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
We've got a Chris saying they sell carrier dollies
.
We do a lot in exotics and youcan get bigger tires for
Go-Jacks.
I did not know you could getbigger tires for Go-Jacks,
alright.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Thank you, Chris.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And then we also have tonator towing llc.
Shout out to you, tonator.
Uh, we have collins, dolliescart on both of our flatbeds,
good for electric emergencybrakes or electric vehicles.
They do have some limitations,but that's when you go for a
wrecker and dollies yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
So they sent me I don't know if it was them that
sent me.
Somebody sent me, um, that ideathat there was a, um, a dolly
out there, a dolly cart, a dollycart.
I and I had seen it.
Once.
I'd seen the photo, I went ohyeah, I've definitely seen that.
Um, it was a, uh, it's a weirdlittle wheel setup.
(11:44):
It's got little ramp piecesthat you put at the edge of the
bed.
Hmm, um, see, if I can find it,it's a Collins vehicle, dolly
car, carrier, dolly system.
Not sure if it's that, I will,I will find a little top and
anyways, it's.
I had seen it.
Once they had mentioned it, Iwas like, oh yeah, I've
(12:05):
definitely seen it before.
Um, there it is.
I'll share it over on a screen.
Give me a second for those thatare on the YouTube side.
Don't forget, while I'm doingthis, to like and subscribe and
leave a comment down below.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Oh, okay, but see, I'm looking at a picture of it
now.
This guy, yeah, but thosewheels don't turn.
So you got to be straight on.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Exactly that is a straight on system as far as I'm
I'm aware.
But yes, they do have differentconfigurations that you can get
, and those I think are thelittle ramp pieces, um, for the
bed right, because the lip ofthe bed, um, and it's got a nice
center pull point that kind ofcan move around like it's
interesting all it is go jackswithout the caster wheels yeah,
(12:54):
and like I mean, like I said forthe front, yeah, yeah, so it's
not like I don't understand thefull purpose of the tow bar.
Why not at that point just hookon to the controlled arms?
But I guess, if you've alreadygot it, I don't know, I don't
really fully see how thesethings lift up either, like I
don't know what it is that youknow.
I mean, like, how you crankthis up?
(13:15):
Yeah I'd have to like it.
Looks like it just scoop slidestight like you, jack it up and
put I don't know, maybe I'm juststupid well, we all know that
you're just stupid but, but Idon't see any.
Maybe, maybe, if we will, we getflagged for this.
If, if we play the video, I canturn the audio off, okay, so
(13:40):
you put them close together.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Can you make it any bigger?
Oh, so it's got a little flipover.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Oh, okay, so it's like dollies.
Okay, that makes more sense now.
Okay, so it's like dollies onthe wheels.
Really, do you, really?
I mean, you probably shouldstrap it.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, you probably should, especially when you're
going to be pulling with themwell, I mean, I do kind of like
that toe bar because it keepsthe actual toe point lower from
the bumper right yeah, I like itbecause it's better than
crawling underneath it up.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Wait, why'd you put it in neutral?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
because the back tires are still on the ground so
why'd they do the front tires?
I don't know.
It's just a demonstration.
It doesn't make sense.
Maybe the front brakes arelocked up.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Maybe, but like what happened if this was?
Oh wait, we're looking at newtechnology.
Wait a second.
Is this motorcycle?
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, you can do the same thing.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You can use it as a motorcycle with the same piece
my god, the poor audio listenersare not getting the full effect
of this, but please head overto the youtube side and check
this out.
That is kind of sketchy as shityeah this video also looks like
it was filmed a very long timeago and they saw adapters for
(15:07):
missing wheels yeah I meancollins has some stuff figured
out.
Man, I'm telling you they'renot.
They're not.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I mean like if you bought into the system it does
seem like you can do.
It's got broken ball jointthings for your, just your brake
pads and rotors.
You can use it as a motorcyclecarrier plus your generic
emergency brake stuck on.
I think if you already had setof collins dollies and you
wanted to keep your loyalty tothe said company, you could
(15:37):
probably get some use out of it100.
But I mean to go out.
And if your only thing was, hey, I've got an issue, I've
already got the motorcycletransport figured out, I've
already got a set of standardball joint skates for anything
else, I wouldn't go out and buythis system just for the
(16:00):
emergency park breaks beingstuck.
I would.
I think it's good when you canincorporate it, like if you
didn't have a good method ofloading motorcycles by yourself
onto a deck and you're like, hey, this can do that Plus.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, what's a good method for loading motorcycles
on your deck.
