Editor’s Note: This is the first in a new series from the editors of Farm Equipment, Rural Lifestyle Dealer & Precision Farming Dealer

As some of you know, our company — in addition to our crop production and ag machinery holdings — also owns the leading trade media for the equine health trade and have served farriers and equine vets since 1992. I just returned from our 23rd annual International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati and discovered through a casual breaking of bread a new service our dealer audiences ought to know about.

It was during a board meeting meal of the Farrier Industry Association (a group of manufacturers, suppliers and retailers of products for hoofcare professionals) that I learned what one rural Arizona retail shop was doing to gain a competitive edge in parts and supplies. His name was Josh Morris of Farrier Hub in Cave Creek, Ariz., and his new location is supplying customers throughout the entire state of Arizona.

While his business’ niche is the supply of what professional farriers need to do their work (think hammers, horseshoes, nails, anvils, rasps, etc.) there is something to learn from your brethren in an even more competitive segment than ag equipment.

Morris has been offering a flat-rate shipping model and was pleased to find that he and his team’s service is so good that the folks wintering in his area continue to use his company for supplies, even when they return home. 

Some of his best customers are just 10 miles away, but the Amazon Age has trained them all to expect near-JIT delivery of supplies to the home, or to whatever farm or barn location they’ll be at that day or the next. When you’re aware of the opportunity cost of every hour of your time (as a farrier must), Morris’ delivery service keeps his customers earning dollars, not rolling down the road to pick up their replacement supplies or odd one-off product need.

What is Roadie?

Over a convention board meeting, Morris shared a service he discovered just weeks ago. It is already paying dividends for him, he says, and others around the table agreed it could be a game-changer for the time-strapped customer.

“We had a guy that flew into our area, and he didn't have any expander wheel belts on him,” Morris says. “He had one day here to get a bunch of work done for multiple clients. 

“He didn’t have time to leave to go to the store and grab stuff. He was 1 hour away and called me in a panic. I answered that ‘I got something new and want to try this for you.’ We used this new service, and he got his belts in 1 hour and it was reasonably priced for both of us and he loved it.”

The new service called “Roadie” is offered through UPS, and he gave it a shot last month for the first time. “It’s an Uber type of service through UPS and we’ve used to it to ship to about 8 customers now,” Morris says, who admits he “came across it” while scrolling on UPS’ website and had an almost immediate application for which to test-drive it.

Here’s what I found from an online search ... A subsidiary of UPS since 2021, it’s a crowdsourced, same-day local delivery platform that utilizes independent drivers in personal vehicles to transport items. It specializes in delivering large, bulky, or perishable items that are often unsuitable for the traditional UPS small-package network, providing 2-hour, 4-hour or same-day service within a 100-mile radius. 

Morris says it’s as easy as a text or call to place an order and customers are getting their deliveries within an hour or two. 

“We're just in the test phasing of it to see how it goes. I've been limiting it to customers that I know well, but it works great and I'm excited it will open up some neat opportunities.

He added that it makes even greater sense with heavier orders. “Today, we shipped 12-15 boxes of horseshoes 3 hours away and this was significantly cheaper than it would’ve been had we shipped via UPS — plus the extended wait for the customer. 

A crowd-sourced Uber type of labor model is assuredly going to be a more cost-effective labor hour for you plus the “skin in the game” ratings I assume will reward you with better service than the average temp worker. Most important is always the “opportunity cost” of what your investment in staff labor could be doing — making money for your business — if given just a little more capacity.

The drivers are set up to handle items up to 200 pounds and 12 feet long. Roadie is integrated within UPS accounts, allowing both options with one shipping vendor. And it claims to be able to get 97% of addresses with its last mile delivery service. Automotive parts and tires are cited as key segments — so it’s not a reach for your ag equipment business — although retailers of all kinds are also highlighted. 

While he’s still in the early stages and accumulating data points, Morris says it’s performed “perfectly” for him. 

Applications for You?

Below are just a few observations. I hope you’ll use the commenting field below to add more ...

1. Getting same-day parts out to that farmer who highly values his/her time, and can keep the animals milked, watered and fed, and can work on any variety of tasks instead of jumping into the truck for a last-minute trip to town — and the unproductive time faced both ways.
2. Respond to the emergency requests without needing to ask your own parts or tech support to ditch their day, which is designed to keeping the wrenches turning (and billing) in your own shop.
3. Give your own team a break. Get your field reps and techs the parts delivered to their home for next day tasks rather than needing them to run in just to pick things up — especially during chaos of planting, spraying and harvesting — when every second counts and also when burnout is real.
4. One more option for shuttling parts between stores and/or between other dealer groups who have a part that you don’t. Perhaps this transactional business can be more easily handled through a third party.
5. Smaller rural lifestyle or outdoor power equipment dealers may find Roadie to be an alternative to investing in, insuring and staffing the delivery vehicles to find the “easy button” for contractors and municipalities or the handy homeowner. 

Take a look at the Roadie service offering here, and let us know what you see for this or any other service out there that can take the heat off the dealership enterprise while meeting customers where they’re at — and a price they’ll gladly pay for.

We’ll be sharing other Practical Techs we come across in this new series. Please let us know what you’ve seen or heard about, or ones you want to put our content team on assignment to learn about.