S8:E1 FAQs About Energy with Sylvia McConnell and Erica Manns Pt. 1
Jun 18, 2023
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Show Notes
In this podcast episode, host Morgan Seger is joined by admin leads Erica Manns and Sylvia McConnell to answer frequently asked questions about the energy division of Ceres Solutions, a farmer-owned cooperative. They discuss topics such as becoming a propane customer, fuel locations, and programs offered by the energy division. They also explain how to check tank levels, the process of switching to Series Solutions propane, and the use of tank monitors to manage propane levels. The episode also covers the P3 safety system and the standardized process for incoming calls. The admin leads highlight the benefits of technology in improving efficiency and customer service.
Transcript
Morgan Seger (00:03):
Every day we rely on food, fuel, and fiber, but how much do you know about these industries we depend on? In this podcast, we dive deep into the production and processes of these everyday essentials. This is Field Points, an original podcast production from Ceres Solutions. Welcome back to Field Points. I'm your host, Morgan Seger. This is the eighth Ceres of our podcast and this Ceres might feel a little bit different. We are going to be breaking down the most frequently asked questions we get across our energy and feed divisions. In this first episode, we will be joined by two of the admin leads, Erica Manns and Sylvia McConnell as they share their answers for some of these questions. Throughout this Ceres, I am joined by the Ceres Solutions digital marketing and communications manager, Callie Curley.
Callie Curley (00:52):
I'm really excited to learn more about energy because I'm the one managing our social media accounts where most of the questions we get asked are about energy. How can I find out more about becoming a propane customer? Which of your fuel locations are open on these dates? And I always have to go and ask a professional. So today we have the professionals sitting right here with us and I'm going to take some of that information away too. We are well known as a farmer owned cooperative and we talk a lot about the services that we provide to farmers, especially in the fields with our agronomy team. And one thing that I think we could talk about even more is our energy side of the business, the fuel that we're providing to our farm clients, our propane customers who are residents in small towns and cities across Indiana and Michigan and our commercial clients.
Morgan Seger (01:38):
Now let's meet our first guest for today, Sylvia McConnell.
Sylvia McConnell (01:42):
My name is Sylvia McConnell. I've been with Ceres the co-op system for 22 years. It was 22 years in March and I've had a variety of roles. Started out here when it was North Central co-op as admin and then went into the role of office manager. From there I had the opportunity of taking on as field manager, managing the office and propane and refined fuel drivers. From there, it's been two years now that Erica and I have worked together as admin lead. Took on the position of energy administrative manager and propane lead for Ceres East. There again, as I said, 22 years experience. Had previous experience in propane at a previous company prior to coming to the co-op system and say once you get in the propane business, you never get out. The service man that is here now at SIR actually worked with me at this other company and he contacted me, let me know that someone was retiring and that I would be a great fit at the co-op and it has been. It's been a great ride. Just makes it nice growing up in Wabash County and knowing the farmers and just comfortable.
Morgan Seger (03:00):
Sylvia is the admin lead for the East today. We also have Erica Mans the admin lead on the western part of the Ceres territory.
Erica Manns (03:09):
I am Erica Mans and I have been with the co-op for 22 years in September it will be, and I just started out when we were Jasper County co-op as a receptionist at what was the main office in Rensselaer and through the changes and mergers, I worked at an agronomy branch for almost a year. Decided that part of the company just wasn't for me, so I was able to get back into the energy side at the energy office in Rensselaer and I've been there ever since and as an admin and then just worked my way to an admin lead the last couple years and working closely with Sylvia, which has been really nice on the west side of the company.
Morgan Seger (03:49):
Erica and Sylvia walk us through what the admin lead role is and the goals they're trying to accomplish.
Erica Manns (03:56):
We just kind of work together to make sure we're using the same forms work together to get letters that we're going to use to send to customers so that we're all using the same letters and we get those out to the admins that do the jobs of sending those.
Sylvia McConnell (04:09):
Our goal at Ceres is one Ceres. There's a variety of co-ops that come together. We're trying to get on the same techniques, same forms, same process, same be
Erica Manns (04:21):
Consistent.
Sylvia McConnell (04:22):
Yes, there again, we want the same result for our customers. No matter where our customers call, they're going to get the same result, the same great customer experience from Siri Solutions.
Callie Curley (04:31):
So even as the company continues to grow, we still have that local experience where you're seeing familiar faces, but you're being served at the level that you'd expect from a large business because of the way that you can streamline across all the locations. Correct? Yes. That's a great service to our customers I think too.
Morgan Seger (04:48):
Now we're going to dive in to some of those frequently asked questions and the first question we ask them is, what is energy at Siri Solutions?
Sylvia McConnell (04:57):
Well, energy is just that. Energy is gasoline, diesel, both on-road and off-road or as it's commonly known as farm diesel, lubricants and propane. It's the products that keep our vehicles large truck farm equipment, commercial equipment and homes powered. And these products are the energy behind it. We get asked, well, is that it? Well, without energy, where would anyone go? Energy is a starting point, which allows our farmers to plant their crops and also harvest their crops without energy and getting to work. Mowing your yard general everyday functions, that would not be easy without the energy behind it. That's why sir, on our refined fuel side, we only supply our customers with American made country Mark fuels supporting our locally owned farmers and business owners of Indiana and the greater Midwest. So that's energy. It keeps everyone flowing
Morgan Seger (05:52):
With fueling stations and delivery available. Sylvia answers. How do customers get our products
Sylvia McConnell (05:58):
There? Again, through the fueling stations that we have, we have a lot of commercial companies, a lot of trucking companies that go into our fueling sites and individuals,
Erica Manns (06:10):
Which is why we offer the Voyager cards because it can come back and charge their account with Ceres and they can still keep what they get delivered at home along with what they pick up at the station on one account and pay it monthly. What is
Callie Curley (06:22):
A Voyager card? Would you mind telling us a little bit about
Sylvia McConnell (06:24):
That? Well, a Voyager card is a fuel card, a refined fuel card that an individual can set up an account with Ceres, go through the process of setting up an account with Ceres and also there is an application for the Voyager card itself. Once that is approved, there will be a credit card set up to use At our fueling sites there's a pin number linked to the card so we know that the correct person is using it and you can set up different options. You can set up if you want to know the odometer reading each time, but it's a fueling card that you can use at our many sites and across the country to purchase fuel purchase gasoline, diesel. So it
Morgan Seger (07:09):
Doesn't have to be just
Sylvia McConnell (07:10):
A Ceres, it does not have to be just Ceres. It is a countrywide card that can be used. That's very
Erica Manns (07:15):
Cool. Like trucking companies that go outside of our territory can use them still and it can come back to their account.
Morgan Seger (07:22):
Another frequently asked question is what programs do we offer through the energy division next? Erica's going to break down how those programs work for customers.
