Transcripts
Welcome everyone to Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lori Boyer from EasyPost, and I am excited today because we
Speaker:are, have been doing kind of a series looking into peak season that's coming
Speaker:up here before we know it of 2025.
Speaker:And we have brought on a really, really cool expert in the transportation space.
Speaker:So we're gonna be talking everything capacity, demand, what
Speaker:what's happening with freight.
Speaker:This upcoming season, obviously Colby, oh, I gave away his name a little bit.
Speaker:Colby is gonna be here to talk to us and, and can predict but
Speaker:doesn't have all the answers.
Speaker:So we're gonna be chatting about that today.
Speaker:Really excited.
Speaker:We have Colby Varley on.
Speaker:Colby, can you go ahead and introduce yourself just a little bit?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Good morning Lori.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker:Colby Varley.
Speaker:Advanced Transportation Services.
Speaker:We're headquartered here at Salinas, California and I'm currently the
Speaker:vice president and principal.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:So, one thing before we dive into our topic, and I'm gonna be asking
Speaker:him everything Colby's seen.
Speaker:Colby has a super cool background.
Speaker:He was telling me all about it.
Speaker:He's grown up basically with logistics and supply chain coming out his
Speaker:ears since he was in in the cradle.
Speaker:So really great expert for us here to be able to learn from.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:Before we even start, and I love this question for you, Colby, because of
Speaker:the fact that you have been around the industry for so long, who is a person
Speaker:that you really admire in the industry and and why do you admire that person?
Speaker:Sure, absolutely.
Speaker:So probably two people.
Speaker:Definitely my dad.
Speaker:Without him none of this would've been possible.
Speaker:He's on the produce side.
Speaker:But just growing up around that you know.
Speaker:What's your dad's name, Colby?
Speaker:Guy.
Speaker:Guy Varley.
Speaker:So he's been in the industry 40 plus years and really well known in his niche.
Speaker:He specializes in cantaloupe and honey dews so anybody kind
Speaker:of in that arena knows him.
Speaker:And also our, our founder Marshall Kipp he formed ATS in 1984.
Speaker:And anybody that's kind of dealt with highly perishable food and produce and
Speaker:logistics most likely knows Marshall.
Speaker:Kind of really the, the kingpin of over the road transportation.
Speaker:Great reputation, just a awesome individual.
Speaker:Oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker:And shout out to Guy.
Speaker:I just wanna say, I love honeydew.
Speaker:I love cantaloupe.
Speaker:They're like my favorite summertime fruits.
Speaker:So thank goodness we have people like your dad who have overseen that
Speaker:for so long to make sure that I can get my yummy treat in the summer.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:We are getting so many questions about peak 2025.
Speaker:You know, the world's just kind of crazy night right now between
Speaker:tariffs and capacity, demand.
Speaker:What, what we're seeing, so I just wanna ask kind of a
Speaker:general question for you, Colby.
Speaker:What do you feel like is different heading into this peak season?
Speaker:Or do you feel like it's still kind of same as as a typical season?
Speaker:What, what are you anticipating?
Speaker:Just all factors are kind of anticipating flatline from our from our side.
Speaker:So, you know, we're looking at a couple factors, obviously you know, not to
Speaker:get political, but the economy there's a lot of stuff going on globally.
Speaker:And it seems like consumers can tighten the belt a little bit more you
Speaker:know, with all the immigration and deportations going on, like, you know,
Speaker:we don't have to go down that route.
Speaker:But at the end of the day, those are mouths that are, are eating you
Speaker:know, food that's grown and, bought and sold here in the United States.
Speaker:So, you know, I don't know what the exact number is, but when you move that
Speaker:amount of mass people outside of our network there's less orders, right?
Speaker:Whether it's food banks, whether it's grocery stores, whether it's restaurants
Speaker:like they're, they're not having the same amount of mouth to feed that
Speaker:we've had over the last few years.
Speaker:So we're seeing a lot of that.
Speaker:Obviously the tariffs have kind of played a a, a part here and there,
Speaker:you know, Canada wasn't too happy.
Speaker:And I know they kind of cut a lot of our grower shipper
Speaker:partners off for a little bit.
Speaker:I think that's starting to change.
