I have been reading numerous stories about the lack of truck parking, electronic on-board recorders possibly being mandatory in trucks, freight rates possibly dropping, and the costs of trucks increasing with the constantly changing EPA regulations in concert with CARB.
Read More »The State of the Trucking Industry: EPA, CARB, HOS, FMCSA …….
Big trucking companies cater to their customers and have their own business profiles. As an owner operator, you need to identify your target market. If you think you can’t make money owning a truck, then you don’t know anything about trucking. A large trucking company needs to keep as many trucks moving as they can or they will suffer great loss. They have as many things working for them as they do against them.
Read More »Truckin’ Ed – Knowing Your Business – key for Owner Operators
This is a good blog post by Kevin Rutherford on his LetsTruck blog. It hits on the point that Owner Operators need to think about themselves as a business that is in a marketplace where they have some control to set rates and service levels, and seek business that matches their expectations.
I decided to share this article written by Bill Cameron in Truck News as he hits on some really great business tips for Owner Operators and drivers in general. Sean: I’ve written in the past that I think driving school practices and commercial driving exams should have a serious overhaul. I think this revamp should include a math test. It seems far too many truck drivers, despite possessing other admirable skills, just can’t add.
New year – new taxes. That’s what many drivers are thinking after the latest round of tax increases. Read More »The 5 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions for Owner Operators
And although finding freight isn’t hard, it is a little bit of an art. Knowing where the freight is, knowing how much time is involved loading, knowing if it’s going to a good area, deciding whether deadheading (driving empty to pick up) is going to be worth it. These are all learned. Ed is a master at this – you can throw a load and a rate at him and he’ll know immediately if it’s worth doing. Me? I’m not as quick with the figuring, but I’m pretty good now too.
We have a few agents who will call us outright, if we’re in the area, to offer us a load before they post it. They know us, they’ve worked with us before, and they know we deliver – no pun intended. Most of the time though, we find our loads on the board. “The Board” is the load board where the company we’re leased to posts their loads. If you enlarge the photo below (click to enlarge), you’ll see a real example of freight that’s available to us.
Read More »Click Mouse, Make Money – Owner Operators and Load Boards
Mind the deductible.You can raise your policy’s deductible to lower the premium, but independents should weigh their risk in an accident with multiple claims. For example, separate $2,500 deductibles on a tractor, a trailer and cargo easily could come into play at once, yielding a $7,500 bill. Leased operators should know if their carrier holds them responsible for a certain amount of carrier liability or cargo deductibles in a loss.
Keep credit history clean. Credit reports often are pulled by underwriters to determine owner-operator insurance rates. Pay your bills on time, and follow other practices to maintain a high credit score.
Include aftermarket items in stated value. When you determine fair market value during policy updates, use online and dealer resources to help determine aftermarket add-ons’ real effect on your rig’s resale value. Also, enhancements that would lower the insuror’s exposure, like deer catchers and anti-theft devices, can bring rate discounts.
Account for safety. Don’t be shy about communicating a strong safety record during any rate quote or policy update.
Use technology to protect your CSA scores and improve Safety. Affordable electronic log apps like smartphone based BigRoad is a good first step toward proactively managing your driver logs, CSA scores and reducing your compliance liability
Compare rates. As with anything you buy, it’s wise to compare rates periodically. Before changing insurors, see if your current one offers a discount for staying with the company.
Update business information. Type of freight, miles driven and area of haul are factors that affect the accuracy of your rates.
Read More »7 ways to cut your fleet insurance costs – protect your CSA scores
We hear from drivers all the time about the amount of wasted time spent in shipper facilities waiting for loads or simply being “shelved” until the shipper is ready to move. Too often, drivers are powerless to enforce penalties or trigger action because they lack credible source of proof of when they were forecasted to arrive and when they actually did.
Read More »Driver Pain Point: Hurry Up and Wait – Detention Time Misery
A new electronic hours-of-service logging application is now available for small trucking companies and owner-operators. The app, from BigRoad, is specially designed for use by small fleets looking for a cost-effective logging solution.
Read More »Small Trucking Companies adopting eLog solutions from BigRoad and NASTC
