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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, this is Lee Claskal when We're Talking Transports.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Bloomberg Intelligence Talking Transports podcast. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Lee Klaskow, Senior freight transportation logistics analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence,

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg's in house research arm of almost five hundred analysts

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Speaker 1: and strategists around the world. A quick public service announcement

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Speaker 1: before we dive in. Your support is instrumental to keep

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Speaker 1: bring a great guest and conversations to you or listeners,

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Speaker 1: and we need your support, so please, if you enjoy

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Speaker 1: this podcast, share it, like it, leave a comment. Also,

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Speaker 1: if you get ideas, feedback or just want to talk transports,

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Speaker 1: I'm always happy to connect. You can find me on

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Speaker 1: the Bloomberg terminal, on LinkedIn, or on x at Logistics Late.

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Speaker 1: I'm very excited to have with us today. George Henry.

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Speaker 1: He is the CEO and one of the three owners

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Speaker 1: of USI Truck. He brings deep expertise and logistics and transportation,

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Speaker 1: backed by a proven track record of a strategic leadership

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Speaker 1: and operation excellence. He began his career transplaced where advanced

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Speaker 1: to VP of Capacity Services, later served as VP of

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Speaker 1: Dedicated at Night Transportation before joining USA Truck in twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 1: During his tenure, he served as COO and played a

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Speaker 1: critical role in the integration of USA Truck following its

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Speaker 1: acquisition by D B.

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Speaker 2: Shanker.

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Speaker 1: His leadership expanded further during this period when he was

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Speaker 1: appointed EVP Regional America's Land and overseeing the North and

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Speaker 1: South American regions. Following the subsequent acquisition of dB Shanker

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Speaker 1: by DSV, George was asked to take the helm as

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Speaker 1: CEO of USA Truck, and he was instrumental in navigating

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Speaker 1: the transition of the company back to private ownership. He

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Speaker 1: holds a Bachelor of Science and Supply Chain, Transportation and

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Speaker 1: Logistics Management from the University of Wales and has completed

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Speaker 1: the executive education at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on talking transports.

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Speaker 2: George, Yeah, good morning, Lee. Thank you for the opportunity

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Speaker 2: to get some spend some time with you this morning,

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Speaker 2: talk about USA Truck, the exciting things that are going on,

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Speaker 2: and I think we're going to touch on some things

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Speaker 2: a little bit broader in the market that we're seeing

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Speaker 2: going on. So thank you again, absolutely so.

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Speaker 1: Some people investors might remember USA Truck used to trade

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Speaker 1: at the ticker USA K, then was bought, and now

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Speaker 1: you're private again. So could you just talk about what

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Speaker 1: is the company now, and you know, like talk about

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Speaker 1: your businesses, you know, the markets that you serve. Just

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Speaker 1: just give people a little feeling of what USA Truck's

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Speaker 1: all about now that it's a private company.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, So the easiest way to start off here

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Speaker 2: is the USA Truck as it is today effective January ninth,

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Speaker 2: when we actually closed, is pretty similar to what USA

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Speaker 2: Truck was when we were back as a public company

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Speaker 2: before the dB Schenker acquisition. So we're a major asset

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Speaker 2: player in the North American market, eighteen hundred trucks, six

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Speaker 2: thousand trailers. We participate in both the OTR transportation market

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Speaker 2: the dedicated transportation markets. And then we have a sizable

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Speaker 2: non asset and asset like offering as we did back

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Speaker 2: then as well. So we do traditional brokerage, some value

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Speaker 2: added stuff as well, a little bit more complex than

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Speaker 2: your traditional brokerage. And then we also have a pretty

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Speaker 2: extensive plus power group, a trailer only program which has

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Speaker 2: got very popular in the space. And what we like

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Speaker 2: to say is we've done that for twenty years and

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Speaker 2: we've done it really really well for twenty years, and

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Speaker 2: we continue to do that as well. Obviously, USA Truck

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Speaker 2: has had quite the hit and really the last three years.

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Speaker 2: This is the third transaction in three and a half

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Speaker 2: years this business has gone through, and I like to

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Speaker 2: talk a little bit about what we picked up. So yes,

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Speaker 2: we are very similar in structure to what we were

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Speaker 2: as a as a public company before dB Schenker. But

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Speaker 2: there are a lot of things that we do today

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Speaker 2: that we picked up the expertise, the knowledge and the

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Speaker 2: horsepower to do over the last three years that frankly,

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Speaker 2: we didn't do before. One of those are highly customized solutions,

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Speaker 2: whether it's highly serviced, sensitive, extraordinarily service sensitive, freight security,

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Speaker 2: high security, high cost of goods type products that we

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Speaker 2: have a great product with today that we can execute

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Speaker 2: for the ship of community. Geographically, what we really refer

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Speaker 2: to ourselves is our heavy density from an asset perspective

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Speaker 2: is east divide, the north and south and everywhere in between.

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Speaker 2: That is where the majority of the density on our

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Speaker 2: assets trucks and trailers exists. We also do dedicated outside

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Speaker 2: of that market, so we have some dedicated operations out

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Speaker 2: on the West coast. We do coast to coast with

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Speaker 2: our assets. We are a North American provider, so Canada

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Speaker 2: and Mexico. Mexico we've done for a very long time.