Speaker:They're, they're coming back in but also it's summertime, so they have their own
Speaker:stuff growing up there, so they don't rely as heavily on the United States.
Speaker:So those are just a few of the factors.
Speaker:I mean, we've seen it, if you look at where we are now to where
Speaker:we were last year and the year before our load count is down.
Speaker:And that's, that's, that's not, you know, you could go talk to the customer
Speaker:and say, hey, our load count is down.
Speaker:And they tell you the same thing.
Speaker:Like, hey, our order count is down.
Speaker:It's not that you're doing anything wrong, but we're seeing less POs
Speaker:coming from our customers, which is obviously goes to the end user.
Speaker:And that seems to be the consensus that we've gathered
Speaker:from a lot of our clientele.
Speaker:You know, their orders are down so I think those are some of the, the main
Speaker:drivers of why we're seeing kind of a softer, flatter freight market.
Speaker:And then also, you know, I mean, I remember as a kid you know, people
Speaker:were talking about supermarkets and grocery stores going on ad, right?
Speaker:Like, you'd see the, the paper, right?
Speaker:With, hey, come get this a special, you know, 1.99 or 99 cents.
Speaker:I feel like that doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker:Like you, you talk to people that are selling the supermarkets and
Speaker:whatnot, like, yeah, there might be some ads, but like back in the day,
Speaker:you know, they take 25, 30 loads on a certain item and just blow 'em out.
Speaker:And now it's like they'll go on ad, but they're only taking
Speaker:maybe two or three or four loads.
Speaker:So
Speaker:... Why, why do you think that is?
Speaker:I think a lot of that might be due to COVID that the prices got so inflated.
Speaker:Cause I can tell you like the prices, we got inflated.
Speaker:Everyone was complaining.
Speaker:Everyone's still complaining, right?
Speaker:When you go to the grocery store, hey, my grocery bill's two,
Speaker:three times what it should be.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:But then on the other side of the spectrum, our freight rates are
Speaker:down, the market is way down, right?
Speaker:So the freight cost is substantially down from COVID.
Speaker:Then you go talk to a grower shipper and they can't even sell this stuff, right?
Speaker:Like there's no market.
Speaker:There's so much product that there's no market.
Speaker:But then you go to the supermarket and the prices are still inflated.
Speaker:So I, I think the grocery chain or the retailer has figured out, hey, we, we
Speaker:had to raise these prices during COVID.
Speaker:The consumer's still paying 'em, like why would we lower 'em if our
Speaker:cost is, you know, kind of less.
Speaker:So, I, I'm pretty confident, I mean, I don't have factual data, but I mean, you
Speaker:could do napkin math and say, hey, the prices haven't come down, but the, you
Speaker:know, cost to get it there and the cost of what they're buying it for has come down.
Speaker:So, you know, obviously they're probably making the, the major margin there.
Speaker:And if you don't, if you don't lower that cost at the consumer level,
Speaker:they're not gonna push packages.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One of the challenges as we come into peak for everyone then who is listening?
Speaker:Who doesn't ship those critical goods, right?
Speaker:Like, I have to still buy my groceries, my kids have to still eat.
Speaker:That's just how life is.
Speaker:But it trickles down to everyone else because we stop buying kind
Speaker:of the, the nice to have things because we have to spend more on
Speaker:the necessities and on the basics.
Speaker:And so that does like hit demand kind of all across the industry.
Speaker:What are customers or, or shippers for you seeing, what, what are they
Speaker:doing to try to offset this sort of falling demand you're seeing?
Speaker:I feel like they're behind it.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:They're, they're still, everyone's chasing it.
Speaker:I don't think they really.
Speaker:Reactive.
Speaker:Yeah, they're, they're reactive.
Speaker:I think everybody put stuff in the ground thinking it was gonna
Speaker:be a little bit better from the wintertime, and it just hasn't changed.
Speaker:So, I don't know.
Speaker:You know, ultimately there's too much supply in the market right now.
Speaker:Which, you know, telling a farmer to try and plant less
Speaker:is, can be difficult, right?
Speaker:They're, they're, they're trying to grow, they wanna plant more acres, but if you're
Speaker:not seeing a, a profitable return on that, you know, it's, it's not gonna work.
Speaker:So I, I know that our shipper partners, they're feeling the
Speaker:pressure from the retail side.
