Latest / Towing News Now / Private Property Impound Done Right

Transcript

Private Property Impound Done Right · Towing News Now

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome on and all to the Towing News Now podcast.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_05: A podcast dedicated to insightful interviews, news stories that affect the towing industry, and a weekly spotlight on towing supplies and equipment.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_05: We have two hosts.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_05: One of them has been in the business 40 years.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_05: The other his charming wife of many years, who also is the general manager of product supply.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_05: No other than Wes and April Wilburn.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_05: Wes and April, I turn it over to you.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_08: Well, DJ, as always, I appreciate your kind words and appreciate all the help with the podcast and the tech to help get you get us involved with this podcast.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_05: I'm proud to be part of it, Wes.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_08: Well, thank you, and we're proud to have you involved and to be involved with you.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_08: Had April with us today.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_08: April, how are you doing?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: I'm doing pretty good.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_04: And as far as like you being proud to be involved with us, I realized that to do these podcasts and have them every week, because you have to have content some talk about and have really good guesswork we're gonna have in a minute.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot that you have to do to get it put together, and every one of us has a different part to play in it.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't know if I could I know I couldn't DJ DJ's part.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_04: DJ is DJ and there's no other DJ that's in the world.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_04: And then Wes is Wes as honor as he is, I definitely couldn't pull off what he pulls off.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: And then my part of it is just kind of pulling everything together for us to have one this podcast for us to present it, and you guys do a phenomenal job of that.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and speaking of pulling yourself together, how are you doing these days?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_05: I'm doing excellent.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_05: I'm doing excellent.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_05: My health is doing better little by little.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_05: They're gonna make braces for me.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_05: Now get this, they're gonna make a brace for my right leg, and they're gonna make an extended brace, you know, for my left leg.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_05: So if you ever saw somebody with like with that had polio, it's a brace just like that, Wes, that will help my left leg.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_05: So when I'm out at a show or out, you know, hanging out with you guys, and anytime I get a chance, you know, to to hang with towing equipment direct.com and get in the booth and answer questions, I love it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_05: So uh, and I was gonna tell you, Wes ahead of time.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_05: Somebody said, What's the nicest thing?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: And I said, being educated is great, but being able to send people to know the answers.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_05: So when a tower asks me a question and I don't know it, I at least have the privilege of calling Wes on the phone and saying, Wes, could you give this guy some insight?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the nice thing.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_05: Even though, you know, here I've graduated college and graduate school and study to be a priest, all of a sudden it's who you know.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_05: It's who you know in the industry.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_05: So this has been a good connection.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_05: And Wes and I are good friends for many, many years.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_08: Absolutely.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so it's it's good.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_08: Well, we're happy to have you be a part of it.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_05: And we got a great guest today, so this would be a good one.
• 3:35
  unknown: Yeah.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_08: Absolutely do.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_08: So, April, what's going on?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, I am helping my husband um make these, I don't know if you've met them or not, you can look for Wilburne, but I'm helping put together these um I don't what are we what are we calling collect the collections like historical reference.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_04: Histor historical reference collections.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_04: One of them is Manly, which you West, did they even make those anymore?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_08: No, they haven't made them for years.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_08: So we're So what she's saying to you is we've we're taking some more of my information and compiling it together where we have we years ago we did some of the homes units.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_08: We kind of re redid them and then we've done a bunch of other stuff.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_08: And I'm actually writing a I guess it's gonna be a short book, a long short story.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_08: I don't know what it's gonna be, but I'm taking it and uh collecting a lot of the articles I've written over the years and combining them into this one document by the homes company with a lot of different stories and and anecdotes about things that happened along the way that we learned about with them combining that with some of the uh historical pictures.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_08: So it's something taking quite a bit of effort, but it's been quite fun and uh I love it.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_08: Doing the research and learning new things and you know, before the end of the 80s there were no tow magazines.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_08: I'm using air quotes as I say that.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_08: Now we have several, you know, town and so professional.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_08: Before that we were just part of either motor magazine or the super service station.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_08: So the advertising towards the telling industry was much different at that point.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_08: We captured a whole lot of that as well.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_08: So it's been a fun project.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_08: And the other thing, of course, is the airfitting kits.