CCJ

July 2017

Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal

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62 commercial carrier journal | july 2017 Technology helps fleets ensure they have money on hand BY AARON HUFF I n the anatomy of a trucking busi- ness, if profitability is the central nervous system, then cash flow is the lifeblood. Declining profits may cause motor carriers or freight brokers to develop an abnormal heartbeat, but when forc- es constrict cash flow, survival is at risk. A variety of technologies can help keep cash flow healthy. Some are designed to maintain tighter controls on the outflow, or expenses, to slow the bleeding. Other technologies can help accelerate the conversion of receivables to cash. The check's not in the mail As the logistics and operations manager of Evans Delivery Co., Sue Schoenthaler is in charge of a process that impacts cash flow. She manages payables for the Schuylkill Haven, Pa.- based company's brokerage operations. Evans Delivery operates more than 1,300 tractors across multiple compa- nies in the intermodal, truckload and flatbed markets. One of its companies, West Motor Freight, pro- vides full-service truckload and brokerage for customers in the Eastern United States. More than 12,000 carriers are in the brokerage database used by West Mo- tor Freight and other companies under the Evans umbrella, Schoenthaler said. Evans Delivery recently began using Comdata's Comchek Mobile peer- to-peer electronic payments system. Schoenthaler expects Comchek Mo- bile will save the company money and offer cash-flow benefits to carriers that haul for Evans Delivery. "ey will not have to deal with checks in the mail," she said. Evans Delivery currently pays carriers with paper checks 30 days aer invoice. It also offers a weekly quick-pay program for a 2 percent fee on invoices. Schoenthaler plans to require carri- ers on Evans' weekly pay program to use Comchek Mobile to receive funds. e payment platform soon will be rolled out to carriers on the 30-day pay cycle. "I think once carriers hear about Comchek Mobile and the word starts spreading, it will be a good incentive for carriers to haul for us," she said. "I think we will have thousands of carri- ers using it by the end of the year." Evans' corporate office started using Comchek Mobile to transfer funds to a compa- ny-owned factoring firm in Fargo, N.D. e factoring company receives the funds electronically from the corporate office and then pays the carriers for their in- voices. Evans Delivery is building a new transportation management soware system and plans to integrate Com- chek Mobile into its payables process. Until then, Schoenthaler will use Comdata's portal to send funds. Peer payments Comchek Mobile's peer-to-peer pay- ment platform expands on the capa- bilities of Comdata's Comchek Express money transfer system that has been used by the trucking industry for 40 years, said Terrence McCrossan, senior vice president for Comdata North Evans Delivery uses Comdata's Comchek Mobile peer-to-peer electronic payments system to save the company money and offer cash-flow benefits to its carriers.

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