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Speaker 2: At any point in time, we have upwards of five

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Speaker 2: hundred trailers in Mexico operating with partner carriers, and that

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Speaker 2: is no different than what it was before. And then

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Speaker 2: we from a asset light perspective, so our plus power

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Speaker 2: and then our logistics traditional brokerage and non asset business.

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Speaker 2: We really service all markets. Those are markets where it's

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Speaker 2: a lot a lot easier for us to be nimble

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Speaker 2: and flexible move in and out of as needed to

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Speaker 2: serve our ship and need.

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Speaker 1: Right, And you said you're dense, You're dentist on the

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Speaker 1: I thirty five.

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Speaker 2: Corridor east of I thirty so everywhere east I thirty five.

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Speaker 2: The easiest way to really describe it is if you

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Speaker 2: draw a line essentially Laredo up through Kansas, Kansas City

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Speaker 2: and across. We do service areas outside of there, but

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Speaker 2: the real density that we have between our terminal points

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Speaker 2: are east of that cordal.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I just want to say I'm happy that

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Speaker 1: you kept the logo through all the different ownerships, because

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Speaker 1: I think it's one of the cooler truck logos that

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Speaker 1: are out there.

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Speaker 2: Look I'm a little bias obviously, but it's it's got

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Speaker 2: to be one of the coolest, if not the coallest

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Speaker 2: name first of all in USA Truck and then from

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Speaker 2: a logo perspective, And I don't know if you know this,

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Speaker 2: but our original founder, Bob Power, was a naval aviator

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Speaker 2: and that's where the logo came from.

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Speaker 1: I did not know that. Yep, that's awesome. That's why

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Speaker 1: I like doing this podcast. I learned something every time

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Speaker 1: I talk to somebody. So, you know, you mentioned that

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Speaker 1: you know you're getting to more into these specialty or

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Speaker 1: maybe not so as much specialty, just higher service level lanes,

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Speaker 1: whether it's you know, high security or sensitivity to service.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk about, like is that where you're focusing

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Speaker 1: the growth or like, how much is USA Truck today

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Speaker 1: kind of in the spot market versus contractual versus dedicated?

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Speaker 1: How would you kind of mix that up?

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Speaker 2: Very little in the spot market on our asset side.

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Speaker 2: We play a lot more in the spot market on

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Speaker 2: on on asset side, sure, but when you look at

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Speaker 2: our assets we're about forty percent of all the assets

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Speaker 2: are actually in long term, dedicated configurations. They're servicing the

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Speaker 2: same customer footprint, same shipping locations, same receiving locations, whether

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Speaker 2: it's retail or whatever, every day. Those those drivers run

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Speaker 2: for that customer and are a true extension of that shipper.

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Speaker 2: So that's about forty percent of our assets. The other

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Speaker 2: sixty percent of our assets are in our over the

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Speaker 2: road irregular route transportation we call it general freight. The

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Speaker 2: vast majority of those operate on contracted freight, So very

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Speaker 2: little from a spot perspective when it comes to our assets,

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Speaker 2: but we obviously use the spot market for repositioning or

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Speaker 2: to fill empty lanes that we have that we don't

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Speaker 2: particularly have a contracted lane on at that point in time.

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Speaker 2: As you're aware, the spot market, the whole market in general,

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Speaker 2: has been challenging, and yeah, it's a little bit of

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Speaker 2: an understatement, but it's just been a big challenge to

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Speaker 2: operate in that space. We have always wanted to keep

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Speaker 2: that to a relatively low number, and I think everybody

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Speaker 2: kind of says that, and then when rates go up

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Speaker 2: they might forget about that a little bit and chase

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Speaker 2: raid a little bit, but we you know, we're really

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Speaker 2: looking now long term. We don't have to report every

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Speaker 2: ninety days if somebody has an o R. We're not

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Speaker 2: measured against that o R. We get to look at

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Speaker 2: the three, five, ten year outlook of the organization. What's

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Speaker 2: most stable for this company, what's most stable for our

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Speaker 2: shiping community and all of our customers and all of

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Speaker 2: our employees. So we will continue to deploy. And you

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Speaker 2: we have four major core driving objectives. As an organization.

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Speaker 2: We lead with safety. There are a lot of reasons.

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Speaker 2: I will give you the the textbook one which is

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Speaker 2: safety is safety. We're not going to put our drivers

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Speaker 2: in a position where their safety is compromised. We don't

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Speaker 2: want to put the driving public that we share the

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Speaker 2: road with every day in a compromise situation. Everybody falls,

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Speaker 2: I think, falls into that category, or at least I hope.

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Speaker 2: Second of all, everybody knows it is extraordinarily expensive. Third,

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Speaker 2: and I think this is something that's now becoming more

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Speaker 2: and more prevalent, is there is a risk that shippers

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Speaker 2: who hire somebody who does not have those values, does

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Speaker 2: not lead with those values. There's going to start to

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Speaker 2: be exposure to our customers and we're just not willing

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Speaker 2: to put our customers to those exposures those exposures either.

