welcome to a scrap life a podcast solely focus on the hustlers Grinders operators and business owners who live and breathe the scrap metal industry every day we are the original recyclers no suits required just guts and hard work here is your host Brett Eckhart sitting here in Nashville Tennessee baton Rosenberg Northern Ohio scrap yep Cleveland Ohio fourth generation so these are like my my best my best stories I uh I Call On The Genesis guys in to Let Me podcast in the booth they’re awesome them they got our equipment in the background and you’re like a fourth generation operator of Genesis equipment right yeah essentially and probably about any other equipment from what I’ve heard yeah so because I don’t know a lot about you like that’s why we’re here and I want you to give me a little bit of background on you your company you said your brother your sister and your brother are here uh Yep they’re at the show my uncle and Grandpa as well I’ve got a whole family here oh yeah just about nice where are you guys staying at uh we’re at the Omni over here

so not too far away so it could be nice but uh yeah so give me give me the give me the cliff notes version tell me tell me about you and tell me about the company and I love multi-generation stories so let’s go so I’m 19 right now um I guess this is where the Genesis Booth I’ll start off with that we uh we’ve been running Genesis shares for uh about 18 years for a long time and uh I mean we’re kind of we’re the kind of company that we care about our equipment we care about our people and we care about the way we do business we try to everything in the correct way and fair and honest and that’s how we try to do things so we care a lot about how about how we process stuff and try to make everything efficient and fast so we run certain equipment we’re very picky about equipment and our guys you know all our guys take a lot of care in their equipment and stuff so how long have you been running equipment I’ve been around a skid-steer since I was four

I think shears probably 9 or 10 or 11 and then material handlers probably since I was maybe 16 or something nice so when I started we didn’t have a mobile share right we just had cutting torches so like that was like probably like one of my if I go back and of all the things I’ve ever done in a scrap yard probably like one of my favorite things is like run a cutting torch but that’s all only because you get to like start with a big ass pile strike and you get a Whittle on it and you get to see like oh okay everybody’s in you’re like oh okay and now I obviously have a mobile shares like they take it to the excellent level where you get to sit in like a nice cab with some air conditioning and right but you still get to see the pile at the end of all the stuff you cut up right yeah there’s something to be said about you know cutting steel with a torch and there’s definitely something fun to that but if you’re looking really for productivity you know sheer is the way

to go yeah and um I mean I’m sure you notice when you move to mobile shares I mean the amount of material you can process compared to a torch I mean there’s certain things that a torch is for but really the correct tool for the job is a huge thing in scrap you know yeah and you know that can help out a lot so I know you have a tire yard all right yeah and you uh you share price yeah well we share so we’ve we’ve traditionally ran LaBounty shears right and we just bought our first Genesis and we and and we were kind of like well let’s give it a shot and see like what I’m like I’m one of those guys like I don’t I don’t really talk about anything I just say like if I just this is what I use right either you you know do it do what you want to do however you want to do it but this is what I’m doing right and if you learn and something from a great like please tell me how you’re doing stuff right I think that’s kind of the

way I like to do it um so I would do with Matt and I’m like hey I need another Shear I’m ready to kind of test the waters and see because we run I think like five mobiles or something I have four or five mobiles and I’m like I’m gonna see if you know what the difference is you know because I just want to know I’m like if somebody tells me it’s hot I’m like how hot type of guy so we’ve been using it I mean for everything we use it for tires we use it for dry iron we use it for I mean everything and then but we because we run the the 555 we don’t cut a lot of big big stuff right right we do a lot of torch cutting so our experience so far limited experience like months it’s been it’s been good been good for us so yeah my dad and my uncles are big equipment guys they like they like equipment they always have since they were kids so everything we do is Big so we have two 995 shears which are they’re pretty big cheers yeah and

they’re they’re a lot of fun there’s a carrier on it uh they’re doosan 530s oh wow what’s the whole setup way the carrier and the I want to say we’re oh don’t quote me on this but I want to say we’re around 125 with everything do you move it around much yeah so we have a transport bracket on it and then we have hydraulic counterweight so we can drop the counterweight and run you know with the shear still on it and it makes for a pretty serious package and it’s pretty movable so it allows for some cool off-site stuff for every once in a while so do you guys have just one facility or uh yeah pretty much we have a truck shop that we work on our trucks but as actual operation processing yard yep so the only time you’re really moving your shears if you’re like gonna go again yeah do a demolition or something like that which we we don’t do a whole lot of it’s not really our specialty but like a steel building or some cool things we did like we pulled two ships out of the water