Erica Manns (07:31):
So a lot of people want to know what we offer for programs. So for our farmers we do have the opportunity to let them contract both their refined fuels and propane. And then for our residential propane customers, we do offer a prepay, a flex price and the budget program. So to go in more detail for those, we do set up customers on scheduled fills that they have to purchase 400 gallons and more to be able to receive that information. The program locked in prices from October 1st through March 31st of each year. And with the prepay basically we can tell them what their average they purchase in the wintertime between those months of October and March and they can prepay for those gallons give or take. It don't have to be those exact gallons. They can do a little less if that's what they can afford. If they want to do slightly more, maybe we had a mild winter and they think we might have a harsher one, they can do a little bit more and then they would pay up front for those gallons for the winter and be set.
(08:25):
So they kind of worry free through the winter that they don't have to pay for it, it's already paid for. And then we offer a flex, which is it does fluctuate. We have a minimum price and a maximum price and it's competitive within what the market's doing at the time. We're able to lock in and it's also October through March of each year. And then they know that their price isn't going to go. If the market gets crazy like we had a couple years ago with Covid happening and it goes to three $4 and that price is maybe the maximum of 2 99, they will never pay over 2 99. If it was a dollar 99, they would never pay over a dollar 99 even if that price goes to three or $4 a gallon. And then we also offer our most popular option is our budget where we take how many gallons we deliver through the whole year and then we lock in a rate again from October through March and they can, we divide that out by 12 monthly payments so they can make monthly payments for those that can't maybe come up with the money to pay all upfront, they're at least kind of budgeting themselves.
(09:22):
They can feel a little more at ease in the wintertime when they're having to get a delivery every four to six, maybe eight weeks and that being possibly a thousand dollars a delivery that they are paying monthly so they're not having to come back to back months. Those are all for propane. And we do offer also with the budget due date of every month is like the 25th, but with budget we offer where can do direct debits so they don't have to remember to pay it. It'll come directly out of their account. And we do that on the 15th of every month. We have a little bit on refined fuel for people that have fuel, oil, home heating. We do offer a budget with them. It's not quite the same unfortunately. We don't offer a lock-in price necessarily for that, but they can at least try to estimate and guesstimate what to pay monthly and they can still do
Callie Curley (10:04):
That. So on both sides of the energy business, it's not one size fits all. If you're doing business with Ceres, this is the plan. It's finding different ways to make things work for our customers so that it's convenient for them, affordable for them, and that they want to keep coming back.
Sylvia McConnell (10:18):
Correct. That's right. Our service staff, our admins do a great job. Times can get tough out here and times are tough out here for some people. They get asked a lot about energy assistance. We do offer energy assistance to our customers. All you have to do is contact our offices. The admins do a great job of referring customers that are in need of energy assistance to the agencies around their local county and getting that word out to them also. So we do offer that also. That's a
Erica Manns (10:47):
Great resource that's in the winter time because that program doesn't open up until November 1st typically, and then it runs through May 15th ish. It just depends on their funding. If they run out of funding sooner, they might shut it down sooner. So that's all based on state guidelines. And then they also have the option if they are in a dire crisis that they can also go to their local trustee too and we can help find that information form as well. We don't necessarily have programs to help people in our business. We have outsources that we can get 'em to. So
Callie Curley (11:18):
20 years ago when you were first starting in your roles here, what did those programs look like then? Have we seen a lot of change in development of programs over time? Is this a longstanding,
Erica Manns (11:27):
I know for me on the west side when we did a budget, we did not include summer just because it was a locked in rate and in the summertime it wasn't locked in. So we always had just like a 10 month budget and then you paid for your summer delivery, but we since redid that for full 12 months and included that. And then your lock-in rates obviously just from October through March, the six months of winter what we consider. But other than that I don't think,
Sylvia McConnell (11:51):
But no, it hasn't changed that much.
Morgan Seger (11:54):
If you're interested in learning more about those programs in other ways, Siri solutions can help with price risk management. I encourage you to go back to Ceres two and listen to episode one with Bruce Richmond. Now Sylvia and Erica are going to answer how to check your tank levels.
Erica Manns (12:10):
We do get that one a lot. A lot of people have no clue when they come from the city and roll into a country town how propane works. It's not like natural gas where there's just a pipe always running into your home and you don't have to worry about it. There's a tank in your yard and there's a gauge on it and you lift the lid, it's like zero to a hundred and it's a percentage gauge. So it starts where you can see like 5, 10, 20 and it goes up from 10 from there and in the red you'll see zero to 20 is red, which means we don't want you to get that low. We want you to call when that tank's at 30% because we have our guys on routes and we can get you scheduled in when he's in the area. So you just look at it and it'll tell you where the little needle is and
Sylvia McConnell (12:52):
We like to keep our customers on scheduled fill so we take care of 'em so they don't have to worry about reading their tape. That's a service we provide through our scheduled fill. Of course we do have call-ins. We do have customers that want to take that charge and take care of their own, and so that is one of the processes and I know people forgive, but that is one of the processes when our service staff goes out on the first time and they show them the gauge and they show them how to read it and we give 'em a safety flyer. Our customers are always number one, we're always doing everything we can to educate them
Erica Manns (13:28):
And the drivers too. Sometimes if the homeowner necessarily, maybe they couldn't be home, so maybe their parent or a sibling or a friend is there when we have to do the initial reading of the tank or system test. Sometimes if they're home and the driver is there, they can catch the driver and they can also show 'em how to read that tank if they're uncertain or come into the office and talk with the ladies and we do the best. I know at our office we keep a gauge in the office so that we can show it to customers and point at it and explain to them how to read it. The house I grew up in, I don't even think we had natural gas. It was all electric. So when I started working at the co-op as a receptionist, of course I'm not even dealing hand in hand with the products.
(14:10):
I'm getting phone calls and the biggest one was how do I read my tank? And I'm like, I honestly have no idea. I've never seen a tank. So the credit manager at the time, he was an old farmer and he comes out, he kept hearing me say this a few times. He goes, Erica, let's go. And he takes me out. We had propane at the office and he takes me out, lifts the lid, shows me everything. So the next time somebody called in, I was able to help him. I couldn't, couldn't help him. I had no clue.
Sylvia McConnell (14:34):
That's one of the starting points. We let him get acclimated to the office and then as you see outside here, the Wabash office, there's 2000 gallon tanks. That's one of my process is we're going to take you out here, you're going to read the tank. We usually take new employees out when they're setting a tank and it just helps 'em describe to the customer what's going to happen
Erica Manns (14:59):
And gives them a better understanding. Yes.
Morgan Seger (15:01):
Now that you know how to read the tank level, Sylvia and Erica did have some precautions you want to take when checking your levels.
Sylvia McConnell (15:08):
The only thing dangerous would maybe be a bird's nest or a
Erica Manns (15:11):
Beehive.