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Speaker 2: So we lead with safety. Everything begins with safety. If

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Speaker 2: we can't move something from A to B without knowing

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Speaker 2: that it's going to follow our process, and that's how

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Speaker 2: we want it to be, we want to start the truck. Secondly,

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Speaker 2: we are going to grow our continue to grow our

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Speaker 2: dedicated operations with company trucks, company trailers. We do some

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Speaker 2: specialized trailers outside of just drive in which the majority

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Speaker 2: of our fleet is. We will continue to invest in

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Speaker 2: that and I think you know, we would like to

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Speaker 2: see that get to a sixty percent seventy percent of

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Speaker 2: all of our company operated, owned and operated assets. Will

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Speaker 2: continue to support the shipping community with OTR capacity with

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Speaker 2: company trucks as well, and we will grow that in

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Speaker 2: accordance with the market conditions as they allow. And then

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Speaker 2: we also have an independent contractor program where individuals that

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Speaker 2: would rather drive for themselves or start to build equity

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Speaker 2: or start to build some sort of operation with their

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Speaker 2: own assets, they can go and do that. And we

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Speaker 2: can also use it as a career path for any

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Speaker 2: of our drivers that maybe company drivers that ultimately want

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Speaker 2: to get into an independent contractor situation and to build

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Speaker 2: their own organization. So we will continue to grow that

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Speaker 2: and then, last but not least, our non asset and

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Speaker 2: our asset light offerings, which are very low have very

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Speaker 2: low capital requirements. We will continue to grow that to

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Speaker 2: be able to provide services to customers that we don't

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Speaker 2: necessarily have the ability to deploy an asset solution at

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Speaker 2: that point in time, but they trust us, they're a

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Speaker 2: great partner of ours, and we can ultimately deploy a solution.

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Speaker 2: And we'll continue to look at that stuff and if

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Speaker 2: it makes sense, it might be something that we then

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Speaker 2: move into, whether it's through organic growth on the APT

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Speaker 2: side or potentially M and A in the future.

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Speaker 1: Do you guys break out end markets, you know, just

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Speaker 1: general end markets. Are you more on the retail side,

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Speaker 1: are you big box retail like the walmarts and the

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Speaker 1: targets or like dollar stores? You know, if you can

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Speaker 1: kind of generalize your your customer base.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we used to, and this is another area

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Speaker 2: that's changed significantly for us. So back when we were public,

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Speaker 2: we had a significant amount of you know, the usual

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Speaker 2: suspects of retail manufacturing and we we had pretty good diversification.

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Speaker 2: Top five six customers had had a larger share of

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Speaker 2: our revenue than I think we would have liked at

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Speaker 2: the time. They were great customers, nothing wrong with them,

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Speaker 2: They're great partners throughout you know, the multiple years that

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Speaker 2: we've done business, in decades that we've done business. But

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Speaker 2: what came through being owned by a global freightforward was

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Speaker 2: demand for services across a broad spectrum of shippers. So

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Speaker 2: we are now into tech we are, you know, we're

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Speaker 2: now into a lot of areas that we didn't participate before,

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Speaker 2: and our ship diversification is pretty significant across all end

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Speaker 2: products and frankly geographies within the geographies that we operate

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 1: Can you you know, again, I know you're a private company,

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Speaker 1: but can you provide any stats like your top ten

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Speaker 1: customers are x percent or your top three or x

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Speaker 1: five percent, anything like that.

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Speaker 2: So one of the and we're going to talk about this,

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Speaker 2: I think a little bit as we go along. We've

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Speaker 2: got a ninety day period of unbuckling all of our

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Speaker 2: business from Schenka, so that data actually isn't as easily

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Speaker 2: as accessible as you would like. Off the top of

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Speaker 2: my head, I don't have a number that can that

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Speaker 2: can I can really give you for that, but I

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Speaker 2: would tell you based on what I do know. You know,

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Speaker 2: you're probably looking at our top ten customers are no

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Speaker 2: more than twenty percent of our of our business, which

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Speaker 2: is substantially different than what it's been in the past.

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Speaker 2: And I, frankly, I think it's substantially different than a

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Speaker 2: lot of a lot of carriers right right.

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Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned some of the pillars about growing

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Speaker 1: in you know, dedicated. Is that growth organic or do

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Speaker 1: you look to you know, maybe grow through a fault

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Speaker 1: on or a tucking acquisition.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna lead, you know, so we're gonna lead with

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Speaker 2: organic growth because I think there's a lot of opportunity

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Speaker 2: out there for it. However, we will not We're not

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Speaker 2: going to say no to Bolton's. That might make sense.

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Speaker 2: Now we're you know, we're we're twenty five days into

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Speaker 2: this and we've got a lot of other things that

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Speaker 2: we've got to get it done in the meantime. But

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Speaker 2: I think if there was the right opportunity, there was

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Speaker 2: a complimentary service to what we have, or it was

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Speaker 2: just the right opportunity to look at a potential transaction.

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Speaker 2: We will, but we're not aggressively out there looking for

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Speaker 2: targets from an acquisition perspective.

