Repair Woes, EV Overstock, Biggest Gas Station On The Planet

Paul Daly: 0:27Okay, it's the fifth of July you and I were going to be in a minivan recording this episode instead we're back in the studio, which is a good thing. Welcome to everybody in the live stream we have like,second half of year things to talk about the second half the year this is the official start the second half of the year my

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:46

in my opinion,that just is kind of the start of the year because my birthday was on Saturday. So it's like everybody gets in line.

Paul Daly: 0:54

You know, I have this theory when it's your birthday,that your real friends don't wish you happy birthday. And I'm only saying that because I didn't wish you happy birthday.I'm not gonna be I was thinking with all the help say happy birthday to Kyle. In which now your DMS are trash.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:13

My DMS are trash. I still haven't touched a single one of them. Also on Facebook, I think it was like196 people I would just like I always get a kid like two days later, I always go back and just like scroll through them real quick. And I'm sitting there I'm just chatting my wife. I was like, my soccer coach from college. said Happy birthday. I haven't spoken to him since I quit the team.

Paul Daly: 1:39

Oh, as you quit,

Kyle Mountsier: 1:40

I quit. Yes, he was gonna stay for next year.No, quit the team boom. haven't talked to him since then. Happy

Paul Daly: 1:48

loving everybody on the live stream ag and Brian. I know some people are a little bit draggy today because everyone had a whole bunch of different experiences. Hope you had an amazing Fourth of July holiday. It's so fun to celebrate independence day.Independence is like at the very core of why entrepreneurship can thrive in the United States. So hey, I always get

Kyle Mountsier: 2:10

I want to throw this out there because like, I just sometimes reminding people of joy, right? Like some people are great understanding fireworks and joy and celebration, but the best people that are kids. So last night I know there I'm tired as all get out and around our houses like this smattering of fireworks displays. And so we never have to rely on a single firework because it's like, just

Paul Daly: 2:38

literally blankets,our backyard the best way to watch fireworks. It's exactly somebody else's.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:42

And, and I'm just watching my kids have this abundance of celebration and all and surprise and wonder and joy.And like in my brain, I was like, ah, bring me back some of that surprise and wonder and joy. And so I just want to instill that on people like even as you go about your day looking at the whole of life, not just fireworks in like, the eyes of a child and just like, oh my goodness, that's huge. Oh my goodness, that's amazing. That's incredible. How did that happen?How did we do that? That's like,that'll change your perspective on a lot of things. Looking at the world through that through that lens. It's sure Well, I love that.

Paul Daly: 3:23

It's a great way to start the week, just what amounts to that a soda con is coming in super hot right now.It's like I feel like we're in the last couple of laps here.You can go to a soda con.com and get your tickets we're about to release our first batch of speakers. And I think we're somewhere between 25 and 30 is going to be the first batch. I think overall, we might end up with close to 100. But we're going to release this list of dealers and executives and operators and it's going to be like shots fired. Like people are coming to a soda calm this is gonna be great. We're only only two days

Kyle Mountsier: 3:58

away from that thing. Like you got to get your tickets in line people.

Paul Daly: 4:02

This this is about the same time last year when we were like hey, we should probably see if there's a venue we can have this right. It's amazing the difference this year, but we're gonna be ready for you. Like you've never seen or expected before. So check that out. Let's talk about some news because something was like a slows over the holidays. But there's still news of it.There's still news out there.Alright, let's go to first story. fixing your car is taking a lot longer these days. And it's mostly due to a big problem. There aren't enough car parts and there aren't enough car people to fix the cars.Older cars are on the road longer, more advanced technology in the newer cars makes repair orders longer and makes the diagnostic diagnosis take longer, just more complicated than ever. So the average repair took 17 days to complete last year. So According this Wall Street Journal article 17 days and and that's up 65% From the year earlier for 2019 is average free COVID of 10 Point be three hours. Also, the tech shortage is a real thing. We don't have to say that twice for everyone on this stream. But there are only 48,000 people graduating every year from tech training programs in the US, compared for the estimated need of get this258,000. That's the need.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:20

I'm not very good at math, but I think that's like more people than live in Syracuse are needed. But too often 10,000 person gap every single year. So you look at just the compounding year after Oh,good night, you know, like, what the industry and I'm guessing like, that's automotive tax,we're talking automotive, we're talking, manufacturing, we're talking, you know, any any type of transportation is probably dealing in a saint in a similar fashion. So that is a massive gap to be filled. So thinking about like efficient processes,streamlining, you know,streamlining technicians understanding like that those technicians are in extremely high value, so not just carrying that for them in their pay, but also in the culture that you surround them with in their environment, like it is. It is like the most essential part of an automotive business right now to care for Tech's in my opinion.