Speaker:Because there's so much product in the marketplace.
Speaker:People are so hungry for business that you know, people are coming back to
Speaker:them on existing contracts and saying, hey, I'd like to re-look at this.
Speaker:Like, you know, we're seeing some
Speaker:lower pricing, you know, that we try and take advantage of, which
Speaker:they're just doing business, right?
Speaker:I mean, they're, they're looking out for their best interest.
Speaker:So I think until either the economy picks up, you know, there's some
Speaker:price adjustments at the store level, or there's a shift in supply,
Speaker:whether that's people are gonna plant less or there's some sort of,
Speaker:weather event.
Speaker:There's some sort of insect event.
Speaker:You know, a couple years ago we, we got hit with some pretty heavy insect
Speaker:here in the Salinas Valley that took out a lot of the lettuce crop.
Speaker:So we need something of that sort to drive a market.
Speaker:Right now it's just flatline.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So obviously with softer demand, you know, that affects the
Speaker:freight volumes and whatnot.
Speaker:Are there any areas you're seeing maybe geographically or,
Speaker:or within, you know, different sectors that are being particularly
Speaker:hit harder or, or doing better?
Speaker:We've been really struggling outta Washington since the onions and
Speaker:potatoes have stopped up there.
Speaker:The blueberries and the cherries have not really taken off.
Speaker:So that's been a really tough area for us to get out of.
Speaker:Texas has been really tough.
Speaker:Just not enough freight going anywhere out of there.
Speaker:Usually this time of year, like Nogales, Arizona and Yuma Arizona is
Speaker:really, capacity gets really tight.
Speaker:The Mexican grape crop, they're estimating about a 2 million box loss out there.
Speaker:They got hit with some pretty heavy weather and some of the
Speaker:Mexican grape growing regions.
Speaker:So you take 2 million boxes out of the equation, that that's a lot of trucks
Speaker:that they're not gonna get loads.
Speaker:On the cantaloupe deal, it seems like those shippers, they
Speaker:can't get outta their own way.
Speaker:I mean, they're, they're doing anything they can to get somebody to take an order.
Speaker:And there seems to be plenty of capacity to pick 'em up.
Speaker:So it just seems like everywhere is really flat.
Speaker:You know, but I would say like Texas and, washington or Pacific
Speaker:Northwest are just brutal for us right now to get a truck out of there.
Speaker:I mean, we've had trucks every week dead heading back to California to come pick up
Speaker:a load 'cause there's just nothing there.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:And so how, how does it work when you do get such low demand?
Speaker:Do you still ship out smaller amounts in the truck?
Speaker:Do you, I mean, how, how does that work from the, the freight standpoint?
Speaker:Do you just say, no, we don't take a small amount or.
Speaker:So since COVID you know, at that time they were shipping
Speaker:just whatever they could, right?
Speaker:Whether it was half a truck or quarter of a truck, like they were just shipping it.
Speaker:Well, since then, that trend has really reversed.
Speaker:So now everybody is maximizing their cube space.
Speaker:So for us, it's either maxed out on weight or they're maxing out on pallet space.
Speaker:So for us, like none of these trucks are going light or you know, with room on 'em.
Speaker:These guys are maximizing the space to get every dollar out of it that they can.
Speaker:But for us, you know, there, there is a kind of a, an area where
Speaker:we'll say, hey, you know because we're not the cheap guys, right?
Speaker:We're, we're a value ad customer or client and you know, there's,
Speaker:you have to pay for that service.
Speaker:Now, obviously the market's gonna dictate how much we can charge for that, you
Speaker:know, but we're normally, you know, a few hundred dollars more than somebody else.
Speaker:But there's some customers that are just so bottom of the barrel
Speaker:that it's like, hey, I, I, I'm not gonna be able to cover it at that
Speaker:rate, like I'm gonna have to pass.
Speaker:Because, you know, we're not trying to lose money.
Speaker:And it seems like on the ones that you're, don't have enough money
Speaker:and you really struggle on 'em.
Speaker:And then it's like you end up having a service failure and
Speaker:then you look, you know, bad.
Speaker:You can't get it done.
Speaker:So it's like losing money.
Speaker:Yeah, you don't wanna, so it's, you know, we found that it's
Speaker:better to just politely decline.
