A Journey Through Time: 30 Years of Trucking with Curtis Davlut

Step into the shoes of Curtis Davlut, a veteran trucking professional, and experience 30 years of navigating the freight shipping industry. From responding to Request for Proposals to managing customer relations, Curtis shares his wisdom and insights from his time in the business. Learn how the truck has changed over the last three decades, and how Curtis has adapted to the shifting industry. Discover the strategies he implemented to stay ahead of the competition and build a successful career. With Curtis as your guide, get ready to embark on a journey through time and find out how the industry has evolved. Tune in now and gain valuable knowledge that you can apply to your own business.


www.sspgroup.com
Reach out to Curtis:
curtis.davlut@sspgroup.com

John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca


Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056



Keeping it Safety Dawg Simple!
#trucksafety #truckinsurance #truckpodcast

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Transcript

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 0:00

Hey, welcome back to the Trucking Risk and Insurance podcast with your co-host, John Ware and Chris Harris. Today we've got a special guest friend of mine, Curtis, of all from SS P group of companies. He's the VP over there and he's got a couple things he wants to share with the industry, seeing some things that are going on. So we're gonna have a chinwag, so let's get. Welcome to the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast. Hey Curtis. How you doing? I'm doing well. How are you guys doing? Wonderful. Wonderful. Glad to have you on the show here, Chris. God, you're looking, you're looking fine as well, so we can keep this going.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 0:37

Well, I, I just wanna. I just want to see Curtis's chin, leg,

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 0:44

That'll be never a problem around here when you got old truckers . So, Curtis, give, give us a background of, you know, who, who's, who's, Curtis Davlut. What, uh, where did you start? Where you at?

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 0:56

How'd you get here? Okay. I, uh, so I, I've been in this industry for probably 30, over 30 years now. And, uh, uh, my background, uh, comes from the, the pool cart operating side of the business. Hmm. And then, uh, and then from the pool cart, I, I got involved with, uh, some of the, uh, small package, uh, companies. And over the years of my, my, uh, transitioning, as my career grew, I got more involved into, uh, the, uh, trucking, direct trucking asset related, uh, some of the freight forward. And some of the non-asset, which we look to as three PL or global solutioning. And so I've, I've got a fair amount of experience in those spectrums from a trucking standpoint. But the other thing that is quite nice is I've also worked on the other side of the desk. Mm-hmm.. So it gives me a complete array of objectivity as to what, what it's like to be a customer. Yep. And what it's like to be a provider. Cool. Okay. And so hopefully that gives you a little bit of an idea. The And, and, and just for the records, it's Curtis dk. Okay. Dave is my, oh, okay. Just for the record.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 2:12

Perfect. Good. I'm glad you squared that up. Yeah. We would go on, we would go on and say it wrong for hours and days and weeks from, well, then everybody that would see,

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 2:19

well, we know Curtis da, but we don't know. Yeah, that's right.. John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: the VP for SSP group of companies, give us a little background on SSP and who they are and what they're about. Okay. Um, so ssp, very, very small, humbled, uh, company 2016 ish, uh, the fruition of, uh, when the first, uh, truck started hitting the road, a very small. uh, with, uh, several of the gentlemen that were drivers owner operators that decided to spin this into an entrepreneurial opportunity based on accumulating some customers, uh, accumulating some relationships with these customers where the customers would say, geez, you know what?, you guys should be doing this, you know, instead of, uh, ABC company or anything like that, right? Mm-hmm.. So they got into this and we started, uh, uh, just a very small, you know, like nine trucks. Okay? And that was the very beginnings of, and, and, you know, kind of. Figuring out your way, figuring out how costs work, figuring how much money you're spending on fuel and the drivers and what have you. Then we started, uh, getting or developing better relationships with some of the, uh, bigger steel companies out there, and hence they would put some demand on us as to the equipment types that they're most interested in, which is the flatbed world, which is what we, our core competency. Okay. Is within the flat bit, you name it, any type roll tight step decks, uh, rgn, whatever. Okay. We're involved in the whole thing. Okay. Which took us to the next step where we had to start taking a look at safety and compliance, which we'll have some discussions on a little later on today. Uh, you know, opening up a, uh, a safety compliance division, which was all new at the time. Okay. Permits, you know, like we, we, we were used to traveling to the United States with no permits. Right. Well, that changed that world. Because of regulation in that. So we got into that area. We built up a, uh, small compliance and safety team at that time, which has grown exponentially since, and we've gone, so from nine trucks to over 400 trucks is basically the whole of my story. Okay? Yep. And, and to, to today, to 2023. And, and, and, and this is our asset. Okay. Within that, in the, uh, in the makings of the, uh, pandemic., we, uh, had some discussions on opening up a three PL division, a logistics partner, a logistics part of our business to value add to what our asset is already doing, but also driving a non-asset side we're we're not having to worry about absorbing costs, so on and so forth with drivers, et cetera, et cetera. Right. Utilizing a procurement team and. Development of relationships that we've had over the years with these, these partners carriers, and bringing them on board and utilizing their services into our world as well. Cool. That area has, again, exponentially grown from 2020 to the date of inception to where we are today. Cool. Okay. And when I say exponentially, yeah, we've gone from a very, very small company, you know, six, seven people. to, you know, we've got literally hundreds of people working with us. Yeah. Offices, good deal. Offices in Loretto, Texas, Houston, Sacramento, California, Montreal, and naturally our head offices here at Milton. Cool. Okay. Yeah.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 5:55

