Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Since the truck show is coming up I thought I would share an experience I have had for not one but two years in a row while attending.

Since I am the person who usually goes to the truck show to scope out the latest trailers, we decided these last two years to start pricing “pots”.  For those who do not know they are all called “bull racks”, in other words livestock trailers. (More than likely you have been behind one and complained of the smell!)

The first year I went and spoke to one certain company, I asked a simple question “How much does the trailer weigh empty?” As anyone in the trucking business would know, this is very important. For those who do not, you can take the empty weight of a truck and trailer (preferably with full tanks of fuel) and weigh them to find out how much weight you can haul. This is very important in the livestock industry as a lot of the people who haul livestock get paid by the “100 weight” (so much per pound hauled).

Much to my surprise the people at the truck show had no clue why I wanted to know this nor did they know the weight. I asked if someone could find out (I thought maybe they could call their home office) and let me know. I received a “deer caught in headlights” stare.  I gave them all the vital information they needed and never received as much as an email saying “We just don’t know!”

So, I go back again the following year. The boys know bullracks inside and out. They know how to set the nose up, use the cut gates, look in the doghouse for room, etc. My main focus was on the clean-out doors in the floor (heavy fines if they find that “stuff” leaking!) and of course empty weight again.

The salesman came over long enough to say hi to my sons and ask if they needed any help while I was standing there asking them (my boys) where the clean-out doors were. The salesman looked at me and just walked away. Needless to say, that did not settle well with me.

So I went to get a brochure on the trailer and very loudly told the boys I was going to try and find out the empty weight of the trailer. The brochures were next to the salespeople and again “deer in headlights” stares as I picked the brochure up. I asked not one but all three salesmen (none were women) if they knew the empty weight of the trailer. I literally had one guy laugh and say “What in the world would you need that for?” I just looked at him and said “Are you kidding me? That is a vital piece of information for a driver who wants to know what they can legally haul.” The guy quit laughing and gave me a death stare and told me to call the main office.

To me if you are selling a product you should know things like this. You should also know why it is important. And you should treat all of your customers the same. If you do not, be prepared to look like a fool in front of your co-workers when someone asks a question that you cannot answer from a person that you did expect to ask it.

I can happily say that I ended up visiting the competitor of the company that didn’t have their act together and the salesman spoke at great length with me about their trailers. He gave me his card, brochure, and even though he did not have the empty weight there, he did end up emailing it to me. At least someone was educated on what they were selling!

I can’t wait to go visit the livestock trailer section again this year to see if the “other guy” learned anything or not! Be sure to look for a blog or two on my trip to the show in a few weeks!!

And do NOT forget to stop at International Booth! Tell them Donna sent you!!