Speaker:We've kind of gotten to the point that no business is better than bad business.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Oh, I like that.
Speaker:No business is better than bad business.
Speaker:That's, that's it.
Speaker:And, and clarify, like go, go expand on that.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So, I mean, are you gonna take an order and lose $500 or are you gonna pass
Speaker:on the order and not lose anything?
Speaker:For people, Colby, who are maybe kind of new to transportation, you know, is
Speaker:there an easy way to know for sure that they're going to be, you know, this is
Speaker:bad business, this is, I'm gonna be lost.
Speaker:Do you just have to stick to your formulas and, and calculate it?
Speaker:I know some people are taking stuff just to get any business
Speaker:and then they do have up losing.
Speaker:Yeah, so for us, I mean, we've been doing it 40 years.
Speaker:Last year we did around 20,000 shipments, so we have like a pretty
Speaker:good understanding day-to-day of what we're feeling, you know, and, and
Speaker:what we're talking with our carrier partners and, you know, taking their
Speaker:temperature and, and kind of seeing like, yo, you'll know if you're under,
Speaker:you know, under market on an order, like they're gonna call you out on it.
Speaker:Like, hey, dude, like you, you're, that's, that's too cheap.
Speaker:So you have an idea and then you know, you, you're working with other
Speaker:customers and seeing other loads on similar, similar lanes, right?
Speaker:It might be going in the same direction from a similar area, so you, you
Speaker:know, you can gauge it like, hey, I, I'm getting paid X from somebody else
Speaker:in that same exact lane like, I know I can't do it for $500 less, right?
Speaker:Like I'm already doing it for somebody else.
Speaker:So just the internal data that we have communicating with our vendors,
Speaker:market, market conditions that's where we're kind of, you know, learning
Speaker:day to day on what we feel the right rate is or what it's gonna take to
Speaker:provide the standard of service that, you know, we're looking to uphold.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:So a couple of great callouts there.
Speaker:If you're, you know, wondering what's going on, be
Speaker:communicating with your vendors.
Speaker:You mentioned being in contact with your carrier partners.
Speaker:You mentioned looking at your internal data.
Speaker:So going back, even if you are newer, you know, we had a bunch pop up around
Speaker:COVID and different things happening.
Speaker:If you are newer, go back and look at your data and try to
Speaker:create some sort of understanding.
Speaker:Earlier you also mentioned, Colby, that you've moved people from
Speaker:locations that aren't doing well.
Speaker:So you mentioned bringing trucks out of Washington to go down
Speaker:to California or something.
Speaker:So obviously kind of keeping an eye on geographically
Speaker:what's working well for you.
Speaker:Any other tips I guess.
Speaker:If you're looking to like, try to figure out where you should be focusing your
Speaker:efforts, especially if we're coming up to a peak where maybe, you know,
Speaker:capacity is, there's plenty of it and, and we've got low volume going out.
Speaker:Any tips?
Speaker:You've been there 40 years in your company doing this, you know, how do you survive
Speaker:kind of these, these difficult times?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So for us, I mean, it's really staying true to what we do.
Speaker:We specialize in highly perishable fruit and produce.
Speaker:So I would say to your question, anybody like looking, what should I do?
Speaker:Be, stay in your niche, stay in your lane, and become the expert in that field.
Speaker:Whether you're doing dry freight, whether you're doing bulk tanker,
Speaker:whether you're doing flatbed obviously.
Speaker:The, all the markets fluctuate all the time.
Speaker:But we just stay true to highly perishable food and produce.
Speaker:Like if flatbeds just going crazy, like to me it's like good for those guys.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But I'm not trying to be a, I'm not trying to be a flatbed guy just because
Speaker:the market's going absolutely crazy.
Speaker:Okay, love that.
Speaker:I just am gonna point that out, so don't give into that temptation
Speaker:to be like, maybe I should expand what I do and, and okay.
Speaker:So stay in your lane, literally here in our transportation, but stay in your lane.
Speaker:Stick with your niche and okay, that's great.
Speaker:Anything else advice there?
Speaker:Those are probably, you know, that, that's probably the, the best piece of advice.
Speaker:You know, and, and just know that there's gonna be good times,
Speaker:there's gonna be bad times.
Speaker:And hopefully the good outweighs the bad.