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Speaker 1: Right, well, let's talk about the market a little bit.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're in a kind of an interesting time

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Speaker 1: right now. A lot of federal mandates are impacting supply.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk to us about, you know, what you're

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Speaker 1: seeing in the marketplace, what you're hearing from your customers

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Speaker 1: in terms of demand, just you know, give us a

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Speaker 1: sense of, you know, the state of the truckload market

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Speaker 1: right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, LEI, there's there's a lot of press

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Speaker 2: out there, whether it's non domicide, whether it's in English speaking,

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Speaker 2: whether it's fraudulent activities of carriers, and what we're is

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Speaker 2: having a meaningful impact. I don't think anybody can quite

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Speaker 2: put their finger on how long it's going to have

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Speaker 2: an impact, how large that IMPACT's going to be. But

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Speaker 2: we're definitely seeing a tightening in the market. It is

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Speaker 2: February fifth, and tender rejections are at the highest point

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Speaker 2: they've been in multiple years. This is usually the doldrums

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Speaker 2: of the market January and February, and yes, two weeks

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Speaker 2: ago we had a pretty sizable weather event that came through,

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Speaker 2: but they were still up relative to the last couple years,

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Speaker 2: which I think is pretty telling. And what we also

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Speaker 2: know is none of it's coming from demand, to the

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Speaker 2: best of our knowledge and the best of everybody else's knowledge,

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Speaker 2: which which tells you there is there is a structural

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Speaker 2: change going on from a capacity supply perspective. I think

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Speaker 2: you know, we're seeing some of that come through. You're

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Speaker 2: seeing it, as I said in the tender rejections, you're

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Speaker 2: seeing it in spot rates. And while there were a

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks where we saw spot rates decline in

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Speaker 2: the services that published them post Christmas season, they didn't

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Speaker 2: decline that much and they picked up rather rapidly as

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Speaker 2: the weather started to settle in. So I think, you know,

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Speaker 2: my assessment is capacity has definitely left the market. I

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Speaker 2: think there's probably more capacity to leave the market as

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Speaker 2: the months progressed through this year. We will see what

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Speaker 2: the FEDS do in terms of non domiciled CDLs and

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Speaker 2: other positions they take on some of this. But I

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Speaker 2: think you know, nobody can ignore that there's clearly been

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Speaker 2: a chat. And this is without even talking about the

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Speaker 2: carriers out there that are not operating to the safety

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Speaker 2: requirements that they should be. This isn't taken into consideration

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Speaker 2: the fraud and theft that is going on in the industry,

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Speaker 2: and you know that that could be a whole conversation

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Speaker 2: between us on its own, and I think as there's

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Speaker 2: more and more pressure there, and there certainly is more

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Speaker 2: pressure and it needs to be there around fraudulent activity

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Speaker 2: that's going to drive people out of the market as well,

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Speaker 2: whether it is asset capacity, which there's been some pretty

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Speaker 2: well documented documented cases of people will buy and purchase

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Speaker 2: an MC number and then go go steal freight. Essentially,

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Speaker 2: as that gets tightened up and locked in, then you've

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Speaker 2: got the virtual capacity or what I refer to as

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Speaker 2: virtual capacity, which is non asset capacity. As that tightens up,

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Speaker 2: I think it's going to have a compounding impact on

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Speaker 2: the overall market and we will see it continue. Now

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Speaker 2: I'm not projecting anything like COVID. Well that's good. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: COVID was unique, right, So COVID was demand driven. You know,

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Speaker 2: the way the way I talk about it is, you know,

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Speaker 2: stimulus checks came in and everybody went out and bought

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Speaker 2: seven kayaks, and then you know they went out and

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Speaker 2: bought other stuff. That they may have used once and

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Speaker 2: never used again. But a lot of big Boulti leisure

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Speaker 2: items that you know, I'm sure some people use them

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Speaker 2: still and then others are sat in their garage not

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Speaker 2: getting not getting used in collecting dust. I don't foresee

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Speaker 2: that that's going to happen. So that happened during COVID,

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Speaker 2: and I think that ultimately led to a lot of

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Speaker 2: the problems that we deal with that we're dealing with

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Speaker 2: right now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I bought it a large inflatable above ground pool

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Speaker 1: that that lasted a week it bad algae, then it

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Speaker 1: just got destroyed.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I think they say the happiest the happiest

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Speaker 2: days of a pool owner are the day they acquired

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Speaker 2: and the day they lose it.

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Speaker 1: So, so are your customers coming to you and saying

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Speaker 1: we'd like to negotiate the contracts earlier to get ahead

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Speaker 1: of higher rates, because I mean, this supply thing that

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Speaker 1: we're talking about is pretty well telegraphed in the market,

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Speaker 1: and it's pretty palatable because it's not just you know,

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Speaker 1: you're not just reading it in the transportation press. You're

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Speaker 1: reading it in the Wall Street Journal and a Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: and you know kind of like mainstream America if your will. So,

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Speaker 1: are you hearing more from your customers about, you know,

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Speaker 1: wanting to negotiate contracts earlier.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's kind of a mixed bag. So we're seeing

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Speaker 2: some move earlier than normal, so out of cycle for them.

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Speaker 2: Most of them are not too open about it on

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Speaker 2: why they're doing it, but it's relatively obvious. And then

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Speaker 2: you have another segment of the ship of community that's

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Speaker 2: I think they're being a little bit more cau cautiously

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Speaker 2: optimistic that it's going to be a more stable or

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Speaker 2: gradual tightening and rate improvement market and they're holding off

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Speaker 2: or they're going to keep with their regular schedule. Most

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Speaker 2: of the large bids that we go through are keeping

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Speaker 2: their regular schedules, and to be honest with you, it's

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Speaker 2: such a workload on them it's difficult to deviate from

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Speaker 2: their normal schedule. But we're seeing more and more activity.

