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Troy: Alright! Hello and welcome. The date is November 6th and this is the 41st episode of Big Rig Banter. I’m your co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And Lenay, how are you doing today? We’re just a few days after Halloween. Did you have a good Halloween?
Lenay: Yeah, I did. I’m still in recovery mode and it’s raining today, so I’m feeling a little dreary. What about you?
Troy: Good, I had a lot of fun and to prove it we have a nice picture on our Facebook page. Truckers, if you haven’t had the chance to check it out, you can see Lenay and I in our costumes.
Lenay: Yeah, it’s on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll see how good we looked for Halloween.
Troy: I was a little offended that you didn’t dress up as Robin, to be my sidekick.
Lenay: Yeah, well you know you didn’t really give me a heads up on your costume, so.
Troy: I know, I know.
Lenay: At least we were both dressed as people that ride really cool vehicles, so.
Troy: That’s true. And that’s just a little hint at Lenay’s costume but to see the whole thing you gotta check it out on our Facebook page. But Lenay, this episode is all about trucking apps. Before we get into things, maybe give me three apps that you’re probably most on.
Lenay: Okay, so like I have my social apps like Facebook, Instagram, but I would say they’re not very useful. So, I’d say as far as apps that help me in my life, I have my fitness pal, which I use to count my calories, and then I have Uber, which I use when I, you know, can’t drive. And then, I have Groupon, that’s one I really like because I can shop on there and find good deals. If you guys have never heard of Groupon, totally check it out.
Troy: Yeah.
Lenay: You can find deals whenever you are.
Troy: And full disclosure-
Lenay: What about you?
Troy: Well, full disclosure these are not any ads for these apps.
Lenay: Yeah, no.
Troy: We’re not getting sponsored as much as we might like to be, these are all just apps we really prefer and same, I usually use the social media, the Instagram, the SnapChat, and Facebook and things like that. And I’m using a health app myself. It’s called LoseIt, so you might have noticed I’ve been on a little bit of a diet and I’m actually sticking with it a little more than usual
Lenay: Yeah, Troy’s version of a diet is pretty funny, but I’ll go with that. Yes, you’ve been on a diet.
Troy: Yeah, and by diet, I mean I’m not bringing in McDonald’s every day. I’m usually just hiding it in my car, so Lenay can’t tell.
Lenay: I wonder if we went back and listened to every episode of Big Rig Banter how many times you have said the word “McDonald’s.”
Troy: I know, or the words “I’m gonna eat healthy” or the new year’s resolutions to eat better.
Lenay: “I’m gonna clean out my car.”
Troy: Yeah, but yeah, I’d say those are the main apps that I use. That other app you use to track the flights is really cool too. I know for those truckers that might have a travel bug, Lenay is the expert in finding the best travel deals and destinations, that’s for sure.
Lenay: Yeah, that app was/is called Hopper, but I deleted it to prevent myself from spontaneously buying any more plane tickets this year, so we’re on a hiatus on that app. So, what are some of your favorite apps? Why don’t you reach out to us on social media #BigRigBanter and tell us what apps you use the most? Troy actually took it upon himself to check out some trucker apps that might be helpful for you. So, he did some interviews and we’re gonna listen to those and hopefully, you can learn some new tools that’ll help you on the road.
Troy: For sure! And I know many of you listeners often have the problem. You’re going down the road, you’re looking for a specific restaurant, or maybe a place to fuel up, and you’re not exactly sure where you want to go, but this first app is gonna help you with that problem. So, let’s give it a listen. Alright, well I’m here with Evan Metrock, the CEO of iExit, the trucking app. Evan, how are you?
Evan: I’m doing well, thank you for having me on!
Troy: Sure, so I did a little research on iExit, but why don’t you tell our listeners what it’s all about?