Sylvia McConnell (15:12):
Beehive, yes, wasp, wasp, lovet. They track to that smell of propane For some reason we have had snakes wrapped around inside and I know when I was field manager being out, we had a rat up in the lid. I give our drivers credit because I think that would've been my last day of work.
Erica Manns (15:32):
Now the gauges can stick with the weather change. That's something especially with the cold weather that we always try to tell our customers when you lift that lid, kind of drop it and let it fall hard because it will loosen that up if it's gotten stuck from the cold weather and they can open it again and see that it might've dropped another 10% because it was just stuck from the temperature change. We also have the summertime at our office. We have a paint crew. Usually we hire kids just graduating high school or college students coming back looking for a summer job. You go out and paint tanks that just need some upkeep and we always tell 'em, keep a can of wasp spray because you will need it if you see one was you just start spraying because you'll need it and wash for the birds.
Morgan Seger (16:14):
Next, I asked if it was safe for customers to paint tanks
Erica Manns (16:18):
Within reason. Yes, that's what I was going to say. It has to be certain colors. You don't want dark colors because that'll attract the sun and cause it for more expansion of the propane. So that's why ours are white with either a red lid or a green lid and that's what we try to keep it at. So it identifies that it's with a Ceres tank that it is also a Ceres tank. You can identify by the colors who to go to possibly if you need to know who owns that tank. We do have customers that have done that and like I said, we have somebody that has one painted like a corn cob and one like a cow.
Sylvia McConnell (16:51):
I was going to say we have a cow cow as long as it's labeled that if it is our tank that the customer, other companies know that that is our tank. That's not a customer owned
Morgan Seger (17:01):
Tank. The next frequently asked question is, does Siri solutions fill customer owned tanks?
Erica Manns (17:08):
We do fill customer owned tanks. They do have to have a data plate on them. They have to be able to show that it does not belong to another company. It is illegal to fill other companies tanks. Nobody can come around and fill ours, not supposed to, and we don't go fill another competitor's tank
Morgan Seger (17:26):
Since Siri Solutions cannot fill another company's tank. I asked Erica to share the process of switching to Siri Solutions propane,
Erica Manns (17:36):
Which is pretty easy process honestly. We tell 'em to let the tank get. We don't want 'em to run completely empty, especially in the wintertime, but gets low enough and then we just kind of watch it, see how much they're using to get it as low as possible. We like to try to get it down to about 5% if it's especially summertime when they're not going to need it for heating. And then we'll come and set that tank aside, get ours all hooked up, replace regulators with hours and then they can call that company and have 'em pick up their tank,
Sylvia McConnell (18:01):
Do a system check to make sure that the system is properly running correctly.
Erica Manns (18:05):
No leaks.
Sylvia McConnell (18:06):
No leaks. We get the serial numbers and model numbers off the appliances. We are not an appliance specialist, but we make sure that we have all the appliances that are running on propane on our system check. So we know in the future if they would happen to change their system, we can say, oh, you added a heater and we don't have that on our previous system check,
Erica Manns (18:28):
Which brings another point that it's really important. If a customer does have to replace an appliance that is propane, they let us know because we will come out and do another system test and it is free. It is a safety. We want to make sure their system's safe and nothing happened during that process of switching out appliance or a furnace. Anything. Fittings didn't get tightened enough and anything can
Sylvia McConnell (18:46):
Happen from the incorrect fittings were put on
Erica Manns (18:49):
Because stoves have to be, there's different fittings for natural gas and propane gas. So if they bought it from an Menards, 90% of those are set up as if not all of 'em natural. The ORs
Sylvia McConnell (19:00):
Are natural
Erica Manns (19:00):
Gas and they have to be switched over to propane, which is not something we do because we do not do appliances. They have to have appliance repair person do that, but we do come out and check it when it's complete.
Sylvia McConnell (19:09):
There is a certain percentage daily use, depending on number in the household, how much product they would use per day
Erica Manns (19:17):
Furnace of course be in your biggest usage.
Morgan Seger (19:20):
Our next frequently asked question is what is a tank monitor and how does it help me manage my propane?
Erica Manns (19:26):
So as we've mentioned before, we like to get our customers on scheduled fill and our customers that are on scheduled fill. We have started putting a device on the tank to help us monitor the percentage closer. And so we put monitors on there, it will read back to us and let us know when that tank is at about 30% so we know to get them on the list to get a delivery. So we just started doing that in the later part of 2022. And the technology has been wonderful. It's been a learning curve for everybody, the customers, our employees, all of us have had to learn how to adjust to something new, a new way of reading the tank. But it is a lot more efficient than the degree days that we're calculating it because you don't always know if somebody's going to use a wood burner and then stop because they don't always think to tell us, Hey, I'm not burning wood anymore.
(20:14):
I'm going to go through a lot more propane. Or if they've used an electric heater to offset some of the costs or just to keep it a little more centralized, then they don't do that. You can go through a lot more propane and so that's not going to take into account when we're doing a calculation that's behind the scenes, but that monitor will say, Hey, this tank's at 30%, you need to go get it topped back off. So it's been a real adjustment, but it's been a very good adjustment for everybody. It's been a good experience. I feel like we've had a lot of feedback from customers just loving it because we've been out there and they don't worry about it as much.
Morgan Seger (20:46):
I asked Erica, if someone is on keep fill and they have this tank monitor and they see it get below 30%, does that customer need to call in to Ceres solutions and let them know
Erica Manns (20:57):
They can call us and let us know? I mean, it doesn't hurt to have the extra eyes and we can look it up and say, yep, because it'll go. We get it on dispatch and we can look on our dispatch say, yep, you're on the schedule so when he's in your area this week, he will get you taken care of. Gives them a peace of mind too, and so they don't have to worry about
Sylvia McConnell (21:12):
It there. Again, these are manmade units
Erica Manns (21:15):
And they can stick.
Sylvia McConnell (21:16):
They can stick, they can
Erica Manns (21:19):
Fail. How I've said, with the colder weather, the gauges stick for that gauge stick. It's not going to read because it's going to say it's at 70% when maybe it's stuck and you got to check it again. Bang the lid, yeah, bang the lid and get it down to where it should be. But we do have on our system, it tells us if that gauge has not moved, it will alert us saying, Hey, you need to go check this. Something doesn't seem right. So we've got checks and balances that help us with that as well.
Morgan Seger (21:42):
I asked Sylvia and Erica, how many Ceres solutions customers have these monitors today be?
