Robb Foltz on Storage Demand in a Tight Freight Market

In this episode, host Mark Mann sits down with Robb Foltz, Regional Operations Manager for the North region at Warehouse on Wheels, to talk about why a tight freight market shows up as storage demand, the four traits of a great general manager, the trailer question customers get wrong, and why complacency worries a career safety professional most. Robb, who went to college for audio production and wanted to tour with rock bands, walks through a region that runs from Walton, Kentucky, to Pittsburgh, Detroit and the newest location, Chicago, explains why Cleveland and Pittsburgh are known for containers, and sums up WOW’s mission as warehouse space without the warehouse.

Key Takeaways

1. A great GM has a genuine disgust for the word no. WOW calls its general managers local market CEOs, and Robb names four traits that separate a really good one: the ability to detach and see what’s coming across the whole market, prioritizing and executing a plan based on that big picture, embracing decentralized command so the team makes the decisions it was hired to make, and a disgust for the word no. Some requests don’t make good business sense for WOW or the customer, he says, but a good GM tries to find a solution before saying no.
2. Customers often ask for the wrong type of trailer. Robb says the most common miss on a first call is the trailer type: customers ask for storage trailers when they truly need cartage trailers, or for cartage when they could get away with storage. That is also why a monthly price is hard to quote up front. Storage trailers sit on the customer’s site and can be more economical, while cartage trailers cost a little more because they meet all DOT requirements for carrying goods on the roadway, so Robb starts with the true scope of what the customer needs.
3. Storage demand moves with how much inventory shippers hold. Mark sets the backdrop: truckload spot rates running 20 to 25% above last year, and tender rejections around 14% against 4.75% a year ago. Robb says a tight market helps WOW through what shippers do in response. When trucks are tight, they run less lean: they carry more buffer stock, order raw materials early and in bulk, and set up drop trailer programs to ease the stress of a scarce driver. Each of those needs a parked trailer, which Robb calls WOW’s wheelhouse.
4. A human being answers the phone, every time. Robb walks through one load. A rental coordinator takes the request, enters it in the CRM tool and talks it through with the GM, then the dispatch board schedules how many trailers the customer needs and when. There is a signature or two and some paperwork, kept as painless as possible, plus a certificate of insurance, and the order is ready to roll. Robb calls the live answer the biggest differentiator between WOW and some of its competitors, with the aim of one-call resolution.
5. Complacency keeps Robb up at night more than any compliance item. Asked about hours of service, vehicle maintenance and cargo securement, Robb names complacency. His worry is the driver who says “I’ve got a million safe driving miles” or “I’ve done that a thousand times” and starts to let the little things slip, such as a thorough pre-trip inspection every morning or a properly secured load. He also thinks the public worries too much about drivers: in his view, 99% of the drivers on the roadways today are fantastic people, and WOW’s own drivers are professionals in every sense of the word.

Episode Chapters

Click any timestamp to jump to that section on YouTube.

• 00:00 — Spot Rates, Rejections, And Diesel
• 01:42 — Rock Bands, Then Dispatch
• 03:18 — Household Goods To A Whole Region
• 04:35 — Trailers Are Not All The Same
• 05:12 — Every Market Is Unique
• 06:07 — Touring The North Region
• 09:12 — Four Traits Of A Great GM
• 11:14 — The Call Customers Get Wrong
• 11:48 — Why There Is No Off Season
• 13:00 — Winter In Detroit And Cleveland
• 13:39 — What Does A Trailer Cost
• 15:12 — Tight Market, More Buffer Stock
• 16:12 — Where Fuel Prices Actually Hit
• 16:59 — Holding The Line On Rate
• 17:33 — One Load, Start To Finish
• 18:27 — A Human Answers Every Time
• 19:08 — Complacency Is The Real Risk
• 21:26 — Warehouse Space Without The Warehouse
• 22:23 — Character, Drive, And A Little Humor
• 23:11 — Availability, Service, Partnership
• 23:48 — Ownership On A Bad Week
• 25:06 — Lightning Round: Toughest Yard

Transcript

[00:00] Spot Rates, Rejections, And Diesel

Mark Mann: From the warehouse floor to the yard, this is Dock Stars. In every episode, we shine a light on the people who keep the supply chain moving: the warehouse pros, the logistics leaders, the operators who make it all happen. These are the rock stars of the dock. Let’s meet today’s Dock Star.