Then, like, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
If you have a thing of um, uh, velcro, you wheel the
bike onto the bed, vicro downthe brake handle, put it over on
the kickstand.
Then you can slowly raise thebed up, put a strap on it before
you slowly raise it.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
It's still a little sketchy, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Yeah.
This thing's actually kind ofcool.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, I don't think I'd use the motorcycle side of
it, but it is cool.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah.
I mean for those big heavybikes, it could be useful.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Except the tiny little part gives you to flip
them over might be a bit of apain, but no, I'd be, I might
look, I might look at those, thewhole system, system, um, with
everything and, and everythingis listed as uh, twenty four
hundred dollars us on zips, um,I'm not sure if I can get just a
(17:16):
like, I just want two of thosecaster wheel things, maybe four
yeah I don't think I need to gospend um that on it.
But yeah, on Colin's websiteitself.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
The set comes with one pair of aluminum carrier
dollies, one pair of tie-downstraps, one aluminum tow bar,
one pair of bed ramps and thespecs.
It weighs about 75 pounds forthe complete set.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
The dolly weights 25 pounds and it's got a 4 000
pound capacity per dolly pairyeah, so okay, so the set of
four is 2400 on zips, the set oftwo is 1600.
Yeah, and, like I said, youdon't even need like that, that
pull bar from, depending on yourscenario.
Right, you get two back tiresthat are locked up, you put the
two on um, you get.
(18:06):
It's something that I mightlook into.
I'd like to like a little air.
I'm curious to the bigger tireson the um.
Uh, go, jacks that we werediscussing.
I'm interested in that as well,but it was at the.
Was there any more uh commentson or any more comments on?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
the youtube side that I gotta get to or no?
I think that's about it.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
No, so thank you, and do not just drag it in park.
Um, whoever that was, tonator,actually I have a mug of theirs.
Yeah, they brought me a metallike stainless steel, like, uh,
drink cup thing, yep water Waterbox thing, Okay, Uh yeah, like
a tumbler, and I've had it at mydesk since they gave it to me
(18:50):
and I use it Cause I drink a lotof water in the day.
I have the water machine andthe other day I was outside
talking to the guys with it, putit on the bed of my pickup
truck left, um went up the road,went to make a corner.
I was um went up the road, wentto make a corner.
I was in here, tink, tink, tink, tink, and I look back and I'm
like, oh no, it's my tonator cup.
And so I flipped around,stopped in the middle of the
(19:11):
turning lane, put my lights on,got out, got the cup, um, nobody
had hit the cup that's good um,it was a little scratched from
going across the road and, uh,they broke the lid.
Somebody must have ran over thelid.
Um, which was fine becausethey're so interchangeable, like
they're all standard sizetumblers, so I managed to get a
new one.
So, donator, your cup is stillsafe back on my desk, where it
(19:35):
belongs, and not on the bed ofmy pickup truck.
Um, so a couple other things.
So we got to the toe show.
We got into our YouTubecomments.
Was it last week or the weekafter that?
We talked about the open letterto Tasia.
Did we ever actually?
We talked about that on theshow.
I believe so About our inabilityto be able to Get training.
(19:57):
Get training, yeah, and lo andbehold, while we're looking
about show topics, a newsarticle pops up from August 19th
.
Hey, right around the time wewere talking about it.
New Ontario tow truck rulesrequire training not available
in the north.
The government focused on theGTA and didn't care about
anybody else as northernoperator.
(20:19):
We, the east, are with you.
We, the East are with you.
So small towing operatorsprovide an essential service in
Northern Ontario, where smallcommunities are dispersed along
highways that stretch acrossvast distances.
However, some of them tell CBCthey've been struggling to hire
new drivers to assist withroadside emergencies since
Ontario's officially imposed newindustry requirements on July
(20:41):
1st.
New tow drivers must nowcomplete an approved training
program involving onlinelearning and a one and one in
purse in person six hour session, but there are currently only
two authorized trainingproviders in Ontario, and one of
them one of them, CA club grouponly allows those in its
contracted networks to registerin their course.
(21:03):
That leaves rec master as thesole option for private
operators that need to hire newstaff.
This article is over on the CBC.
We will link it.
I will remember to link it inthe episode description this
time.
So it kind of goes over the.
You know we schedule them wherethe demand has been said.
Company president Justin Cruzadding less than a dozen
(21:26):
students from Northern Ontariohave enrolled in the course.
