Latest / Towing News Now / A Glimpse into the Evolving Towing Industry with Aaron Custer

Transcript

A Glimpse into the Evolving Towing Industry with Aaron Custer · Towing News Now

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the American Touring Recovery Institute podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Remember, this is your podcast to promote state education, positive public relations and networking within the professional and business monitoring recovery industry.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I'm your co-host, dj Harrington, better known as the so Doctor, and I'm honored, as always, to have a 40-year veteran of the towing industry as the co-host of today's episode.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: The president and founder of American Towing and Recovery Institute, a guy who has done a ton of hands-on training well, over 915 classes, the one and only and a guy that I consider a dear friend and an asset to the industry, wes Wilberts.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Wes, how are you today, mark?
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: DJ, thank you for the kind introduction.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: As always, I certainly appreciate that.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Personally, I'm doing pretty good.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I had a nice relaxing weekend at home.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: My wife April and her friend Margaret enjoyed a little time away at the beach.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I had a nice quiet weekend around here, relaxing and getting ready for a busy week.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: We're having a great week here.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I will tell you, outside of my little world, I am concerned with the events of the world.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: We're praying for everybody in Israel and pray that that serious and harsh situation comes to an end.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Some of the news reports I've heard yesterday evening and this morning are horrendous Children getting killed, a woman killed with her fetus still attached to an umbilical cord just absolute horror and them doing it to scare and shock everybody, the locals, the world.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I don't even know what to say about a DJ, but our hearts and minds and prayers go out to him.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Well, wes, I've been to Israel quite to my life.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: The Israeli people are wonderful people.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And what's going on there now, and we have to pray as of this morning, there's 11, maybe Chuck Hampton produced in those, but there's 11 Americans killed and a whole bunch more than had been kidnapped, and they're American.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And that 11 is all we know of.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: But you know all this just happening at the very full situation and I gotta believe I hope I'm wrong but out of the captured people it almost seems likely there's some Americans there Don't want to get into this too deep, but our country's made some bad, in my opinion, some bad decisions on how they handle situations like that recently and you almost gotta believe that it helps promote this situation and kidnapping and ransom and all that Right.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Well, it's a sad situation.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: We here in the States, and of course at the Institute, we gotta think positive, we gotta think up.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: You know what's happening for us here, but at all the same time, in church on Sunday, I purposely gave extra money to a minister who has friends in Israel that they go over there, and so you know, I looked at my wife and said you know, if you don't mind, I'd like to put a little extra in the plate and earmark it, and so I waited to talk to the minister, and then I gave him the money directly and he was it was in tears in his eyes, because he gets contact with people in Israel right now that need help, and there's a lot of families out there to need our help.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: So if you are in an area where you could help, by all means, I hope you do.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: But I know this is a podcast.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: We can't be too political on West, but I'm glad that you're at least sharing your views and yours and your wife April's views about how this, this country, needs a lot of prayer after the United States of America.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: They do, and on so many different levels, so many different levels.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: While we're talking about prayer, I want to come back to the industry for a moment.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: I've been, you know, I follow the news in the towing industry several different ways on a constant basis.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: And of course, now, right this couple of weeks, while I'm not traveling as much.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I got a busy couple of weeks coming up, but right now I'm not traveling as much.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I really stay up with it.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: And two things DJ seemed and this is just informal you know what I've noticed, what I've noticed it seems like we have a more operators getting struck on the side of the road.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: I'm all for moving slow down but, as any operators heard me saying any class that I teach I'm not putting my advice in their hands Get on that non-traffic side as much as possible.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Stay on that non-traffic side.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: You can do 90% of what you need to do on that non-traffic side.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: You're hooking up a car, taking off, the interstate hooked it and you're using the eight-coil tie down, which most folks do now.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: You can do that on a daily basis.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Hook up that non-traffic side, drive like you got some sense of the first exit.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Then put the others on there, just don't put your body in the way because there's more and more people getting hit.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: There's less and less attention being paid to the subject.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: It almost seems like so.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Every operator out there, do what you can to stay on that non-traffic side.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Do what you can in your social network to tell loved ones about moving, slow down, moving from you someone who works on the side of the road they might take it differently, but just get on that non-traffic side as much as possible.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: The other thing that's very disturbing that I've noticed, dj, is flat-out violence against Tony operators being robbed.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: all kinds of different situations going on, Unfortunately.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I think that's the sign of the time.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Be very careful.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Out late at night.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: We have street crime in big cities and heck, even in smaller places as well, but definitely street crime in big cities is way up Show trucks, cash only.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: There's a certain mindset that I think the criminal element might think about the towing industry.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Be very, very careful where you are.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Be aware of your surroundings.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Don't put yourself in bad situations.