Mark Mann: Welcome back to Dock Stars. I’m your host, Dr. Mark Mann. Today’s Dock Star runs a chunk of Warehouse on Wheels that stretches from Evansville and Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Robb Foltz is our regional operations manager for the North region. He also happens to be the person we call when something touches our transportation team or DOT, or a load has gone sideways, which means he gets a lot of phone calls.

So, here’s the backdrop. Truckload spot rates are running 20 to 25% above last year. Tender rejections are sitting around 14% against 4.75% a year ago. So carriers have leverage that they haven’t had since 2022. Diesel, as you know, is $5.35 a gallon, and the FMCSA doubled the broker bond in January, and it’s enforcing rules at roadside that sat quiet for a decade. So, we’re gonna talk about all of it. Robb, thanks for making the time.

Robb Foltz: Yeah, Mark, glad to be here. Appreciate the opportunity to chat with you.

Mark Mann: All right, so let’s start from the beginning. How did you end up in this industry? Was it a plan, or did you just stumble into it?

[01:42] Rock Bands, Then Dispatch

Robb Foltz: It was definitely not a plan. I actually went to college for audio production. I wanted to tour the country with rock bands, recording and live sound and all that jazz. What ended up happening is I met a girl. And as most of you in that situation know, there was just, you know, when you know she’s the one. So everything kind of shifted, and I spent most of my time trying to be with her, which brought me back to the Cincinnati area.

I spent the nights interning at a recording studio, but the days, you know, I needed work. I needed to make a living. So, I started working at a moving and storage company in Cincinnati, working on the crews, household goods moving, commercial moving. I did that for my last few years in college. And then when time came, we got married, had a family. The family came a little sooner than we thought after the wedding. But, you know, I was like, man, I got to get serious. I need to support this family, right?

So, an opportunity had presented itself within the moving company that I was working for in the dispatch world. So, made the switch there, and over the next 18, 20 years kind of made my way through dispatch, claims, safety. I ended up spending most of my time in safety. So, definitely was not a plan working in the transportation, trucking, warehousing industry, but definitely something that I would never take back. I would never do again, because I have a wonderful wife and a beautiful family as a result of it.

[03:18] Household Goods To A Whole Region

Mark Mann: Fantastic story. So, transportation is kind of your focus here, and you actually came up through the transportation side. How does someone go from household goods and commercial moving to running and operating a region?

Robb Foltz: You need to be on your toes. You need to understand what’s going on. Obviously, I had a little luck. A place I had worked at, I worked side by side with an employee that ended up coming over to Warehouse on Wheels, and he just kept calling me and saying, “Man, this is a great company. You got to come over. You got to get here.” So, some time went by, several interviews, made my way here as the general manager in the Walton location, and just kind of worked my way up. But we were fortunate to have a fantastic team here in Walton when I started that allowed me to kind of get out and go do different things. And just that accumulation of experience and opportunity to do different things kind of led me to then the opportunity to be the regional manager.

Mark Mann: Yeah. So, you know, we talk about our general managers as local market CEOs here at Warehouse on Wheels, and so, yeah, it gives you the opportunity to learn everything. Was there anything that surprised you about the operation side that you didn’t really expect?

[04:35] Trailers Are Not All The Same

Robb Foltz: That’s a tough question, because yes and no. I mean, it is, from the moving and storage world to the warehouse alternative solution world, it is a little bit different. It’s more of— over here, it surprised me that there are really different types of trailers, right? We want to be able to provide the right solution to our customers, where from the moving and storage side we dealt with primarily one type of trailer. So trailer type: although trailers are trailers, there are varying types of trailers, and that is probably the biggest difference that I noticed making the switch over to Warehouse on Wheels.