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Speaker 2: I just got back from having multiple conversations with probably

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Speaker 2: fifteen of our customers and they're certainly a little more

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00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:06,760
Speaker 2: concerned about capacity going into this year than what we've

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Speaker 2: seen in three years. And you know, a lot of

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Speaker 2: discussions about, you know, how can we continue to support

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00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 2: that and ensure that they they don't fall a foul

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00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:25,520
Speaker 2: of you know, a significant rate increase and capacity disappearing

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Speaker 2: across their across their routing guides, and how we can

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Speaker 2: participate and help support that.

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Speaker 1: And when you're you know, when you're doing a forecasting

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Speaker 1: for twenty twenty six, do you think your contractual rates

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Speaker 1: will be up like low single digits, mid single digits,

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Speaker 1: high single digits.

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Speaker 2: I think we're definitely in a high single digits territory

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Speaker 2: and potentially put surpassing into the double digit territory. I

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00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 2: think timing is going to be key. The weather is

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Speaker 2: going to be key. If we have another couple events

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Speaker 2: like we've had that that I mean puts puts a

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Speaker 2: supply chain in a bad situation that could help. There's

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Speaker 2: a lot of unknowns, but what we're seeing already is

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Speaker 2: you know, we're we're seeing some come in in the

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00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 2: low double digits for sure, and it wouldn't surprise me

376
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 2: if the conditions continue, if some of those numbers don't increase. Now,

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00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 2: obviously it's relative to what the price point was the

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00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:27,200
Speaker 2: previous year and the customer portfolio, you know, the customer

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00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:31,399
Speaker 2: profile and things like that. But we're seeing some double digit,

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00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 2: double digit movement already and.

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Speaker 1: In your truckload, you know, both dedicated over the road.

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00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,440
Speaker 1: We'll say last year, and I know you're a private company,

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00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,520
Speaker 1: so you just might say, I'm not telling you that,

384
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 1: but like, you know, did you was your o R

385
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:50,920
Speaker 1: under one hundred over one hundred last year?

386
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:54,440
Speaker 2: I can't tell you what our IR was because we

387
00:24:54,440 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 2: were embedded and it was so difficult to peel apart

388
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 2: and really understand it. And we're learning, and we've learned

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00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:05,440
Speaker 2: a lot in twenty five days that we didn't know.

390
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:11,119
Speaker 2: And what I will share with you is, you know,

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00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 2: we look at our operating metrics maniacally, and our operating

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00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:22,600
Speaker 2: metrics are extraordinarily solid relative to where we've been historically

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00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 2: and also relative to the market the publics that report

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Speaker 2: and what I am willing to share with you is

395
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 2: one of the best gauges we have right now based

396
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 2: on our historicals, where we're at today and what we

397
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 2: know today and what we know moving forward. You know,

398
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 2: we've always kind of measured our ultimate success on net

399
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:53,440
Speaker 2: debt to adjusted EBITDA ratios, and we are projecting this

400
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 2: year to be too, maybe a little less than two,

401
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 2: which frankly is we believe is the best best position

402
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:06,680
Speaker 2: this company's ever been, which is phenomenal for our employees

403
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,679
Speaker 2: and our shippers. I mean, everything we do is for

404
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 2: our employees and our ships.

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Speaker 1: You know, when I did the introduction, I mentioned the

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00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,840
Speaker 1: fact that you're one of the owners, one of three.

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00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,880
Speaker 2: Who are the other two? Yes? So the other two

408
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 2: James Reid. So, James Reid is our former CEO. James

409
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:30,680
Speaker 2: actually hired me to USA Truck in twenty eighteen. And

410
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 2: then my other partner is Zach King, who is our

411
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 2: former CFO. So Zach was our CFO as a public company,

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00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:43,200
Speaker 2: James was our CEO. They led us through the transaction

413
00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 2: to Shenka and now they're.

414
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Speaker 1: Back, Okay, and Zach the CFO.

415
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, Zach's our acting CFO. And what's James doing. James

416
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 2: is advising where we need his help and where he

417
00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 2: can provide values. So both of them have full time jobs.

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00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,400
Speaker 2: I think frankly, James has a few full time jobs

419
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 2: with his schedule, but where we need his support, he's

420
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,679
Speaker 2: coming in. He's diving in. Some of the stuff that

421
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:18,120
Speaker 2: we're working through is you know, we've for the last

422
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 2: three years we've had a vision and values and a

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00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 2: culture that has been integrated with a large global organization.

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00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 2: And you know, our success as USA Truck Preshenka was

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00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,120
Speaker 2: really driven down to our culture, our vision and values

426
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 2: and clarity of objectives and where we wanted to go.

427
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 2: And we have to get that reestablished as a stand alone.

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00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 2: I will tell you culturally, we feel really good. And

429
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 2: our best kind of best way to describe that is

430
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 2: this organization's gone through three transactions in three and a

431
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,399
Speaker 2: half years, and ninety percent of our employees have been

432
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 2: through every one of those transactions. That tells you the

433
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 2: you know, the commitment of our employees and the level

434
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 2: of excitement that they have now for the future and

435
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 2: the new organization is phenomenal to see. Right.

436
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,200
Speaker 1: So technology is becoming, you know, more and more important

437
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 1: for transports and trucking, you know these kind of old

438
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: school historically paper related industries.