Perfect. Curtis.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 5:56

Awesome. Uh, I know you wanted to tackle, uh, owner operators. What do you see as the future of the owner operator model?

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 6:07

So the future of the owner operator side of the business. Okay. In our inner owner operator pool at the FSP group, the, the value of the owner operators, which I am certain that there's not many, uh, mainstream trucking companies that would differ with this, but probably one of our most valuable assets in the organization. The owner operators are, um, uh, you know, drive the business in many ways. Okay. We've gotta be making sure that we. In tune with what they would like. We've gotta be empathetic to understand that, you know, some of these owner operators are gone for two, three weeks at a time and they have families just like us and they like to get home to their families just like we do, right? Yep. And so therefore, we, we work with a, a very strong array of dedicated owner operators out there, but we, we treat them like gold. We like to believe that we treat them like gold because they are very valuable and I. And I make that very clear. Okay. Because the recognition that a lot of the drivers get is nil. Mm-hmm., we hear about, you know, they cut off somebody. That truck was you. Nobody knows what it's like to be lugging around a 53 foot trailer. Yeah. Unless you've done it. Okay. It's not that easy to be nimble within the traffic. Okay. And. The way it is today with the way the traffic is. So the owner operators are, are an integral part of our business and will continue to be an integral part of our business. Okay. The owner operators are the self-employed drivers. Mm-hmm.. Okay. They are typically incorporated themselves. Mm-hmm. and what they do is they contract their services to ourselves. So we have owner operators that we value as well as we have our company drivers. Two different., but we are all working in the one same company. Okay.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 8:09

Well, I was gonna say one of the, one of the huge challenges that we're seeing today is just the cost of doing business. You know, price of fuel, price of trucks and whatnot. And, and that's especially gotta be hurting owner

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 8:19

operators today. Mm-hmm.. It certainly is. And it's, it's, uh, John, that's, that's one of the. Parts of the balancing act that we have to take on almost daily because fuel change, you know, people ask us, do you know what the fuel's gonna be like next week? I don't know. I don't have a can't answer that. Did I know, you know, diesel was gonna drop 20 cents a liter or anything? No. Nobody gave us any warning about that. It just happens when it happens. Exactly. So, so the, the, uh, you know, the fuel impacts, there's many impacts with the drivers. being a strong employer in this type of business is we have to be cognizant of what's going on with the fuel and we have to adjust in accordance to what the market dictates. Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm.. So the good old days, if we go back 20 years ago and you committed to a price of a hundred dollars a load. Mm-hmm. and fuel went up by 25., the customers used to hold your feet to the fire at 20. Mm-hmm., they still wanted a hundred dollars a load. Mm-hmm.. Yeah. They don't care what's going on with the, with the uncontrolled expenses out there. Right. Right. That's not their problem. That's, well, today it is their problem. It is everybody's problem. We know what it's like because we drive to work. We take our motorcycles to work. We take our cars to work every day. We know the cost of fuel. So do the truckers. Yep. So we don't feel the slightest bit. embarrassed or concerned when it comes to passing those costs through because they have to. Otherwise, we can't afford to perform at the levels that our customers have, expectations of us to perform it. Mm-hmm.. So try telling somebody that while the reason I'm not gonna get there for the next six weeks is because your rate doesn't afford me to do so. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We, we don't have those discussions. Okay. Our discussions are pretty black and white this week. This is the cost. This is what it's gonna cost you. If we're tying into a contract with anybody or anything, we can't predict the future or anything anymore. Mm-hmm.. And 95% of the industry understands that, believe it or not. Yep. Great. Agreed. And, and, and why that's important to us is because they also understand the urgency. We, we are an essential service. Mm-hmm., the supply chain is an essential service. It's up to us to make sure the pharmaceutical, that, that, that the drums are beating 24 7. Oh yeah. All the good stuff. Yep. We gotta do that. Okay. And so, so that whole part of that, that component, , everybody's aware of nobody hides anything. It's very transparent. Mm-hmm. and it's industry wide. Okay. So it's not as though there's cherry picking, taking place or, or anything along those, those areas. Right. You know what I mean? So that's why we, we have a tendency to take a look at all these meeting. Exactly. Exactly.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 11:13