[05:12] Every Market Is Unique

Mark Mann: What would you say is the hardest thing that you had to learn since taking over the entire North region?

Robb Foltz: The hardest thing is that each market is unique. I mean, I’ve got some powerhouse locations, and we can go through them if you’d like, but I’ve got several locations and they’re all very big. The biggest thing is they’re all unique. Each GM is unique. Each GM has his or her unique set of skills that they use to run their market. And just navigating through all of that to best support, because my job truly is support, right? I’m here to make their jobs easier. So, learning each GM and learning each market and how they differ, even if it’s ever so slightly. That was probably the biggest adjustment.

Mark Mann: So, let’s stay with that for a minute. So, give us the tour. What’s in the North region, and what is each yard kind of known for?

[06:07] Touring The North Region

Robb Foltz: I’ve got 11, 12-ish markets. So, I’ve got Walton, Kentucky. I’ve got Evansville, Indiana. Got Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville/Jeffersonville. There’s that river there that kind of splits the two. Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Indianapolis; and the newest location is Chicago, Illinois.

So, what’s different? What are they known for? I mean, truthfully, that’s a really tough question. They do a lot. I would tell you probably the Cleveland, Pittsburgh markets are really known more for containers. I mean, we do trailers, and they’ve got plenty of those, but that market, that side of the country, is a really big container market, and so those folks are known for that. Detroit, man, that’s the auto capital of the world. So, you’ve got, you know, automotive up there. Indy is— Indy’s just a thoroughfare, right? So everything goes through Indy. So it’s really difficult to really give you everything that they’re known for, but that’s a little bit of the differentiation between the regions.

Mark Mann: What changes do you see? Because Chicago and Detroit and Pitt, they’re all, like you say, they’re all three different animals. What actually changes about running a yard from one market to the next?

Robb Foltz: As far as day-to-day operations, really not much. I mean, the cadence is there. The GMs have laid forth the plan clearly and concisely. So, the team knows what’s expected of them. And so, at that point, really, from a day-to-day perspective, there’s not much that changes. It’s really just customer need and what peak season looks like for each individual region and their customer base.

Mark Mann: Yeah. So, 11 locations and one of you. How do you decide where to physically show up in a given week?

Robb Foltz: That’s tough, man. That’s tough. I defer, you know, going back to your original comment about each GM as a local market CEO, I defer a lot to those guys, right? I’ll have a regular schedule that I try to adhere to. Inevitably, when you make a plan, things don’t go to that plan. So, I defer back to the GMs a lot. If there’s a big sales opportunity in Detroit, for example, I’ll focus there. Or, you know, we just added some personnel in Pittsburgh and Columbus, so I’ll shift my focus to make sure that I’m there to assist in those markets. So a lot of it really is just dependent on each location and what their current needs are.

There are some— Louisville, Kentucky, I mean, that team’s been together for a really long time. The GM down there is on point with what he expects of his team. Someplace like that, you know, maybe that won’t be as urgent a location to go to, but it just depends on what they need from me.

[09:12] Four Traits Of A Great GM

Mark Mann: So, let’s stick with that idea of a local market CEO. What does a good GM do that a mediocre one doesn’t do?

Robb Foltz: Honestly, in my opinion, there are four things that I think is a quality of a really, really good GM. And that is, one, the ability to detach and look at the big picture. They need to see what’s coming across their whole market, not just what’s inside the doors of the building. Two, they need to prioritize and execute their plan based off of that big picture. I think they also need to embrace and foster decentralized command. The team is the strongest and best resource. So if you empower those folks to make decisions and do the jobs that they were hired to do, and let your ego go to the wayside, then that is important.

And then just truly have a disgust for the word no. I realize that there are times where, you know, it doesn’t maybe make good business sense for us, it doesn’t make good business sense for our customers, but, you know, we can always figure it out. It’s something that, you know, I don’t want those GMs— and I don’t think those really good GMs are quick to say no. They’ll try and find a solution. They’ll try and find an answer. And that’s important if you’re going to be a good GM, in my opinion.