So RecMaster is kind of stuckin a hard spot Because they're
like look, I can't go up toThunder Bay and do a course
every three weeks Because therejust isn't the demand right.
There's costs that come withdoing this and we understand
(21:46):
that.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
But wasn't it when we first went over it?
It said at your choosing oflocation, Wasn't that something
in the TSEA?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Kind of yeah, yeah, but there's got to be an
available course for you tochoose.
There might be three differentlocations they can pick.
None of them are near you.
Pierre Deforge, who owns Le Ttowing, a small tow truck
operator based in north bay,said it's hard enough to recruit
experienced drivers, let alonecertified ones.
Everybody's license is work.
Who's like work whose licenseis working already.
(22:16):
After a few weeks of trying, heeventually hired someone and
paid them while they waited forthe one of the few available
spots for the in-person trainingin toronto wow, that's a nice
guy saying, hey, I'll take agamble on you and pay you while
you wait until this trainingcourse comes available yeah,
getting this person certifiedcost of four is fourteen hundred
(22:36):
dollars in course fees andtravel expenses, which he says a
lot of money to pay for a newhire that might not even end up
wanting to stay on the job.
They should give him a temporarysix-month certificate so people
can see the work really suitsthem.
He said oh my goodness, I'mgoing to the north.
They, you are my people.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's almost like they listen to our podcast I doubt
it was.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
No, I think this is like common sense prevailed in
this in many different areas.
Yeah, um alifon's towing andrecovery in Sturgeon falls.
Owner Pierre Lafon said thelack of access to training in
the North is proof.
The province was thinking aboutthis the South when it designed
this policy.
The government focused on theGTA and didn't care about
anybody else.
He said what about us smallcompanies up North?
We have to travel to do this.
(23:21):
It makes absolutely no sense todo this.
It makes absolutely no sense.
Um legault said he wanted hiscompany to become an approved
training provider as he hasseveral drivers with decades of
experience on his payroll, buthe didn't meet the criteria
listed in the applicationpackage the province sent to him
.
So it's like the package statesthat a potential provider has
(23:44):
to be a community college, aprivate career college, a
business providing educationalservices, a government or a
safety organization, so hiscompany couldn't qualify under
that to become a trainer for thecourse.
Yeah.
Right, but it's not like you'vebuilt this program but you never
set up the structure for it.
(24:05):
Yeah, sure they can have acourse in Toronto every three
weeks.
What is?
the rest of the provincesupposed to do Travel to Toronto
.
Yep, like, seriously, I've gotto send a guy four hours away to
do an eight hour course and andI mean we've all done it where
you could do four, eight andthen four back Right, it's not
(24:28):
practical, most people aren'tgoing to do that.
So you got to know a hotel,stay in there, right, probably.
Travel up the night before, dothe training course, travel back
that day, the next day, likekind of things.
You got hotel, you've got mealexpensive.
(24:50):
Have to for a guy.
You don't even know what'sgoing to make it.
So they're gonna say, well,that's fine, pass the cost on to
him.
Where is a new hire in anindustry like this going to find
?
Like they don't come over withwith savings built up half like
no, the economy is already in atough enough spot.
It's not realistic.
The government can sit thereand go oh yeah, that's the
solution.
You know, that's this, that'sthat like.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
you know everything's perfect, that like you know,
everything's perfect, but eveneven the ideal situation.
So let's say I myself have asafety net built up for a month,
months to three months of myliving expenses and I go and I
try to get a job in the towingindustry because I think it's
going to be a good fit, and Ilost my job, I got fired,
(25:25):
whatever the reason, and I'mstarting to eat away at my three
month emergency fund because Iplan for a situation like this.
My living expenses might be,let's say, $1,200 a month, which
is very low relatively speaking.
And I come to you and say Iwant a job and you're going to
say, okay, well, I'm going toneed about $1,400 for you to go
(25:48):
and do this training course andit could take a month.
Okay, well, in the idealscenario of someone with three
months living expenses with avery low monthly expense, that's
over a month of living expensesthat they need to pay, plus a
month of waiting period.
So that's just not in my eyesand a rational person's mind,
(26:12):
that's too much money and toomuch time to risk for a job that
I may not like because I'venever been in this industry
before.
Like that's just absurd.
I could go and get a part-timejob at a McDonald's or a Tim
Hortons or anything, even thoughI might hate that job, but get
money coming in with a lot lessrisk while looking for a better
(26:35):
job, right?