And John, I don't know if you want to ask about, um, the ss uh, the safety department. You were saying that you've expanded your safety and compliance. Mm-hmm., what are you now doing?

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 11:27

Within our, in our safety and compliance? Yeah. Side of the business. Yep. We've expanded that area again because of supply and demand. Okay. Used to be a two person., now it's an eight person operation. Mm-hmm.. And the reasons is because there's a lot more, uh, government involvement in the infrastructures of the American cities, the Canadian cities, as well as our Mexican partner cities. Right. The compliances are all different. But you have to be compliant to what their circumstances are. So when you're moving free, say on a permit through, uh, seven states throughout the United States, you, you are now dealing with seven states and seven states have to give you authorization to run your equipment with the oversize equipment that's on your flatbeds from state to. So you must be compliant because otherwise a ministry or a federal or somebody's gonna pull you over and you're gonna go through a big rigg roll, which is gonna lay up that vehicle. Oh yeah, yeah. Time is money. These owner operators, they're on the clock. Right? They wanna get, you know, they're paid on getting the business delivered. Right? Yep. And that, so that's why the safety and compliance department has grown is because the regulations have changed so much in the last few years more so than ever before that it's So, I. that whatever we're doing, we are compliant, we're running a safe operation, and that we're advising the customers to the best practices of handling their goods because often they don't know all the regulations that are surrounding moving a piece of equipment that's 14 feet high by nine feet wide. They, they don't necessarily get all that. No, no. They're not doing that every day or anything like that. Exactly. Our job is to make. That we educate, we train, we develop, and we build the relationships. And that's why our safety and compliance department has grown so much is because we are a very one throat to choke. I like to use that term all the time. Uh, you're not having to make 15 different phone calls, okay? You make one phone call. Here's what's gonna happen, here's what we're gonna do, and this is why we're doing it. Okay?

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 13:45

Good deal. What, uh, how are you finding it right now in the, uh, owner operator market? You know, finding good level-headed owner operators, got a good business mind, um, or are we starting to see a lot of new owner operators, drivers that are, you know, still learning how to drive and jumping into the owner

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 14:04

operator market? Yes. Yes. So, very two excellent questions. Okay. The first, uh, question I'd I'd like to address, which is, The owner operators Okay. That are, are coming into the, uh, business that have been in the business. Um, it's a challenge in the sense that the repository of them are few and far between. From what it used to be like if I were to open my door in my office here, it, it's not like there's a lineup of owner operators waiting to become employed. Right, right. It's, it's few and far between just because that generation of owner operators that, that have been here for the last 25. Are retiring and everything. Yes. The backfill is a lot of the younger individuals are coming into this business now. Yeah. A lot of the terms and conditions of running or, or running a truck on your own as an owner or operator have changed too by government regulation. You know, some of the things, for instance, you know, you can't get insurance unless you've got two years of experience under your. Well then the owner operator, who's Mr. Say, 22 year old coming into the business says, well, I've got no experience. Mm-hmm., how am I supposed to get experience if, if I can't drive? Right. You know, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm.. So it's that two, two edged sword almost. So we're saying, well, you know, you gotta go work for a, you know, a local hardware store or something driving truck for the next two years so that we can put that on your, on your application. Which then, right paves the way to make things a little bit more compliant cuz otherwise. the newcomers that are coming on have premiums that are crazy. Yeah. Okay. To pay on their insurance, right? Mm-hmm.. So we as an employer, okay, we take these people on and we have to mitigate that in a sense where we take a look at the costs of operating, the value that the individual or individuals are going to add, and what the longevity that we can see. Mm-hmm., which again, we don't have a crystal ball. So if you were to ask the Curtis, uh, you know, You know, Betty Sue, how long do you think Betty Sue's gonna be working for you as an owner opera? I can't answer that question, but one thing for sure, if we treat them very well, they're gonna stick around. If we pay them very well, they're gonna stick around. Right. These are the, these are the ingredients. Exactly. When we're baking a, a, you know, a pie, so to speak, right? Yep. If we got the right ingredients, we get everything right. If we don't have the right ingredients, we, we don't. So true. We are relying on a lot of new blood coming into the system. We are. We see a lot of it today. We've seen the ebbs and flow. Yeah, pandemic a much different world. Now that we're out of this pandemic, all of a sudden we're seeing that supply and demand is increasing. So we are, we are entertaining that area regularly with a, with a full team that that's all they do. Cool. Okay.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 16:47