Evan: Absolutely. So iExit is a mobile app phone and website app that basically it’s a modern-day interstate exit guide app. It tells you all the major businesses at each interstate exit across the country. So, it’s actually used for pretty much any traveler along the road, not just truckers. We’ve got a good group of, a large group of our users that are RV-ers, your typical motorists, then there’s the family going on road trips, but then about 25% of our users are truckers. And so, we list all the different businesses that are at interstate exits, we allow you to search for certain things, whether it’s by business name or by amenity or by gas prices and by a number of other different things. And so, a trucker, for instance, would be able to pull up the app, it will detect they’re on, say i-40 or i-65, any of the interstates across the country, show you the exits ahead and then you could search for truck friendly businesses that would pull back, truck stops, truck friendly hotels, businesses with truck parking, things of that nature. And we also integrate with gas price, daily gas prices, so you can find the cheapest diesel or whatever you happen to be looking for that’s ahead of you, so you can hopefully save some money on gas as well.
Troy: And what are some, maybe some of the user-friendly features that you guys offer? I know especially for truckers on the road obviously we don’t want them texting and driving but being able to quickly navigate an app while they’re on the road is definitely crucial for them.
Evan: Correct. So, part of our user agreement right when you download the app you have to agree you’re not going to use it while driving. We’d prefer a passenger to use it, but we do know that people do end up using it, so we’ve tried to make it as easy as possible and as safe as possible. And so involved with that is when you pull up the app if you are in fact on the interstate, it will automatically detect that you were on that interstate and show you exits ahead without you pressing a button.
Troy: Awesome.
Evan: All that will pop up for you and you’ll be able to see directly ahead and it will save your last search, so if you have the truck friendly search enabled, you’ll just open up the app, don’t do anything else, let it populate, show you what’s ahead of you and then you’ll be able to see the exits ahead with the gas prices, businesses at each, and very easily be able to figure out what’s the best truck friendly exit ahead of you. And I will mention one other thing is that we actually have two apps out there at this moment. We’ve got the regular iExit, which the vast majority of our users use, but we also have the specialized trucking app called iExit Trucks and so it pulls the same information pulls from the same database but it displays things a little cleaner and a little easier for truck drivers where we’ve got icons for truck stops, we make it clear just at a glance for the exits that have truck stops, that have diesel fuel, that have diesel exhaust fluid, that have truck friendly motels or hotel, rest area, things like that. So, that, both of the apps are free to download, you can use either one, but if you download the main iExit app as well you can enable the truck friendly search and get the same information as well.
Troy: And what’s some of the feedback been like? I’m sure you’ve spoken to truckers who are currently using that, what do they have to say about it?
Evan: Again, a solid portion of our users are truckers, it’s not gonna help you when you’re off the beaten path but when you’re on the interstate which truckers tend to be about 75-80% of the time, it’s extremely helpful and we’re kind of in a league of our own with an app that really tailors itself towards the interstate where everything is grouped by exits and it can easily show you what’s ahead. Again, what a lot of people ask how we’re different than Google Maps, or Apple maps or something else, any of these other navigation apps. And the answer is that we are not a navigation app. We do not really tell you how to get from point A to point B, we are all about telling you where to stop along the way for all of those mundane stops that you’re gonna have along the long trip, all the different fuel-ups and hotel stops or rest area stops and meals you’re going to eat and all that sort of stuff and so that’s really where we kind of set ourselves apart is that we have a niche that we’re focusing on the interstate and for these stops along the way and so far we’re really the only ones that are really focusing on that trying to solve that problem.
Troy: And why is it so important for truckers to embrace technology? I think that’s the biggest thing, obviously there’s thousands of apps out there and I think that’s a big portion of it is how overwhelming it can get and like you said there’s Google Maps and Apple maps and things like that, but how would you convince truckers maybe to start embracing more apps and just technology in general?