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_08: I can't believe the uh still getting a great reception of the airfitting kits, and more in particular the specific tool for the electronic rights on the Volvo's and the international.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_08: So we've developed a little tool for that.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_08: Um getting the word out and people are using them, so it's familiar with that as well.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_08: So you if you want to see what we're talking about, you can go to the website, knowing quitment.com.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_08: And um I want to reference one more thing.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_08: Um this course happened as you're listening to this podcast ten days ago.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_08: Seven or eight days ago, but we're just we're recording it the day after they had the hijacked flight that didn't go away yesterday.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_08: I'd be thankful for that.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_08: That that didn't happen.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, fortunately, it's the Saudi Arabia going to Israel.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_08: Um, but we're thinking and taking a plumber taking that was a passenger taking action is what saved us 174 people or whatever it was.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 174 people.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_08: That's a blessing, and um just thank God that it worked out that way.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_08: Speaking of thanking God working out that way, we got a great guest for you today.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_03: Give us a look at toquipmentdirect.com or email us at info at a ncowri.org.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: Also you can give us a call at 910-7479000.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome back, listeners.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: Of course, you know you're listening to the number one podcast in the towing and recovery industry.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_05: You're listening to Towing News Now podcast.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: It's being put together.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_05: We have a special Chuck Camp as the editor, and it's in the Towing Equipment Direct.com Studios.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_05: And this segment, we're proud to tell you, is sponsored by INA, the Towing Network.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_05: If you want special service and with simplified solutions, you're talking INA.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: Now, I want to remind all our 22,000 plus listeners, we're available every week.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_05: And remember and thank your fellow people for listening.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_05: But we're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_05: We are there.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_05: So without further ado, let me pass it back over to the Wilburns, who will introduce our special guest who I think is a phenomenal human being.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_08: Thanks, DJ.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_08: And it you bring up a great point.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_08: We need to thank the listeners.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_08: Folks are doing it every week to tell our people you're hitting that share button.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_08: This thing's growing every week.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_08: And um we appreciate that boy, you know, so do your thing.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_08: Give me a like, give me a share, and more importantly, give me a subscribe.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: And a download.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: Download it.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_08: So we appreciate that.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_08: So we've had a following in many different directions on this podcast.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_08: We've had several stories recently that about private property impound.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, I said it.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_08: Don't weat that out, it's okay.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_08: Whether you like it or not, whether you like it or not, private property impound is part of the towing industry.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_08: I've seen it handled many different ways over the years.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_08: Some good, some not so good.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_08: And I first of all, a lot of the problems associated with private property impounds.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_08: It wasn't zoning allowed them to get away with less parking, but obviously they needed.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_08: So when you have a paternal hotspot, that's part of the issue.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_08: I'm not here to talk zoning laws.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_08: So what we did was I there's a person that I think uh when I think of private property coein, it's Jason Harris, who's gonna introduce himself in one second.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_08: Um he's uh someone I've seen building in town where where I grew up.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_08: Uh the Washington DC metro area, which is a terrible parking issues.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_08: The density that they have that they already be built up in, and they had this vision that everybody was that lived near the metro is gonna take the metro and it'd be one point two cars per home.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_08: And had with the price of housing in that area, there's a lot of areas that have two, three, four families living in that home.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_08: They thought would have one point two cars anyway, it's a mess.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_08: With all that being said, uh since we since it comes up a lot in the news articles we decided this week, we're gonna talk about private property impact.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_08: So uh and again, I've seen the handle at many different levels.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_08: So uh we've invited Jason Harris to come in and talk to us.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_08: Jason, thanks for being here.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_08: Uh introduce yourself and give us a little bit of your background.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_10: Sure, it's a pleasure to be here, Wes, April, Chuck, and Toad Doctor.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_10: Um, I wanted to introduce myself.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_10: Uh my name is Jason Harris.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_10: I work for a company called Henry's Record Service in the Northern Virginia metropolitan area.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_10: Uh we're also owned by Valor Fleet Service with nine tone companies spreading from Baltimore to almost Fredericksburg, uh Virginia.