Are, are you able, sorry. You know, and for me, I, I'm looking at it going. Flat deck. Damn. If I'm an owner operator, I could do reefer, I could do drive-in. Yep. Why in the heck would I wanna do flat deck? That sounds like a lot of work cuz I got chaining, strapping, tarping. Um, a lot more physical involvement often. Uh, yes. In the loads, yes. Are you having a difficult time recruiting owner operators?

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 17:17

A difficult time recruiting owner, operators doesn't matter because we. Have over a hundred drive vans in our fleet. Mm-hmm.. Okay. So we're, we are very, you know, we, we've diversified our, our product to cater to the marketplace. And that, is it difficult to answer that question to get owner? Yes. It's, it's, it's not easy. Okay. It's, it's not an easy task to go out there. It's not like I, I can walk across the street and say, listen, I'd like to hire you. Come on over and work for us. You know, that type doesn't work like that. Uh, so the task at that is, and we. Subject matter experts, that that's what they're involved in on a day to day basis. I don't personally get involved in, in the hiring of the owner operators or anything like that. Mm-hmm. not my functionality. Okay. But one thing for sure is we treat the individuals that work for us, like they're part of our family, and that is a key component. And, and, and the, the actual, the, the president of the company is all about that family tie. And I know it may sound cliche., you know? You know the old saying, walk the walk, talk the talk, right? Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm., and I see the walk. The walk, and I see the talk, the talk every single day, because that is our mission. Mm-hmm., okay. Is, is we want everybody not to think that they're just working for us, that they're just an employee of ours. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We want them to be part of our family. It's important because we are a tight knit, like honestly, I could walk out here right now and go and talk to six or seven of the owner operators and they'll help. Because we take the time to do that. Not everybody, I mean, there's a lot. I don't, everybody, if you were to ask me, put me through

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 18:52

how you feel like that. Ok. But I'm sure, I'm sure there's a couple Bobs in there. That'd be okay. Was that Bob or Bob too?

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 19:00

Exactly. You know, how do you spell your, your name? Bob, proper back. But you. Okay. But what we wanna do is, is we, so to answer your question, no it's not. What do we do? We are active in the, the job fairs. We are active in ev all the types of, of opportunities where the repositories of drivers are at. Keep it in mind, you got a hundred drivers and 200 companies. Mm-hmm.. So see, this is what's happened today is Yeah. Is it's, if you happen to be a skilled owner operator, you can pick wherever you wanna work. Okay. The sky's the. If you know, and that's why the value of the owner operators and company drivers are so important to us is because we don't want turnover. Mm-hmm. and our turnover is very minimal. Okay. When we've got people working for us as owner operators or, or company drivers, if you were to say, can you count on one hand how many people have come and gone? I, I could. Okay. Cuz what if you treat them well? You pay them well, you give 'em good benefit. You treat 'em like they're part of the family. They love it. They love it. Like anybody, they wanna be wanted just like all of us. Right.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 20:14

what, uh, what, what, what makes the difference between, um, well, no, let me not even go that way. Let me, let me ask this here. What is the luring factor? So I'm gonna kind of continue on with what Chris started with. What's the luring factor for an owner operator to come on to work in the flatbed division? So, you know, there, there's a, a lot more to it than just drive in and reefer by all means. But of course what's gonna lure a guy over there? What is it you are looking for from a, an owner operator to do that other than experience, but if, if I was new, say. You know, maybe I'm, I'm working on your van division, uh, right now, and I'm going, geez, maybe I don't wanna go over there and try that flatbed thing for a while, or something like that. What is, what is the lure that brings them over? You know, is it, is it more money? Is it, uh, more excitement? Like, what is it