Sylvia McConnell (21:48):
We've done about 20,000 since 2022. It's been a great, great program for our drivers, our staff,
Erica Manns (21:56):
And it helps the drivers when we know a storm is coming, sometimes you have those customers that have a long lane up a hill and if that snow falls you're not getting up that hill. They can look and be like, okay, they're at 40%, we're going to get a storm. I'm going to go top them off now because I know I won't make it up there for maybe another four weeks. So it gives the driver the peace of mind that they don't have to worry about that customer or they can see where they're at and know whether or not they need to get there before that
Sylvia McConnell (22:20):
Storm. And as other companies know, I know they've had issues, C D L drivers have been hard to come by and we are very fortunate to have the great drivers we have and we've had with these monitors, we've been able to take drivers that aren't familiar with another area and it's allowed us to bring them into that area and still deliver a great amount of gallons because it's automatically there. Again, along with the monitors, it allows us to use our tank file and our routing program and route these drivers step-by-step. They have turn by turn, they know exactly where they're going, whether they've been there or not, and it shows the serial number of the tank so they can verify and they're able to get large amount of gallons in an area that they're unfamiliar with. And that has been a great asset to Ceres. Yes.
Morgan Seger (23:13):
Another way that Ceres solutions is leveraging technology is through their P three safety system. Well,
Sylvia McConnell (23:19):
It's an automated program for our safety leak checks. When we set a tank for anyone, we make sure that the system is up and running correctly, make sure it's free of leaks. And this is a new automated system that we just started here recently, probably six, eight months ago. And our drivers and service staff, they can either enter it on a tablet or a lot of them use their phones. They seem that their phones work great.
Erica Manns (23:48):
It allows them more information. It talks back and forth with us in the office rather than having it all on paper and having to turn it in to get it into that system and then they can see what's previously been done as well.
Sylvia McConnell (23:58):
And then, yeah, like she said, all the customer's information is imported directly.
Morgan Seger (24:03):
Digitizing the process of these safety checks has improved accuracy and efficiencies.
Sylvia McConnell (24:08):
Instead of getting the hard copy back and entering into the system and then scanning it into the system, it's taken two and three steps out of that process. So yeah, it makes it more efficient.
Erica Manns (24:20):
And then this way, like I said, the drivers or the service tech that's out there can see where everything's at the office, so they can't just see that. So this allows 'em to see what was there before to know if something was
Morgan Seger (24:31):
Changed. Another way the admin lead and the team at Siri Solutions have worked together to improve the customer experience is by standardizing the process of incoming calls. We've
Sylvia McConnell (24:42):
Done so much in the two years, so I don't have an actual time period, but I believe it was right away we started, once we got admin leads, we had a phone committee put together and we had multiple phone systems that we would try out and test and we came to a conclusion we've been working on, I know the Wabash office was, it was last year, so we've been on it a year already.
Erica Manns (25:07):
Same. I think we've been on it, it was last April or May that we at leyer started on it. And it's been amazing.
Sylvia McConnell (25:14):
You can get a phone call anywhere throughout our trade area with the phone system that we have. And if, say someone calls Crawfordsville, but yet they want to speak with me, Crawfordsville can easily hit a four digit number and it automatically transfers to me. So
Erica Manns (25:29):
Right to her office,
Sylvia McConnell (25:30):
Right? Yes, directly to me. So it's nice that no matter where you are throughout our trade area that we can, one with us being the leads and making it one Ceres as the same processes. You can take a phone call anywhere and get the same customer service, but two, if they ask directly for somebody, we can automatically, no matter where we are, we could be in Hart, Michigan and they could still transfer a phone call to Wabash, Indiana. So it makes it nice.
Erica Manns (26:00):
We don't quite have all the locations on yet, but it's still a process. And it's nice because even if somebody calls in, let's say the manager, our propane manager, John out of Rensselaer, he covers several locations, so he may not be at Rensselaer every day. So if a customer calls in and there's something that they need to talk to him on, I can transfer it directly to even his cell phone. It doesn't even have to be another landline type phone. It can go directly to his cell phone. So if he's in his car, he can answer that and take care of something that's necessarily needs to be done. If he's not available, they can still leave a message on his cell phone so he can get back to him right away rather than having to wait for him to get back to the office. It helps a
Sylvia McConnell (26:35):
Lot. That makes it nice. If someone does need to speak with their driver, say they forgot their cell phone, we don't willingly give cell phone numbers out, but it makes it nice that we can just transfer that to a driver's cell phone.
Erica Manns (26:47):
Yeah, we try not to, again, like she said, we want them calling the office when they need a delivery so we can dispatch it and that leaves them free to keep going and making sure their deliveries are getting made without phone calls coming in and interrupting their day so they can take care of more customers during the day. But it helps that sometimes they have multiple sites and they just need to know, Hey, I know he just delivered, but I don't know what site it was at. Obviously we're not going to know either. So that's something the driver would have to answer.
Callie Curley (27:10):
The process of learning all of this new technology, it is a process for the Ceres team. It's a process learning new ways of doing things, of keeping track in a different way, but for the customer,
Erica Manns (27:22):
They should have the same great experience, customer service, even
Callie Curley (27:24):
Better, better service, faster service, and not having to call an office and go, oh, it was the wrong office. I have to find a pen to find the other number. They'll give me the number, but I have to call this other person. You're actually streamlining it in an even bigger way for them. So our team is doing all of this work and learning all these new technologies and we recognize that. We've probably got some drivers listening that are like, yeah, some of this stuff has been challenging to learn, but once you get it implemented, it's better for the customer and eventually, hopefully it becomes better for the team too. You
Erica Manns (27:52):
Start to, and the biggest thing for the team is for the ones that have been here longer, is just changing your habits,
Sylvia McConnell (27:58):
The adjustment
Erica Manns (27:59):
And just remembering, oh wait, I can do this easier this way. I don't have to go to the old way.
Sylvia McConnell (28:04):
You can place an order online. That's nice also. And that order goes into our call center here at Wabash and then our call center. Then ditches, dispatches those out. That's another nice feature. That Ceres offered the phone. If you don't want to, if you're a technical guru, then get online, place your order, or
Erica Manns (28:21):
Maybe you're at work during the day, you can't call us. So this makes it convenient to where they can
Sylvia McConnell (28:26):
Contact us, and that's both refined fuel and propane. Anyone can place an order online.
Erica Manns (28:30):
There's a form. When they ask to place an order on our website, there's a form they'll fill out that'll ask for their account number, their name, their address, phone number, what percent is in their tank, because that's very important to know and also how much they want. Our minimum delivery is 200 gallons, but they can also fill their tank, ask for fill or just for the minimum 200 gallons,
Sylvia McConnell (28:49):
And that 200 minimum is for refined fuel and or propane. Yeah, we try to keep it consistent number to make it easier for admin staff.
Morgan Seger (29:00):
If you're interested in learning more about the technology and tools that the Ceres solutions Energy department is using to improve efficiencies and safety, I encourage you to go back to Ceres two and listen to episode number two with John Leady as he goes into some of these tools in more detail. In our next episode of Field Points, we will be wrapping up this conversation with Erica and Sylvia and tackling more of those energy frequently asked questions.