Mark Mann: Yeah. You know, I am very familiar with the GM in Louisville, and, as you say, that team has been together for a long time, and it is all about decentralized command. I mean, he keeps his finger on the pulse, but those guys know what to do. I mean, they’re out there churning and burning. Chris Martin, he’s a friend of the show. We can say his name.

Robb Foltz: Yeah.

Mark Mann: And so, yeah, he’s got it all worked out there in Louisville. What would you say is the most common thing a customer gets wrong on the first phone call? Like, when a customer calls in to one of your locations, when do they ask that, you’re like, “Ah, that’s probably not the question.” Right?

[11:14] The Call Customers Get Wrong

Robb Foltz: Typically, the thing, in my opinion, that they get wrong is the type of trailer that they need. You know, again, we talked earlier about the different types of trailers, and from household goods to here, you know, we’ve got storage trailers and we’ve got cartage trailers. And a lot of times customers, through no fault of their own— I mean, I didn’t know the difference coming from my background— they’ll ask for storage trailers when truly they need cartage trailers, or they’ll ask for cartage trailers when in reality they could get away with storage trailers. So, to be honest, that’s probably the biggest miss that we would get on an initial phone call.

[11:48] Why There Is No Off Season

Mark Mann: I’ve heard that from several of the GMs as we’ve talked. Walk me through your year. So, Warehouse on Wheels North region: when does it get busy? When does it go quiet? And kind of what drives that?

Robb Foltz: What’s go quiet, man? We never go quiet. We’re—

Mark Mann: Good answer.

Robb Foltz: We’re hopping all the time, and truthfully, that’s true. I mean, you know, again, I will say we have several locations that are a little bit more active in the container world, in the ground storage world. And so, you know, summertime is a big season for that, right? Construction companies are always looking for storage for their sites. Then we roll into the fall, and there are some, you know, big retail stores that have a seasonal Christmas demand, and they bring in, and they prefer containers. So, you know, then as far as trailers, I mean, it just depends on the market and the industry. I mean, automotive could be kicking off at one season, when, you know, durable goods in another. So we don’t have an off-season, man. We’re pedal to the floor all year round.

[13:00] Winter In Detroit And Cleveland

Mark Mann: Regardless of weather, too. So, I’m sure that the weather kind of moves your region differently than it would in the southern region, south region. So, a bad winter in a yard in Detroit or Cleveland. You’re kind of like Canada up there, right? It never stops. You just have to be more careful.

Robb Foltz: Oh, 100%. There is no stopping it. Whether it’s snow or it’s rain, you just need to be prepared to deal with the inclement weather that you get. You know, and what that means is allowing extra time to, you know, thaw out some brakes or whatever the case may be. Yeah, it doesn’t stop just because of inclement weather.

[13:39] What Does A Trailer Cost

Mark Mann: So, let’s talk a little bit about price and market movement. You know, you have a partner or a customer that calls and asks, you know, what’s a trailer cost per month? Why is that a harder question than it sounds?

Robb Foltz: Going back to our previous conversation about the different types of trailers, right? It’s a harder question to ask because what trailer do you need? What will solve your problem? And again, I think for a customer that’s an important question, because at the end of the day, it could save you money if you are able to go with the storage option, right? And storage trailers are really just— they sit on the site, right? They are truly a warehouse on wheels. They don’t leave your property, and it can be more economical. If you need a cartage trailer, we can provide that. Those are a little bit more expensive just because they meet all DOT requirements for being able to carry goods on the roadway. So, it’s hard to answer that question until we get the true scope of what the customer needs and is expecting.

Mark Mann: You know, in the intro I mentioned, you know, truckload spot rates. They’re running about 20 to 25% above last year. And, you know, we are kind of moving into a tight market, and analysts are calling the capacity shortage structural, right? They’re saying that it’s driven by driver wages and insurance and maintenance rather than fuel and all that. So what does a tight market do to demand for storage?