So, like, what's the incentive?
Yes, you, you heard in thestory where the operator,
probably like the owner of thecompany, was in a pinch and said
I need a driver, I will pay youto do this training course?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Yeah, that's 100% what happened.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Because if he's up in North Bay, what's the
population in North Bay?
Like 6,000, 8,000 people,probably.
No, it's bigger than that, Idon't know but like the
population that this company canactually choose from the hiring
pool 2021, it was 52,600.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
52,000.
6 or 8,000 people, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I always think places are a lot smaller than what
they actually are.
I'm always looking on theoutskirts, anyways, but still
50,000, 60,000 people.
How many people would actuallybe willing to become a tow truck
driver in that population?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, no, it's not limited, but it's not high.
And if you look, I believethey're probably the same
distance give or take fromToronto as I am.
You know what they're about,the same distance give or take
from Toronto as I am.
You know what they're about,the same distance.
And they're not the most north.
What's going on in Nippijan,Along these highways, around the
(27:58):
Trans-Canada, Out in Wawa?
These are real names for youguys listening in the States.
These are real names real namesfor you guys listening in the
States.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
These are real names.
What about if someone's in?
Speaker 3 (28:11):
the Sioux Thunder Bay Right.
The.
Sioux, yeah, like, yeah, like,you know, like, if they're going
to have these in, you know,let's say, toronto is going to
be the hub of training.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, and you?
You're a towing company out inthunder bay.
We're not talking flights,because flights probably it's a
(28:32):
15 hour drive yeah, from thunderbay to um toronto.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I thought it was north bay from the uh article
that you read?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
no, the article.
The article is from North Bay.
Okay, so North Bay goes up likestraight up from Barrie.
Yep, and you got.
Sudbury near there, but it's atwo-hour flight and it's a
15-hour drive.
If you had to send somebody fortraining in Toronto, yeah, like
(29:09):
are we?
And there's again not thefarthest.
Now I feel like once you get upin like Petwinuck and stuff
like north north, north north.
I'm a big believer.
I don't even know if there'sroads up there, but if there is,
they just ain't happening.
There's no MTO up there.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Like there's no you got tiny little towns like
Kenora that's up by the Winnipegborder.
Yeah, that would be exactly.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Kenora is another one , yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, how far away are they from Toronto?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
They're even farther.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
They're even farther, so um 19 hours and 30 minutes
with tolls and it's in adifferent time zone.
Yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
So there's all these towns and like there is a major
highway that runs through there,right, like even if you go up
through, um, north Bay andeverything like that, the 11,
like that's a major road, like,so you have towing companies
along all these stretches andwhat are they supposed to do?
So you know, we feel bad and wekind of you know, complain.
(30:18):
We're down in the east end ofit, but northern is is no better
.
You, you know, deep river,pembroke, petawawa, all those
like Ottawa hasn't even hosted,of course, our nation's capital,
which I had to explain to anAmerican recently that he's like
I heard there's no training inOttawa.
Didn't Ottawa pass the laws?
And I'm like, okay, we're goingto do geography here and a
(30:39):
little bit of Canadian politicson how this works.
Um, yes, of canadian politicson how this works.
Um, yes, ottawa is our nationalcapital, it is not our
provincial capital.
Our provincial capital is wherethe tow trucks keep shooting
each other.
Yeah, and and and we're sketchycompanies have created the
introduction of to see, ya, um,I mean, ottawa was actually
pretty sketchy for a bit too,but yep, besides, fact, so it's,
(31:02):
it's nice to see that we're notalone in this fight.
Right, the, the north, and andyou know good on cbc, I find for
covering something, yep,besides the fact.
So it's nice to see that we'renot alone in this fight Right,
the North, and you know good onCBC, I find for covering
something.
I don't read their articles alltoo often but yeah, it goes on
to the show Like we're not alonein this.
(31:22):
So hopefully the governmenttakes some of this seriously,
some of these letters, and youknow, can start either again
bringing in this temporarylicense Cause again, if I can
wait six months and get an eyeon a guy and get a pulse and you
know my thumb on the pulse ofif I think he can be an operator
it it lessens the sting.
It doesn't eliminate the sting,but it lessens the sting of
(31:45):
having to spend that kind ofmoney to send them four hours
away to do a course.
I don't think that it's.
That is even feasible still forthe North, but it lessens the
sting of it.
Right now it is currently setup in a way where you, you, you
just take all the risk and sendthis guy and hope and pray that
he works out.