Speaker:But we found that just sticking in our lane.
Speaker:Constant obedience in the same direction, that's worked the best for us.
Speaker:What, what are you seeing in terms of like balancing costs and service?
Speaker:You mentioned that you're like high quality that you, you know,
Speaker:aren't the cheapest out there.
Speaker:Are we seeing priority shift, you know, during times like this towards
Speaker:that kind of reliability and you know, just really great service?
Speaker:I guess, how do we balance service and, and cost?
Speaker:How do you do that?
Speaker:So for us, obviously service is the number one thing.
Speaker:And you know, we do have to charge a little bit more for that.
Speaker:And I think it really comes down to who your customer is.
Speaker:So we're targeting customers that are shipping highly
Speaker:perishable food and produce.
Speaker:So for example, you know, a customer that's shipping a load of blueberries,
Speaker:that's $250,000 load value.
Speaker:They're not tripping over a couple hundred bucks.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But somebody that's shipping paper towels or toilet paper, they might
Speaker:be more concerned about that.
Speaker:You know, if the load doesn't get there when it's supposed to
Speaker:get there, it's not a big deal.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:It's not gonna the toilet paper's not gonna go bad.
Speaker:For us on any produce shipment, the difference between being one
Speaker:day late is the difference of that produce making it through quality
Speaker:control of that receiver and not.
Speaker:So not only are you getting the load rejected, taking it somewhere, it has to
Speaker:be worked on consignment, and the customer just lost the ability to sell that load.
Speaker:So there's a lot of financial hiccups, and the guys that are dealing with these
Speaker:high high value loads you know, they understand that there's more to lose
Speaker:than two or $300 if it doesn't make it.
Speaker:Also, you know, it's transportation, there's accidents, things happen.
Speaker:I don't know if you've had any dealings with the insurance company, but
Speaker:it's basically their job not to pay.
Speaker:They're looking for any reason not to pay.
Speaker:So what we do is, say for example, there's an accident, you know, truck catches fire,
Speaker:whatever, we take the invoice, we pay that invoice immediately to our customer.
Speaker:'Cause I need them to keep doing what they're doing.
Speaker:I don't need them to go fight an insurance company.
Speaker:And then we're on the back end fighting with the insurance to get paid.
Speaker:And, you know, sometimes it takes sixty, ninety, a hundred eighty days to collect
Speaker:payment from an insurance company.
Speaker:Like, I mean, they're, they're literally doing everything they can not to pay.
Speaker:So there's some other added value that, you know, you might not
Speaker:necessarily see on the front end when you're getting quoted from somebody.
Speaker:But all it takes is one time for something to happen.
Speaker:You know, you think, oh, well maybe that extra $200 was worth it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh wow.
Speaker:That's, no, that's a great point.
Speaker:So one of the things you do is just deal with the insurance yourself rather.
Speaker:I just saw a news article on a truck that had been robbed and got
Speaker:all the Nintendo Switch 2 stolen.
Speaker:I don't know if you saw that, like 2,000 my kids, you know, love the Switch.
Speaker:So that was an interesting thing.
Speaker:But yeah, there are hiccups, there are challenges all the time.
Speaker:So that completely makes sense.
Speaker:So luckily for us, I mean, we don't deal with a lot of that.
Speaker:Just for the fact.
Speaker:People aren't stealing all the blueberries.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just for the strawberries.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Because the lifespan is so short.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And Nintendo Switch, you can take it to a warehouse and sit on it for a year.
Speaker:And then bring it back into the market with our kind of stuff you can't do that.
Speaker:Well, I loved your point that it really, you, you talked about understanding
Speaker:your audience, so knowing who your customer is, again, if you're spreading
Speaker:out your business so you're not concentrating on kind of a niche audience.
Speaker:Then you're gonna have different needs and different desires because the
Speaker:type of freight that you're shipping is gonna be completely different.
Speaker:So if you focus on a customer who has the same challenges, you know, who are
Speaker:having these high value shipments and you know, have the same issues, then you
Speaker:can really hone in and focus on that.
Speaker:I, I really love the importance of learning what's
Speaker:important to your customer.
Speaker:How, how do you recommend people who are in freight.