that was pretty sweet oh that’s cool we uh some pictures uh yeah I do actually I’ll show you that later okay that was pretty cool done some cool building pull downs and things like that but yeah anything that we can get our hands on that’s different and that’s what we like to do we like to come up with creative things but yeah like like I was saying bigger bigger is better so like for our material handlers we run uh like our main machine is a Santa Bogan 850 with a magnet and you see most yards run you know 825s or 835s and we have two 850s and then we have an 825 or an 835. You guys legitimately have big equipment like yeah we run eight 825s and we were just over there at the cineboggan booth looking at the difference between say an 825 and an 835 like it’s a significant difference it gets a significant jump up and just size in general so then if you go even to an 850. I mean you’re talking about like a beast of a machine yeah yeah they’re very quick and that’s the thing like

it goes back to you know our whole thing is like you know we take pride in our operators our operators do an amazing job Mac code is our main magnet operator and he’s he’s really he’s really amazing like you know I run machines for a long time he’s running for a lot longer yeah and uh and you know you can tell that he runs a magnet every day and he does a really good job so having you know uh operators that care about the equipment and really enjoy what they do and and take the time you know we we sort most of our stuff with a magnet and you know we try to make it easy for our guys who are in Bobcats picking stuff up because you know scrap it’s rough but you know this is what makes the world go around is Recycling and and so you know if we can do as much as we can with a machine with our big machines and sort and then the guys only have to pick up what’s not magnetic or you know machine can’t handle them so like for you I mean I

I talked a lot to this to the guys at sod like I love talking to guy like young actually talking to them earlier today yeah dude I mean just our I think our industry I mean there’s a there’s a ton of people that are you know retiring every day or coming up in on those on those years that have a ton of knowledge right right and so like my my biggest thing is trying to find and like encourage you know the younger generation that you you had an advantage like saying like I did like I was like born into right I don’t know any other it’s an advantage and a disadvantage because once you’re in scrap you’re never out of screen no right and I only know one way right right it’s like this is all I know like this is you know I went to school came back and and I was back for three days and I was I went to work right that’s why so I mean what do you think the key is going to be for getting like guys gals that didn’t grow up in the business to like

take a look at it and say this is like this is worth like it’s a good industry like this is worth taking you know I I don’t have a good answer for that and I wish I did because this is a conversation that I’ve had with my dad a lot and even more frequently recently and it’s like trying to find people who younger people you know especially when you know you look at you know if I want to take over the business or you know me and my siblings or younger cousins or whatever and it’s tough because it’s like it doesn’t seem like there’s people who are young who want to do these kind of jobs anymore and there’s real careers here but it’s tough so I don’t know I mean I hope uh I help people kind of realize that you know what can be made here and and the kind of work we do is really valuable but it’s very tough I mean you kind of you meet people through Word of Mouth mostly and and most good people are already taken and they’re not moving you know so well you got

to recruit them like right one thing I will say that so when I graduated uh so I basically nobody in my family ever went to college right like my aunts uncle’s mom dad like nobody like nobody’s ever stepped foot right what’d you go to school for I went to for business okay so I always told my dad I was like I I I’d be either run the torch or run the recycling center right and I’d be like how do I get one of them office jobs man he goes go to college and I was like well you didn’t go to college he goes you’re right because I did it but he goes but if you ever want to work in here you’re gonna you need to go at least somebody needs to go right and so so luckily like I was a decent enough athlete I got to I played football in college and uh but I always knew like there was never ever a doubt like I always knew what I was going to do like even when I went to school I went to school for business I really went to school

played football and try and get a degree while I was there but like on spring break we were partners with sensor steel so I’d go on my spring break people I’d party and do much other I’d go to Schnitzer for a week like be in the business like learn learn what each guy was doing with what they were doing whether it’s the office or outside just kind of trying to understand the business from a different perspective right because when I came back full time we were like 20. two employees 26 employees somewhere in that range we were still just like a you know our yard in Caldwell and they’re like a little Feeder yard and so I like had to go and start recruiting people into the like guy I played football with uh it’s College like he’s now HR insurance but I started like yeah in the electronics recycling on the scale like in Manchester yard right and I started just recruiting Because I’m like guys like this is like a viable industry right right but if I would have been out there trying to recruit them like then I don’t know that

they would have so like I tell you that because I’m like it’s kind of your job now to like go with two people right yeah that’s it is you know you try to find anybody and uh and you know all your friends the thing is so you know you went to school so you have a little bit more of like a base so I did uh since uh I I hate it I always hated school I did pretty well on it but I always hated school and freshman year of high school I was supposed to be going to high school you know I had like summer reading yeah it was like a week before school and I didn’t do any of my summer reading I had been working all summer and that wasn’t why I didn’t do summer reading I just didn’t want to do it yeah and uh and there was also a program in Ohio college credit plus so you could basically take college classes that are that are tax the taxes from your public school get transferred to college so they pay for your college classes nice so I was like