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_10: Um something you just mentioned, Wes, I want to touch.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_08: Which is about a 65, what's 60, 65 miles?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_10: Pretty close.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_10: I yeah, Fredericksburg to Baltimore is probably 70, 75.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_10: Um, something you just touched on is is the zoning, and and like you said, I'm gonna touch on it just for a second.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_10: It started out in the 50s and 60s as 1.1, 1.2 parking spaces per dwelling, whether it was an apartment, a home, or whatever it was, and it's grown to 2.7.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_10: It's still not enough parking in the metropolitan area.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_10: Um parking has become at a premium in this in this jurisdiction in this area.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_10: I work I worked with Henry's uh previously I started park enforcement in 1988.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_10: Uh, worked with Henry's from '92 to 2002.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_10: Henry's had never done parking enforcement before or impound towing.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_10: Uh we went from in those 10 years, we went from zero cars to 4,000 cars a month.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and that was uh that was kind of a a a big number.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_10: Uh so when I I was asked to um retire or semi-retire for a period of time, and after six six or seven ownership changes, uh my reputation preceded me, and I was asked to come back um to say uh, you know, they had dropped in numbers, is saying it nicely.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_10: It was a neglected part of their business model, and the new ownership had requested me to come back to the company.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and we have grown uh 12 or 1300 percent since I've been back uh a little over two years.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_10: Um we do have several locations and we we manage our all our own trucks and fleet, so forth and so on.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_08: All right, so tell us a little bit about how your philosophy about handling these type situations.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_10: Really, it turns into what is the what is your customer need, whether it's a police customer, whether it's a break broke down customer, what is your customer need?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_10: So my customer primarily is residential, commercial, condominium, uh industrial areas that all have parking situations where people are abusing the parking of that particular property owner or management.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and that becomes finding out what the customer needs and providing that service exceptionally through accountability, service, and transparency is the only way I know how to provide service.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_08: So those are that's a cool catchphrase, but what does that mean exactly?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_10: For example, I have some customers that have uh what they call on-call accounts.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_10: They'll call me when they need me.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_10: Um and I'll take a I'll take a day a month and I'll go out at midnight and I'll start at the furthest part of my territory and I'll work my way back to the most the other side of the territory, and I'll look at all those on-call customers for commercial property, uh being shopping centers and industrial parks, and I'll uh video and take pictures of problem things that I see, and then I'll send that information to the property manager or my contact property owner, and I'll ask them if they'd like us to do anything to help them uh you know rectify these uh problem areas.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_10: Some of them have said no, we're gonna allow that.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_10: Um, some of those said, why are 60 cars parking on my shopping center when every store there is closed?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_10: Um, you know, and that that becomes an issue for them because they're paying the wear and tear, the striping, the curbs, everything.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_10: They're they're maintaining the property, and it's not for people to park and and walk to another apartment community that also has towing enforced and parking at a premium.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_10: And those people that can't uh receive a parking permit or authorization to park there are moving over to the shopping centers and so forth.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_08: Okay.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_10: So it's for it's for it's providing the need to the customer, even if they hadn't known about the need.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, that's interesting.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_10: So that's one facet of it.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_10: The other part is residential, and residential, as you said, 1.2 to 2.7 is still not enough parking for people to be able to have, you know, two cars and their and their child that also just got a license and now also has a car.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_10: It's not enough for everybody to have three cars or four cars.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_10: So it becomes a problem, and they want to authorize the people to be able to park there and be able to park there and have space available.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_10: So when people come to look in an apartment community, the number one concern in property management and residential is curb appeal.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_10: When people pull up here, do they want to live here?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_10: The place has to look nice.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_10: I when I look for when I look for a place to live, I pull up there at night to see, am I going to have a place to park when I get home?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_10: Because I get home at 8, 9, 10 o'clock, and I have to be able to have a place to park, or I have to park in a shopping center and risk getting towed.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_10: So it's important that I have a place to park, so they have to enforce the parking.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_10: It's like it's like speeding tickets.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_10: Without enforce enforcement, there is no compliance.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_10: So if there's no officer on the side of the road running radar, everybody's doing 90.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_10: So if somebody's not enforcing the rules, then anybody can park any way they want.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_08: Gotcha.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_08: We got a clip here.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_08: Well, let's listen to it and get your comments on the other side.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, Chuck, Clay Girl waits for over an hour for our spot.