[15:12] Tight Market, More Buffer Stock

Robb Foltz: Truthfully, it helps us, but I would say probably not in the way that most people assume. Storage demand doesn’t move with spot rates, right? It moves with how much inventory people hold. So when trucks are tight and things get a little bit dicey in that regard, shippers end up adding more buffer, right? They don’t run quite as lean. So, what that means then is they carry more buffer stock. They order things early and in bulk, raw materials. They set up drop trailer programs if, you know, they’re going back and forth, just to accommodate or alleviate the stress of a scarce driver, right? So, in those situations, that’s where we step in, right? That’s where a parked trailer is needed, and that is our wheelhouse. So, yeah, it helps us, but it’s what the shippers— it’s what our customers do in response to that market that really is the benefit.

[16:12] Where Fuel Prices Actually Hit

Mark Mann: Yeah. Now, you’re a transportation specialist. So, you know, we talked about diesel at $5.35 a gallon for the week ending August 3rd. Where does fuel actually hit you? Is it delivery? Is it swap-outs, repositioning? Does it hit you in the shop?

Robb Foltz: Man, fuel hits everybody everywhere. I mean, that is a very, very high price for fuel, and you feel it in every aspect of the operation, right? I mean, obviously the deliveries and the pickups and the spotting, that’s where most of your fuel is used. But I mean, also in the shop, if we’re moving things in and out of the shop, or jockeying things back and forth between our yards, fuel is in every aspect of what we do. So those prices really hurt us everywhere.

[16:59] Holding The Line On Rate

Mark Mann: Yeah, let’s talk a little bit about rate here. So, Warehouse on Wheels is known as the most flexible storage solution in North America, but it’s also known for flexibility when working with our partners on rate. Is that holding true in your region, or is it getting a little bit bent?

Robb Foltz: I would say we’re holding as best we can. I mean, we’re going to always strive to give you the best rate we can, right? It may work out to be cheaper than others. It may not, but we’re going to do everything we can to give you our best price every single time.

[17:33] One Load, Start To Finish

Mark Mann: So, walk me through one load. So, the phone rings, then what? Who does what at the locations?

Robb Foltz: So, when the phone rings, it’s answered by our rental coordinators. They’ll take down your information. They’ll take your request. They’ll put it into the system, into our CRM tool, have a conversation with the GM about the request, and then from there it goes to our dispatch board. The dispatch, you know: when do you need it, how many do you need, how many do you need at what time. They’ll schedule all that stuff out, and we’ll ship it to the customer. There’s a signature or two required in the process and some paperwork, but we try and keep that as painless as possible for the customers as well. But it can be just as simple as that. It’s not a hard process. Just the information up front. Sign the paperwork saying, “Yep, we’re good. We’ll take them. Give us a COI,” and ready to roll.

[18:27] A Human Answers Every Time

Mark Mann: So, a human being answers the phone.

Robb Foltz: Yeah. 100%, every time. That probably is the biggest differentiator between us and some of the other competitors we have in the market, is that it’s very, very important that we answer the phone and give you, as best as possible, that one-call resolution.

Mark Mann: Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned COIs, certificates of insurance, and, you know, some of the paperwork that is involved. What is the one compliance item that actually keeps you up at night? And what is the one that people worry about way more than they should?

[19:08] Complacency Is The Real Risk

Robb Foltz: I’ll be honest with you. So, you know, you’re talking hours of service, vehicle maintenance, cargo securement, things like that. But, really, the thing that keeps me up at night isn’t necessarily any one of those things. It’s complacency. And it’s a double-edged sword. We’re super lucky here at Warehouse on Wheels. We’ve got fantastic drivers who do amazing things day in and day out. But throughout my career, the things that made me the nervous is, you know, when you hear guys say, “I’ve got a million safe driving miles,” or, “I’ve done that a thousand times.”