Speaker:And really anyone, shippers, how, how do you guys keep you know, ahead of what's
Speaker:important to your customers and what you should be focusing on to give them value?
Speaker:Just communicating with them, you know, seeing what's going on.
Speaker:You know, you don't have to call 'em just to get an order.
Speaker:You know, and, and adding value and say I hear something through the
Speaker:grapevine that I think is interesting, and I can go to them and say, Hey,
Speaker:have you heard anything about this?
Speaker:And, and just kind of bouncing ideas, you know, what they're struggling with
Speaker:or what a new retailer's doing that we kind of need to get prepared for.
Speaker:Like Costco, they just implemented this whole thing for the drivers
Speaker:with a app now to check in.
Speaker:So we're trying to get that all implemented into our system.
Speaker:So, you know, there's constant change going on.
Speaker:So just talking to 'em, what they're seeing you know,
Speaker:are they short on product?
Speaker:Do they have too much product?
Speaker:Do they anticipate more orders coming down the pipe?
Speaker:Do they anticipate less?
Speaker:Like just trying to get a gauge of what their needs might be
Speaker:and how you can better serve 'em that that's the best way.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I love what you said.
Speaker:You don't have to call them just to get an order.
Speaker:That, it's so true and it's so true, honestly, across whatever you're doing.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Whether you're a shipper, whether you're freight, whether you are
Speaker:transportation, whether you are sitting in an office and, and being SaaS you know?
Speaker:Understanding your customer and what they need.
Speaker:You never know when just taking an extra 10 minutes to talk about their
Speaker:challenges and what's going on may spur an entire new idea or, or really
Speaker:what you're doing in your business.
Speaker:So I just, I love that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:As people are preparing in industry, you know, we have peak season,
Speaker:obviously at the end of 2025.
Speaker:You have your own sort of peak seasons with different produce
Speaker:and different things coming out at different times of year.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What mistakes do you see people making as they prepare for this, you know, increased
Speaker:peak season or, or increase of volume?
Speaker:Any, any time.
Speaker:Different industries have different peaks.
Speaker:What, what do you see are the biggest mistakes people make
Speaker:as they prepare for peaks?
Speaker:I just think, you know, it happens every year and it's unfortunate, you
Speaker:know, they put out RFPs you know, you give 'em obviously it's an estimated
Speaker:guess, but you know, you have an idea of where you think the market's gonna
Speaker:go and I, I almost relate to it.
Speaker:And this is horrible, but I'll, I'll say it anyway, but
Speaker:somebody that has an addiction,
Speaker:because what happens is, is they're addicted to that lower price, right?
Speaker:It's, it's, it's an addiction.
Speaker:It's there and it's sitting right in front of 'em.
Speaker:And it's like they know probably that it's gonna bite 'em,
Speaker:it's gonna burn 'em, right?
Speaker:They're not gonna feel good.
Speaker:Something's gonna happen, and just, there's always somebody that can't
Speaker:fight that addiction and they go with that cheaper option that they don't
Speaker:know, you know, they're, they might be a new carrier to them, right?
Speaker:And they're just, they, they don't know the ins and outs of how it's
Speaker:gonna work, but that, that saving that they see of $300 a load is just,
Speaker:it's too much for them to say no to.
Speaker:And they end up signing them up.
Speaker:And, you know, this season it hasn't been as bad, but you know, other
Speaker:seasons, peak season hits and now all of a sudden, all those loads are on
Speaker:their internal bid board, and they're going for getting covered for a thousand
Speaker:dollars more than what they went into that deal with somebody else.
Speaker:And, you know, then they, they learn their lesson for a minute,
Speaker:and then it's like they forget.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And that that urge or that addiction comes back and they, they don't know.
Speaker:They just can't, they can't fight it, you know, and they go back down
Speaker:the same rabbit hole again, and then they end up doing the same thing.
Speaker:And it's like, guys, like, you know, how many times is it gonna take for you
Speaker:to learn, like, hey, the, the cheapest option is not necessarily the best option.
Speaker:And I'm not saying that you need to go with the most expensive option.
Speaker:I feel like the customers that do the best job that we deal with when we
Speaker:talk about the RFP, I mean they throw the highest and the lowest out, right?
Speaker:And they say, hey, like I get rid of the lowest.