439
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 2: Can you talk.

440
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,960
Speaker 1: About, you know, what you guys are doing with technology?

441
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: Are you investing in AI? Are you investing it like

442
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 1: buying things off the shelf for doing things yourself? And

443
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: what kind of efficiencies and productivity gains are you getting

444
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: from those investments?

445
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 2: Yeah? So our focus, right, now we've got ninety days

446
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 2: to unbuckle some of the systems that we have. All

447
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 2: of our operating systems actually remained standalone USA Truck throughout

448
00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 2: the three and a half years, So that is business

449
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 2: as you for our operations, which is a great place

450
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 2: to be in. But hr IT and finance all have

451
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 2: some level of integration that has to be uncoupled. And

452
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 2: as we go through that exercise, we're looking at are

453
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 2: there options out there to step up and increase the

454
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 2: level of automational support, whether it's AI or whether it's

455
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 2: basic technology. We're pretty much going off the shelf right now.

456
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 2: You know, we're not going to ever get to the

457
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 2: point where we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars interesting

458
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 2: and developing our own technologies. As a company of our size,

459
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 2: we will be an integrator of technologies that are out

460
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 2: there and will continue to use best in class everywhere

461
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 2: that's possible. We are looking at where can we deploy

462
00:29:54,280 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 2: AI to significantly help our transaction throughput? And when I

463
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 2: say transaction through put, I don't necessarily mean let's move

464
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 2: more loads as a result of AI, but from an

465
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 2: efficiency perspective, whether it's something as simple as the phone

466
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 2: Tree system, do we have inbound calls that can easily

467
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 2: be answered through an AI deployment? One thing I will

468
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 2: tell you is we're a people business. Trucking companies are

469
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 2: a people business. We still have drivers sat in our

470
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 2: trucks every day at the helm and we're going to

471
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 2: continue to support those drivers with human on human interactions

472
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 2: and that will happen until the point they don't want

473
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 2: it to happen, quite honestly. But we're through the workflow.

474
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 2: Do we have the ability to deploy AI solutions to

475
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 2: either increase throughput or increase accuracy? And we do think

476
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 2: there's some out there that could be very valuable, but

477
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:02,240
Speaker 2: we're in the early stages of that right now, gotcha.

478
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 2: And then there's there like some of the some of

479
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:07,840
Speaker 2: the applications that we use today, they have AI deployed

480
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 2: within them already and it's embedded.

481
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: So another kind of investment CAPEX question we're coming up on,

482
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 1: you know, new EPA mandates for engines. Are you guys

483
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 1: pre buying ahead of the twenty twenty seven EPA mandates.

484
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 2: We're we're currently looking at that, So we don't have

485
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 2: the answer right now. I wouldn't be surprised if there

486
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,160
Speaker 2: wasn't at least a small amount of pre buy in

487
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:39,600
Speaker 2: the back end of this year. We're behind the capex

488
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 2: schedule because for the last you know, we took control

489
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 2: January ninth, we couldn't really do any cop capex planning

490
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 2: for the new entity before then. So we're getting that established,

491
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,400
Speaker 2: getting that put in right now for our regular replenishment cycle,

492
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 2: and then on the on the on the heels of that,

493
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 2: we're going to look at the pre buy and I

494
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 2: think based on what it looks like's going to happen,

495
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 2: you can anticipate that we'll will put some level of

496
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 2: pre buy in to get ahead of it, but it

497
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 2: won't be the entire the complement of twenty twenty seven tractors.

498
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,080
Speaker 1: And you know, you were obviously part of a much

499
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 1: larger organization before you guys spun out as a private company.

500
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 1: How is that going to impact your costs, like your

501
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: careerment and things like that. Are you going to be

502
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 1: able to benefit from the old parent for a while

503
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 1: or after ninety days you're kind of on your own.

504
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 2: After ninety days, we're on our own, and I mean

505
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:46,120
Speaker 2: technically today we're on our own there's just services that

506
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 2: are there are services that will continue to use until

507
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 2: we've stood up the replacement service or system. This is

508
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 2: an interesting one because I think what you'll find is

509
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 2: our cost structures have already drastically improved. Just as we

510
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 2: can focus on trucking and we can be a truck

511
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,959
Speaker 2: operator in the US as opposed to part of a

512
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,240
Speaker 2: much larger global organization, we can there We've found some

513
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 2: areas where frankly, we already can buy better from a

514
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 2: relationship perspective because at the local level we just have

515
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 2: a better relationship than we had before. At a global level,

516
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 2: there's going to be some loss of economies of scale, right,

517
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,840
Speaker 2: so there's going to be stereo you know, typical things

518
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 2: like email platforms and things like that, where we anticipate

519
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: there'll be some degradation, but we feel really good that

520
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 2: we'll actually have an improvement in cost structure moving forward

521
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 2: neft than where we've come from.

522
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: And so, you know, we are in this inflationary environment,

523
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:57,239
Speaker 1: even though you know that inflationary numbers have been you know,

524
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: decelerating the rate of increase. Where are the biggest buckets

525
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 1: for USA truck in terms of dealing with higher costs.

526
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you've got all the you know, the standard

527
00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 2: answers that every trucker will give you. Right, insurance insurance

528
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:19,160
Speaker 2: isn't going down, and I don't think it's ever going

529
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 2: to go down, and it's going to continue to increase.