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 21:01

that that gets those guys? Well, the, the, the business is at the best of times is exciting for the, the, these drivers because driving is their lives. They love what they're doing, okay? They love to be gone for two, three days at a. They love to get home. Uh, but the big luring pieces, okay, is, is money. Okay? The almighty dollar is, uh, uh, if you're operating a, uh, uh, a flatbed or anything, you know, some of the conditions you have to be certified, okay? You can't just go decide, well, you know what? I've been driving vans for the last 10 years. I wanna start driving flatbed tomorrow. Mm-hmm. doesn't work like that, okay? Mm-hmm., you need to be trained, which that's what our safety and compliance department does. You've gotta be certified and you've gotta. a hundred percent wholesome at what you're doing with that now, what the lure and what the glue is, that keeps ceases because in, in the van side of the business, which is our predominant uh, uh, moving type of business that has been traditional throughout the years, the flatbed becomes a more specialized area. Now, the flatbed demand is huge. Huge. Okay. From what we see, it's huge. Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm.. Um, so in the flatbed side of the., uh, your, your, your per mile, which, you know, uh, fluctuates, but your per mile rate is different than it is in a van world. Mm-hmm.. Okay. That is just the standard cost of operating a flatbed because there's more physical labor and work involved with, you know, with, with the chains, with the blocking, with the, with the tarping. If you need tarping, uh, you know, moving the rule tights, the, you know, any of this stuff. Mm-hmm., it's a little bit more labor intensive, so you need that.. Yep. Okay. The vans, you're back into a door. The toll motors are bringing the freight, loading it, you know, you got 26 positions on the van, they load it, boom, you're gone. It's you pull out and you're gone. You close your doors, you see what you're, you're gone. Right? Yeah. Not that I wanna make that look like that's just simple because, I mean, make it simple. It's not always that simple. Okay? But that is, we know some

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 23:00

people that do make it overly simple, unfortunately.. Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: And, and I'd rather, you know what, I'd rather answer your questions. can like as, as best as I can from what I see. Okay. I, I, I've been in these trucks, I've been in these flatbeds. I, you know, physically. Yeah. I touch them. I feel 'em. I like to know what's going on with this stuff. Yeah. So to see this. Um, operating in the flatbed world is, is, requires a little bit more, uh, time and certification to get into that thing. So therefore they have to be paid in accordance to that, right? That's not to negate that the vans, like, say we get into team drive, or we get into different specialty, you know, six drops, stuff like this. Everything is based on incentives. Okay? So say you're being paid a dollar a mile, let's just use that as a figure. Well, you know, if you're, if you're doing six drops, we're gonna pay a buck 20 a.. Mm-hmm., if you're doing 20 drops, we're gonna pay a buck 50 a mile. Right. You know what I mean? Like it's all incentive so that, so that the folks that are driving, whether it's a male or female driving these vehicles feel that, you know, they're getting the biggest bang for their bucks and they're incentive so that they do this with pride. Mm-hmm.. Okay. We don't want them to sit there and say, wow, you know, Frank's going down the road, or Betty Sue's going down the road with a flatbed and they're making 25 cents a mile more than I am. That's not fair. Okay. Yeah. We don't want to hear that bickering. Okay. We want to, we want everything to be standardized within and very transparent if they want to come into the flatbed world, that is the supply demand. That's how it works. A lot of the flatbed drivers don't want to take on vans. Mm-hmm.. Okay. And vice., a lot of the vans don't want the hassle of having to do all the, the blocking and the chaining and, you know, attack and everything like that. Right? Sure. Okay. Sure. Yep.

, John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 24:45

Talk a bit about Curtis, talk a bit about what you're seeing in the industry. We're seeing a lot of movement towards a different driver's salary compensation program. I, I use the word salary, but sourly hourly and whatnot. But what, what are you guys seeing over at ssp? Uh, is it something that's being considered? Have you even thought about it? Is it on the radar? Are you hearing anything from drivers? Because the. The per mile model is just, it's causing a lot of grief of getting drivers to do all the other things that we need them to do, right? Mm-hmm., mm-hmm., um, you know, sitting at a dock waiting, doing your vehicle inspection, uh, and whatnot. We're, we're seeing that this new model, uh, which is well been hard to get traction and whatnot, is, is starting to make some waves and starting to help. You know, to be able to show a driver getting fully compensated for everything that they're doing and whatnot. So, um, is that something that's on SSPs