I don't think that's practicalfor a lot of towing companies in
(32:07):
Canada or in Ontario.
And don't be mistaken, we arethe guinea pig for what is
coming for the rest of Canada.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, it's a cluster and I, when I went and did my z
endorsement, I talked to thatcollege because it's technically
a college that does trucktraining.
They could do the course.
And I said I was like have youguys thought about hosting, uh,
the stuff for the towing, likethe towing training course for
(32:35):
the new?
To see a loss.
And they're like no, we didn't,we, I don't think we can do it.
I was like, well, have youlooked into it?
Like no, but we're a college soI don't think we'd be able to
do it.
I was like no, I you would beable to do it and there is a
demand for it.
The only downfall is you are abrick and mortar facility so you
would have to have the peoplecome to you.
But there's definitely a demandfor it.
(32:57):
I would look into it because itcould potentially be a good
revenue stream for you and Ithink if we can get other
driving schools knowledge aboutthis and get them on board with
it yeah, and have a trainingcourse that they can just put in
once a month, whatever, if thedemand's there would definitely
help yeah
Speaker 3 (33:18):
right no, absolutely, and get this going and, and you
know, more trainers, lessproblems.
Right, like, you can open theavailability.
It still doesn't cover the factof these companies though, like
rec master or like anyone who'sproviding course, have to
provide, like, have to have aneed to go into a region, have
to have enough numbers to makethis profitable.
(33:39):
Again, they're not a non-profitcompany.
No, they're not doing thistraining.
If anything, you could saythey're old training.
They were doing more for thebetterment of the industry.
This they're doing out of purenecessity, yeah, but at the same
time, they have to make profitwhile doing it, and if not, well
, they're not going to be around.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I.
They have to make profit whiledoing it.
If not, well, they're not goingto be around.
I don't know, it's a, it's acluster, and there's a reason
why I'm kind of glad that I'mnot directly involved in the
industry anymore, just becauseno, you were stupid to not get
yours before the deadline.
Yeah, but I wasn't even suresince I didn't wasn't currently
working with a towing company ifI could even apply.
Yeah, that's not one of theapplication questions what
towing company if?
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I could even apply.
Yeah, that's not one of theapplication questions.
What towing company do you workfor?
Oh well, I don't know.
And the certificate or thelicense or whatever it is they
call it again, it sticks withyou as an operator, not with
your company.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So once you had that, but did you need to provide
proof that you were a tow truckoperator?
No, so anyone could have justwent out and got a In theory.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, I had a new hire that I hired right before.
Yeah, that I got in like rightbefore and there was no, no, hmm
, no, I'm pretty sure my my likehealth and safety rep, who
comes out to our wrecks andtakes photos, has a tow license,
just in case we had to get herto drive a tow truck now to a
(35:03):
scene for something, you needthe tow license like no, there
was no, which is really stupidlike anyone literally could
apply yeah before the deadline.
now they're like well, you'd bestupid if you want to pay this
money and you're not a tow truckdriver, so yeah, yeah, it's
welcome to Ontario on terrible.
(35:27):
Worst case Ontario.
Um, so I want to follow up.
Remember a story we shared backwhen on the show about a
company in San Francisco thatwas raided by the FBI?
Oh yeah, forgot about that.
Oh yeah, specialty towing downin San Francisco.
(35:50):
Well, the list of charges.
We found a followup, the listof charges have come out against
them and I'm not going to lie,they're pretty clever.
Hmm.
Um, they're pretty clever.
Um, so if in a federal grandjury out in a federal grand jury
, indictment returned august20th, jose vincent, I'm gonna
(36:11):
guess it's jose vincent.
Uh, jose vincent badillo andkiro afanasaev?
Uh, jason naraja and jamierespicio we're charged with.
And Kirill Afanasyev, jasonNaraja and Jamie Respicio.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You're trying to pronounce those names, not I.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Yeah, we're charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and
wire fraud in connection withtwo schemes to defraud auto
insurance companies.
The US Department of Justiceannounced Wednesday so they were
rated on all this fraud.
Fbi, you know you need to put alittle knocking on the door,
FBI.
Yeah, so a couple of them,badillo and Jessica Elizabeth
(36:48):
Naharro, were arrested thismonth and charged with money
laundering and fraud afterfederal prosecutors said they
purchased a wrecked car, thenput insurance on it, then cashed
a $34,000 insurance check forit after falsely claiming they
were in an accident.