Show Notes
In this podcast episode, host Morgan Seger is joined by admin leads Erica Manns and Sylvia McConnell to answer frequently asked questions about the energy division of Ceres Solutions, a farmer-owned cooperative. They discuss topics such as becoming a propane customer, fuel locations, and programs offered by the energy division. They also explain how to check tank levels, the process of switching to Series Solutions propane, and the use of tank monitors to manage propane levels. The episode also covers the P3 safety system and the standardized process for incoming calls. The admin leads highlight the benefits of technology in improving efficiency and customer service.
Transcript
Morgan Seger (00:03):
Every day we rely on food, fuel, and fiber, but how much do you know about these industries we depend on? In this podcast, we dive deep into the production and processes of these everyday essentials. This is Field Points, an original podcast production from Ceres Solutions. Welcome back to Field Points. I'm your host, Morgan Seger. This is the eighth Ceres of our podcast and this Ceres might feel a little bit different. We are going to be breaking down the most frequently asked questions we get across our energy and feed divisions. In this first episode, we will be joined by two of the admin leads, Erica Manns and Sylvia McConnell as they share their answers for some of these questions. Throughout this Ceres, I am joined by the Ceres Solutions digital marketing and communications manager, Callie Curley.
Callie Curley (00:52):
I'm really excited to learn more about energy because I'm the one managing our social media accounts where most of the questions we get asked are about energy. How can I find out more about becoming a propane customer? Which of your fuel locations are open on these dates? And I always have to go and ask a professional. So today we have the professionals sitting right here with us and I'm going to take some of that information away too. We are well known as a farmer owned cooperative and we talk a lot about the services that we provide to farmers, especially in the fields with our agronomy team. And one thing that I think we could talk about even more is our energy side of the business, the fuel that we're providing to our farm clients, our propane customers who are residents in small towns and cities across Indiana and Michigan and our commercial clients.
Morgan Seger (01:38):
Now let's meet our first guest for today, Sylvia McConnell.
Sylvia McConnell (01:42):
My name is Sylvia McConnell. I've been with Ceres the co-op system for 22 years. It was 22 years in March and I've had a variety of roles. Started out here when it was North Central co-op as admin and then went into the role of office manager. From there I had the opportunity of taking on as field manager, managing the office and propane and refined fuel drivers. From there, it's been two years now that Erica and I have worked together as admin lead. Took on the position of energy administrative manager and propane lead for Ceres East. There again, as I said, 22 years experience. Had previous experience in propane at a previous company prior to coming to the co-op system and say once you get in the propane business, you never get out. The service man that is here now at SIR actually worked with me at this other company and he contacted me, let me know that someone was retiring and that I would be a great fit at the co-op and it has been. It's been a great ride. Just makes it nice growing up in Wabash County and knowing the farmers and just comfortable.
Morgan Seger (03:00):
Sylvia is the admin lead for the East today. We also have Erica Mans the admin lead on the western part of the Ceres territory.
Erica Manns (03:09):
I am Erica Mans and I have been with the co-op for 22 years in September it will be, and I just started out when we were Jasper County co-op as a receptionist at what was the main office in Rensselaer and through the changes and mergers, I worked at an agronomy branch for almost a year. Decided that part of the company just wasn't for me, so I was able to get back into the energy side at the energy office in Rensselaer and I've been there ever since and as an admin and then just worked my way to an admin lead the last couple years and working closely with Sylvia, which has been really nice on the west side of the company.
Morgan Seger (03:49):
Erica and Sylvia walk us through what the admin lead role is and the goals they're trying to accomplish.
Erica Manns (03:56):
We just kind of work together to make sure we're using the same forms work together to get letters that we're going to use to send to customers so that we're all using the same letters and we get those out to the admins that do the jobs of sending those.
Sylvia McConnell (04:09):
Our goal at Ceres is one Ceres. There's a variety of co-ops that come together. We're trying to get on the same techniques, same forms, same process, same be
Erica Manns (04:21):
Consistent.
Sylvia McConnell (04:22):
Yes, there again, we want the same result for our customers. No matter where our customers call, they're going to get the same result, the same great customer experience from Siri Solutions.
Callie Curley (04:31):
So even as the company continues to grow, we still have that local experience where you're seeing familiar faces, but you're being served at the level that you'd expect from a large business because of the way that you can streamline across all the locations. Correct? Yes. That's a great service to our customers I think too.
Morgan Seger (04:48):
Now we're going to dive in to some of those frequently asked questions and the first question we ask them is, what is energy at Siri Solutions?
Sylvia McConnell (04:57):
Well, energy is just that. Energy is gasoline, diesel, both on-road and off-road or as it's commonly known as farm diesel, lubricants and propane. It's the products that keep our vehicles large truck farm equipment, commercial equipment and homes powered. And these products are the energy behind it. We get asked, well, is that it? Well, without energy, where would anyone go? Energy is a starting point, which allows our farmers to plant their crops and also harvest their crops without energy and getting to work. Mowing your yard general everyday functions, that would not be easy without the energy behind it. That's why sir, on our refined fuel side, we only supply our customers with American made country Mark fuels supporting our locally owned farmers and business owners of Indiana and the greater Midwest. So that's energy. It keeps everyone flowing
Morgan Seger (05:52):
With fueling stations and delivery available. Sylvia answers. How do customers get our products
Sylvia McConnell (05:58):
There? Again, through the fueling stations that we have, we have a lot of commercial companies, a lot of trucking companies that go into our fueling sites and individuals,
Erica Manns (06:10):
Which is why we offer the Voyager cards because it can come back and charge their account with Ceres and they can still keep what they get delivered at home along with what they pick up at the station on one account and pay it monthly. What is
Callie Curley (06:22):
A Voyager card? Would you mind telling us a little bit about
Sylvia McConnell (06:24):
That? Well, a Voyager card is a fuel card, a refined fuel card that an individual can set up an account with Ceres, go through the process of setting up an account with Ceres and also there is an application for the Voyager card itself. Once that is approved, there will be a credit card set up to use At our fueling sites there's a pin number linked to the card so we know that the correct person is using it and you can set up different options. You can set up if you want to know the odometer reading each time, but it's a fueling card that you can use at our many sites and across the country to purchase fuel purchase gasoline, diesel. So it
Morgan Seger (07:09):
Doesn't have to be just
Sylvia McConnell (07:10):
A Ceres, it does not have to be just Ceres. It is a countrywide card that can be used. That's very
Erica Manns (07:15):
Cool. Like trucking companies that go outside of our territory can use them still and it can come back to their account.
Morgan Seger (07:22):
Another frequently asked question is what programs do we offer through the energy division next? Erica's going to break down how those programs work for customers.