Evan: You are exactly right that there are so many different apps out there to choose from once you go past just Apple and Google, you’ve got hundreds or even thousands of even smaller businesses like ours and so it can be daunting it can be kind of complicated to figure out the right ones, but the fact of the matter is there are many apps out there that aim to solve some of these very common problems that you have and again that’s what we’re trying to go after here is to solve and again, I am NOT an over the road trucker, I have a family that I use that more from a family planning standpoint but the problem is very similar that when we go on road trips, we have to stop four, five times along the way and so you can either rely on the billboards and the blue signs and all those sort of things out there to help you figure out the answer to your question or you can utilize technology that sure enough for that specific problem along the interstate we offer what I believe is a very superior experience than the signs you’ll encounter along the interstate to let you know not just what’s at the exit ahead, what’s at the next 20 exists ahead? What exit in the next 50 miles has the cheapest gasoline, whether it be unleaded or diesel or anything else. What exits ahead have the best restaurants, which have the best which exits ahead have deals on hotel rooms, many of which are truck friendly. Again, we’re really trying to focus on this interstate niche and so I think that for people who find themselves on the interstate a lot, they’ll find value in what we’ve done.
Troy: Awesome, Evan. And before we wrap things up, where can people find your app? What’s the easiest way to go about grabbing it?
Evan: The easiest way is probably just to Google the word “iExit” and I believe the first results that will be either the Apple, a link to the Apple store, to the Google Play Store, or on our website, if you go to iexitapp.com, it’s a big link on pretty much every page where you can go to download either one of them. And also you can visit https://www.iexitapp.com/ and get at a lot of the same information, you can look up all of these different interstate exits and try to plan your trip ahead of time, you can plan with the app as well, but you can plan on the website and figure out ahead of time if that’s the type of person you are, where you wanna figure out where the best exits are before you hope on the road. But, to download the app, just type in “iExit” and you can find us on the Apple or Google Play Store.
Troy: Awesome! We’ll once again that’s Evan Metrock, he’s the CEO of iExit. Thanks again Evan, I appreciate it!
Evan: Thank you very much, Troy. Enjoy it!
Lenay: Alright, that one was really cool, I bet I could even use that when I’m out on the road on my road trips. I always feel like I want to get off an exit but then I’m like is this creepy? Am I going to be driving forever until I find something?
Troy: Yeah for sure and speaking of road trips Lenay, do you use an E Z Pass?
Lenay: I should have an E Z Pass as much as I drive but I actually don’t have an E Z Pass.
Troy: Me neither and I do think it would be really helpful, especially when we’re going on these work trips but the reason I ask is this next app is almost like an E Z Pass for truck drivers but you’re actually gonna be using it to bypass those annoying weigh stations. So, let’s give that a listen. I’m here with Doug Johnson, the VP of marketing from Drivewyze. Doug, how are you today?
Doug: Really good Troy, thanks very much.
Troy: For sure, so why don’t you tell the listeners what your app does? I know your app especially is gonna get rid of maybe a major headache that a lot of truckers might have to deal with on a daily basis.
Doug: Yeah, so a Drivewyze pre-clear is a weigh station bypass app and it’s fairly unique, we’re the only software that allows truck drivers to legally bypass weigh stations in over 47 states and US provinces. So, the way the software works is that once you’ve installed the software on your phone or if it’s already installed on your ELD, then as you approach a weigh station, at the 2 mile mark the software wakes up and tells you that there’s a weigh station coming up and a the 1 mile mark we send some credentials, your DOT number, your license plate, no driver information, just your carrier and your truck information, and we send that and our service automatically does a pre-clearance and at the 1 mile mark we’ll give you a red or green light that’ll give you a command either pull in or to stay on the mainline and just have a legal bypass and depending on your safety score of your carrier that your operating for or if you’re under your own authority it’ll give you a bypass up to 98% of the time.
Troy: And is this something that any trucker can take advantage of or is this something where you’re kind of partnering with some of the bigger fleets or is this if a trucker wants to download it today they could start using it?