What happens is, when you get folks that have that mindset, that start embracing that mindset, then they let the little things slip. You know, do they check? Do they really do a great pre-trip inspection every morning? Do they really make sure the load is secured the way it should be? That complacency piece is the part that keeps me up at night, just because you never know. You know, we do our best. Those guys are, again, professionals in every sense of the word. They do a fantastic job, but complacency makes me nervous.

And then, you know, what do maybe some folks think that they shouldn’t? I think there’s a lot of news and press about, you know, this driver did this bad thing, or that driver did that bad thing, or, man, this guy cut me off. I think the generalization that every driver is just a crazed maniac on the road, and so then they get nervous, and that’s just not true. I mean, it’s kind of the one-bad-apple-ruins-the-bunch sort of philosophy. Man, 99% of the drivers that are on the roadways today are just fantastic people, and, again, they do wonderful things. So, I would just want folks to know that just because one person did something they shouldn’t have, don’t lump every driver into that bucket.

Mark Mann: Yeah, that’s fair. You know, we see Samsara videos, and, you know, all of the trucks have cameras in them, and we end up praising drivers a lot more than we do.

Robb Foltz: Yeah. If those folks could see the good things that happen, the accidents avoided, just the heads-up driving, the defensive driving that these guys do on a daily basis, it would be amazing. Just, unfortunately, you don’t see that as much as you see the bad stuff.

[21:26] Warehouse Space Without The Warehouse

Mark Mann: That’s exactly right. So, what would you say is the mission of Warehouse on Wheels, in your own words, not off some poster on a wall?

Robb Foltz: Yeah. I would say it’s to be a solid, trusted partner to our customers by providing warehouse space without the warehouse.

Mark Mann: Excellent. And I love that word partner. Everyone I’ve spoken to here at Warehouse on Wheels, they’re not customers, they’re partners. I love that you guys use that, because it’s more than just providing a storage solution. It’s helping them solve problems, right? Real problems that they might have that they haven’t thought of before until they talk.

Robb Foltz: 100%, 100%. It’s about relationships. It’s about being a partner. It shouldn’t be transactional, right? If we’re going to truly help make their jobs easier, make their lives easier, then they need to be a partner. We need to be partners with one another. It just makes everybody’s life significantly better.

[22:23] Character, Drive, And A Little Humor

Mark Mann: So, when you’re hiring, what values do you actually hire for? In terms of, I mean, up and down the chain, rental coordinators, mechanics, drivers, what are the values you’re looking for as you’re interviewing?

Robb Foltz: Honestly, for me, it comes down to really two. So, I look for character, I look for drive, and then I add a little splash of humor and creativity, because I think, you know, in a lot of cases, as with most jobs, we spend as much time with our work family as we do with our personal family. So to be able to enjoy what you do and coming to work, and, you know, everybody wants to have a good time. That’s important. And then creativity. We don’t live in a cookie-cutter world. We don’t work in a cookie-cutter industry. So a little creativity goes a long way in this business.

[23:11] Availability, Service, Partnership

Mark Mann: Yeah. Innovation, man. That’s the name of the game. We got to allow our people to be creative.

Robb Foltz: That’s exactly right.

Mark Mann: All right. So give me your three, right? A customer is deciding between us and everybody else. What are the three things that decide it?

Robb Foltz: Availability, service, and partner relationships. That’s what differentiates us. We’re going to be there when you need us. We’re going to provide the service that you expect, and we’re going to be a partner to you to make sure that what you truly need solved gets solved.

Mark Mann: Man, that came so easy, right?

Robb Foltz: It’s the truth.

[23:48] Ownership On A Bad Week

Mark Mann: That’s what we live every day.

So, extreme ownership. We talk a lot about extreme ownership here at Warehouse on Wheels. Where does ownership show up when a yard genuinely has a bad week?