• 16:53
  unknown: Okay.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: For all the people who live in apartments, especially out here in Dallas.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: We know that apartments are very strict when it comes to parking.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I have a reserve parking spot.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And nothing bothers me more, and I'm paying for my spot.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing bothers me more than somebody being parked in my spot than I'm paying for.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to get a body so far.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody needs to code.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this person's in the court, so I don't know how much money they got.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't pay for it.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not trying to be mean or funny or disrespectful or anything, but it's the principle.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many other spots around here.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel bad for calling tow truck.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Point blank, period.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_08: Jason, what comments do you have about what we just heard?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_10: Well, it's a big part of our business.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_10: Um, again, people not respecting other people's private parking.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_10: Uh, we have a community we tow forward to park in their garage is$100 a month.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_10: If you want to reserve space close to the elevator, it's$175 a month.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_10: If somebody's in one of those reserve spaces, they have an authorization to be able to call us.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_10: There's several steps that go with that, but have authorization to call us and us to be able to respond or move that vehicle.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_08: One of the things that she said that I'm not really comfortable with is that the primary reason to tow that car is to punish the people.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_08: I always I I'm never comfortable with that.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_08: How I no in my opinion, the number one reason to tow that car is to clear that space to solve the problem, something being where it is.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_08: And uh not allowed to be there.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_08: And the property owner has rights, so they have the right to have it removed.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_08: I understand that by doing having it removed it tends to be a financial punishment.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_08: But it's actually just the person paying for their cleaning up their mistakes, so to speak.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_08: Any comment on that?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_10: Yes, I agree.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_10: The primary purpose is not to punish the people, the primary purpose is to make the parking available for the people it was designed for.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_10: And if appropriate Is paying for a reserved spot of that of that type of fee, you know, you'd expect that your spot will be reserved for you.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_10: It should be open unless your car is parked there.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_10: So that is a factor I agree with.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_10: Uh it is to clear the parking space for the person it was designed for.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that's why the uh the booting that I see going on around the country.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_08: I'm not comfortable with that at all because that's just it serves as a punishment, my opinion.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_10: I'm in agreement with that.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_10: Um it's it booting has become uh, you know, even on social media, I see it all the time, people getting booted at people dealing with angry people, and it's it's because they know they're getting punished, not that they were wrong.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_10: So, you know, unfortunately, the lessons in life we learn the best are the ones that cost us the most.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_10: Um, you know, and with the costs being what they are in our industry across the board, uh, you know, the fees have to be reasonable to the public as well as uh to the person providing the service.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_10: Um I'm actually on the Arlington County Trespass Towing Advisory Board, and you know, we discussed this at length about fees.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_10: So, you know, that's a you know, we have a citizen on the board, we have a tower on the board, and we have a police officer on the board, and the public gets to chime in when they'd like to for public comment of five minutes apiece.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_10: So there's a lot of discussion about it.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_10: There's a trespass towing advisory board in four counties in our immediate area.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_10: Um, so it definitely is a hot topic about fees, but I agree with your statement.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_10: It is not to punish the people, it is to make the space available for the person it was designed for.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, and I think we both can agree there's confrontation.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_08: There's also going to be a confrontation if I don't go ahead and take a quick break.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_08: Right after the break, what I'd like to do is talk about your your mindset on dealing with uh the customer, whether it's at the scene or back to the line taking up the car.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_08: So you can hang around until after the break.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_08: Absolutely.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_06: It's honor to have the support of the INA towing network.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_06: Together, we all make a difference.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_06: INA Towing Network, simplified solutions, superior service.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome back, listeners.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_05: You got it.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_05: You're listening to the number one podcast in the towing and recovery industry.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_05: And we can't thank you enough.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_05: We've exceeded 22,000 listeners, and it's because of you.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_05: And just like Wes said earlier in the podcast, remember to like, review, and share everywhere.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_05: And if you have a person who or a member of an association who wants to put out information, by all means, we are willing to listen to fellow towers.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_05: So the number, if you want to be on the podcast, 910-747-9000.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_05: And just let us know what your association is doing so we can spread the news.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Now, without further ado, I think Jason's doing a fantastic job.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_05: I'll pass it on over to April.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: Jason, welcome back from the break.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad to have you back.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: We have Jason Harris from Henry's Working Service, and we're talking about impounding and really the value that it brings to communities, I think.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_04: But one of the issues that you probably encounter the most is uh encountering the customer.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_04: How do you do that and how do you go about basically instructing your your employees once this has happened, they've come to pick up the car.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, how do you go about dealing with this customer, de-escalating it?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_10: Well, that's a that's an important part of the business.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_10: Thank you, April.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_10: It it definitely comes down to customer service and training.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_10: Um, you know, I've repossessed and impounded cars all over the East Coast from Florida uh to Baltimore, and I will tell you, it's nobody is happy to see you hooking up most likely or probably their most uh valuable possession.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_10: So dealing with a customer that's irate, there's a temperament.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_10: You know, the first thing I always do is put my hands up and surrender, and that's what I teach my guys.