I was like well I could take these college classes instead and then I don’t have to go to my normal high school classes and the other thing about college classes is you can schedule for certain days of the week yeah so since freshman year of high school I took college classes like either Tuesday and Thursdays and worked Monday Wednesday Friday or Monday Wednesday Friday and work Tuesday Thursday yeah which is really cool because I could do classes and you know I could add actually a smaller course load than high school was working getting college credit and high school credit and then uh covet happened and then all the classes went online and I was like well I’m already working I race cars for a hobby I was already racing cars and I was like why don’t I just put all my energy towards this and focus on this so that’s what I do now but I kind of lost some of the connection of of younger people and now I’m mostly around you know work and and a lot of people who I race cars with but um yeah I am trying to you

know anytime you see people who are younger who I think have potential or or you know and sometimes it’s yeah it’s just you run into somebody and you see them doing like you see them doing something or they’re like is going to excel anywhere they are one thousand percent like you hit the nail on the head right and I think I go looking for quality people right and then I’ll figure out what I can have right you know like where could they be a good fit for us you just look for good people and then figure out how they can fit in but I think like for me and that’s like I’m not like here to give you a bunch of advice that’s probably the only advice I’ll give you today it’s just man like I was in your position and like that’s why I haven’t picked an appreciation for like how hard it is but how awesome opportunity it is the opportunity is there and if you can yeah yeah so like for you so you’re you’ve basically been working for your dad ever since you’ve been able to work right yeah do

you guys I mean do you guys get along is that a contentious relationship sometimes um I would say for the for the most part you know me and my dad get along um me and my dad are pretty good I would definitely say there’s I mean it’s a family business between my grandpa and my uncles and and my dad and me and you know you know how is you know you have a lot of people working and and uh yeah we get into arguments but at the end of the day at the end of every week we we have a big family dinner um Friday night with you know you know my aunts and uncles and as many family that’s uh in the area which most of us live pretty close together so you know business is business and you know we all fight hard for the same thing you know of having a successful business at the end of the day you know we all have family dinner and we all eat together and spend time together so like I and my dad and I like we get like my dad was my

my best man in my wedding right and but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t have like a lot of like done it was like right because you have two like like Alpha guys that are just like when you have people going for the same thing it’s like they’re so focused on even if it’s the same thing they’re both so focused you know you’re both going for the same thing you can’t even see if the other person’s on your side but yeah absolutely yeah well you just have two ways you guys are you guys are trying to get the same input right but you just have kind of two ways of getting there right and I think that’s one once I got old enough to realize that like my dad and I wanted the same thing that we were just like we had two very different ways of getting there right I think that was like then the aha moment was like oh okay like actually we were we actually probably had more alike than we are assume we’re and then now as I get older I’m like God that’s what my dad used to

be like I’m doing the same dude you know what I mean yeah I mean you know handling you know how you hand yourself around other people and and dealing with other people that’s a huge part of business and you know I’m learning still and and uh you know it’s important to try to you know work out with other people and and I mean a lot of the time like you said you’re going for the same thing just different ways and sometimes it’s best just kind of let that person do their thing and just watch and go all right maybe that did actually work just fine exactly and and the other thing is I mean it goes uh it’s for all aspects not only like you’re arguing about a business concept but for processing scrap you’re like oh we’ve done this for 20 years like this like had you been like oh we don’t need a Shear we’re cutting with a torch for 20 years yeah and then you get a shear and you’re like oh wow this is actually really great it’s like you didn’t have that person who’s you know trying something new

you would never get that growth so I mean that’s the important part so speaking of like okay like Innovation like push into the next thing like what have you you walked around the show today yet uh yeah a little bit so have you seen anything that like pops out that like looked interesting to you but you’re like yeah I’m about to take a harder look at that like because you know you’re of the generation that’s like what’s the next thing to try and build the business right like to put your stamp of on it right I would assume and yeah I mean I I haven’t been around too much to all the little booths and stuff most of the stuff so I was at uh Genesis was kind enough to bring me out to uh National demo Association show this year and I was at scrap Expo earlier this year um and so I’ve seen like a lot of the booths kind of pop up similar yeah so I’ve seen a lot of the similar things um the actual the rail breaker is I was excited to see this break a lot of rail