Paul Daly: 6:19

It's kind of fun watching. So they in the article has some great examples. There's an independent shop run by Ronnie Clint clendenen In Arkansas, and he says we have double the amount of cars kind of in the bullpen on the waitlist, as we typically have meaning we have to turn away regular customers, we can't get the parts that we need. parts that we need. It's fun to watch though. All of the a lot of the shops and the dealers who are paying attention, it's fun to watch them like turn their locker rooms into like pro sports locker rooms. There is this one, I think it was from this article. I can't remember I read so many articles, but where the dealership stopped posting their technician pictures on the website, because recruiters were using them to poach and they even had a sign you know, with everybody's like, name and like their thing. And they put a display up to block it because they noticed people were coming in and taking a picture of the wall and then leaving.Unbelievable. That is wild. Just that, okay, here's the antithesis. That is like make a culture and a pay scale so good that you can put your employees names everywhere because you know that they wouldn't ever want to leave. never want to leave. Right. And that's I mean,that is a big, like this is where you see the people who have done well and are invest reinvesting the resources in the right strategic places for the next 10 years. That's one of them. Right? If if you lose,and, you know, we had a conversation with a dealer a couple weeks ago, and I was surprised because if this even boil down to the reconditioning department, you know, they have a full in house recon, they do detail and paint and wheels and all this stuff. And I was like,Well, how do you train your people? You know, how do you deal with the fact that they might leave and go on their own?He's like, we don't put no noncompetes none of that stuff.We send our texts to the best training. He's like if I lose them, I deserve to lose them and I'm just focused on making this the best gig ever for them unlimited work, right getting paid flat rate, great facilities, great benefits, and then it's gotten to this this is not going away. Right hands down.

Kyle Mountsier: 8:21

It's totally not going away. So focusing on it understanding as an organization is top priority.

Paul Daly: 8:27

Yes. Speaking I don't know how I

Kyle Mountsier: 8:30

tried I didn't give you anything.

Paul Daly: 8:33

That's It's alright that everyone

Kyle Mountsier: 8:36

does stuff that a weekend okay.

Paul Daly: 8:39

Just gonna go with a stop. Okay, so there's been some buzz lately around the stock level of EVs as Jeremy Rob,Senior Director of the economic and Industry Insights from Cox automotive said during a mid year review, he says I've termed it the Field of Dreams moment for electric vehicles stock and supply. Even though Evie sales have increased this year, the rise of inventory has been even greater. He added it's still uncertain what will happen with all the extra stock, but it might overcome significant challenges. So here's the here's the situation. New Car inventory is around 54 day supply right now. Or as for EVs total, it's92 days supply. Wow. Which is three and the headline of this article. I had an issue with it because it says Evie, stock double that device vehicles.It's like no, there aren't more EVs on the lots, just day supply of EVs on the lots which I'm assuming the supply of EVs has to be pretty low. Right or I mean, like what they need for a day is much lower than well for idle inventory is much lower,but data supply is higher because they're not turning as quick. Which means there's availability I guess is the big point. There is availability

Kyle Mountsier: 9:47

and supplies not meeting demand, which is this whole demand is not meeting supply. Sorry, probably the other way around to talk about because if you have a 92 day supply of Evie vehicles That means that like, we're back to where we were with ice vehicles pre pandemic on day supply of new cars, meaning watch out for major discounts, huge rebates.And manufacturers looking to get rid of these vehicles off of dealer lots. Because like, if they're not flying off the shelves, that means we have a gap in in consumer demand from what the supply expectancy was.I mean, you just look at like rivian as a baseline. We had this article a few weeks ago that that quad motor is just sitting there. And they're basically like, having garage sales to get them out of there you try and

Paul Daly: 10:36

by tribe, but there's a couple. There's a couple of like converging points here.Number one, we know we've had as an industry struggled to produce enough EVs, and now that we're producing enough EVs, like, we can't sell the EVS that we're producing. And the next level of complexity is that every major automaker is like, we can't sell this, you know, as, you know,like a legacy automotive maker Tesla aside, saying, We can't sell these things profitably yet. So you're making cars unprofitably, you're having them sit on a lot, they're sitting on the lot. And you know, you're gonna have to put more money into them to move them while investing in the expansion of your Evie production capability.While the charging infrastructure is trying to catch up while we're trying to figure out if people actually want these or not as much as they call them. So glad I am not the CEO of a major.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:33

Yeah, I know what they call this in like startup world. They call this product market fit. And typically do a lot of research to figure out if it works.

