Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/643476
BY TAL RAHAMAN KNOW YOUR COSTS AND START SAVING TODAY S aving money is a high priority. Why wouldn't you want to keep a few extra dollars in your pocket? But what if there are times when saving a few pennies actually costs you more in the end? is might be happening in your business more oen than you think. Let me give you a simple example. Let's say your truck needs a brake job. You get a quote from your mechanic for $2,000 and it will take two days to complete. ankfully you are mechanically inclined and aer pricing out the parts you decide you could do the job for $1,200. A savings of $800, right? Maybe not. Once you get started you realize that you forgot to get one of the parts you need. One more trip to the supply shop. en you realize that you don't have the proper tool for a particular part of the job — another trip and a few more dollars. en you realize … and the list goes on and on. Five days later your brakes still aren't done and you've spent five days sweating it out instead of two days relaxing and three days hauling loads. is same situation happens with things like invoicing your customers on time, quarterly IFTA fuel taxes and end of the year bookkeeping. Experts, usually people with letters behind their names, call this "Opportunity Cost." If you haven't heard this term before, it simply means when you spend your time or money doing one thing, you can't spend that same time or money on anything else. Just like our brake job example, those three extra days in the garage would have probably been better spent on the road. If you've met me before you know that eventually I get to the point. And the point is we have tools that can help you save time so you can stay on the road as well as tools to help you keep track of your expenses so you can have a better understanding about where your money is going. e ITS Dispatch system offers easy to use tools to manage your loads, create invoices and calculate your IFTA taxes. Visit www.itsdispatch.com and look for the Demo button. One of our knowledgeable reps can show you how our affordable online soware can help you get back your time. We also recently released a special, free product called ITS Cost per Mile Calculator. is useful tool will help you organize all of your income and expenses. e calculator provides handy reports and shows you what your true cost per mile is. Having this number available let's you know right away what rates you need to get to run your operation profitably. Visit www.itscostpermile.com to get your free cost per mile soware. Opportunity Cost "...when you spend your time or money doing one thing, you can't spend that same time or money on anything else." "We also recently released a special, free product called ITS Cost per Mile Calculator. This useful tool will help you organize all of your income and expenses." 24 IT MAGAZINE Vo l . 1 0 , N o . 2