Two tricky elements in shrewd load planning are time and fixed costs. They’ve been a common topic during Overdrive’s Partners in Business seminars presented by ATBS, the financial services provider that partners with us on the program, and by trucking business radio host Kevin Rutherford.
Time comes in to play when you’re deciding whether to settle for the less-than-perfect load today or gamble on finding closer-to-perfect tomorrow. Your fixed costs come into this because they’re a factor that’s too easy to overlook, especially if you’re prone to roll the dice for tomorrow’s load choices or too proud to accept a low-paying haul.
Mike Hosted of ATBS explains the factors to weigh in choosing a backhaul that’s less than ideal.Mike Hosted of ATBS did a great job illustrating the load choice dynamic when he shared an example during one of our PIB seminars, sponsored by TBS Factoring Service, at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas in August. You might be surprised at what the numbers have to say about waiting an extra day, even when that higher-paying load surfaces.
“When we look at the full picture for whole run, what we have is $1,625 in revenue, $1,000 in costs,” Hosted says, summing up a two-day round trip that yielded about $312 in daily net profit. “If you do that 3 times in one week, you’re net up $1,800 in 6 days.”
Overdrive’s Partners in Business is sponsored by TBS Factoring Service.There’s lots of good information on costs and other topics before and after the illustration in this 21-minute presentation, but to go straight to the example, advance to 7:35 on the video.
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