Speaker:I get rid of the highest, and I really center in on that median five.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Like where's the average?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And I look at the five.
Speaker:You know about five or six guys that are all in that same median area, and he's
Speaker:like, you know, they look at, hey, if I got five or six reputable people all
Speaker:quoting within a hundred, $200, like that rate's gotta be somewhere in there.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But you have somebody way under or way over.
Speaker:It's like, hey, let's get rid of those.
Speaker:Those are, you know, the lowest and the highest.
Speaker:Kick 'em out and then let's, let's zero in on that, that five
Speaker:or six middle range that are all, you know, within a hundred, $200.
Speaker:And the reputable companies that are in your pro, you know, in your
Speaker:network, you've worked with 'em, you know what they're capable of.
Speaker:And it's like, you probably gonna be prepared and you're
Speaker:gonna sleep better at night.
Speaker:You know, you know what their track record is and it's like if something
Speaker:happens, it's like, hey, I had five other guys within a hundred dollars of that.
Speaker:Like, you know, so, that's just something that, you know, we try
Speaker:and keep in mind like we're, we're not trying to be the cheapest.
Speaker:I don't want to be the guy to come back to you halfway through the
Speaker:season and say, hey, Lori I can't continue to service our agreement.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And I love that.
Speaker:Great piece of advice for shippers out there, you know, throwing out the top and
Speaker:the lowest that makes a big difference.
Speaker:What other things we're getting a little bit towards the end here, but what other
Speaker:things do you recommend that people look for when they're making that selection.
Speaker:So, so now you've got five or six.
Speaker:How do you determine, you know, the, maybe the rate is one factor that
Speaker:I, I love your, your point of view that don't only look at the rate.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Sometimes that's like, we're so focused on that, you know, I can't
Speaker:fight this feeling any longer.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What are the other factors we should be looking for in kind of weeding
Speaker:out what's in, what is gonna be a, a good, a good person to go with?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So something that we've kind of done and, and actually one of our other customers,
Speaker:they're really diligent about it.
Speaker:Like probably the most diligent that I've seen, but actually going to your vendor.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Great advice.
Speaker:You know, and I know that can be hard.
Speaker:But it is so worth it.
Speaker:Boots on the ground.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:I am there.
Speaker:It's worked really well for us, especially like when I'm talking to a customer,
Speaker:like if there's an issue or if there's not like, hey, I, I've been to their
Speaker:facility, I've been to their yard.
Speaker:Like I know their process.
Speaker:Like the truck comes in, the truck and trailer gets inspected, the
Speaker:trailer gets cleaned, it gets parked in this row for the empties.
Speaker:Or if it's loaded, it goes on this side.
Speaker:There's somebody there monitoring it.
Speaker:You know, you, you can really tell how a company operates by,
Speaker:you know, what their facility is.
Speaker:And, and trust me, I'm not saying that you have to go see something
Speaker:that's big and grand and crazy.
Speaker:I mean, we've seen small ones that are just clean, right?
Speaker:You go there, it's, it's nice, it's clean, you know, it's not huge.
Speaker:It's not big, but it's professional.
Speaker:And it's clean and, and the employees are professional and you know, the
Speaker:workspace is professional and it's just going and seeing that, you know,
Speaker:you'll see all types of spectrum.
Speaker:And then you really know what you're working with.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's also a red flag if they don't want you to come see it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That seems to be the big thing, everybody wants to come see you, right?
Speaker:All your vendors, oh, I want to come see you.
Speaker:And it's like, no, I want to come see you.
Speaker:Like, let me see what we're working with.
Speaker:Great advice.
Speaker:And that's been really beneficial for us.
Speaker:Obviously we're lucky here in California.
Speaker:A lot of our carrier group is located here, so, you know, most people are
Speaker:within a, you know, we can make a day trip and hit a handful of people, but
Speaker:also, you know, we're really strategic.
Speaker:Like, we had to go to a customer conference out in northwest Arkansas, and
Speaker:we went two days early and hit four or five trucking companies that we deal with
Speaker:within a 200 mile radius of that area.
Speaker:So you know, wherever you're going, going somewhere, you know, yeah, it might take
Speaker:an extra day, but it's like you're already making the effort to go all the way out
Speaker:there, you know, what's an extra day to, you know, go meet with five people.
