Pit Stops, Poor Lap Times & Fast Freight

EUROLINK FSS VLOG TRANSCRIPT

Craig Penland: Hey, everybody! Craig here from Eurolink.

It’s been a minute since my last VLOG… and honestly, I feel like life’s been running on our FASTEST freight program ever since.

In just the last few months:

• we brought back the Eurolink NASCAR simulator to Charlotte…
• a few customers publicly embarrassed me by beating my lap times…
• we somehow won the ‘Best Booth’ award for the show…
• And business has been rolling…

and next week I somehow go from running a metric fastener company… to teaching 3rd and 4th graders at Vacation Bible School.

And if I’m being honest…the VBS kids are the group that intimidates me the most.

Life’s been moving pretty fast lately and somewhere in there I learned two important things: I still can’t drive a NASCAR simulator. And rain at the lake apparently turns me into a 55-year-old hibernating bear. My wife thought we were going for a relaxing weekend. Turns out she was mostly just watching me nap in different locations.

I took naps on the couch… on the porch… I think at one point I fell asleep holding a sandwich. Honestly, if competitive napping was an NCAA sport, I think I’d at least make the regionals. And based on that lake weekend… I might even host a super-regionals. And speaking of things moving faster than me…

I want to officially congratulate the two people who humbled me at Fastener Fair USA in Charlotte and beat my NASCAR simulator lap times. Max Blackburn with Hanger Bolt & Stud and Hannah Smith with Greenslade and Company. They each won two NASCAR tickets…thanks to my poor driving decisions. And somewhere deep down, I still think the simulator was calibrated wrong.

And since we’re on the subject of “being wronged”, the NFL released their new schedule, which means every team in America currently has a promotional video that includes Mike Vrabel and them winning the Superbowl. And speaking of unrealistic confidence…Las Vegas, they just cleaned Colorado out faster than a guy at a slot machine saying, ‘Just one more spin.’

At the same time, everywhere you look now, everybody’s suddenly an AI expert. Every podcast…every LinkedIn post. Apparently we’re all just one chatbot away from becoming billionaires. And listen — maybe AI really is going to change the world. But I’ve also been in the fastener industry long enough to know this:

Artificial intelligence still hasn’t figured out how to get somebody a M12 x 100 ISO 4017 10.9 hex cap that they needed three days ago. And until robots can explain why a customer ordered the wrong metric pitch and then insists it’s our fault…I think the fastener industry’s still going to need actual humans for a little while longer. Preferably humans who can ship parts FAST, FASTER, or FASTEST.

But while I was apparently training for competitive napping and losing virtual NASCAR races… Eurolink has been absolutely rolling. We’re seeing another record shipping month. More hard-to-find metric inventory is headed our way from Europe. More partnerships are developing. More opportunities are opening up. And honestly… that’s the fun part. You can feel the momentum around here right now. Phones ringing. Freight moving. Quotes flying out. Customers needing impossible metric parts by Friday afternoon. And somehow… we kind of enjoy the chaos.

So from all of us here at Eurolink…thank you. Thank you to everyone who continues trusting Eurolink. We’re excited about where things are headed. And if you need hard-to-find metric fasteners delivered FAST, FASTER, or FASTEST… you already know where to find us.” And if anybody has tips on how to stay awake during a rainy lake weekend… I’m all ears. Until next time… Peace be with you. Penland out!

As always, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns or would like to request a quote for any hard-to-find metric fasteners give us a call at (864) 801-0505.