there we don’t but it’s still you know I I like machinery and I find that interesting yeah I’m kind of a junkie myself a Machinery yeah yeah I’m this and now I’m probably like different than you like in the fact that you’re like a true like operator right yeah and like I’m probably not that great of an operator but I I I know the value that it adds like so that’s probably what gets me the most excited is like you know like knowing that capability knowing that what that could do for my business right so then that’s what gets me excited is like oh if I could just add that here man it would make this process so much better or whatever like that’s probably what gets me the most excited about it but you know my dad is a true like equipment junkie but not from an operator standpoint he’s like what’s that way what is a disc yeah pressure that like how does this do this you know he’s a lot more probably technical yeah that’s how my dad is yeah am I more like man if I had that I could

do this and this and we could make that happen you know yeah I enjoy the technical specs of things but you know also like you said from an operator standpoint like you know you’re used to running you know 995 that’s a pretty large Shear you know yeah good stuff yeah and uh so running big equipment like that you know it’s enjoyable you know different things like that so out of all the things like that you do in a day like what do you enjoy the most about your job um yeah that’s a good question I like I like when we get different things I like when we get weird old equipment that we have to cut up and you know you can kind of learn something new with the shear of how to use that tool yeah and um I like I like running magnets I like running our 850s they’re they’re quick machines um they’re just they’re they’re enjoyable to operate um but yeah I don’t know it’s it’s nice coming into work you know obviously you know work is working you there’s certain days and you’re like ah same thing over and

over but yeah at the end of the day it’s nice coming into you know a group of guys who who I can pretty much call family and and you know going to the scale house my sister’s in there my brother’s you know you know running a part of an equipment that I’m running the same operation as them and yeah my dad or whatever and you know that’s nice that’s a big deal um you call my grandpa you know he’ll come over for you know come over for lunch or whatever and you know go out to lunch with him with uh some people and you know even though my grandpa man I hope I don’t say this wrong I think he’s oh I don’t know how old he is 82 maybe 83. but you know he still gets up every morning goes and gets breakfast goes out to lunch with our you know people and he still loves you know breeds lives yeah do that for all the headaches sometimes at like being part of a family business I can bring like there’s no doubt about it when I was growing up my grandfather my

grandmother ran the scale my mom my dad my aunts Uncle like everybody’s involved now I’m at the point where it’s just like me and a bunch of my friends that I’ve hired over the years and we just became great friends right so that’s what I love about it is I get to basically work with all the guys that I enjoyed probably their company as much as anybody else on you know it’s like a second family it’s like I love it man that’s probably like the best right that’s the best part of it so right yeah it makes it tough like you said like you know you know there’s uh there’s tense moments when everybody’s trying to they’re real everyone’s really has the same purpose and you know same idea of like really trying to do things properly and you get moments of frustration but you know you work through it but um yeah I enjoy I enjoy being able to do different things you know every day and doing that kind of stuff sometimes you get jobs that are kind of do it you know sorting a pile for a couple hours or whatever

but overall it’s pretty good we’ll wrap this thing up man but one thing I’d like one thing I want people to know and and I went to college right but you don’t have to go to formal education to be successful in our business like it is there’s a there’s a zillion different career lines in our business uh thank you sir thank you see how good the services yeah exactly sure that’s like a Shameless plug for Matt you know the deal so I I want to know I want people to know like if you want to go to college go to college right if you don’t want to go don’t go and don’t think that that cancels you out if anything it probably gives you an inherent Advantage because you could start four or five years earlier and start learning how to do right so for the young people out there like in this industry or thinking about it or like taking a look at it I mean whether you’re operating equipment working behind the scenes as a buyer working behind the scenes as an accountant whatever that is like there is like there’s a

tremendous amount of opportunities compliance Insurance banking I mean there’s so many things behind the scenes of this of our industry that I probably don’t meet the day-to-day eye obviously we’re an equipment Booth but there’s a lot more to it as well yeah there’s a lot of things in scrap and yeah I definitely agree with that I mean not even not only our industry there’s a lot of Industries you know now that you know you can go to school or you can you know you can kind of get your way there without School necessarily I mean the important part is is you kind of have an idea of where you want to go and and you know have motivation to do it and I think if you do that I think I think I’d like to think that you can you know get to where you’re trying to go with that and that’s a big deal you know you keep pushing for something you’ll eventually get there but yeah I love it that’s the way to end it man right there yeah like I mean it’s possible four generations possible young people like

in our industry like you know it’s it’s possible and I think that’s the biggest thing I want to convey is like man we we’re Prime like our industry’s Prime for plenty of military opportunity for this for I mean you know if you decide you don’t want that Tech job like come find us like you know we’re out there so yeah yeah well uh thank you thank you appreciate everyone in Cleveland trust me I’ll come find you yeah thank you for having me out here and uh you know if you ever have something weird to scrap in Cleveland Ohio Northern Ohio scrap is what you call that’s the big thing thank you Genesis yeah take care