An Argument Against Deadheading
(Even “cheap freight” pays something) By Timothy D. Brady The pitfalls of driving a trucking route without paying freight should be avoided. Some points I find it interesting: first, that there are still truckers who think if they can make a static rate per mile they’ll earn enough to…
How to Know If Your Hauling Rate Is Correct
By guess and by golly won’t work By Timothy Brady According to Logistics Management 2011 Rate Outlook (https://logisticsmgmt.com/article/2011_logistics_rate_outlook/)“Volatile oil and diesel prices, capacity shortages, another looming driver crisis, debilitating regulatory uncertainties, and an improving economy have led industry analysts across all modes to one conclusion: Shippers will have to…
What’s In Your Pitch To Shippers?
A deeper discount? Better hold onto your shirt By Timothy Brady Under the current economic atmosphere, large segments of the trucking industry have fallen into the trap of “Volume Discounting.” The greater volume a customer has to ship, the lower his shipping cost. While this works to a point, beyond…
How to Exit a Trucking Business
You do what you gotta do By Timothy Brady Have you ever been rolling down the interstate, suddenly looked at the fuel gauge and realized: “I’m not sure I’ll make it to where I was going to fuel next.” All kinds of thoughts start going through your mind. Where’s the…
Developing a Niche 1
Niche Hauling: a geographic area, commodity, particular service, unique method, or specialized market for which a small trucking company is best suited. For the small or start-up trucking company, the highway to success is to find a specific niche which is not filled by the more traditional, larger trucking companies.
Do You Know Your Break-Even Point?
How important is knowing your Break-Even Point when you are a trucker? I’m constantly saying, “You’ve got to know your Break-Even Point!” But is it that important? According to Renee Cloud, of Clerical Business Solutions, a business management company providing business consulting & administrative support (virtual assistant services): “A number…
What Determines the Quality of a Load?
In the last blog, we went through the process of determining the value of a load, but that was only the first step in selecting which loads to haul and which ones to leave on the dock. Now for the next step, looking at the quality of a load. Value…
The Profitable Trucking Company
How to make a profit in today’s trucking industry. Are you asking yourself if you can really make a profit in trucking today, especially with fuel going up again and the freight still not recovering? That’s the 64,000-dollar question for most trucking companies. I’d still say, yes, you can make…
What Is Lane Density?
What is lane density? This is a term you may or may not have heard in the course of doing business as a trucker. But as you’re about to see, it’s very important in determining whether you are profitable or not. This applies to a single truck operation or multiple…