Loaded: The Hahn Ready Mix Podcast

A podcast for the employees of Hahn Ready Mix

Loaded: The Hahn Ready Mix Podcast

71. Red, White & Blue

July 06, 2026 • Griffin Hahn & Andrea Meier • Episode 71

0:00 | 18:22

Andrea and Griff discuss America's 250th Birthday and what it means to build a nation. Also: a dangerous intersection, World Cup Fever, and PPE.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Loaded, the Hahn Ready Mix Podcast with Andrea Meyer, Griffin Hahn, and producer Lex.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

The America's birthday edition of the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

How could I forget?

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Yes. Yes. Very excited. How are you guys doing today?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Great.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

I'm great as well.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Lex is reluctantly here.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Lex is. Yeah. Confused on why we're podcasting. Like this is a surprise, didn't it? Yeah. Not warmed up. Uh yeah, so it's 4th of July this weekend. You guys have plans?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

I do. Uh I got invited to the Carrie Underwood concert at the John Deere Classics. And I thought that my kids would be excited about it, but I forget that Carrie Underwood is like old like me now. And so my kids are like, who's Carrie Underwood? Why are we doing this? So um I'm dragging my kids to the Carrie Underwood concert. But it looks now like they're calling for thunderstorms at the exact time that we're supposed to be there. So I don't know what happens when that happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Uh I have kind of similar. Well, first we have some friends coming over visiting from Missouri. So uh they have young kids, the kind of the same ages of my kids. So that'll be fun and chaotic and all that. Um, so we'll do the fireworks and all that jazz. But my wife, after they leave, my wife is a huge old Dominion fan, and that's the concert Sunday night at the at the classic.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I like that too.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

And I do not like country music, and I don't really enjoy watching golf, and I really don't enjoy standing in 95 degree heat watching golf.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

So so you're thrilled.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

I'm very excited for the opportunity to go to the classic this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

We actually went to the fireworks last weekend in Dixon, Iowa. Have you ever been or heard anything?

SPEAKER_02 2:04

I've heard about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

It's the craziest.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

They why did they do it last weekend?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

They always do it the Saturday before, which is kind of cool because then you don't miss anything else when you get out there. But yeah, they advertise it as the largest fireworks event in Iowa. And I think it is. It's the best fireworks, you know, outside of Disney World or wherever, you know, where you see them set to the music and everything.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

We'll have to compare that. Uh, I I want to go to Kansas. I'm blanking on the name of the town right now, but there's a the nickname of the town is Boomtown. Okay. And one of uh a friend of the industry, you know, in the industry, another ready mix producer that I know, they have a plant across the street from where this Boomtown fireworks show is. And apparently hundreds of thousands of people drive into this town of like 5,000 people to well, this is not thousands of people.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Well, this is a smaller event. It's actually it's like the cutest like quintessential Iowa thing. There's uh a bunch of like people from town that are grilling, you know, pork chops and ribeye sandwiches and like homemade pies are for sale in the little concession stand, and they play uh softball while they're waiting for the fireworks to start. So it's just a really small town. Yeah. Cool eye. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

All right. We'll have to put it on the calendar next year.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

I liked it.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Cool. Uh, what announcements you got for today?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

I I feel like I say the same things over and over again, but I'm not gonna stop. PPE, this is a big deal. Like right now, I think is it an ethanol plant that we're working on out in Geneseo?

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

PPE is essential, like absolutely required. You will be thrown off of that job if you don't have all of the proper PPE. Yes. As are many of our other jobs. I know that like maybe seasonally or whatever, things can get a little bit lax and we're not getting out of the trucks as much in the winter and things like that. But uh, we're so far back into full swing and with some really uh critical jobs that everybody has to come prepared with everything every day.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yeah. Well, just every single job site. You should be wearing your vest, your safety glasses, your hard hat, obviously steel toed boots, long pants. I mean, I think we don't really have issues with the boots or the pants, but the the the other ones I I definitely see folks not wearing the proper PPE.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Yeah, it just costs us time. You know, if we have to replace a driver on a job or you have to get out of your truck, someone else has to get in to to handle it. Yeah, it's a it's a mess.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Well, and you know easily preventable. If folks don't start getting with it, we're gonna have to start being really punitive about it and suspend people and and have other consequences, right? If if people don't do it, because it's it's serious.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

And we hate doing that. I especially this week. Uh Sheldon's been gone the last two weeks, and I've been handling a lot of uh day-to-day driver contact and coaching. And yeah, man, he has a busy, busy job. So if this is just one less thing on his plate to have to chase people down about, we're all in in a better place.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Absolutely. I have you know a positive and you like to bring the Oh yeah, good guy, bad guy.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Is that where we are? Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