Paul Daly: 11:42

But then the government comes in, say, we'll give you all this money, we'll figure out the product market fit. And then I think we're gonna see,

Kyle Mountsier: 11:48

there you go.Well, I'll tell you about market fit. Oh, one company

Paul Daly: 11:54

that has zero questions about

Kyle Mountsier: 11:55

it. They got zero questions seek is in a testament to the power of American gas consumption. Just in time for the American holiday, the world's largest gas station, a 74,000 square foot buches ginormous recently opened I have to go to a buches the great State of Tennessee,actually, I we drove past it just a couple of weeks ago. It's exactly one. Yeah. So it's just north of Knoxville, from what I understand the new location is the size of a small Walmart has120 gas pumps, a full restaurant and all the products I mean, if you've not been to a buches it's it's literally like, like, if you went to Walmart, in, let's say, like 1997, right, like the slightly smaller, not the super Walmart, like it's got everything that you would need across like some clothes and some food and some home decor.And you got a couple restaurants in the desert area. And like it is unbiased plus, like not the whole 711 experience, right?They got coffee for days and ICS and the whole nine yards. It's unbelievable. As always, no semis allowed in a buches.Right? So they don't have like the just like that truck stop but no truckstop vibes, right,right. No truckstop vibes, the bathrooms, if you haven't been to a buches are like, people take videos of the bathrooms.There's so nice. There actually is. And this is something new that buches is just starting,there is a row of Tesla chargers in the back, not in the front,they're in the back. One of the things that you'll notice about buches is one their employees are on it, they're happy, they engage with you, they smile when they smile they talk to you. And a lot of that reason they say is because they are some of the highest paid in the industry and outside of the industry.Actually, if you go to a buches there are signs at every entrance, like little sandwich board signs showing, not just like the entry level employee,it shows the whole career path,

Paul Daly: 14:02

like General Manager every 280 grand or whatever, it is not that much. But it's not that much. No, how much is it?

Kyle Mountsier: 14:09

I think General Manager was like in the mid one hundreds or something like that if I remember. Okay, so not too shabby. bikinis. Yeah, not too shabby for gas station, you know, but they've got every tear. And then like they show all their benefits right on that sandwich board. And so like people are applying these or not, and they're not they're not suburban or urban places.They're mostly rural. So they're attracting great employees in a rural environment. Just a company look out.

Paul Daly: 14:39

I can't I have to how far is this from your house? Oh,a few hours. Yeah, it's now okay. Well, we need to strategically figure out how we can all get to a buches because I need to see this. You need to see like the Chick fil A vibes at a gas station slash. I don't even know what to call it.

Kyle Mountsier: 14:56

The next time we're in Atlanta, we just gotta like maybe plan an extra day and We'll go up to buches because there's one in like an hour outside of

Paul Daly: 15:02

it. Love it. I love that would be a great place for man on the street videos, Frank.Oh,

Kyle Mountsier: 15:08

look, it's like this perfect mix of like, what I would call like people at Target and people of Walmart, right?Like it just kind of like everyone comes into the same space and you're like, Okay,we're together at a buches Yeah.

Paul Daly: 15:21

All right, ADRIAN Adrian is tell us in the comments in Jacksonville, they have a few. So apparently, yes.Lucky's understands the Jacksonville vibes. I wouldn't be surprised if in the construction of this brand new buches there isn't a full network of like, six inch conduit buried under the ground,like ready for the expansion of Evie chargers. You think about like Wonder because you think about a place like that. Like that's exactly that place future? Well, that's the exact place you want to go if you have to sit for 20 or 30 minutes.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:51

Like my family.If we stop at a buches we're there for 30 minutes. It's just it's all

Paul Daly: 15:55

of a sudden, it's a destination. It's just a destination. Exactly. Oh, man.Well, I have to I'm jealous. I'm jealous. I feel like I'm missing out like there's a thing in America. That's becoming a bigger thing that I've just never been to. I'm not okay with this cold. Not okay with this. I know. I know. Well, thank you for being here. Thanks for laying up the comments today.It's so fun to watch all that conversation going on. If you're listening, check out the live stream from live stream.Download the podcast so you can have it on your job. I'll see you tomorrow.

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