Erica Manns (07:31):
So a lot of people want to know what we offer for programs. So for our farmers we do have the opportunity to let them contract both their refined fuels and propane. And then for our residential propane customers, we do offer a prepay, a flex price and the budget program. So to go in more detail for those, we do set up customers on scheduled fills that they have to purchase 400 gallons and more to be able to receive that information. The program locked in prices from October 1st through March 31st of each year. And with the prepay basically we can tell them what their average they purchase in the wintertime between those months of October and March and they can prepay for those gallons give or take. It don't have to be those exact gallons. They can do a little less if that's what they can afford. If they want to do slightly more, maybe we had a mild winter and they think we might have a harsher one, they can do a little bit more and then they would pay up front for those gallons for the winter and be set.
(08:25):
So they kind of worry free through the winter that they don't have to pay for it, it's already paid for. And then we offer a flex, which is it does fluctuate. We have a minimum price and a maximum price and it's competitive within what the market's doing at the time. We're able to lock in and it's also October through March of each year. And then they know that their price isn't going to go. If the market gets crazy like we had a couple years ago with Covid happening and it goes to three $4 and that price is maybe the maximum of 2 99, they will never pay over 2 99. If it was a dollar 99, they would never pay over a dollar 99 even if that price goes to three or $4 a gallon. And then we also offer our most popular option is our budget where we take how many gallons we deliver through the whole year and then we lock in a rate again from October through March and they can, we divide that out by 12 monthly payments so they can make monthly payments for those that can't maybe come up with the money to pay all upfront, they're at least kind of budgeting themselves.
(09:22):
They can feel a little more at ease in the wintertime when they're having to get a delivery every four to six, maybe eight weeks and that being possibly a thousand dollars a delivery that they are paying monthly so they're not having to come back to back months. Those are all for propane. And we do offer also with the budget due date of every month is like the 25th, but with budget we offer where can do direct debits so they don't have to remember to pay it. It'll come directly out of their account. And we do that on the 15th of every month. We have a little bit on refined fuel for people that have fuel, oil, home heating. We do offer a budget with them. It's not quite the same unfortunately. We don't offer a lock-in price necessarily for that, but they can at least try to estimate and guesstimate what to pay monthly and they can still do
Callie Curley (10:04):
That. So on both sides of the energy business, it's not one size fits all. If you're doing business with Ceres, this is the plan. It's finding different ways to make things work for our customers so that it's convenient for them, affordable for them, and that they want to keep coming back.
Sylvia McConnell (10:18):
Correct. That's right. Our service staff, our admins do a great job. Times can get tough out here and times are tough out here for some people. They get asked a lot about energy assistance. We do offer energy assistance to our customers. All you have to do is contact our offices. The admins do a great job of referring customers that are in need of energy assistance to the agencies around their local county and getting that word out to them also. So we do offer that also. That's a
Erica Manns (10:47):
Great resource that's in the winter time because that program doesn't open up until November 1st typically, and then it runs through May 15th ish. It just depends on their funding. If they run out of funding sooner, they might shut it down sooner. So that's all based on state guidelines. And then they also have the option if they are in a dire crisis that they can also go to their local trustee too and we can help find that information form as well. We don't necessarily have programs to help people in our business. We have outsources that we can get 'em to. So
Callie Curley (11:18):
20 years ago when you were first starting in your roles here, what did those programs look like then? Have we seen a lot of change in development of programs over time? Is this a longstanding,
Erica Manns (11:27):
I know for me on the west side when we did a budget, we did not include summer just because it was a locked in rate and in the summertime it wasn't locked in. So we always had just like a 10 month budget and then you paid for your summer delivery, but we since redid that for full 12 months and included that. And then your lock-in rates obviously just from October through March, the six months of winter what we consider. But other than that I don't think,
Sylvia McConnell (11:51):
But no, it hasn't changed that much.
Morgan Seger (11:54):
If you're interested in learning more about those programs in other ways, Siri solutions can help with price risk management. I encourage you to go back to Ceres two and listen to episode one with Bruce Richmond. Now Sylvia and Erica are going to answer how to check your tank levels.
Erica Manns (12:10):
We do get that one a lot. A lot of people have no clue when they come from the city and roll into a country town how propane works. It's not like natural gas where there's just a pipe always running into your home and you don't have to worry about it. There's a tank in your yard and there's a gauge on it and you lift the lid, it's like zero to a hundred and it's a percentage gauge. So it starts where you can see like 5, 10, 20 and it goes up from 10 from there and in the red you'll see zero to 20 is red, which means we don't want you to get that low. We want you to call when that tank's at 30% because we have our guys on routes and we can get you scheduled in when he's in the area. So you just look at it and it'll tell you where the little needle is and
Sylvia McConnell (12:52):
We like to keep our customers on scheduled fill so we take care of 'em so they don't have to worry about reading their tape. That's a service we provide through our scheduled fill. Of course we do have call-ins. We do have customers that want to take that charge and take care of their own, and so that is one of the processes and I know people forgive, but that is one of the processes when our service staff goes out on the first time and they show them the gauge and they show them how to read it and we give 'em a safety flyer. Our customers are always number one, we're always doing everything we can to educate them
Erica Manns (13:28):
And the drivers too. Sometimes if the homeowner necessarily, maybe they couldn't be home, so maybe their parent or a sibling or a friend is there when we have to do the initial reading of the tank or system test. Sometimes if they're home and the driver is there, they can catch the driver and they can also show 'em how to read that tank if they're uncertain or come into the office and talk with the ladies and we do the best. I know at our office we keep a gauge in the office so that we can show it to customers and point at it and explain to them how to read it. The house I grew up in, I don't even think we had natural gas. It was all electric. So when I started working at the co-op as a receptionist, of course I'm not even dealing hand in hand with the products.
(14:10):
I'm getting phone calls and the biggest one was how do I read my tank? And I'm like, I honestly have no idea. I've never seen a tank. So the credit manager at the time, he was an old farmer and he comes out, he kept hearing me say this a few times. He goes, Erica, let's go. And he takes me out. We had propane at the office and he takes me out, lifts the lid, shows me everything. So the next time somebody called in, I was able to help him. I couldn't, couldn't help him. I had no clue.
Sylvia McConnell (14:34):
That's one of the starting points. We let him get acclimated to the office and then as you see outside here, the Wabash office, there's 2000 gallon tanks. That's one of my process is we're going to take you out here, you're going to read the tank. We usually take new employees out when they're setting a tank and it just helps 'em describe to the customer what's going to happen
Erica Manns (14:59):
And gives them a better understanding. Yes.
Morgan Seger (15:01):
Now that you know how to read the tank level, Sylvia and Erica did have some precautions you want to take when checking your levels.
Sylvia McConnell (15:08):
The only thing dangerous would maybe be a bird's nest or a
Erica Manns (15:11):
Beehive.
