Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/148061
Business New discount sources Parts Labor Tom Brown, a Georgia-based former regional manager for Caterpillar Truck and Engine, launched the Surplus Solutions website (Surplus-Solutions.com) in April to offer wholesale prices on fleet and dealer surplus parts. Brown sees owner-operators with older trucks as those who could benefit from the site. "We encourage [dealers and fleets] to list their surplus parts with us," he says. The website's parts initially were found mostly at Southeastern dealers, but the range is expanding rapidly, Brown says. Users "deal directly with the facility offering the part," he says, and the service is free for buyers. Brown says operators can save as much as 40 percent on parts costs over a dealer shop's direct price. Discounted labor rates at participating new truck dealers are available via Surplus Solutions' service with a program that operates similarly to Hotels. com's repository of discounted unsold hotel rooms. Dealers are offered the opportunity to post a certain number of discounted shop hours; Four Star Freightliner in Montgomery, Ala., recently reduced surplus hours from $110 to $85. Getting service at the equipment's branded dealer helps the owner because "if he then has an issue on the repair, it's often warrantable nationwide," Brown says. Partial loads The new OneMorePallet.com offers Priceline-style customer-initiated Surplus Solutions enables dealers and fleets to mark down excess parts and labor. pricing to small shippers — socalled "retail" freight movers with small loads going long distances that don't need a full truck dedicated to their move and are not timesensitive. Shipper users of the site post logistical and pricing details of their load, whereupon participating owner-operators then can negotiate for them. For more about it, scan the QR, or search for the service at OverdriveOnline.com. Gauges Rates surge to all-time highs Diesel volatility: The new normal? Diesel prices have been reported every week by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration since March 1994. In that time, price volatility has increased with the price: Flatbed, reefer and dry van rates rose to their highest spot market per-mile rates ever in June, according to online load board Internet Truckstop, which began tracking rates in 2005. All three segments climbed for the fourth consecutive month. Dry van topped $2 a mile for just the second time, and flatbed rose above $2.10 for the first time since June 2012. DRY VAN FLATBED 1990s: 1 time in 302 weeks 0.3% 2000s: 95 times in 521 weeks 2010s: 42 times in 176 weeks REEFER 97% $2.25 Internet Truckstop $1.75 $1.50 June 2011 June 2012 June 2013 23% Number of times the weekly change in the national average retail diesel price exceeded 5 cents. Percentages indicate the frequency of those changes in those periods. $2.50 $2.00 18% That's the driver turnover rate at large truckload fleets in the first quarter of this year. After turnover jumped above 100 percent in the third quarter of 2012, it slipped at year-end to 90 percent, says the American Trucking Associations. At small truckload fleets, turnover was 82 percent in the first quarter of this year, up from 76 percent in the fourth quarter. 20 | Overdrive | August 2013 Business_Lead_0813.indd 20 7/29/13 4:26 PM