Samantha Taylor: Welcome to the Amigo CartCast, the podcast where we roll through the ins and outs of material handling with Amigo carts. I’m your host, Samantha Taylor, here with my co-host Scott Chappell, and we’re on a mission to find a better way for material handling.

Scott Chappell: Thank you, Samantha. Each episode, we’ll explore the innovative features, success stories, and the endless possibilities that Amigo material handling carts bring to the table. Let’s roll into a world of efficiency, innovation, and endless possibilities. This is the Amigo CartCast.

Samantha Taylor: Hi. Welcome to the Amigo CartCast. We’re really excited for our first episode. I’m Samantha, the Industrial Sales Manager, and I have my co-host with me, Scott Chappell.

Scott Chappell: Yes, I’m Scott Chappell. I’m the National Territory Manager. Welcome, everybody. This is our first episode of CartCast. It’s going to be a unique way for us to explain our unique products and how you use them possibly in your facility or, if you’re a local material handling dealer, to promote them to your customers.

Samantha Taylor: So for our listeners who maybe don’t know what our product is or haven’t seen it before, what is our product? Can you share that?

Scott Chappell: So a couple of things. Good question. They’re unique material handling carts that are a small footprint, safe speeds, easy to charge, and the capacities are up to 1100 pounds to possibly up to pulling around 1500 pounds.

Samantha Taylor: Smaller than a fork truck.

Scott Chappell: Much smaller, but bigger –

Samantha Taylor: Safer than a fork truck.

Scott Chappell: Bigger than a pallet jack.

Samantha Taylor: It’s like the three bears. Mama bear, Papa bear, and Baby bear. You know the story, right?

Scott Chappell: I do.

Samantha Taylor: So it’s like one’s too big, one’s too small, and then there’s just right. That’s where we are.

Scott Chappell: I like that analogy. That’s a good one.

Samantha Taylor: Popped into my head.

Scott Chappell: Yeah, that’s nice. So this podcast, if everybody doesn’t realize, is going to be kind of impromptu, I mean, we just roll with it. So what more do you have to say about these products? And Amigo, now let’s step back for just a second real quick. What do we know about Amigo? The quick version is we were founded in 1968 in the middle of a cornfield in Bridgeport, Michigan.

Right? No, this is true! We did health care. We’re in the grocery stores. That’s our big business. And then in 2016-17, we said we got to do something different. It’s like everybody else. You got to diversify.

Samantha Taylor: We’re evolving.

Scott Chappell: We’re – that’s it, evolving.

Samantha Taylor: And growing! A whole new expansion.

Scott Chappell: And we’re here in Michigan, right? So what does that mean?

Samantha Taylor: That means we enjoy all four seasons.

Scott Chappell: No – made in the USA. That was a softball. Strike one.

Samantha Taylor: Okay.

Scott Chappell: Yeah, I’m just saying. I mean, that’s – the story’s a beautiful – a beautiful part of this. And it’s just fortunate that we can offer this different product line in this company that’s been around for over 50 years.

Samantha Taylor: So why don’t you share a little bit on how we started? You said 2016.

Scott Chappell: Yep. So in 2016, that was my cue. In 2016, we got together and said, we do wheels, batteries, chargers, controllers, all that stuff – enclosures – really, really well because of all the experience we’ve had. So we looked for another product line that we could add basically another leg to the table. So with that being said, it’s a stand-on product.

There’s a lot of products that you just sit on in the marketplace today. Everybody offers a sitting product, whether it’s a golf cart, whether it’s a Cushman, Taylor-Dunn. I mean, if you’re in the business, you know what these products are. But this is a stand-up product that does a couple of different things. It moves a person around just as a people mover.

It moves a person and products around. The weight capacity is up to 1100 pounds. It is a tugger that can tow our trailers or your trailers so you don’t have to buy new trailers. All of these products just plug – charge into the wall outlet. The speeds are safe. So, I mean, we could probably go in more depth, but I think that’s just a good start.

Samantha Taylor: I think that’s a great overview. And one thing that you mentioned is that our product is stand up, which is very different and innovative, in my opinion, to any other similar product out there. So can you expand a little bit on why we chose that design versus what everybody else sees as a sit-down product?

Scott Chappell: Couple of different things come to mind. Now, I will say there’s two things. One is when you’re standing, you have a better view of everything around you. So if we have anybody from safety listening, hey, safety folks, it’s a safer product because you’re standing and you’ve got a good view. The other thing about being able to stand is that sometimes when you have a product like a golf cart or you have two seats and two people, you’ve got one person probably working and the other person kind of –

Samantha Taylor: Painting their nails.

Scott Chappell: Exactly. And if that’s the case…

Samantha Taylor: They’re not doing anything for you. Their nails look good.

Scott Chappell: Correct. So now we kind of joke about it, but it is true. And we’ve had some facilities tell us, “You know what, I don’t need two people when one person can do the job.”