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I just can't stress enough because, like I said, I'm seeing an uprising, both violence against towing operators and more struck on the side of the road.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Struck on the side of the road is not just towing operators.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: There's a pod forcement, fire, DOT, hets, tire trucks, trash collectors, land surveyors.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: There's a whole community of folks that work on the side of the road.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: We all need to be sensitive to that.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: We all need to, again, within our social network, talk to those that love ones in our lives about moveover, slow down, make them aware A lot of people don't think about it as much as maybe we should and help spread that message.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Those are good words.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: To live by West, you're right.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: And the guys out there working a white line, male or female working a white line, by all means keep your head on and be, more observant today than ever before.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: We're also here in North Carolina anywhere.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: The seasons are starting to change.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: You definitely need a jacket in the evening and even some of the days have been cool.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: So we as the towing industry, we start to wear more hoodies with those pockets right there at your belly.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: That's so easy to use and the jacket.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Be very, very sensitive about the remote control.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: If you have a tow truck with the remote control, this is more the medium and heavy duties, but light duties can have remote as well.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Do not put that remote control in that pocket.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: I know three different operators over the last few years that have been killed because they have that remote control in their pocket.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: They crawl up under the vehicle and something presses against something.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, heck, if you got a body like mine I think they call my body type fluffy nowadays you have a fluffy body type like mine, so that that remote in that pocket it's really easy for it to pinch between something and all of a sudden you're letting the truck down on top of you or something, which is one of the horrible situations happened about a year ago out in California.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I was in the state when it happened.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: I was nowhere near the incident, but it happened in Southern California about a year ago, just a little bit shy of a year ago, and it's been a couple other incidents.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: So, as we're starting to bundle up a little bit, just be aware of that remote no sticking in your pocket just a little bit of safety advice that I offer as well.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: We are looking forward to a great fall.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: We got three strong weeks in a row of training.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: We got some really exciting stuff coming up at some of the training.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: We're going up to Detroit just outside the Motor City.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: We're going to be up there in Rochester, michigan, working with the Michigan Tolling Association, who happens to be one of the oldest Tolling Association in the country or the oldest excuse me, the oldest Tolling Association in the country.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Our members receive an additional discount.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: We're doing, on October 28th and 29th, a light and medium duty class.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Bill Byers.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Byers Tolling is the host.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: He's hosted classes for me before.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: He does a great job.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Bill's just an awesome guy.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Gives back a lot to the industry.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: He's working on some special, some special vehicles to get at the class to look at and see what not some of the future electric vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: So we're looking forward to that.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: That's the last weekend of October 28th 29th that's a Saturday, sunday.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: There are seats still left.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I'll give everybody our information at the end.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: How to contact us the next weekend?
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Well, the Friday of the next weekend will be in Lexias, kansas, just outside of Kansas City, working with Santa Fe Toe.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: We're going to do a one day light duty on November the 3rd, and then on the 4th and the 5th we're going to do a two day heavy tolling and recovery with rotator.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: That's the 4th and 5th and that's in Lexias, kansas as well.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Santa Fe Toe's the host.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: And then in November, the next weekend of November 11th and 12th, we've got a two day cross training fire tow cross training event.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Myself and Ron Moore will be teaching that and that's in Washington, north Carolina.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Bullard Dawn Motor is hosting the class.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: They do a wonderful job with hosting and Mike and Janet have really gone out of their way to get us some really good vehicles to work with.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: They're going to have some heavy trucks that we're going to let the firefighters set up.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: They don't get to practice on that kind of stuff as much, so we'll also be doing some entrapment situations where fire and towers will work together to solve the problem.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: We're going to have an electric vehicle there as well that we're going to actually have cut open.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: The class will not be cutting it up, but we're going to have it cut open to see what's going on with that.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: We'll have a tank paddock towing out of Westfield, indiana for that great craft that they've donated to the organization, so we're excited about all the training that's coming up.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: We're also cleaning out around here, trying to clean up some of my shop area.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: So we're doing a bunch of specials on Facebook.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: April's taking the lead on that, so we want our listeners to keep listening to that as well.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: We got a great interview today.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: It's another one we did on the Midwest tow show floor.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: We had a great time out there at the show.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: We're looking forward to next year's already.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: We got an interview that came from this year's show, so if you can hang around for a while after the break, we'll be right back with a great interview.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: The folks at Purpose Wrecker are Wrecker specialists.
