Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/675322
Voices 10 | Overdrive | May 2016 The goal of many inde- pendents is to expand be- yond a single truck. Often, the plan is first to raise capital to buy trucks, but some have discovered that such an approach could be faulty because it puts the equipment before the most important part of the equation: the operator. For a small-fleet operator who still drives, finding a self-starting individual with a passion for trucking, or such an individual with clear potential to devel- op such a passion, is key. Absent employed dispatch and in-house maintenance personnel, and given the time constraint placed on an owner who still drives, the employed driver will need to effectively manage his/her time and truck maintenance, and in many cases assume responsibility for staying loaded. Such consideration could be the linchpin in long-term profitability. Ted Bowers, owner of three-truck Ted Bowers Trucking of Kingston, Tenn. (with one owner-op- erator leased on and one driver employed other than himself), recently sold two trucks for reasons having to do directly with the trucks' drivers' inability to do these things. One driver knew nothing about the truck's systems themselves, "and he'd tell you that," Bowers says, though in many instances the driver was dependable when dispatched. But in the end, his lack of knowledge and gener- ally reactive approach to freight proved more bur- den than it was worth. If the truck/driver situa- tion in small fleet expan- sion presents a chicken-egg conundrum, Bowers suggests first focusing on a driver exhibiting the independent characteris- tics described above. Few respondents to the poll on this page (3 percent) report actually doing so, though the largest share (44 per- cent) reported belief that the driver was the most important part of the ex- pansion equation, whether access to the truck precedes hiring or not. Also noted by some was that having the truck first can be a good recruiting tool. As small fleet opera- tions grow, considerations change. Mark White of Tennessee-based Old Time Express, interviewed last fall, had freight in excess of his company's capacity to deliver on actually moving it in its 15 company-owned trucks. He turned to an expansion model that puts great emphasis on the drivers. White and his fami- ly-owned company nego- tiated with its insurance company to start hiring student drivers. "We went well beyond" indus- try-standard guidelines required by the insurance company, he says. Working with a local technical college's CDL program, Old Time takes graduates out for a couple of weeks to shadow a local driver, gradually moving them to solo driving. "It might be up to a two-year program before they're free and clear" with a dedicated truck, White says. "We even went as far as putting dashcams, forward-facing, on the trainees with the trainer – and also once they go solo, for up to two years." First in fleet growth: Driver or truck? Todd Dills I've always focused on a driver agreement before purchasing the truck 3% OverdriveOnline.com poll Best to buy a truck to fit a dependable driver or hire a driver to fill an empty truck? The driver is the most important part, whether you've got the truck or not 44% Other/I don't know 5% Having the truck first is the best way to seal the deal with any driver 16% I've never hired a driver 23% I've always focused on purchasing before hiring 9%