Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/683061
Trucking Topics 28 // COMPANY DRIVER // JUNE 2016 By Todd Dills Driver before the truck in small fleet expansion T he long-term goal of many independent owner-operators with their own authority is to expand the business to more than just the single truck. Often, the prime focus to that end is to raise capital over time in order to invest in additional trucks, but some longtime veterans have discovered that such an approach could be faulty in that it puts the equipment before the most important part of the equation — the operator who will be behind the wheel. For a small fleet operator who still drives him/herself, finding a self-starter kind of individual with a passion for trucking, or such an individual with clear potential to develop such a passion, is key. Absent employed dispatch and in-house maintenance personnel, and given the time constraint placed on a small fleet operator who still drives, the employed driver to one extent or another will need to be able to take personal control of and effectively manage his time and truck maintenance, and manage his own loads within the small fleet's universe. Such consideration could be the lynchpin in long-term profitability. Ted Bowers, owner of two-truck Ted Bowers Trucking of Kingston, Tenn. (Bowers in addition has one owner-operator leased to his business), reported having recently sold two trucks for reasons having to do directly with the trucks' drivers' inability to do the things listed above. 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. Ted Bowers, an independent flatbedder from Tennessee