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_10: When somebody's irate, you put your hands up and surrender.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_10: Hey, I'm only here about the parking situation.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_10: This is what we're here for, this is what the rules you have to follow.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_10: Well, I'm not paying.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_10: So sometimes it gets escalated to a um a situation where we have to get law enforcement involved because the laws protect us.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_10: If we're hooked up to the car, there's what they call the drop fee or release fee, um, and it's regulated what we can charge and so forth.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and and we're happy to charge that.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_10: Most customers, 90% of them just pay it and go about their business.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_10: They know they were wrong and they move forward.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_10: Um, that's one part of it, dealing with the customer on the scene.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and you know, one of the I'll I want to make sure I state this.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_10: We don't allow any employee to have any type of weapon or stick or anything to combat anybody that might be irate.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_10: The duty of our professionals that are removing vehicles uh from anywhere from$50 car to a five, you know, a$500,000 car is to retreat from a hostile situation.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_10: So, with that being said, when they come to our location and they're in that type my type of mind frame, either on the phone or at our location, is to de-escalate.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_10: First is to talk calmly, nod your head as if you understand what they're saying, because we do.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_10: We know their car was towed and they're not happy about it.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_10: So, one of the things I ask people to do is to put their hands up and I ask people to say, Listen, I understand we are breathing the same oxygen.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_10: Unfortunately, you were parked in an area that was unauthorized and your vehicle was removed according to the guidelines and stipulations of the community, and usually it it de-escalates quite a bit.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_10: I think tone is important, tone is important, important.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_10: I think that the uh body language is important, understanding, nodding your head, putting your hands in surrender, knowing that you're you understand the situation, is an important way to communicate that you under you deal with this every day, but not in a off-handed manner.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_10: You deal with it as they are one of our customers, and we want to show them the respect and courtesy that every customer, no matter why they were tow, deserves all of that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_10: And that's a reputation we try to bring to our business is showing that we have kindness and compassion, but parking enforcement is a contentious business by design.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_10: So, and I that's a quote from Mike Reynolds, um, another professional in this industry.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_10: So it is definitely a tough business to be in.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_10: It is not for the weak whatsoever.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_08: So a couple things you referenced.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_08: One of them was uh the draft fees are regulated by either the state or local government.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_08: Is that correct?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_09: Yes, sir.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_08: Also, just another thing, just to paint the proper picture.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_08: All the jurisdictions that you operate in, I'm pretty familiar with.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_08: Is it a safe thing to say that they all require more than adequate signage?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_08: In other words, these are lots with a little tiny sign on one end at the end of the bottom the wrong way, you don't see the sign.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_08: These these properties you're talking about here in your part of the world are well posted, documented with signage, aren't they?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_08: Or am I out of line with that?
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_10: No, you're absolutely correct.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_10: Each jurisdiction has their own guidelines, what they like, certain size requirements, some require reflective, translucent ink, must say certain things, must have the police non-emergency, our number, uh, certain things must be on the sign.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_10: Um, certain jurisdictions, like inside of a parking garage, when you drive into it, they don't want the sign.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_10: This certain jurisdiction wants it outside the garage, so they see it before you enter.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_10: But basically, every every jurisdiction is alike, wanting the sign to be visible from the entrance as you enter private property.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_10: We have one jurisdiction that requires a very large sign at the entrance, but they also require, excuse me, on both sides of the entrance, and they require it as you exit the private property.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_10: So you have to put up four signs at every entrance, and it is uh, you know, not cost effective, but you know, we do it because it's the requirement.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_08: Well, no, there's a point I'm trying to pay to the folks listening.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_08: That's one thing that it can be a challenge right away.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_08: It's hard to defend to have a little trap set up, so to speak, with one sign on it.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_08: So you know, that if you're getting involved in the type of telling to the listener.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_08: You're required by law to have good signage, you're required by the being a decent human being and handling this properly to have a good signage.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_08: Is that a fair statement?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_10: It is a fair statement.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_10: I will say that that is not our policy to set a trap.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_10: Uh, our policy is to provide parking enforcement uh at the highest, uh, highest respectable level possible.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_10: And when I say that, you know, I have the signs of the jurisdiction, they're 18 by 24, I have four signs at every entrance.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and we still have people every day park on that property and walk to a different property, restricting the parking for that supermarket.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_10: And so, and I get calls from the manager that he's watching on camera that you know these people are parking and leaving, and then you know they'll have us remove the vehicles.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_10: So it's it it becomes it comes down if you people are notified.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_10: Towing is well represented in this area.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_10: Um, that if you park here in this area, the question becomes how long do I have before my car is towed?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_10: Not not whether if.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_08: We got a clip I want to listen to and we should comment ongether.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_02: Reserved.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: Parking only for 202.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: 202 happens to be our building.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: And my guess is since all those people have gone home, that this is someone's car from the yoga loft next door.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a rule.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: If we really try to be, you know, a company that coexists with everybody in this building.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: If something happens and we don't like it, if we go and talk to the people, so if we can go and talk to them quickly, lock the door.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: Just wait in front of my garage door.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: I need uh I need to get it.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: Some people parked in front of our parking space.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna be uncomfortable for a day.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like what's the yard here?