Robb Foltz: It shows up everywhere. It shows up across every position in the building, right? From the mechanics who know, you know, maybe they just got a, you know, a 50-trailer turn-in, and their job then is to turn those and get those rent-ready so they can get back out, right? They know what’s expected. They jump in and they start getting after it. The ops coordinators, the ops managers schedule the plan, you know, what needs to be worked on and when. They make sure the parts are there to turn it as quickly as possible. You know, to the rental coordinators and general managers and those folks who may be a little bit more customer-facing. You know, we’ve got pipelines for a reason, right? We’ve reached out to customers. They’ve reached out to us.

So just understanding what your role is in that chain to make sure that we turn a bad week into a positive week. Truly, it’s everybody, everywhere, shows ownership when those bad weeks happen, and that’s one of the best parts about working at an organization like Warehouse on Wheels, because everybody knows what they need to do.

[25:06] Lightning Round: Toughest Yard

Mark Mann: Yeah. It’s decentralized command, right? Decentralized control.

Robb Foltz: Absolutely.

Mark Mann: Wonderful. All right, we’re going to move into the lightning round as we close out here. One line each. First thing that comes to mind: toughest yard in your region, and why?

Robb Foltz: Pittsburgh. Just because of the different diversity. Trailers, containers. That’s by far my hardest.

Mark Mann: Yeah, they have flatbeds, too. And—

Robb Foltz: They’ve got it all.

Mark Mann: Refrigerated trailers, they got them all.

Robb Foltz: Yep. They’ve got everything.

Mark Mann: Yeah. All right. So, what’s the number you check first every morning?

Robb Foltz: Utilization. Followed by on/off rent report.

Mark Mann: All right. Most common reason that a load goes sideways?

Robb Foltz: Lack of communication.

Mark Mann: What’s one thing you wish every customer knew before they picked up the phone and called you?

Robb Foltz: The type of trailer they actually need.

Mark Mann: All right. Best truck stop in the North region?

Robb Foltz: Holy cow. Man, that’s a tough question. There are a lot. I don’t know that I would do each region any justice if I picked just one. I mean, they all have, you know— I really kind of like, you get to the East Coast and you get Sheetz and Wawa, and I don’t know that they’re necessarily truck stops, but they’re close. And, man, that’s tough. I don’t know that I can really answer that question.

Mark Mann: Flying J and Pilot and Love’s, and they’re all there.

Robb Foltz: Yeah, they’re all—

Mark Mann: Buc-ee’s now, right?

Robb Foltz: Buc-ee’s. Buc-ee’s is supposedly coming into Dayton. So maybe Buc-ee’s will jump to the top of the list.

Mark Mann: What’s the call you never want to get, Robb?

Robb Foltz: There’s been an accident.

Mark Mann: Yep. Absolutely. Best advice anybody in this business ever gave you?

Robb Foltz: Sometimes you have to have a little gray in your hair for people to take you seriously.

Mark Mann: What if you don’t have any hair?

Robb Foltz: Yeah, that came to me— Yeah, I assume gray and no hair kind of, you know, go side by side. But that came to me very early on in my career. I was very eager and opportunistic, and it really stuck with me the whole time, because there’s truth to it. You may be right, but if you have a little gray in your hair, people think you’re even more right sometimes.

Mark Mann: That’s right. Well, Robb Foltz, regional manager for the North region at Warehouse on Wheels. I learned something, and I’m supposed to be the compliance guy. Right.

Robb Foltz: Excellent.

Mark Mann: So, I really appreciate your time today.

Robb Foltz: Yeah. No, thank you very much, Mark, for having me. It was an awesome opportunity, and I look forward to talking again.

Mark Mann: All right. For the folks out there listening, if there’s somebody in this company you want to hear from on Dock Stars, send me a note and I’ll get them on. Until next time, let’s get after it. This is Dock Stars.

That’s it for this episode of Dock Stars. Thanks for spending time with us. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate, and share it with someone who’d appreciate it. You can find resources from this episode and the full show notes at warehouseonwheels.com. Until next time, keep those wheels turning. I’m Dr. Mark Mann, and I’ll catch you on the next episode of Dock Stars.