Samantha Taylor: And the cool thing about our product, to your point, you have the one person who’s driving and you still can have trailers, carts behind that, you’ve got a full load. They’re working efficiently.

Scott Chappell: Well, most definitely. And really, probably we should have said this earlier, but our product line has five products. Anywhere from our walking behind cart, motorized Max Pro, to our people mover Dex, to our people and product mover Dex Pro with an attached trailer, with our Dex Pro Plus, which has a detachable trailer. And then our final product is our Dex HD, which is we call it a midsize tugger pulls up to 2500 pounds.

The weight capacity is 3000. And then even since then, more exciting news is we are now creating trailers. So if a person doesn’t have a trailer they want us to pull, we can make one for them.

Samantha Taylor: Right in Bridgeport, Michigan.

Scott Chappell: 6693, Dixie Highway.

Samantha Taylor: Come visit us on your way to Frankenmuth.

Scott Chappell: 48722. Frankenmuth. That’s Christmas Town. Wonderful. Mid-Michigan, made in the Mitten.

Samantha Taylor: Hashtag.

Scott Chappell: Sorry. First, hashtag made in the Mitten.

Samantha Taylor: Hashtag black and yellow. Okay, what else is on your mind? I have one last question that we have to ask. But, if there’s anything –

Scott Chappell: I just think as far as on my mind, so our goal is to demonstrate these products, have our local distributors demonstrate them at customer’s facilities. That’s the goal. If somebody hasn’t had that happen yet, hopefully they can listen to this podcast and I hope it just kind of whets the appetite where they go, “Hey, you know what? We listen to the podcast sounds like a product we could use. We have an issue, a concern in our facility.”

Whether you’re maintenance, whether you’re hauling cardboard, doesn’t make a difference, moving parts or just moving a person. We just added on 50,000 square foot here. Huge building. A lot of our customers are 750,000 square foot, huger. Wonder if that’s a word, I’ll have to ask our producer Walker that, but huger facility that we can just move people around in.

Samantha Taylor: Yeah, that’s great. So I think each episode we want to share maybe a unique use of our product. I mean, we could go on for days. So that’s something for everyone to look forward to is at the end of every podcast, we want to share, maybe the one that’s on our mind, that’s standing out or that we have recently had as a unique application.

Samantha Taylor: So I guess, Scott, is there one on your mind?

Scott Chappell: There’s many on my mind.

Samantha Taylor: I knew it. You need to narrow it down. We don’t have enough time in the day.

Scott Chappell: Once I start, I can’t stop. So we have a large grocery store chain in Michigan that’s Michigan-based on the west part of the state. And they – before, they bought two of our products, they bought our Dex Pro Plus and our Dex HD and a trailer. But before, it was taking them up to 3 hours to move cardboard. Now, let me just tell you what cardboard schmardboard, right?

I mean, is that really a big deal? The answer was yes. With our products that they purchased, and they told us this, now they move that same cardboard that took 3 hours in an hour. That’s just one example. We’re going to have a bunch more because there’s going to be a bunch more episodes. But that’s just one example where they had an application and they looked at our product, and fortunately for us, it provided a solution. They’re using it today.

Samantha Taylor: Do you know what they were using before? Hand carts?

Scott Chappell: They were just walking ‘em. No, they were just walking. And I will tell you, in 2024, you’d be amazed the amount of people that are still pushing carts, especially with automation, these kind of products, it’s amazing.

Samantha Taylor: Have you ever broken down cardboard to take it to the dumpster?

Scott Chappell: I did when I was younger.

Samantha Taylor: Yeah. You get cardboard cuts all over your hand and you have to pick it up again because it’s heavy and awkward.

Scott Chappell: Awkward probably is the biggest thing.

Samantha Taylor: Absolutely.

Scott Chappell: And you can’t take a lot because you’re having to carry it.

Samantha Taylor: Like one handful at a time and you’re awkwardly carrying it to the cart to try to push it to the dumpster. Yeah, I could see that that would be an easy solution to cut your work in…

Scott Chappell: And the cool thing about it is we didn’t know they had an application until our local dealer brought us in, and then that’s when we demonstrated the product and they tried it and they bought and they like it.

Samantha Taylor: I love that story.

Scott Chappell: I’ve got many more.

Samantha Taylor: I know. So I think a lot more to come in future episodes, but that was a great introduction of the people behind the product and what we have to offer.

Scott Chappell: I think so too. I probably rambled a little bit. I’ll get better, I promise.

Samantha Taylor: Probably not, but that’s okay.

Scott Chappell: You know me way too well.

Samantha Taylor: And that wraps up another episode of the Amigo CartCast. We hope you enjoyed this exploration into finding a better way for material handling with Amigo carts. Be sure to subscribe as well as go to myamigo.com/podcast to see pictures and videos mentioned in today’s episode.

Scott Chappell: Thank you for tuning in and until next time, keep rolling with Amigo.

Samantha Taylor: Until next time.

Scott Chappell: Keep it rolling.

Samantha Taylor: Keep it rolling.