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: We've put no parking signal.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_02: Over against the wall so people don't park.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: We've got a no parking sign here.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I had J lower the door so you guys can see.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: This person parked here, even though it says reserved on the pavement, it even says we've gone as far as to have bright neon no parking signs.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: It says you will be towed at owner's expense and we put a no parking sign over here to cover our six dolls.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's how ignorant this person is.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, I'm losing my ticket over this.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just pissed because now I'm stuck here.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: I can't honor my time with my daughter.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: I can't go and get stuff that just screws my whole day off.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh by the way, there's someone parked there.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the owner of the yoga studio.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: Do you believe?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Without asking any questions, he goes, he has the nerve to say, Oh, really?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: You towed them at Christmas?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: They're in front of my door.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: I have my kid with me.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even leave my office.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: We got stuff to do.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: There's plenty of signs that says do not park here.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that's a good illustration of what Jason was talking about before we played that clip, as far as there's plenty of signage, there was plenty of markings, and it was just totally disregarded.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_04: There was, I think there was even a spot in that parking area.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_04: They just parked where they parked at and locked locked them up.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_04: What do you think, Jason?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_09: I agree.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_10: I watched the clip actually, and it was a good depiction of it even on audio.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_10: The guy has four or five signs in front of his business.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_10: It's parked right in front of his bay door.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_10: It says reserve parking for his unit.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_10: It's well marked.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_10: Uh, and somebody just decided to park there and uh not care that those spot that space belonged to him, and he is inside his uh property and cannot leave because there's a car blocking his entrance.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_08: That's a false imprisonment, isn't it?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_10: I don't know if I could quote the law on that, but I will say that the guy was within his rights, he had plenty of signage, uh, and he definitely has it marked on the pavement, and the person just didn't care that that was his spot, or didn't notice or didn't care, but you know, as the police say, ignorance or the judge says, ignorance ignorance of the law is no excuse.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_08: That's right.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_04: And the funniest thing that was said on there was is I can't believe you towed at Christmas, but they locked him in their their place of business at Christmas.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_10: Right.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_10: And he was spending time with his daughter and he he had his daughter there waiting for the tow truck so that they could leave and and go spend time together.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_04: I think if you can give one piece of advice to a towing company owner who wants to improve their impound operation, what would it be?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_10: I think that's a uh an in-depth question because I think it covers so many others that uh we discussed, and that is we're all in the same business, no matter if you're towing cars for breakdowns or police work or body shops or parking enforcement, we're all in the same business.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_10: We want to provide service, but on top of all of that, we want to limit our liability and exposure for conference for possible confrontation or future litigation.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_10: So that's an important factor in our business.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_10: Um, you know, we have um uh program called Samsara, which helps with a lot of safety issues.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_10: Safety is is you know uh a number one concern in our industry, um, and I I like it.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_10: You know, some of the drivers don't like being talked to by the AI, but it it has helped.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_10: Um, we've decreased several things like accidents and uh distracted driving and speeding and uh rolling stops, and those are important factors that are making our business better.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_10: Uh, we're a safer company, and that's that's a priority.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_10: Um, what we talked about that could make the business better is photographs.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_10: A photo says a thousand words.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_10: So when I have a driver say the car was in the fire lane and I have a one picture from you know half a block away, it's not a good depiction.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_10: When I have multiple pictures of pre free tow pictures, every jurisdiction requires four corners of the vehicle, uh, damage pictures, uh VIN number, license plate, we require all of that.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_10: And we also use timestamp so we can say when we were there, because if it if it they say, Oh, I was only there five minutes, you didn't call us for three hours.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_10: So, you know, that becomes you know a problem for them, uh, but it gives us transparency of when we were there.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_10: That's important.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_10: The other thing that has become a requirement in our company is drop photos.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_10: When we drop the car from the tow truck onto the storage facility or at any place we're taking a vehicle, we have to have four-corner pictures saying that the pictures we took pre prior to towing are the condition of the vehicle is the same as when we dropped the vehicle where it's being left.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_10: So that's important because it it limits our liability.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_10: They say, well, this wasn't here.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_10: Well, it's in this picture and it's in the picture when we dropped it.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_10: So uh those are important factors.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_10: Um photos are definitely the one of the biggest things I could say.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_10: The biggest thing I could say is protecting and take good care of the people because the people are what makes the business.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_10: Um, you know, they say they say that if you can uh leave a business for a year and come back and it's doing better than when you left it, you know, that's a real business.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_10: So I come I leave every night and I come back in the morning to see if we did better than we did the day before.