BLP 371: His Dad's Dying Words: "You're Not Welcome At Page" | So He Earned It Back

On his deathbed, Keith Titus told his son: "You're not welcome at Page. I have a plan, and you're not part of it." Three years later, the plan had failed. The company was down from 230 trucks to 70, losing a million dollars a year, and the bank had cut them off. Then Dan's mom — a 27-year school bus driver who never worked a day in the business — made a decision that changed everything: she put every dollar of her husband's life insurance into the company. "I grew up on a dirt-poor farm. I've got no problem going back there." In this episode, Dan Titus of Page Trucking sits down with us in upstate New York to share one of the most incredible comeback stories in bulk freight: five generations on the Titus family farm, a trucking company started in 1974 with $5,000 from his great-grandfather, losing his dad and grandfather a year apart, and rebuilding Page into 500 trucks, 900 trailers, and 650 families — hauling everything from grain to hazardous waste to 1,400° molten metal down the highway. Oh, and they heat their warehouses with Bitcoin miners. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 Outgrowing the building (again) 01:56 Five generations on the Titus farm — Cato, NY, since 1809 02:32 Dad starts brokering freight without Grandpa knowing 05:28 $5,000 from Great-Grandpa to start a trucking company 06:00 Why it's called "Page" — the $250 authority 08:07 Why his dad chose trucking over farming 13:24 "You're not welcome at Page" — his dad's dying plan 15:21 Mom inherits a collapsing business 21:05 Betting the life insurance money on the company 22:37 Half the pay, twice the hours — Dan comes home 25:45 Buying the business back from Mom 26:40 Teamsters, a $3M pension liability & near-bankruptcy 29:00 From 230 trucks… to 70… to 500 today 32:37 Closed-loop hauling: scrap, dross & aluminum 34:27 Hauling 1,400° molten metal on the highway 38:24 Overweight permits & custom trailer designs 43:40 The Goulet Trucking acquisition 51:42 Why waste hauling is huge in the Northeast 56:22 Heating warehouses with Bitcoin miners 01:04:18 Keith Titus — the next generation 01:09:45 No handouts: earning your way into the family business 01:14:25 The chip on his shoulder — out-innovating $20B competitors 01:20:38 "I'm not ready" — why Page will never sell 01:24:13 Raising sharks, not minnows ABOUT BULKLOADS We started 15 years ago connecting bulk carriers with shippers and brokers in the ag and bulk industry — and today we're much more than a load board. Our mission is simple: serve this industry, support small businesses and trucking families, and help them succeed.