I have a positive one. I want to give uh uh both a shout out and and kind of a warning for especially our ag haulers that are in the area. Um so two weeks in a row, we've had uh we've we've been not not really involved, but kind of involved on the first one. Um, but uh we've near and have evidence of an accident at the Moscow quarry entrance, basically, um, right there just west of Wilton. That is a that intersection appears to be really dangerous because there's been two really bad accidents uh in in two weeks. And so I just want to make sure you know we in both instances we've done nothing wrong and and we weren't even involved in the second one. But I just want to make sure everybody knows to be extra vigilant at that intersection. And uh a real shout out to Steven Kellenberger, who was pulling up when there was a bad accident there the other day, and he got out and kind of acted like an EMT and was helping the the fire department and and really uh I heard back from our customer that was on the site that he was spectacular and represented us really well. So nice job, Steven.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Yeah, and in both of those cases, our our dash cams were essential to the investigation and our people that were there witnessing and helping all everything worked the best that we could hope it would work in those kinds of situations. You know, we hope to never be in that situation, but when we are, it's nice to see things work exactly how they're supposed to work.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Along those same lines with the dash cams. I just wanted to reinforce how fortunate we are to have that almost always as like evidence of us doing the right thing. We're not, we didn't install them and we don't use them to punish people. I think people are sometimes still worried about that or think that we're, you know, watching all video all day trying to catch them doing something wrong. And that is definitely not what we're doing. We're trying to protect our professional drivers in these circumstances.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

So absolutely. But we we do use it for coaching, right? So every single week it flags, you know, when there's a harsh break or a harsh turn or a rolling stop or something. And I look at every one of those flagged videos, right? And it normally flags maybe eight to 10. And I would say half of those a lot of times are they're nothing events, but they just flag it to look at. Um, but that that does leave four to five uh on average a week that we're coaching and saying, hey, we could do better in this situation, even if it didn't happen, you know, cause an accident.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Yeah, which is still like such a relatively small number considering how many hours of driving we're doing every week. And even that coaching is just like bringing it to someone's attention, it's not at all punitive and like punishment type of way. It's just that, hey, this is more careful with this.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Anyone for anything that we've seen on those cameras. That was our commitment, and we're sticking with that. But it we do want to use that information to for us to be better, for everyone of the drivers to be better. We don't want to have an accident.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah, it's also given us so many opportunities to give positive feedback. Yeah. That the way that we see the safety scores every week and how many people are, you know, staying within the speed limit and always coming to a complete stop and staying in their lane. Like it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah, yeah. And and I think maybe we underestimated how often someone pulls out in front of a truck.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Like just it's it's how many heroic acts there are every week where people are avoiding craziness on the roads.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It's got well, eye-opening for sure. Another announcement I had was an update to the World Cup pool.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Great.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Chris Jergens is uh I've been worried about this. Yeah, I know you have. Uh Chris Juergens is uh he was in the lead and then I lost it and he took it back again. So he's in uh dubs is right behind him. So you're not winning. I was briefly, uh, but in between episodes, so we didn't get to talk about it. Yeah, darn it. That's too bad. Uh yeah, so the US, since we're this is an uh America podcast, is for the I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

I saw Aaron out there with his Mexico flag. Is that a soccer-related thing that's happening?

SPEAKER_02 9:44

I don't know, maybe. Um Mexico is also doing well. They who did they beat the other day on Ecuador? Ecuador. They beat Ecuador 2-0.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

And they had uh jinx. I heard that on the my husband was watching it and I heard them say that Mexico had been jinxed in the World Cup for a while or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

I mean, every country not from Europe or South America has been jinxed in the World Cup. But yeah, Mexico plays uh England on Sunday, I believe. And then the United States While you're at the golf concert. Uh yes, actually. Yeah, I would rather watch the soccer game. United States beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 last night. And so they play Belgium on Monday. So this will come out Monday. So tonight, as you're listening to this at 7 p.m. US versus Belgium, it'll be a huge game. So tune in. It'll be fun. Cool. Are we ready to dive into our topic today since we went along with announcements?