(37:08):
The couple own and operatemultiple towing companies in San
, bought a smashed car then putinsurance on it and then claimed
they were involved in a singlevehicle accident and the car was
(37:30):
a total loss by the sounds ofthe check.
And then one of their multipletowing companies that they own
submitted an invoice toinsurance to insurance company
for the towing and storage andrecovery of said vehicle.
Nice, I mean, it's pretty cleveryeah but not clever enough,
(37:55):
because they got caught.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Um well, it's clever, it's just they didn't implement
it in the correct way.
Yeah, it wasn't executed.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, as part of a second scheme, badillo Raspiazzo
are accused of submittingfraudulent insurance claim on a
wrecked car that Afanasyevpurchased in May 2019.
The indictment alleges that thecar was not drivable when they
bought it.
They obtained an insurancepolicy on the vehicle, then
(38:26):
again reported they met, so itwas multiple times that they did
this.
The insurance company approvedthe claim and sent Resposito a
check for $47,856.34.
They were arrested.
A check for $47,856.34.
They were arrested and releasedon $50,000 bonds.
(38:47):
They're due in court September9th for their initial appearance
and arraignment.
There is nothing yet on whatthey what is like maximums that
they're looking at.
Oh, yeah, the police launchedan investigation into the
(39:07):
company in April after a viralvideo appeared to show one of
its trucks trying to tow anoccupied car in downtown San
Francisco.
So, like it all came to lightbecause they started getting
investigated after they tried totow a car with a person like
man, you went on a rough, yeah,so we talked about that, like
(39:27):
last week or two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
If you're gonna do something dumb, you don't want
to draw attention to yourselfand that's just drawing
attention to yourself 100?
Speaker 3 (39:39):
no, it's, it's well, that was probably you know, a
worker doing something stupid,and but no, it's true.
Everyone.
Every time we impounded avehicle or you read it in the
police blotter in our area wouldit be like you know, police
sees like a couple kilograms ofdrugs, yeah, and it's like the
vehicle was traveling 40, 50kilometers above the speed limit
on the highway and you're likewhy If?
(40:01):
You're going to be dumb.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
You've got to be tough.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, and you're about to find out if you're
tough.
Yeah, so no, it's.
I mean, it's a bad look for thetowing industry when we read
these kind of articles like thatwas a joke we made when we were
going through looking forarticles right, we're like, hmm,
we want to talk about this now.
(40:23):
I'd rather not talk about a badthing like that.
And then it's like oh yeah, butI also can't find good, like I
can't.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
I think I looked through 40 different headlines
and there was like one good oneI found one that's decent, and I
say decent because the headlineand I will put a link in the
description.
The headline is CAA-Quebec todeploy first electric tow truck
and I have a picture of it herewhich I am currently saving to
(40:52):
overlay.
It is ugly as fuck.
It is like the ugliest flatbedI have ever seen in my life.
And have you seen a picture ofit playing guy, Are you pulling
it?
Speaker 3 (41:07):
back.
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure I can pull it off.
I'll pull it up on the screenthough.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah, it's a cab over truck and it's got like a set
of race ramps underneath thedeck, which is cool, but it's
got zero toolbox space otherthan the headache toolbox that
it has on a for the light pylon,because it's got the battery
where the toolboxes would beunderneath the bed.
So I'm not a big fan of that.
(41:33):
However, the article goes onsaying CA is deploying what it
says is the first all-electrictow truck in North America, a
Lion 5 that will serve theQuebec market.
The move comes 80 years afterthe company introduced its first
horse-drawn towing services.
The towing platform was builtby X-Pac Industries.
(41:59):
Roadside assistance the flopheadportion.
No, it comes 80 years after thefirst horse-drawn towing
service, I guess for caa.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
I want to know how many horses caa had roadside
assistance has always been caquebec's dna.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Well, obviously that's what the fucking company
does.
Uh, and it goes without sayingthat we are taking the lead in
electric towing.
We are have a responsibility toset an example and take
leadership role in protectingthe environment, said mary
solely tremble, a president andce a news release.
(42:38):
The truck has a capacity of 210kilowatt and a range of up to
310 kilometers, which I guess isokay for city towing, but it
would not be, good where we are.
The 800-volt battery packs aredesigned by Lion Electric.
Ca plans to put the truckthrough its paces in a variety
of towing situations and weatherconditions in the coming months
(43:00):
.