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: They don't get bogged down with other types of sales like cars, assorted equipment or snow plows.
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: Purpose Wrecker exclusively specializes in towing and hauling From parts in service to financing.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: They remain focused on providing the best service and customer care to the towing and hauling industry.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: Even in these trying times, purpose Wrecker works hard to meet the needs of its customers.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: They are the preferred distributor in North America for purchasing towing and recovery equipment.
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: For more information, visit them on the web at PurposeWreckercom, or speak to a specialist by calling 636-639-9700.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: That's 636-639-9700.
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: Stay tuned for more information on Purpose Wrecker.
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: You have been listening to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilber and DJ Harrington, and we're at the Midwest Regional Toe Show, so this will be a great one.
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: Remember we're on every episode.
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, google Play, stitcher, iheart Media, amazon or wherever you get your podcast, wes, I'll turn it over to you, bud.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Thank you, dj.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: I do want to thank our listeners.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: We're super excited.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: We're well past 12,000 as we record this thing.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: We are at the Midwest Toe Show, so there's a little background noise, but there's a whole lot of excitement and energy on the floor here.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: People are looking at trucks.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: There's actually trucks for sale here, equipment suppliers are here, all kinds of other vendors.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: So if you missed this show, you missed a great show you really did.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: Today we have a guest with us.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: Last year at the show we did a podcast with his father and this year it's Aaron's turn.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: I got Aaron Custer from Custer Products.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: You know the people with the lighting pros.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: So, aaron, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background, if you would please.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: So I'm Aaron Custer, brad Custer's son.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I've been working here for about four years and I enjoy it a lot, so hoping to stay here for a while.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: What do you enjoy about it?
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: I just like the atmosphere, all the people I work with, the good people and just showing up to work every day.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: I like it.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're right about good people.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: The only thing I've ever dealt with over the years with Custer have been really good people.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Twenty years ago I remember being next to your father like two years in a row in Florida and we got to talking and whatnot.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: I say your father, your father now the I love that guy.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: He was the hardest working man.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: He would be at that booth before it opened in the morning and he'd be one of the last ones leaving, doing exactly what you're supposed to do when you're representing a product.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: He also had excellent product knowledge.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: He really did.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: So.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: You've been working here for four years.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: You really like it.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: What products are new and exciting at Custer?
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: So we have some on the way, probably coming out pretty soon, and I think a lot of people are going to like what we're coming out with for the wireless toe light bars.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Okay, but we don't want to put it out there yet until it's up and running, but it's coming soon.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: Okay, what are some of the most popular products that you have nowadays?
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: We do a lot with the wireless toe bars or 36 inch bar with strobe lights.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: It's very popular and we just try to sell a lot of them.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: The reliability with that toe bar.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: How long talk a little bit about that.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: What are some of the features and benefits of that 36 inch?
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: Let me stop for a second and say it is very popular.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: We've sold several of them and the end user really seems to like them.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: It doesn't seem to be a lot of issues with them.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, not at all.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: We build them in a back at our shop Most of it is US made and then we have a super good warranty on it and if there is any problems, our customer service team takes care of everyone and gets their bar back up and running.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what I heard.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: You do have a super good team to handle situations like that.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: How long so with the strobes.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: And strobes have become real popular, haven't they?
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they have.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: What else is popular in the booth nowadays?
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: So we do a lot of work lights and battery operated beacons and pretty much just everything safety lighting.
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: Anything down from marker lights.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Stop, turn tail.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, trailer lights stop tail, turn wireless bars.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: So you made the comment as much as possible made in America.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: I guess some of the stuff you need nowadays is not made in America, is it?
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it's not.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's gotta be real problem.