Doug: Yes, the answer’s yes to all questions. So, Drive Wise preclear, it can be used by you know a single owner-operator all the way up to you know nine to ten of the largest carriers in North America use drive wise preclear as their weigh station bypass service. The idea of a weigh station bypass service isn’t new, there’s one that exists already that you use transponders, ours is unique because it uses software and GPS and that means that we’ve been able to grow to be much larger in size. So we’ve got you know actually twice as many bypass locations than the other service and the way it works is that a driver can access a software either by going to Google Play if they’ve got an Android phone or tablet or the App Store for iPhone if you’ve got an iPhone, just download the app and all they need to do is just give us your basic information and then they can start a free trial. There’s a 30-day free trial and you immediately start getting bypasses at locations that are participating in the program and after 30 days if it makes sense that the driver can choose to subscribe to the service for a monthly fee. The other way that drivers can get it is, in particular for fleets, is it will come bundled quite often with the ELD software-
Troy: Okay.
Doug: that they’re already using. We partnered up with the largest ELD providers on the continent so if you’re using a- if you or your fleet has equipped you with an ELD by Omni tracks, which used to be Quamomm or Trimble, which use to be PeopleNet or OrthComm or Geotab or any of these other devices, there’s a good chance that Drivewyze has already come pre-installed and all you need to do is contact your vendor that you purchased that product from and enter into a trial or subscribe to the service directly through them. So, it can run either on the in-cab ELD that you’re using or if you choose to use a phone or tablet it can run on those devices as well.
Troy: And what’s the user experience like? I think for truckers that’s one of the bigger hurdles to come across, you know they’re using obviously probably some kind of GPS and now you have another app popping up while they’re trying to drive and things like that. How do you kind of settle their fears for those that might be hesitant to take the leap and you know add another app to their phone?
Doug: Yeah, well and that’s what we’ve designed it to be really hands-free and it doesn’t really require any driver interaction at all, so if a driver’s using his or her phone right now for you know different trucking apps and if it’s using navigation or you know it needs to be it does need to be mounted on the dash, you can see it and hear it, but they can use the device as they normally do or just ignore it as they normally do. The software automatically wakes up and will give an audible alert to let the driver know that you know there’s a weigh station coming up in a couple of miles, they should probably consider getting into the right lane just in case. And then at the 1 mile mark you know they automatically get a command to either pull in or to bypass, so it’s totally automated and the reason we’ve integrated it with these ELD providers and you can get a full list of them on our website, is that it’s for that reason like we don’t need to clutter up the dash with another device or another transponder or another GPS if they’re got an in-cab telematics device that they’re using for their ELD and their navigation and their dispatch and all their other tools, then we don’t need to put another device beside it, we can run on that same device that they’ve already chosen to use.
Troy: I think that’s an interesting point, do you think we’ll start seeing more and more of these kinds of bundle options where it’s more of the all in one instead of here’s a bunch of these small companies that are offering one specific thing and then they end up with six or seven apps on their phone?
Doug: Yeah, I think so, I think it’s the way it’s going for sure, you know the one thing that the ELD mandate did was you know like it or not everyone has got to have something in their truck that’s connected to their engine and it’s gotta typically it’s got a software interface so the ELD mandate has put either you now tablets or phones or specific ELD into you know virtually every truck that’s driving interstate and so as a result the idea of having specific trucker efficiency apps and systems aren’t exclusive to the really large fleets anymore, it used to be that you know only the larger carriers could afford to have all these different tools at their disposal and make their drivers’ lives easier and now that the ELD mandate is coming and everything’s kind of moved downstream a little bit it’s far easier for a driver to get equipped with some of the same tools that the really really big fleets are using and I think you’re going to see more and more that these things are going to be bundled together into packages, that’s certainly what we’re seeing.
Troy: And just to wrap things up, what’s maybe one piece of advice you’d give to truckers when it comes to embracing this type of technology? I mean it’s definitely not going to go anywhere, and we’re most like going to see it grow and more things come to your smartphone or your tablet or whatever device you’re using. What’s something you maybe tell truckers to keep an eye out for?