They also operate otherelectric vehicles, including a
high and I uh I icon iotic thatI think it's iotic.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
I can't read it.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
I don't have the article open, but yeah, yeah,
ford f-150 hybrid and an f-150lightning, oh an f-150 lightning
.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
They Ooh an F-150.
Lightning they're starting tosee more and more of those.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, I mean we're going to see more stuff like
this.
I'm looking forward to theEdison Motors trucks when they
come out.
I kind of want to talk aboutthem more.
I'm going to reach out to themto see if we can actually get
them on the show.
I'm going to reach out to themto see if we can actually get
them on the show.
But obviously a full electrictow truck.
(43:43):
You're going to run into theissues of you get on scene to do
a wreck and the police need youto sit there and wait.
And well, you're on the side ofthe highway so you need to have
your beacon lights on.
Or what if this recovery takesa long time and you gotta keep
manipulating the pedal that'sjust draining down your battery
to where a hybrid option?
You always have the generatorbuilt in that can keep you
(44:06):
topped up.
We are seeing more and morewhere we have to go and pick up
electric cars that have ran outof charge, and you're going to
do that when electric tow truckthat also has that ability to
run out of a charge dodge isactually, uh, coming up with
very similar technology to the,uh, the edison motors truck.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Yeah, um, they are working on, yeah, where the
electric motors power it, butit's a diesel generator on top
and there's advantages which,like said, we can look into more
, where they can run coloreddiesel and everything, because
it's not the main sourcepropulsion.
Um, ironically, while I endedup down this rabbit hole to see
if cia owned horses, um, I foundcia's timeline oh, uh 1903, 27
(44:54):
motorists gather at queen's park, toronto, to form the toronto
automobile club club.
Um, dr perry e doolittle I shityou not.
Um is the first president.
The founding members ofcanada's first advocacy group
(45:14):
for motorists take mpps on aride to show it is safe to
increase the speed limit fromeight miles an hour to 10 miles
an hour.
Wow, the imperial system backthen.
Yeah, um, yeah, the firstlegislation dealing with motor
vehicles enacted caa publishesthe first official road guide of
(45:35):
canada, 1906 yeah, that's allca was and triple a was was like
a car club yeah, and it gavepeople resources on.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
If you're going here, these are the numbers that
you're going to need or theseare the people you got to talk
to if you have an issue what'scrazy is the first tow truck by
ernest holmes wasn't built until1916 yeah like 1916, canadian
automobile federation changesname from canadian automobile
association.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
That's the first tow truck is around and the caf
becomes ca.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Yeah yeah, so for the first 16, 17 years it was just
if a car broke down, you eitherpushed it or you got a horse 13
years technically from when theum.
Again, that was the when they Idon't know when the car was
actually sold, yeah yeah theyhad prototypes of steam powered
(46:34):
vehicles prior, but it wasn't myyeah, but actual, like what we
consider a modern day automobile.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
But yeah, it is ironic that, uh, literally the
first tow trucks created andthey become ca but we had this
conversation on our last live,I'm pretty sure where they
didn't come out with crash testdummies till after world war ii
then we advocated to increasethe speed limits of 50 miles an
(47:01):
hour in urban centers and 20miles an hour in rural areas.
But yeah, no, it's, it's crazy,um, how far they've come.
But yes, electric tow trucksscary thing, um not scary, I
mean, technology's got toadvance.
And a lot of people say that,like you're a big believer,
right, you do the same thing.
Oh well, it's not practical tohave that kind of range.
(47:23):
You're right, it's not.
But technology isn't going toadvance unless we're using the
technology right, like if youdon't start money in that
industry to help advancementexactly right, like you know,
does it make sense for Tesla toknow?
You know, like there's, there'sall kinds of stuff that you
(47:44):
know it's got to advance, but itonly advances during, um, you
know, when there's productionand there's money going in, when
there's interest in it, whenthere's, when there's money
behind it.
So, will you see, I still thinkyou know hybrid ideas or these.
You know and we'll get into itmore on a future episode about
the you know this Edison motorstyle of truck, right, the Dodge
(48:05):
is launching.
Well, like I said, dodge islaunching one as well.
I can't remember what they'recalling it.
See, if I can get a quick namefor you, is it?
Speaker 1 (48:24):
the dodge, which does make sense because most engines
are ram, charger the ramcharger.
That used to be a great name,that's.
It's not a new name.
They're bringing that back uh,no, but it used to be like a
pickup with a station wagon backover top of the bed yeah, you
can understand the reference inthis ram charger diesel charges
itself.
Yeah, but, generator a lot morefuel efficient.
