That's me, McCoy Fields: figuring out the angles.

Here we are, at the cusp of 2026.

Yes, I like the word "cusp" ⏤ it's like the best misspelling of "cups" ever. Maybe I had too much coffee today. Anyway. Here we are, at the cups of 2026, a time when us mere mortals slow down and take stock of the year that was and maybe, just maybe, relax a little bit.

Not Jeff Mann, The Real Yard Ramp Guy.

I've known Jeff some 15 years now. Long enough to watch him build something special. Always admired his innovative entrepreneurial spirit, his honesty, his integrity. But what I never knew before, what he apparently kept tucked away like one of those ramps in a warehouse between seasons: the guy sees a holiday as an opportunity to do more.

Just when you think you know a guy, eh?

Here's Jeff at the holiday: He's thinking about what's next. Oh, not just thinking. He's working on it.

Now, I'm not at liberty to share the details just yet. Jeff's asked me to keep quiet about the particulars. (Come to think of it, Maggie prefers me this way, too. She's been working on that project, with varying degrees of success, for some 30 years now. Hmmm.) But what I can and want to share are two things:

1. Jeff is not just The Yard Ramp Guy. He's actually the guy behind the Guy. Ends up, he's running a full-blown marketing agency. Go figure. Check out Team22Inc.com. That enterprise looks to be putting a lot of sizzle in a lot of steak. Digital marketing, SEO, web dev, lead generation. The whole nine yards. (Go right ahead and insert your own "nine yard ramps" play on words here. Didn't work for me either.)
2. He's asked me to be his pitchman for some of that new stuff in the works.

Can't tell you how flattered I am by that. Honored, really.

Now, I might be a shameless PR dude, spinning yarns and polishing brands when I'm not working at the distribution center. But I'm otherwise quiet and reserved. Just like Maggie likes. So, I'm honored to help Jeff tell his story. You just might be seeing more of me this year.

I have a hunch that 2026 is shaping up to be something extraordinary. Big ideas are moving from the pipe dream to the tangible. Stay tuned, friends.

Happy cusp of 2026.

McCoy Fields: part man, part machine, still two left thumbs in the garden.

I used to think “AI” stood for “Absolutely Ineffective,” back when it meant autocorrect changing “yard ramp” to “yard lamp” in emails. (Though to be fair, who wouldn’t want a 20,000-lb steel lamp on their loading dock?)

But now? Things have changed.

Jeff Mann, The Real Yard Ramp Guy, in his endless pursuit of helping people move heavy things efficiently, recently told me that he's decided to team up with the bots. Yep: artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart algorithms… whatever you want to call it, he's using it to make your life easier.

Not Replacing People. Enhancing Service.

We’re not talking about robo-salesmen barking out ramp specs in a monotone. Over the next months, The Yard Ramp Guy will be adding:

• Smarter search tools that help you find ramps faster.
• Intelligent suggestions for ramp rentals in your region (like Wheeling, West Virginia, my personal favorite place) —or anywhere your business happens to park itself).
• Better customer response times, even outside office hours.

It’s not some cold, robotic takeover. It’s human + machine, working together to get you the right ramp, in the right place, at the right time. That’s pretty darn cool.

Still Human. Still Helpful.

Jeff Mann assures me that The Yard Ramp Guy hasn’t lost his personal touch. You’ll still talk to real people who actually know what a yard ramp is and how to spell it. The AI just clears the path a little faster.

Think of it like this: AI is the forklift, and the humans are still doing the steering.

The Bottom Line

Technology is only as good as the hands it’s in. And lucky for us, it’s in The Yard Ramp Guy’s hands: steady, experienced, and always pointed toward helping folks get the job done.

So if you see a few smart tools on the website, don’t be alarmed. It’s not the rise of the machines. It’s the rise of better service.

My good friend Jeff Mann, the true Yard Ramp Guy, has asked me to revisit some of my original posts. This week in my From the Archives series: the essential nature of helium.

Zeppelin: Unleaded

The federal government has maintained a helium storage program since WWI, with the express purpose of making sure that America never falls behind in, um, a zeppelin arms race.

The Federal Helium Program is often viewed as one of the biggest boondoggles the government keeps funding. Both Reagan and Clinton tried to get rid of it. They couldn't have been more wrong, though.

Even apart from the fact that the program pays for itself with the proceeds of the helium it sells to U.S. companies, the helium program has plenty of other benefits to keeping it around.

First off, helium provides 42 percent of the nation's supply of unrefined helium gas. Second, it's already all stored in a huge porous rock formation below the Texas Panhandle, so there isn't a lot in terms of maintenance fees.

Even if we did need to harvest more, it's not that difficult. Among other things, helium is a byproduct of harvesting natural gas in the Midwest. Most importantly, helium is surprisingly essential to industries across the board.

Here's a non-exhaustive list of helium's uses:

1. Airships are making a major comeback (see HERE), and they obviously need lots of helium.
2. Cryogenic purposes. Not just freezing dead bodies, but cooling the magnets in MRI scanners and other similar uses. Helium makes an extremely effective coolant and is part of the process of making oxygen-hydrogen rocket fuel.
3. Creating stable pressurized atmospheres. Deep sea divers often use atmospheric mixes that include helium.
4. Arc welding materials that are contaminated by air or nitrogen.
5. Supersonic wind tunnels.
6. Gas chromatography—a method of analyzing the components of chemicals.
7. As a protective gas in growing silicon and germanium crystals.

Last, and certainly not least: those party balloons that float and hug the ceiling? Filled with helium. I just bought 30 of them for my grandson’s birthday party. Birthdays just wouldn’t be as fun without helium.