Doug: Well, with our product specifically, I’d tell drivers that if you’re pulling into a weigh station today or several times a week about as you’re going about your business, then you really should consider purchasing a weigh station bypass service, it’s there for a reason. It’s there you know with the endorsement of law enforcement, we’ve got agreements with these state jurisdictions and 47 states and provinces, they want every driver and every carrier that’s you know to participate. They want to be able to you know wave trucks through when they’ve got the center or good scores and focus maybe on those that don’t. There’s around a bypass element around a pulling element to it so trucks still get pulled in but they don’t need to see every single time so if you’re getting pulled into weigh stations today, you really should invest in something. The nice thing about our software product is that you’ve already got a device in your hand or in your cab that you’re already using today, whether it’s an ELD or whether it’s a phone, that’s perfectly capable of installing our software. You just need to get it set up and run, take a look for yourself, see if it makes sense, but that’s the beautiful thing about being software-based is you know you can make an instant decision to go ahead and try the thing out without having to wait for paperwork and a form and a transponder to show up in your mailbox.
Troy: Doug, once again I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today.
Doug: Yeah thanks, and I’ll invite people to visit our website at https://drivewyze.com/, it’s spelled a little funny, that’s how you spell Drivewyze.
Troy: Alright, thank you.
Lenay: Alright, we have one more app for you listeners, this one you may have heard about before because we’ve interviewed them in the past on our trucking technology episode. Let’s hear what the guys from Dock411 have to say.
Troy: Alright, I’m here with Eric Weidl, he’s the co-founder of the app Dock411. Eric, how are you?
Eric: I’m doing great today, thanks Troy. Doing really well.
Troy: Awesome, so you guys have been on the podcast way back in the day but for those maybe just catching up why don’t you give them a refresher on Dock411 and what you guys do to help truckers?
Eric: Sure, yeah. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about it. One of the things that we realize is that it happens amazingly frequently. The drivers are given an address to go and no other information. A lot of times they’ll look up that address and you know maybe it’s the front door of a corporate office. They don’t know if that location has weighter fees, if there’s a bathroom, if there’s WiFi that they can use, maybe if they’re an over the road if they can bring their kids or their pets into the property, so we with the help of drivers collect that information and then make it available back to the drivers and then we also allow them to review the facilities and that’s really becoming one of the most important things that we’re doing so that’s kind of a high level happy to talk about a little bit more about any of that.
Troy: So, essentially, it’s almost like a Yelp but for docks for truckers or kind of offloading locations.
Eric: Yeah, that’s a fair way to think about it I mean we do a lot more of course we’re you know focused and directed at drivers and there’s obviously a little bit different things that they need than you know whether the restaurant offers appetizers but yeah it’s a good way to think about it it’s the information about that location it’s photos videos maps to show you where your entrance is and then a review. Yeah, a lot like Yelp would be for a restaurant.
Troy: And so what’s the user experience like you know I think the biggest a big thing for truckers is you know that user experience, they are already using a GPS or some sort and then another thing is popping up on their phone, what makes it easy for truckers to kind of handle your app and what’s that been like for users?
Eric: Well, it’s a thing we’re always working on. You know we’re trying to make it easier we’re finding new ways we’re getting feedback for drivers and we better respond as quickly as possible and actually listen so right now it is another app we do have other partners where we’re integrated into their software so don’t actually you know like, for example, a freight tracer you use freight tracer software you don’t need to actually go to our app, but what we found is that there’s really two ways that a driver can look up a location and typically the way our users are using it is they’ll use the app before they leave because they want to find out about the location where exactly is the yard entrance? You know, what’s the best route to that location from the interstate interchange for example. So, they’ll look it up and they look it up they’ve got three options. One is they can put in the street address that is say for example on the …. or some of the other paperwork and if they put in a street address, we’ll tell them about locations that we know around that address. They can also put in what we call a D411 ID. Which is short for Dock411 ID. That’s a unique identifier that we assign every warehouse in our system. Now if you don’t know the D411 ID and it’s likely you know it’s a new concept that you won’t you can send us an address through the app or even by email whatever is convenient we’ll tell you what the D411 ID is and they can keep that and use that. And we’ll also start researching it to get as much information as we can. You know the app is free for drivers and what we the way we make money we don’t track drivers we don’t do anything like that, at least not in the ways that usually think about that is we charge the shippers. So, we’re putting the burden of this on the shippers and then again on the flipside they want to reviews they don’t want reviews from Google reviews, they want reviews that they can actually do something about. They can’t do that with Google reviews.