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: Sourcing part sometimes.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: It is, and there was a huge, huge problem with getting parts in about a year ago, but it's all getting better.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Good, that's good to hear.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: When you deal with a supplier overseas, you work with different suppliers that you know and have a relationship with.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we do have a relationship.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: Back before all this COVID, our guys would go out there and visit the factories, give them what we want, and then they would do it for us.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: So it's stuff that's being made to y'all's specifications yes, not stuff that you're finding on the open market.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, and we back our product because we see the people at all these shows, so we don't want to put a bad product out there.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you guys attend a lot of shows, not only for the towing industry but from other industries.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: We do agricultural shows too, farm shows, Gotcha.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: So for the wireless light bars are real popular.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: What about just the overhead light bars?
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we do some rooftop light bars from all sizes to like 56 inch, 72 inch, 29 inch, whatever you need, and then we have different styles with stop, tail, turn lights, blue safety lighting and just different options.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, I didn't even think about the blue market.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: Blue or red market, do y'all do much in that emergency market with police and fire?
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: More fire than police.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: But now I think in Ohio it's legal to have blue lights at a steady scene, so now our light bars are incorporating a blue light that will oh, that's good to know that y'all change with things for different states and whatnot.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's different laws.
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because I know just doing training over the years out in the Midwest, like Kansas, missouri, iowa, some of them out there.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: They have the ability to run red or blue lights.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: And I know like the Dakotas and whatnot as well, I think and I always wrote that off in my mind is sometimes law enforcement is not able to help you out there in the middle of the highway by yourself on a long, you know just good highway.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: So what about?
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: So the lights that you sell, market lights and whatnot, that's all LED nowadays, isn't it?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, mostly everything's coming to LED.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, last night out in the parking lot somebody had one of the big records just lit up with LEDs and it was incredibly, incredibly bright.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: So all those LED market lights and stuff, that's all wireless or no wired lights.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: They're all wired lights, yeah.
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: Okay, all right.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Well, let's listeners will hang around for a quick break and after break we'll be back with more from Aaron, from Custom Products.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: The best towing companies offer a combination of great training, efficient operations, along with quality supplies.
• 20:23
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• 21:24
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• 21:27
  Speaker 5: We look forward to serving you.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Rekker, serving the community with quality towing and recovery for over 40 years.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: Thanks for watching.
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: You have been listening to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast, west Wilbur and DJ Harrington and our special guest, erin Custer from the Custer family.
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: Now I have to tell our listeners, since you're not here at the show, I can tell you how tall are you Six foot two.
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: Six foot two.
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: He was a tight end in high school football team.
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: He was captain of the team.
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: He's a blonde-headed guy.
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: He's good looking, he looks like a ball player.
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: He lets his dad carry all the boxes in and he comes in with nothing.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: We saw that today.
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: But he and his dad, his dad's Brad we all know Brad and of course, al.
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: Everybody knew Al from Custer.
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: But what I watched you growing up in the industry, you think how many shows I've seen you have and then you start thinking well, the listener doesn't know.
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: But what I'd like to ask you, erin, the industry has changed.
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: You know from when you were working here, when you were in high school and now these years you attended college.
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: But what I want to ask you is what's changed in the industry?
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: Because Custer products always are conscious of the fact how do we make it safer for the toer, the guy working the wide line, how do we make it safer.
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: So what have you seen?
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: You know has grown up inside the family.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: So one of the main things I noticed about lighting and how things have changed is, when I started here, most not mostly everything, but some things were incandescent lights.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: They're a lot cheaper, yeah.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: And then everything is turning into LED lights and there's brighter LEDs and we just try to put the brightest, strongest light out there to keep our toers safe.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: And even with the toe light bars back in the day I think it was just only wires, where you had to run a wire from the truck all the way to the toe bar.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Now everything's.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: The technology is insane and everything's going wireless.
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: Well, the reason why I like Erin.
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: Yesterday we watched two or three families leave here with light bars that they bought from.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: Custer.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: And when Eric you know when Erin was coming by here and I stopped Erin, I say Erin, he said DJ, as long as we have one or two guys, we've had one or two people stay safe.
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: So that's how he looks at it.
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: He doesn't look at it like we sold hundreds and hundreds.
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: He said I was glad that this family at least got it, got a safety bar.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: That knows that's going to save a life.