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 25:44

radar right now? You know, John, again, a great question. Uh, everything's on our radar screen. Mm-hmm., we like part of our business is we have to be cognizant of what's going on out in the market. Okay. These, uh, the drivers, again, as I've expressed, very, very important entities in our world., uh, they drive this business, okay? If we've got good drivers, okay, the freight is getting delivered on time. Every time, all the time, okay? If we don't have good drivers, God forbid, knowing where, you know, you're getting a, a, you know, who knows what's gonna get delivered. Timeframes, all those types. That's why it's, you know, these, these positions, these careers for a lot of the owner operators and company. Are taken very seriously because there's a lot that is involved around that whole area. Now, drilling down, the incentives are combined with Yes, your traditional per mile, because that is what they ask for. They say, this is what they, they say, we don't need the square root of 75 and then we gotta divide it in 35 and then, and that gives us a no, let's you know. I'm Mr. Owner operator. I'm Mr. Mm-hmm. driver. Okay. Mm-hmm.. I want it nice and simple, but I want it to be very competitive out there. Okay? So we have to incentivize based on not just per mile, but there's auxiliary charges that we layovers, okay? Yep. We arrive at ABC company, uh uh, on time, and they can't load us for four hours. Well, who's gonna pay for that? All built into the costs of our propositions when, and we make it very clear, okay, we will allow up to an hour after the first hour you pay this. After the second hour you pay that. Okay? So it's. And, and the reason we do that is because a piece of that action goes toward the owner operators then. Okay. Because, and look, time is money. These guys are driving trucks and if they gotta sit for three hours, they're not making money like their partners are, that are running straight down that highway constantly. Right? Right. So we have to equalize that and make sure everything is fair. Okay. So I hope that answers your question. Yep,

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 27:58

yep. No, it does. It does. And that's, that's what we want to do. So it's, you know, it's not just stuck on mileage. We're, we're talking about, like you say, incentivizing different areas and whatnot. So especially when you get into, into flatbed, you know, there's, there's tarping involved. You know, if I don't have a roll tight, say I'm doing over dimensional load. You gotcha. There's gonna be time involved.

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 28:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is. And there's lots of that for sure. Yep. Cool, cool. Good.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 28:22

Yeah. And Awesome. And Curtis, did we touch on all the subjects that, uh, you wanted to address today? Because we gotta wrap this up in just a few minutes.

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 28:31

Okay. Uh, the, the one last piece that I, I maybe we'll take, uh, 60 seconds Sure. Is just to talk about the market conditions between Canada and United States and Mexico. Yeah. Yeah. What are you seeing? Yeah, okay. You know, and, and, and that might be something just to, to just touch on that, the market out there in light of what everybody likes to hear and what everybody predicts, you know? I mean, they predicted this was gonna be the coldest and most snow winter ever. Okay? This was back in the fall. I, you know, somebody saw the ground lock jump down to a hole and they said, no, this is, this is it. This is gonna be so in our business, Uh, the markets are very strong Okay. Between Canada, United States, and Mexico. Okay. And the ebb and flow of managing the fleet of trucks where they are and where they're traveling to is, is so critical because it's all cost related. Making sure we got the back hauls to meet the head hauls, the head hauls to meet the back hauls. So this is a constant work in progress, but as a business strategy. we continue to keep our sleeves ruled up and keep making sure we're in tune with every single truck, where they're going, where they're coming out of it. And that's what our dispatch coordinators have their eyes on the ball with, okay? Is to make sure that we're not wasting time and money with equipment in Mexico that we can't get out of Mexico, right? We get out of, you know, the United States, we gotta bring back to Canada, Canada, get to Mexico with all this stuff. So market is strong in those areas with ourselves, but that's. We hit the market hard. Okay. We've got strong, represent, very strong representation throughout North America and, and it's, it works very well and we're engaged very directly with the customers. Okay. Relationship number one. Yep. Period. With anything owner, operators, customers, et cetera, et cetera. Okay.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 30:24

Excellent. Good deal. Well, because if you don't have those people you

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 30:28

got. That's for sure.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 30:32

Yeah. We got nothing. We can't move the freight without customers, shippers, receivers, and most importantly in my mind, the driver. Driver

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 30:42

Gotcha. Fact of life.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 30:44

Yeah.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 30:45

Hey, whether they're an owner operator or a, uh, an employee, it doesn't matter. We don't move anything without somebody sitting behind the wheel.

Curtis Davlut, SSP Group of Companies: 30:54

You got you. That, that is for sure.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 30:57

Yeah. All right. Thanks Curtis for coming on the Trucking Risk and Insurance podcast. That was awesome.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 31:04

Hi. Thank you.