Troy: And I want to go back to the partnerships you were talking about. One of the apps we talked to or will talk to, they talked about a lot of these bundle packages and kind of combining multiple apps with different services, do you see that people leaning towards that in the future of having these more bundle services instead of maybe having 7 or eight apps on your phone?
Eric: Oh sure, I mean look you know I’m not anywhere near as bad as other people you know I know but I’ve got too many apps on my phone I can’t keep them straight you know they and the technology industry they even have a word for you know it’s app fatigue and so sure anything like that where we can you know partner with some good companies we’re actually partnering with a dock scheduling company we’ll be able to talk more about that early in 2020 but it’s an example where you’d be able to actually request appointments at facilitates right through our app too so you have maybe one instead of two apps and then you know we’ll bundle and partner with another company you know where we can offer a bunch of these services all together.
Troy: And why is embracing technology so important for truckers and maybe how would you convince these truckers to try out a new app or something like that because I mean everyone knows you can get from point A to point B with Google Maps or Apple Maps or anything like that, why maybe go the extra mile and add some of these different apps to your repertoire?
Eric: Well, you know it’s a good question and I think really there’s a couple of answers. One is that it is a convenience, you can use Google Maps to get there maybe 90% of the time maybe 80 maybe 50% of the time it gets you to the right place and believe me it is an amazing technology I don’t mean to knock them down at all it’s incredible what it can do but there’s also the you know the particulars of the you know the weighted drivers truck drivers are different than say a mom looking for you know a restaurant or a gym for her kids to go play at. It’s a lot easier for somebody in a four wheeler to you know get into a parking lot just walk into the building and find a location it’s not as easy for a driver and look you know every minute that your wheels aren’t turning you know you’re not making money you know there’s a lot going on even in politics and government looking at this you know they’re saying the average driver is losing about $1,200 to $1,500 a year because the lost time and that’s not due to things like traffic or weather that’s just being lost or not knowing where to go or you know being detained and that really doesn’t even get into some of the detention stuff but so it’s convenience it’s doing a better job it’s doing it safer more safely you know if you can get right to the yard entrance instead of having to get out of the cab to walk into a building or ask where you’re supposed to go you know up here in Chicago where it’s icy and snowy ten months out of the year seems like you know that whole idea of gettin’ out of your cab I mean it’s slippery it’s dangerous so there’s safety things like that as well.
Troy: And Eric, just to wrap things up, what’s the easiest ways for our listeners to get ahold of your app?
Eric: We’re at both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store just search Dock411 d-o-c-k number four number one should come up in both stores that way you can always just email us at [email protected] got any questions. We’re also on social media Facebook, Twitter, that kind of thing, too
Troy: Awesome well thanks again, that’s Eric from Dock411. I appreciate you coming onto the show.
Eric: You’re welcome, thank you for the opportunity.
Troy: And once again a big thanks to all those trucking apps out there and remember listeners while you’re already downloading those apps, make sure to check out Big Rig Banter on where ever you’re listening to this and please leave us a review, we really appreciate all the feedback and we want to provide the best podcast possible.
Lenay: Yeah and for those of you just tuning in for the first time Big Rig Banter is a podcast that’s powered by AllTruckJobs. AllTruckJobs.com is where you can go to find trucking jobs all across the country.
Troy: Alright and that about wraps things up. Once again, I’m your co-host, Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And this has been Big Rig Banter.
Music – Thanks for tuning into another edition of Big Rig Banter. For your next job check out AllTruckJobs.com, the premier online source for finding the best driver jobs in the country. Browse hundreds of positions by freight or driver type to get back on the road with confidence. Click subscribe to keep the conversations coming until next time on Big Rig Banter.