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_10: And we have we have grown exponentially in a short period of time, and we'd like to continue to do so.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_10: So taking care of the people is a priority.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_10: People have problems.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_10: When I walk through the door, I'm dealing with managers, drivers, office people, customers, uh, customers at the window, customers on the lot, customers on the phone, and so that becomes important.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_10: You have to take care of the people through the entire process.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_04: So that leads to um a couple of different uh directions I wanted to take with that.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_04: One one is accountability.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_04: You you have a high level of accountability for yourself and for your people that you work that work with you, and also you take care of them.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_04: That's number one.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: Number two, you you touched a little bit on this as you were talking about the improving, how you can improve your company, and that's technology.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: With uh taking a lot of pictures, which is that's just good documentation.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's that predates a lot of the technology that we have if you would are doing that to start with.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: How does technology play a part in making those aspects of your job easier, better, or harder?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_10: Well, I'm glad you brought that up.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_10: I'm dealing with probably 12 or 13, maybe more, different digital parking platforms with license plate recognition.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_10: And if the customer has a particular software that they're using to uh issue permits to the license plate, uh it makes our job a tremendous amount easier.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_10: Um, first of all, from the management side, they don't have to, you know, for condominiums, have to mail the mail the application, they have to send all the documentation, then they forgot a piece, they got to mail them something, say you forgot a piece of documentation, the registration or whatever, and then they get it back, and then they have to mail them the permits.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_10: And then the amount of time that takes to get a place fully permitted, so you know everybody's gotten the information or should or have had the opportunity to have permitted parking, um, where with digital, it's all self-registration.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_10: The community or property sets the parameters of oh, you can only get a guest permit uh three days in a week, you can only have it for three days, otherwise, your car is blocked, you go to register again, you can't register, you don't have a permit.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_10: Where with hang tags and things like that, the amount of time and energy that is wasted with I lived here for 10 years, they should know my car.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_10: I put it in my glove box when I got my car detailed, and now I'm dealing with it, the management's dealing with it.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_10: You should remember my car.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_10: I've been here for 10 years.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_10: Okay, that's very true, but you're asking a driver to remember 10,000 cars a week.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_10: It's not impossible, but it's possible he won't remember your car.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_10: So it it nobody's putting their license plate in their glove box.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_10: So the digital parking is is is definitely here.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_10: We we recommend three of them that we use very that we use very frequently because they're so good.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_08: Well, we had one of we had one of them on the podcast a couple weeks ago.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_08: Who was that?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_10: Uh park park VA?
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_10: Very good software.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_10: Um, I know the people there, very good software.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_10: They also, excuse me, make the cameras for uh that we can mount on our trucks.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_10: Uh they have a very reasonable leasing process where you can lease it, use it as long as you want on the monthly fee, give it back when you don't want it.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and you can drive by and check an entire community of, let's say, 500 cars, excuse me, in 15 minutes, as opposed to running around cars with flashlights all night trying to find the the Easter egg or where they put the sticker.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and it it's it's invaluable the time it has saved us with their program.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_04: It's also safer for the operator of the truck not to be out as much.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_10: Again, I agree.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_10: Limiting limiting our liability and exposure for.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_10: Possible confrontation and future litigation is key.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_10: Of course, the driver has to get out of the vehicle to secure it, to secure uh the vehicle in tow, and he also has to maybe have to dolly the car, etc., but that's limited as far as driving and driving with a flashlight out the window, not paying attention to what's in front of him as much as he should be.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_10: You know, the computer is reading the tag numbers as he drives, and it alerts the driver to say beep, beep, beep, bam, this car doesn't have is not authorized to be here.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_10: We document that information.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_10: The reason I like it so much is it's not even a guest pass where you've got to try to read the date through the frost on the car or the dew on the car, you know, the paper guest passes.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_10: It's so much easier, my guys.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_10: It's either registered or it's not registered.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_10: And that black and white type sewing is very important to us because we only want to do what the property asks us to do and not make judgment calls on handwriting.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's probably saved something from being impounded that may have not been impounded, you know, that may have been impounded because that is just an automatic thing.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_04: It's also taken a little bit of the guest work away from the impound operator, too.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_10: Correct.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_10: It it really does help.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_10: I mean, we love it.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_10: Um, we want to do more of it.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_10: Um, I uh it's at least three or four times a week.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_10: I'm taking a zoom with a property with different softwares that they're interviewing to see what it can do and what it can't do.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_10: From the management side, the um they're saving anywhere from 60 to 100 hours a year just on self-registration.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_10: Instead of them coming to the rental office and saying, Oh, I want to get my permit.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_10: Okay, do you have your registration?