(48:46):
The wear is a lot less becausethey run on a constant rpm they
can be designed to run at thatconstant rpm instead of the
fluctuating.
Because diesel generators are alot less maintenance hungry, as
over the road diesels are right.
So you you're getting all theperks of that, plus the perks of
(49:06):
immediate torque with electricmotors.
Like I'm not against electricvehicles, like the concept, they
do bring a lot of benefits tothe whole driving aesthetic and
ability to go down the road.
I just don't like the fact thatour infrastructure isn't there
(49:27):
to give you the freedom that acar normally gives you as to
like.
There's gas pumps and dieselpumps within 50, 100 kilometer
ranges, no matter where you go.
So as long as you plan outahead, you know you're good
Right.
And it's only when you getfurther and further North where
you actually have to startplanning out of hey, where am I
(49:49):
stopping for fuel?
Where an electric vehicle?
You got to do that almostanywhere.
You got to plan your routearound your charging stations.
And with in the industry oftowing, where you never know
exactly where you're going to go, that becomes a bit of a bigger
oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yeah, a lot more of an issue.
Or, you know, you run out ofcharge halfway through.
Um, I can't.
There's so many things that cango on on that, so no, but you
know it comes back to what wetalked about last week is is not
stopping innovation, right?
You don't need it.
You don't need it but you mightwant it, right, peter?
That line so many times lastweek that it made my head spin.
(50:27):
But yeah, no, it's, it's.
I think there's going to befuture advances in it.
So I'm very interested and wewill get some more information
on the Edison truck.
Um, that being said, rememberwe will be at the ptao tow show
10 days from the day thisepisode comes out september 13th
, 14th for the professionaltowing association of ontario's
annual tow show.
There's a show and shine,there's a procession, a parade,
(50:49):
there's a bunch of vendors therewere there.
I mean, what more do you need?
Um, a lot of deals on there'sfood this year there's food this
year.
Go to, if you get a chance andyou haven't in the past.
Go to the meet and greet on thefriday night at the waterloo
brewery.
It is such a good time and Inormally leave with such a good
buzz.
(51:10):
Um, the water lou brewery isgreat.
It gets packed in that place,mind, mind you, but the
bartenders are phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yeah, um and we normally hang out on the, out on
the patio.
Yeah, just a little fake.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
Yeah yeah yeah, awesome Little patio fire pits.
Um.
So, yeah, head on over toKitchener, book it now.
There's camping Jeez, haulingdown at night.
I mean to down like a trailer.
Yep, um, he can.
He can like.
If you reach out to him, youcan probably go stay with him.
I think he's got a whole house.
He's bringing a whole housedown.
Yeah, um, him and hisgirlfriend are probably looking
(51:46):
for company, so I mean we gotour dog.
We're bringing our dog and justand just crashing his trailer.
It they have cabins, campingspots.
Um Airbnb is in the area.
There's awesome hotels um thatyou can check out as well.
Um, there's a woman's aluncheon.
My wife normally attends.
I think she's going to beattending again this year Um
(52:06):
really promoting women in theindustry.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
Uh, there's speakers to go that last year, which kind
of defeats the purpose.
Why wasn't she voluntold to goto that?
Yeah, but she really liked it.
Speaker 3 (52:17):
She actually, like I asked her after was it like a
good idea that you went, orwhatever?
And it wasn't that, she wasvoluntold.
It's that we, like the company,wanted to support something and
so we're like, all right, we'llsupport you know, like we'll,
we'll buy tickets to this andand see what we can send and
stuff.
And yeah, I know she had agreat time with it.
She thought it was really good.
So, um, there's that.
There's training.
(52:37):
There is this training that youcan't get for new operators
that will be hosted at thecourse that is they are offering
.
It could be full.
So hurry up and head over toptaoorg and, you know, maybe
confirm your spot, or if you'rethrough RecMaster, it should be
through them.
If you've completed your onlineportion, you might see it
(52:57):
available as an in-person coursein your area soon.
So we will see you in kitchenerat the show september 13th and
14th.
Other than that, we will seeyou again, so we'll will we see
them again next week?
We're gonna see them on.
This comes out on the third andthen it comes out on the 10th
and then it, yeah, okay, so wewill see you guys one more time
(53:20):
before we actually go to theshow.
So, on behalf of myself, mywonderful co-host, mr Tomangy,
we thank you for coming out foranother episode of the Tom and
Life podcast and we will see youagain next week.
Take care, toodles.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.