How To Minimize Money Loss In Your Trucking Company
Trucking companies are some of the oldest businesses in the country. There will always be a demand for big trucks to transport goods from one place to another. So, this is a good business idea to consider - but there are plenty of ways your company might lose money. In this piece, we focus on three key ways you can minimize money loss in your trucking company:
Hire experienced drivers
It can be tempting to hire young and inexperienced truck drivers when starting your business. After all, they usually come with cheaper salaries. Investing in experienced drivers might be more expensive, but it can minimize money loss.
A lot of trucking companies end up with financial issues because drivers get involved in accidents - or they’re hit with things like speeding fines or DUIs. As a business, you can’t afford to have drivers sitting out, unable to drive. This would mean you have to take on less work while a driver is out of action, so you lose money. Or, you pay for legal fees to help them out, but you still lose money. Hiring experienced people with clean track records can prevent this, ensuring that your fleet is driven safely and responsibly every single day.
Service your fleet
Speaking about trucks being out of action, this can happen through no fault of your drivers. Poor maintenance of your trucks might mean they develop engine problems - or other mechanical issues - that require fixing. This means that multiple trucks could be out of action for a few days until the problems are solved.
What does this mean for your business? Again, you’re unable to fulfill your orders, so you lose money. You could also anger clients, pushing them to your rivals. To stop this, you have to get service for your truck fleet on a regular basis. Ensure that every vehicle is looked over by professionals, so any problems are found and fixed before they become truly damaging. It’ll keep all of your trucks on the road as often as possible.
Sell empty space
Quite often, you have clients that only fill up half of your truck - or leave a fair amount of space empty. Empty space is terrible for trucking businesses as it means you are driving around with a missed opportunity for money.
You should always look to fill your trucks up as full as they can possibly be filled. So, if there is some empty space in a truck, sell it to other clients. Have multiple client orders in the same truck to ensure that you a) don’t waste money on petrol with two separate trucks carrying two orders from two clients, but both are half-full. And b) you maximize space in your truck, minimizing money loss.
The main source of money loss comes from trucks that aren’t driven - either because the drivers aren’t available, or the truck itself is busted. Then, you lose money by not making the most out of your cargo space. If you address these problems, you can stop losing money in your trucking business.