Sylvia McConnell (15:12):
Beehive, yes, wasp, wasp, lovet. They track to that smell of propane For some reason we have had snakes wrapped around inside and I know when I was field manager being out, we had a rat up in the lid. I give our drivers credit because I think that would've been my last day of work.
Erica Manns (15:32):
Now the gauges can stick with the weather change. That's something especially with the cold weather that we always try to tell our customers when you lift that lid, kind of drop it and let it fall hard because it will loosen that up if it's gotten stuck from the cold weather and they can open it again and see that it might've dropped another 10% because it was just stuck from the temperature change. We also have the summertime at our office. We have a paint crew. Usually we hire kids just graduating high school or college students coming back looking for a summer job. You go out and paint tanks that just need some upkeep and we always tell 'em, keep a can of wasp spray because you will need it if you see one was you just start spraying because you'll need it and wash for the birds.
Morgan Seger (16:14):
Next, I asked if it was safe for customers to paint tanks
Erica Manns (16:18):
Within reason. Yes, that's what I was going to say. It has to be certain colors. You don't want dark colors because that'll attract the sun and cause it for more expansion of the propane. So that's why ours are white with either a red lid or a green lid and that's what we try to keep it at. So it identifies that it's with a Ceres tank that it is also a Ceres tank. You can identify by the colors who to go to possibly if you need to know who owns that tank. We do have customers that have done that and like I said, we have somebody that has one painted like a corn cob and one like a cow.
Sylvia McConnell (16:51):
I was going to say we have a cow cow as long as it's labeled that if it is our tank that the customer, other companies know that that is our tank. That's not a customer owned
Morgan Seger (17:01):
Tank. The next frequently asked question is, does Siri solutions fill customer owned tanks?
Erica Manns (17:08):
We do fill customer owned tanks. They do have to have a data plate on them. They have to be able to show that it does not belong to another company. It is illegal to fill other companies tanks. Nobody can come around and fill ours, not supposed to, and we don't go fill another competitor's tank
Morgan Seger (17:26):
Since Siri Solutions cannot fill another company's tank. I asked Erica to share the process of switching to Siri Solutions propane,
Erica Manns (17:36):
Which is pretty easy process honestly. We tell 'em to let the tank get. We don't want 'em to run completely empty, especially in the wintertime, but gets low enough and then we just kind of watch it, see how much they're using to get it as low as possible. We like to try to get it down to about 5% if it's especially summertime when they're not going to need it for heating. And then we'll come and set that tank aside, get ours all hooked up, replace regulators with hours and then they can call that company and have 'em pick up their tank,
Sylvia McConnell (18:01):
Do a system check to make sure that the system is properly running correctly.
Erica Manns (18:05):
No leaks.
Sylvia McConnell (18:06):
No leaks. We get the serial numbers and model numbers off the appliances. We are not an appliance specialist, but we make sure that we have all the appliances that are running on propane on our system check. So we know in the future if they would happen to change their system, we can say, oh, you added a heater and we don't have that on our previous system check,
Erica Manns (18:28):
Which brings another point that it's really important. If a customer does have to replace an appliance that is propane, they let us know because we will come out and do another system test and it is free. It is a safety. We want to make sure their system's safe and nothing happened during that process of switching out appliance or a furnace. Anything. Fittings didn't get tightened enough and anything can
Sylvia McConnell (18:46):
Happen from the incorrect fittings were put on
Erica Manns (18:49):
Because stoves have to be, there's different fittings for natural gas and propane gas. So if they bought it from an Menards, 90% of those are set up as if not all of 'em natural. The ORs
Sylvia McConnell (19:00):
Are natural
Erica Manns (19:00):
Gas and they have to be switched over to propane, which is not something we do because we do not do appliances. They have to have appliance repair person do that, but we do come out and check it when it's complete.
Sylvia McConnell (19:09):
There is a certain percentage daily use, depending on number in the household, how much product they would use per day
Erica Manns (19:17):
Furnace of course be in your biggest usage.
Morgan Seger (19:20):
Our next frequently asked question is what is a tank monitor and how does it help me manage my propane?
Erica Manns (19:26):
So as we've mentioned before, we like to get our customers on scheduled fill and our customers that are on scheduled fill. We have started putting a device on the tank to help us monitor the percentage closer. And so we put monitors on there, it will read back to us and let us know when that tank is at about 30% so we know to get them on the list to get a delivery. So we just started doing that in the later part of 2022. And the technology has been wonderful. It's been a learning curve for everybody, the customers, our employees, all of us have had to learn how to adjust to something new, a new way of reading the tank. But it is a lot more efficient than the degree days that we're calculating it because you don't always know if somebody's going to use a wood burner and then stop because they don't always think to tell us, Hey, I'm not burning wood anymore.
(20:14):
I'm going to go through a lot more propane. Or if they've used an electric heater to offset some of the costs or just to keep it a little more centralized, then they don't do that. You can go through a lot more propane and so that's not going to take into account when we're doing a calculation that's behind the scenes, but that monitor will say, Hey, this tank's at 30%, you need to go get it topped back off. So it's been a real adjustment, but it's been a very good adjustment for everybody. It's been a good experience. I feel like we've had a lot of feedback from customers just loving it because we've been out there and they don't worry about it as much.
Morgan Seger (20:46):
I asked Erica, if someone is on keep fill and they have this tank monitor and they see it get below 30%, does that customer need to call in to Ceres solutions and let them know
Erica Manns (20:57):
They can call us and let us know? I mean, it doesn't hurt to have the extra eyes and we can look it up and say, yep, because it'll go. We get it on dispatch and we can look on our dispatch say, yep, you're on the schedule so when he's in your area this week, he will get you taken care of. Gives them a peace of mind too, and so they don't have to worry about
Sylvia McConnell (21:12):
It there. Again, these are manmade units
Erica Manns (21:15):
And they can stick.
Sylvia McConnell (21:16):
They can stick, they can
Erica Manns (21:19):
Fail. How I've said, with the colder weather, the gauges stick for that gauge stick. It's not going to read because it's going to say it's at 70% when maybe it's stuck and you got to check it again. Bang the lid, yeah, bang the lid and get it down to where it should be. But we do have on our system, it tells us if that gauge has not moved, it will alert us saying, Hey, you need to go check this. Something doesn't seem right. So we've got checks and balances that help us with that as well.
Morgan Seger (21:42):
I asked Sylvia and Erica, how many Ceres solutions customers have these monitors today be?