Speaker:And, and I can tell you, like, you go do those things, and
Speaker:you think you know a company.
Speaker:And you probably will be presently or pleasantly surprised.
Speaker:I mean, I can say on one of my last trips, I went and visited a trucking
Speaker:company and I thought they were, you know, 30, 40 trucks, and I rolled in
Speaker:there and they'd grown from that to 120.
Speaker:They're trying to grow for more.
Speaker:And I had something that had came up that fit them perfectly.
Speaker:And I mean, we just walked, it all went along with them.
Speaker:And I probably, that probably wouldn't have all come together if
Speaker:I didn't make the effort to go see them, you know, because they were 120
Speaker:miles away from where I was going.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:You mentioned, we were chatting before we started shooting today, and you
Speaker:mentioned growing up that your dad just stopped everywhere all the time.
Speaker:Every trip you went on, you're going to visit places, you're going to see things.
Speaker:And that is, I mean, that's some killer advice right
Speaker:there, Colby, is get out there.
Speaker:I, I love your overall message to me has really been about communication.
Speaker:Getting your boots on the ground, getting out there and talking to people,
Speaker:seeing what's going on, really diving in and not, I, I've had a guess what's
Speaker:call it kind of, sometimes we stay in our ivory tower and just sort of sit
Speaker:at our computer and work or whatnot, and it really is critical that we
Speaker:are getting some of that face time.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And it's hard, right?
Speaker:'Cause we went through COVID and everyone was Zoom this and Zoom that.
Speaker:And but we've gotten to that point that, you know, it makes
Speaker:a huge difference with people.
Speaker:I mean, I, I don't even think you can measure the value of, you
Speaker:know, people really appreciate.
Speaker:Everyone knows that everyone's busy, right?
Speaker:Everyone knows you got a family, you got stuff at home, and when you're
Speaker:out on the road for three, four days, you know, and it's tough, right?
Speaker:I, I got a family, I got a young daughter and wife at home and you know, before all
Speaker:that, like I was gung-ho and now it's like you get some of that guilt, but at the
Speaker:end of the day it's really all worth it.
Speaker:You know, and, and it's for them.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:I was gonna say, at some point you'll be bringing your daughter with you too.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:You'll be just like your dad.
Speaker:You'll be like, come on, let's go see this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But yeah, on the other side, you were saying.
Speaker:No on the other side of that, like the people that you're going to visit, right.
Speaker:Like it's a really big deal for them.
Speaker:You know, it makes 'em feel special and you know that that's, that's
Speaker:what you gotta do to be successful.
Speaker:I believe in this business.
Speaker:I, I agree.
Speaker:This business is extremely relationship driven and it is very much a case where
Speaker:those small things make a big difference.
Speaker:And okay.
Speaker:So Colby, we're running out of time.
Speaker:Any last advice you have for people as we're coming up on kind of a
Speaker:low demand kind of time or just in general that you have to share?
Speaker:I'd say don't quit.
Speaker:Don't quit.
Speaker:Just keep going.
Speaker:You know, it's gonna be tough.
Speaker:Yeah, it's gonna be tough.
Speaker:But if there's anything constant, especially in the produce
Speaker:business, it's change, I mean that, that's, it's constant.
Speaker:It's not gonna stay like this forever.
Speaker:You know, markets will change, something will happen.
Speaker:It's just a matter of when and how much.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:If people wanna get in touch with you, if they wanna learn more about what
Speaker:you do or if they just want advice.
Speaker:You know, can they connect with you on LinkedIn?
Speaker:How should they connect with you?
Speaker:Yeah, LinkedIn.
Speaker:I'm sure we can put the website, my email, phone number in the show notes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But yeah I'm here, reach out whether you're a customer, whether you're
Speaker:a trucking company, whether you're trying to get into freight and
Speaker:logistics and, hey, should I do this?
Speaker:You know I'm, I'm open to anything, so I'm pretty wide open.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Take advantage of Colby's knowledge.
Speaker:He is fantastic and obviously he has broke his teeth originally as a baby on
Speaker:this industry and has been around it.
Speaker:He's got tons to share and is so willing.
Speaker:So thank you so much, Colby, for being here today.
Speaker:Yeah, Lori, thanks for having me on.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:We will see all of you next time, and have a great day.