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_10: It's in the car.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_10: Okay, here's my registration.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_10: Do you have your license?
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_10: It's in my person, my apartment.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_10: You know, those the the time wasted with with parking permit issues, it takes a lot of that away from from and and it's up to the minute parking on it.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_10: You could see who's there.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_10: Every time we scan a car, they can see we've scanned the car.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_10: So they can tell how many if these people are home, if this parking is being abused.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_10: There's so many, there's so many highlights.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_10: I can't mention them all.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and it's important, I think, to to interview more of those people because there's so many things.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_10: This software doesn't do this, but it does that.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_10: This software does, so they're all trying to get on you know uh an equal level.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_10: Um, but it's definitely a it's been a game changer for the business.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_10: Um, we love it.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_10: There's several other towers that are using all kinds of different softwares.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_10: We're all using it.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_10: Um, I think the the biggest thing that I can say is as far as how how we have built this business is through cooperation and relationship with the the customer or the property management company or the board board of directors for condominium and so forth.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_09: All right, well, that's good information.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, so would you like to any thoughts you'd like to share with us before we part ways?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_10: I don't want anyone to think that this is not towing, that it's just snatching cars.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_10: We still deal with all the same things as every other towing business deals a towing business owner and manager deals with.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_10: We still deal with all the truck problems, the driver problems, the making sure they have a license to tow cars in our state, make sure they have DOT cards and uniforms and uh identifiable uh um uh clothing to say that they're with our company.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_10: Um, you know, the the verifying the dispatch, you know, to make sure all the information is correct so that we have the right vehicle.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_10: You know, the driver takes pictures of a car and then enters into the software one letter or one number off.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_10: We've impounded a wrong car and reported the wrong car, so we have to verify all the information of every vehicle by the pictures, by the information given by the driver, and find where there's errors.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_10: And we've caught several.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_10: So drivers in a hurry trying to make sure they can get the car into the system so they can move on to another car.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_10: You know, we review all the reasons for the tows, the timestamp photos to make sure we're following all the guidelines and rules of the community and properties.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_10: Um, so it's a lot that goes into it.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_10: We we deal with the same things as all the other towers, though, with safety, equipment, dispatchers, phone lines, internet, software, all those things play a part in our business as well.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_10: So it's it's keeping up the the current the to the cutting edge of what's available and what we would like to see the business become easier and more accountable and transparent.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_08: Well, that's quite a vision you have in the industry, and I know you do a good job every day putting energy for it, but I want to thank you for taking time after your busy day to share information with us.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_08: If folks want to get a hold of you, is there an email address or something?
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_10: Sure, it's Jay Harris, the letter J Harris at henrysrecord.com.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_10: Um, I want to say one other thing.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_10: The uh the vice president of Valor Fleet is a longtime friend of mine and owner, uh previous owner of Alistone and Storage and has been a great mentor in in this uh this time with the company now.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_08: Hal's a good man.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_08: Uh if you go back to people that were in or I knew in the telling business when I first started back in 1982, Al is one of them, and he's definitely done very well for himself.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_08: So that's a nice shout-out to him.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I definitely had to mention that.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_10: He's been uh instrumental in helping me get my maintenance program up, and we knew we have a new uh director of fleet maintenance, and and he's uh you know working with him to make sure that my trucks are not left to the side.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and that's been uh uh instrumental to in how we do business and helping me get staffed up and and and hire more people that are qualified.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_10: So I just I really can't say enough about the people that have helped me through this business.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_10: And there's other people, Dave and Joe, and other people within Valor Fleet that have helped me get to the level that I'm at.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_10: It's not it's not a one-man show for sure.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_08: That's nice that you recognize that.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_08: I recognize that we're out of time, so I want to thank our listeners for listening, staying with us all the way to the end.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_08: Make sure you go like, share, and uh subscribe.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_08: Also visit our website, TonyEquipment Direct.com.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_08: Or if you have any questions, just call us the main line, 910-747-9000.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_09: That's nine one zero seven four seven nine thousand.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_08: And we'll be happy to help you anybody don't have to be safe out there.