530
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:29,240
Speaker 2: And until the entire trucking community as a whole's safety

531
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:36,200
Speaker 2: improves or there's some sort of change. From a litigation perspective,

532
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 2: we're going to continue to see, you know, astronomical inflation

533
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 2: in the insurance space. Now, we've done pretty well at

534
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:50,279
Speaker 2: mitigating that. Our safety performance is exceptional. It continues to

535
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 2: improve year over year, and that isn't through luck or happenstance.

536
00:34:55,719 --> 00:35:00,920
Speaker 2: It is through through very intentional planning from a strategic

537
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,239
Speaker 2: perspective as an organization. We're going to continue that in

538
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 2: the new entity. And one thing we will commit to

539
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:10,560
Speaker 2: is that we will not be a driving force behind

540
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,800
Speaker 2: inflation from an insurance and safety perspective. But we're subject

541
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 2: to everybody else in the market, right, and you just

542
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:26,239
Speaker 2: can't overcome that as a as a collective. Trucks we

543
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,359
Speaker 2: you know, and trucks is a little bit of an unknown, right.

544
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,799
Speaker 2: You have EPA twenty seven, which we know will have

545
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:39,280
Speaker 2: an impact, but it's still not crystal clear where tariffs

546
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 2: are going to end up. And as we know, you know,

547
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,640
Speaker 2: we could wake up tomorrow and the tariff situation is

548
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,240
Speaker 2: a completely different than one that it is today, true,

549
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 2: and then we can wake up the next day and

550
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 2: it could revert back to the way it was. And

551
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:54,720
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I haven't met anybody yet who

552
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 2: is willing to put their neck out there and predict

553
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 2: that that future. So we anticipate that will continue to

554
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 2: be a challenge. You know, workforce has been has been

555
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:13,760
Speaker 2: pretty aggressive in terms of inflationary cost over the last

556
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 2: you know, two years. I think we see some we

557
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,879
Speaker 2: see some moderation in that moving forward, at least from

558
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:27,239
Speaker 2: a driver's support perspective. But when we come to the

559
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 2: driving community we talked earlier about capacity. We know what

560
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,759
Speaker 2: happens when capacity titans and rates go up. Everybody wants

561
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:41,279
Speaker 2: to hire more drivers, driver pay moves, and then you

562
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 2: start to after everybody starts to move. At that point,

563
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 2: I anticipate we're going to one of one of the

564
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,600
Speaker 2: things we're going to see, especially if this market continues

565
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 2: to hold, we're going to see which is frankly, it

566
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 2: needs to happen. The one area inflation needs to occur

567
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 2: is in driver wage. I think we're going to see

568
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 2: driver wage increases in the future, which will be good

569
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 2: at the end of the day. That is the most

570
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 2: difficult job in trucking, certainly is you.

571
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,760
Speaker 1: Know, when I did the intro, I mentioned the fact

572
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,880
Speaker 1: that you know, you started your career in transplace. You know,

573
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 1: how did you find your way into transportation, because you know,

574
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,839
Speaker 1: some people are born into it, some people stumble into it.

575
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I always wanted to be a pilot. So

576
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,280
Speaker 2: my grandfather was a tail gunner and a US Navy

577
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,400
Speaker 2: B twenty four liberator at sixteen years old in the Pacific,

578
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,520
Speaker 2: and when he left the war, he went to work

579
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 2: for Boeing and worked for Boeing for over thirty five years.

580
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,680
Speaker 2: I obviously am not a native Arcansin based on my

581
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 2: accent I but both my parents are American and I

582
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 2: grew up in the UK, spent a lot of time

583
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,759
Speaker 2: on planes going back and forth, and honestly, I just

584
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 2: fell in love with aviation flight being in the air

585
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,960
Speaker 2: when I was in high school. Unfortunately, that was when

586
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:11,879
Speaker 2: September the eleventh occurred. They furloughed. They furloughed so much

587
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 2: of the workforce in the aviation industry, and I had

588
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 2: to come up with plan B. Plan B, which I

589
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 2: didn't have. A Plan B was I'm going to go

590
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 2: to college and I'm going to do transportation management and

591
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 2: then I'll go get it into the aviation industry or

592
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 2: the airport industry. The family had a house in Northwest Arkansas.

593
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,880
Speaker 2: I graduated college. I went to live there because I

594
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,760
Speaker 2: figured it would be rent free as long as I needed.

595
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:47,480
Speaker 2: And I did something that you would never give anybody

596
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 2: this advice. I would never you know, I wouldn't tell

597
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 2: anybody this. I'd never tell my kids this. I took

598
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 2: the first job off or I received, and that was transplaced,

599
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 2: and I would never change it. The the opportunity I

600
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 2: had to learn their learn, supply chain learn, you know,

601
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,160
Speaker 2: we developed the TMS when we were there. I took

602
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 2: the first job and it was a phenomenal experience and

603
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 2: learning experience for me the entire time I was there.

604
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 2: So that's what I got bitten by the trucking bug.

605
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:24,080
Speaker 2: And once you're in, you never want to leave. Yeah, absolutely,

606
00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:26,640
Speaker 2: And I'm definitely a product of that.