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Lex was ready to wrap this up.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yeah. 15 minutes, dude.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Real quick. Yes, we're ready to get into the topic.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

All right. So, yeah, so the 4th of July. Uh, first of all, everyone, be careful. We've had incidents in the past where uh uh DIY fireworks displays have not gone great. So I I guess it's too late now, but if yeah, uh hopefully we everybody was careful. It's also 250 years uh anniversary for the United States. So, you know, we talk a lot about in in this country, you hear a lot about um you know the freedoms that we hold dear and the sacrifice of the the troops and all those things, and that's really important. And I think, you know, as we reflect on, you know, this country was founded and and the Bill of Rights, I think is really one of the things that made this country so unique in that um it was the first time that specific rights were laid out for all the citizens, right? That the government couldn't infringe upon. And and that set a new standard for how government operates in the world. And so um I think we're we're so lucky to live in a place where we have those rights, those protections. So anyway, we talk a lot about 250 years of freedom, 250 years of sacrifice. What I don't think the general public talks about as much is it's 250 years of building a nation. And I think that's topical for us because we're the ones building the nation, right? And companies like us. Um so I think it's pretty cool. It's 250 years of roads and bridges and infrastructure and buildings and houses and schools and shopping malls and airports and all the stuff that America that you can see and touch and live in and we build that. And I just think that's uh really, really cool. No notes, okay. So I have some quick history things, some trivia. Okay. So does anybody know what the biggest infrastructure let's say act or the government action?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Government action allow for infrastructure.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah. Anybody know what that was?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

You should have invited someone else to the podcast for the Infrastructure Act. Well, not the Louisiana Purchase.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Louisiana Purchase. Uh that is the thing from history. Yes, good job. Uh so uh in 1956, the Eisenhower Federal Interstate Highway Act was why we have interstates. Um, and it was it was created as a way, actually, in case there was a war on American soil to move troops and equipment really fast. But it was 46,000 miles of interstate that was built originally with that, and obviously has been added to in the years since. But by far the largest infrastructure project in the history of mankind, and um uh you know, different projects, but the largest act.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Um that was my next guess.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Uh yeah, yeah. And and so much of those roads are concrete, right? Especially interstates um tend to be a little bit more concrete than your how can we get one of those started up again? Um well, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Contact your representatives.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah, yeah. Say we went we went twice the interstates. You know, we definitely need to grow. I-80 is brutal. Um here to Iowa City is brutal.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

So I've been to Des Moines several times in the last couple weeks, and man, that is yeah, yeah. Should not be bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of Iowa, but there is.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Yeah. Okay, another question. What was the largest concrete job in the history of the United States? Does anybody know?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Hoover Dam.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Hoover Dam! Yes, got it. Do you know how many yards were in there?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

No, I don't. I did do the Hoover Dam tour, but I I don't recall these details.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

3.25 million cubic yards of concrete. It's a lot of concrete.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

That's plenty.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

That's plenty. That's like, yeah, that's like almost 10 years of our work doing 10 years of one project. Yeah, one project. You know, we we got to experience mass concrete when we did the I-74 bridge, but that's like the the the most textbook mass concrete job of all time. If they wouldn't have used cooling tubes, it would have taken 120 years for that Hoover Dam project to cure out. Like it would still be hot in the middle. So they they had to use cooling tubes and they used boulders the size of this room, you know, in the concrete, which is pretty cool. Yeah, I think, you know, and I think when you talk about infrastructure and things that have happened in this country, that you can tie it back to our company as well, right? So Builder Sandismet, which we acquired in 1997, was one of the key suppliers for the Rock Island arsenal. We've talked about that before. So that is uh very important military installation, obviously, locally, less the ready mix side, but Lex and I's family were the largest suppliers of cabbage randomly to the US military in World War I. So uh allegedly. I don't know how we measure that.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Everything helps, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Uh so yeah, there's just um some some cool ties. And then, you know, the the seven I-74 bridge is one of those things that is a major crossing over the Mississippi River, an interstate crossing, that it's gonna be there for 100 years plus. And we did that. So it's pretty neat. I think you know, the story of of longevity of our country and and our company are are somewhat intertwined, right? Is I guess the point I'm trying to make. So anyway, I just want to thank everybody for the work that they do. Like it's bigger, uh you know, obviously we all work for a paycheck and we work to do a good job for our company, but we really are creating a country, right? We're we're building up a country. And I think that that is where we all can look at what we do and find reason and meaning, right? And like this is what we do makes a real impact on on people, on the lives of others and the communities we're we're in. So I think it's pretty cool. I think we're pretty lucky to be able to do this. And I I don't think it's very many industries where after you've done something, you can look at that forever and say, I remember I did that. I there's a visible reminder, something everyone can see that you know, we did that. And I think that's that's pretty cool. You guys are a ton of help today. All right. Well, uh, hopefully everybody had a great 4th of July and a fun time celebrating America's 250th birthday. So root on the red, white, and blue tonight in the soccer game. And yeah.