Sylvia McConnell (21:48):
We've done about 20,000 since 2022. It's been a great, great program for our drivers, our staff,
Erica Manns (21:56):
And it helps the drivers when we know a storm is coming, sometimes you have those customers that have a long lane up a hill and if that snow falls you're not getting up that hill. They can look and be like, okay, they're at 40%, we're going to get a storm. I'm going to go top them off now because I know I won't make it up there for maybe another four weeks. So it gives the driver the peace of mind that they don't have to worry about that customer or they can see where they're at and know whether or not they need to get there before that
Sylvia McConnell (22:20):
Storm. And as other companies know, I know they've had issues, C D L drivers have been hard to come by and we are very fortunate to have the great drivers we have and we've had with these monitors, we've been able to take drivers that aren't familiar with another area and it's allowed us to bring them into that area and still deliver a great amount of gallons because it's automatically there. Again, along with the monitors, it allows us to use our tank file and our routing program and route these drivers step-by-step. They have turn by turn, they know exactly where they're going, whether they've been there or not, and it shows the serial number of the tank so they can verify and they're able to get large amount of gallons in an area that they're unfamiliar with. And that has been a great asset to Ceres. Yes.
Morgan Seger (23:13):
Another way that Ceres solutions is leveraging technology is through their P three safety system. Well,
Sylvia McConnell (23:19):
It's an automated program for our safety leak checks. When we set a tank for anyone, we make sure that the system is up and running correctly, make sure it's free of leaks. And this is a new automated system that we just started here recently, probably six, eight months ago. And our drivers and service staff, they can either enter it on a tablet or a lot of them use their phones. They seem that their phones work great.
Erica Manns (23:48):
It allows them more information. It talks back and forth with us in the office rather than having it all on paper and having to turn it in to get it into that system and then they can see what's previously been done as well.
Sylvia McConnell (23:58):
And then, yeah, like she said, all the customer's information is imported directly.
Morgan Seger (24:03):
Digitizing the process of these safety checks has improved accuracy and efficiencies.
Sylvia McConnell (24:08):
Instead of getting the hard copy back and entering into the system and then scanning it into the system, it's taken two and three steps out of that process. So yeah, it makes it more efficient.
Erica Manns (24:20):
And then this way, like I said, the drivers or the service tech that's out there can see where everything's at the office, so they can't just see that. So this allows 'em to see what was there before to know if something was
Morgan Seger (24:31):
Changed. Another way the admin lead and the team at Siri Solutions have worked together to improve the customer experience is by standardizing the process of incoming calls. We've
Sylvia McConnell (24:42):
Done so much in the two years, so I don't have an actual time period, but I believe it was right away we started, once we got admin leads, we had a phone committee put together and we had multiple phone systems that we would try out and test and we came to a conclusion we've been working on, I know the Wabash office was, it was last year, so we've been on it a year already.
Erica Manns (25:07):
Same. I think we've been on it, it was last April or May that we at leyer started on it. And it's been amazing.
Sylvia McConnell (25:14):
You can get a phone call anywhere throughout our trade area with the phone system that we have. And if, say someone calls Crawfordsville, but yet they want to speak with me, Crawfordsville can easily hit a four digit number and it automatically transfers to me. So
Erica Manns (25:29):
Right to her office,
Sylvia McConnell (25:30):
Right? Yes, directly to me. So it's nice that no matter where you are throughout our trade area that we can, one with us being the leads and making it one Ceres as the same processes. You can take a phone call anywhere and get the same customer service, but two, if they ask directly for somebody, we can automatically, no matter where we are, we could be in Hart, Michigan and they could still transfer a phone call to Wabash, Indiana. So it makes it nice.
Erica Manns (26:00):
We don't quite have all the locations on yet, but it's still a process. And it's nice because even if somebody calls in, let's say the manager, our propane manager, John out of Rensselaer, he covers several locations, so he may not be at Rensselaer every day. So if a customer calls in and there's something that they need to talk to him on, I can transfer it directly to even his cell phone. It doesn't even have to be another landline type phone. It can go directly to his cell phone. So if he's in his car, he can answer that and take care of something that's necessarily needs to be done. If he's not available, they can still leave a message on his cell phone so he can get back to him right away rather than having to wait for him to get back to the office. It helps a
Sylvia McConnell (26:35):
Lot. That makes it nice. If someone does need to speak with their driver, say they forgot their cell phone, we don't willingly give cell phone numbers out, but it makes it nice that we can just transfer that to a driver's cell phone.
Erica Manns (26:47):
Yeah, we try not to, again, like she said, we want them calling the office when they need a delivery so we can dispatch it and that leaves them free to keep going and making sure their deliveries are getting made without phone calls coming in and interrupting their day so they can take care of more customers during the day. But it helps that sometimes they have multiple sites and they just need to know, Hey, I know he just delivered, but I don't know what site it was at. Obviously we're not going to know either. So that's something the driver would have to answer.
Callie Curley (27:10):
The process of learning all of this new technology, it is a process for the Ceres team. It's a process learning new ways of doing things, of keeping track in a different way, but for the customer,
Erica Manns (27:22):
They should have the same great experience, customer service, even
Callie Curley (27:24):
Better, better service, faster service, and not having to call an office and go, oh, it was the wrong office. I have to find a pen to find the other number. They'll give me the number, but I have to call this other person. You're actually streamlining it in an even bigger way for them. So our team is doing all of this work and learning all these new technologies and we recognize that. We've probably got some drivers listening that are like, yeah, some of this stuff has been challenging to learn, but once you get it implemented, it's better for the customer and eventually, hopefully it becomes better for the team too. You
Erica Manns (27:52):
Start to, and the biggest thing for the team is for the ones that have been here longer, is just changing your habits,
Sylvia McConnell (27:58):
The adjustment
Erica Manns (27:59):
And just remembering, oh wait, I can do this easier this way. I don't have to go to the old way.
Sylvia McConnell (28:04):
You can place an order online. That's nice also. And that order goes into our call center here at Wabash and then our call center. Then ditches, dispatches those out. That's another nice feature. That Ceres offered the phone. If you don't want to, if you're a technical guru, then get online, place your order, or
Erica Manns (28:21):
Maybe you're at work during the day, you can't call us. So this makes it convenient to where they can
Sylvia McConnell (28:26):
Contact us, and that's both refined fuel and propane. Anyone can place an order online.
Erica Manns (28:30):
There's a form. When they ask to place an order on our website, there's a form they'll fill out that'll ask for their account number, their name, their address, phone number, what percent is in their tank, because that's very important to know and also how much they want. Our minimum delivery is 200 gallons, but they can also fill their tank, ask for fill or just for the minimum 200 gallons,
Sylvia McConnell (28:49):
And that 200 minimum is for refined fuel and or propane. Yeah, we try to keep it consistent number to make it easier for admin staff.
Morgan Seger (29:00):
If you're interested in learning more about the technology and tools that the Ceres solutions Energy department is using to improve efficiencies and safety, I encourage you to go back to Ceres two and listen to episode number two with John Leady as he goes into some of these tools in more detail. In our next episode of Field Points, we will be wrapping up this conversation with Erica and Sylvia and tackling more of those energy frequently asked questions.