607
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,400
Speaker 1: And I like to ask my guests, you know, this

608
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 1: question because a lot of people listen to this podcast,

609
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,319
Speaker 1: you know, either they're interested investing, they're interested in transportation

610
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:42,279
Speaker 1: or supply chains, or just business in general. So is

611
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 1: there like a business book or a book about transportation

612
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,759
Speaker 1: that you know, you read, you know during your lifetime

613
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 1: so far that was kind of close close to you

614
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 1: and really resonated with you.

615
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 2: So for me, there's not one in transportation. I am

616
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 2: a big believer that we human beings are incredible, and

617
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 2: I think most human beings don't give themselves credit for

618
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:13,800
Speaker 2: what they are. Yes, there are certain things you probably

619
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,400
Speaker 2: want to go to school and get an education around,

620
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:19,719
Speaker 2: whether it be you know, heart surgery is probably a

621
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 2: good one, and some others. But there's the vast majority

622
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:28,800
Speaker 2: of business out there is relatively general business. I would

623
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 2: be you know, for me, there's three big books that

624
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 2: I always go back to. One's a leadership moment by

625
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 2: Mike you've seen and these are just leadership stories about

626
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 2: you know, what could have gone catastrophically wrong and great outcomes.

627
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 2: So in examples, Apollo thirteen, there's a one of the chapters.

628
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 2: There's not Apollo thirteen another chapter is on the Gettysburg Battle.

629
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 2: So that is a great book of just leadership moments

630
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:04,920
Speaker 2: that you can fly to any activity or anything occurs

631
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:09,880
Speaker 2: throughout your business career. The other two so innovation tournaments.

632
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 2: This is a book by Christian Toowitch. This is a

633
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:16,799
Speaker 2: structured way to drive innovation. It's kind of fun, to

634
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:19,160
Speaker 2: be honest with you. I've done this personally in a

635
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:24,480
Speaker 2: room with fifty leaders from all over the globe when

636
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 2: I spend my time at Wharton, and it is such

637
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,840
Speaker 2: a basic way of actually coming up with ideas and

638
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:34,800
Speaker 2: it's so effective, and it is a book I recommend

639
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,920
Speaker 2: to everybody if you've got a problem, a way of

640
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 2: generating solutions to solve that problem. And it would apply

641
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 2: in trucking, it would apply in finance, it would apply

642
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 2: in any business across the board. And then last one.

643
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 2: And I can't miss this out because my seven year

644
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 2: old came up to me the other day and said

645
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:55,600
Speaker 2: she's got into reading and she's really good at and

646
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 2: she said, do you have a book that I can read?

647
00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 2: One of your workbooks? And I sat there and I

648
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:05,440
Speaker 2: thought this is going to be tough. And what came

649
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,759
Speaker 2: to mind was who moved my cheese, And I thought

650
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:12,160
Speaker 2: this is a good book for a seven year old.

651
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 2: I'm not sure she thought it by the time she

652
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 2: finished reading it, but hopefully she'll pick it up again

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00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,440
Speaker 2: later in life. But you know what a great example

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00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 2: of what we've been through in three years and change

655
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 2: and change doesn't have to be bad. What do you

656
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:28,960
Speaker 2: want change to be? Do you want change to be

657
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 2: a you know, a stepping stone for the future for you?

658
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:34,960
Speaker 2: And do you want to take it? Do you want

659
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:36,279
Speaker 2: to make it great for you? Do you want to

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00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,960
Speaker 2: make it great for the others around you? And I

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00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:41,160
Speaker 2: just think it's a there's a lot of people out

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00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 2: there that don't really like to read business books because

663
00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:47,479
Speaker 2: either they're too long or too complex. Well this doesn't

664
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:48,839
Speaker 2: want to follow it on when they get bored. And

665
00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:51,799
Speaker 2: that is a book anybody can go read and it's

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00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:55,480
Speaker 2: got such application not just in business, but in your

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00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 2: personal life as well. So I always always like to

668
00:42:58,480 --> 00:42:59,120
Speaker 2: throw that right.

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00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 1: And also if you want to give your daughter a

670
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:05,360
Speaker 1: good transportation related book, the The The Little Engine that Could,

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00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 1: that's always yes, exactly exactly, yep, all right, George, I

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00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,720
Speaker 1: really want to thank you for your time and insights today.

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00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 1: It was a good getting to know you and relearning

674
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:19,279
Speaker 1: about you know, what's up with USA Truck now that

675
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:20,360
Speaker 1: it's a private entity.

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00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you te Ley. We we greatly appreciate the opportunity

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00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,399
Speaker 2: to share the story and uh, you know, feel free

678
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:29,839
Speaker 2: to reach out at any point in time.

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00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:32,319
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I want to thank you for tuning in.

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00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 1: If you liked the episode, please subscribe and leave a review.

681
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:37,400
Speaker 1: We've lined up a number of great guests for the podcast,

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00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 1: so please check back to hear conversations with C suite executives, shippers, regulators,

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00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 1: and decision makers within the freight markets. Also, if you

684
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 1: want to learn more about the freight transportation markets, check

685
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 1: out our work on the Bloomberg Terminal, at b I

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00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,000
Speaker 1: Go and on social media. This is Lee Klascal signing

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00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,440
Speaker 1: off and thanks for talking transports with me. Talk to

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00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:03,080
Speaker 1: you next week. Bye,