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: So he kisses love when goodbye in the morning and because of Custer products he's going to come home safe that night To the love.
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: When he does so he has the right philosophy that he learned from Dad and from Al.
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: It's just great family and the customer services phenomenon.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: It absolutely is.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, al always liked him.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: He was the hardest work guy, you know.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: As I started doing these booths, I looked up to him a little bit and one of the things that he said one time I remember was you know, if you pack up early and leave, you know exactly what you're going to sell.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: If you stay, who knows what you're going to sell?
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: And you know when you're here at a booth that's what you're here for is to sell stuff.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: Bring bread, you know, put food on the table for your family.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: So that's awesome.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: So two different things.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: Do you all still sell a wired light bar?
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Every now and then we have a customer looking for that.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Is that even available?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: now?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, we still.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: We build wireless wired bars and just give everyone the option to get what they need.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: I remember when you all first started with the wires light bars.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: If I'm not mistaken, you all did a demo where you parked your truck on top of the light bar to show how tough it was yeah, yeah, our light bars are pretty, pretty durable.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: There is a video out there of a truck running it over and it didn't didn't dent or anything.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they did it live.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: They did it live and shows and it was always a good, you know, very powerful demo, very powerful demo.
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: Sometimes that helps a lot.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: Now we you talked about coming from incandescent lights to the LEDs and they're much brighter.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: Isn't it also true that it takes a whole lot less power?
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't take nearly as much power and.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: I remember a friend of mine a couple years ago in Virginia putting together a service truck and he said you realize that all these lights on the side of this whole service truck took take less power than one of the old cat eyes we used to use and he's talking back in the early 80s, you know and it is incredible how far they've come, how much brighter they are, how much less draw on the battery, etc.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: What's what's coming up in the future for Custer?
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: Just uh, we're trying to get into it's in the works.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: It's gonna come out very soon and people are gonna like it a lot.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: It's.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: It's a lithium battery.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Okay, it's gonna make things very for the user, it's gonna make it easy for them, and we're just gonna put it out there and see how it does.
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: Hey, aaron, what I want to ask, if I could, Wes, could you give our listeners a phone number and what's the best way to come to your website?
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: So you know the ones are not here at the show.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: We've had a good turnout here.
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: This has been a great show.
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: But for the ones who are not here, who is listening to the podcast?
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: So our website is just CusterProductscom.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: You can just search it up and then we're using the first one that pops up and then there's a phone number on there, contact information probably email addresses if you want to contact us and we'll get back to you.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Our customer service is very, very good with that.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: We'd like to treat all the customers well and make sure that everyone's happy.
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: Well, if somebody likes you on the podcast, what's your email address?
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: My email address acuster at CusterProductscom.
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: That way you can get ahold of Aaron himself.
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:30
  Speaker 6: Well, we got to help him.
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: He's a good, strong football player and we got to get out again with some recognition, yeah.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: Aaron, did you play football, or is DJ just making the song?
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I did play football.
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, look at him, you can tell he plays football.
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: Well, good God Might have been a wrestler.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: You never know.
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: He's a tall guy.
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: He's not overweight at all.
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: Now, yeah, he could become a healthy firefighter this time.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Yep Well, thank you for taking the time away from the booth at a busy trade show.
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: We appreciate you sharing information about your products with your customer.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: I encourage all the listeners, if you need lights, to check them out.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: We're also a distributor for them.
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: We do a horrible job at it.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: I don't even know why y'all keep us on the books, but if someone needs a light bar, you're our first choice.
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: We try to recommend y'all because you're product as we believe in the product.
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: But definitely if you have questions, technical questions or whatever, just reach out to them direct or find something from us and you need something mentioned as well.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: We'll try to take care of you.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: Again, I don't know why y'all keep us on the distributor.
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: We do a horrible job.
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: I will say this some of your lighting through the Renn Wallskies that pimp my ride, the little van that I got.
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: They bought one of your borrow lights to put on top of it and it works very well.
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: So that's good, dear.
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's excellent.
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: And now we can tell your dad you did as good as him, if not better.
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: He'll love it.
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: Aaron, thanks again for taking time from your booth and be safe out there.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: We'll see you at the next show.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Thank you guys for having me.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: It was a good time.