Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/769491
Business January 2017 | Overdrive | 21 NEWS BRIEFS Though many owner-operator experts – and Overdrive, too – preach the value of tracking costs per mile to monitor your business and maximize your earnings, Tennessee-based own- er-operator Dan Heister takes a dif- ferent approach. It's one that he says gives him more freedom and doesn't get in the way of high earnings. "Screw the per-mile stuff – I just do simple math," says Heister, who pulls a flatbed and is leased to Clayton, Ala.-based Boyd Bros. His weekly revenue target is $5,000, which allows him to cover his costs and pay himself a consis- tent weekly paycheck. Rather than melding his finances, Heister keeps separate business and personal accounts, a strategy that paid off when trucking went south in the Great Recession. "I was in survival mode in 2008," he says. "I had about $25,000 saved when the recession started. At the end of it, there wasn't much left. That's one of the mistakes own- er-operators make, spending all their money. When you have a bad month, you start losing stuff." His savings strategies helped buoy him through thousands of dollars in repair bills and low demand during the recession. Heister allocates a nickel per mile to a maintenance and repair account for the 2004 International 9400i he bought in 2012. When his truck needs work, it never comes out of his take-home pay, even when he's needed expensive repairs. Heister's maintenance account gen- erally has more than $10,000 in it unless he's fresh from having major work done. "A lot of guys are sitting around looking for those $2.50-a-mile loads," he says. While others are sitting, Heister's rolling. His strategy pays him well: He's brought home more than $100,000 in net income in some years since the recession. He topped $90,000 in 2015. – James Jaillet Saving habit pays off for flatbedder Dan Heister's time in the U.S. Army in the 1980s gave him the patience needed to deal with trucking's frustrations. "A lot of it is 'hurry up and wait,' " he says. "I think that's why the military experience works in trucking. It's a learning experience every day." Turnover lowest in five years The annualized driver turnover rate at large truckload fleets fell to 81 percent in the third quarter – the lowest it's been since the second quarter of 2011, according to the American Trucking Associations. Soft freight has been the main force putting downward pressure on turnover, says ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. He predicts freight and, subsequently, turnover rates will rebound. The turnover rate at truckload fleets with less than $30 million in annual revenue rose one point to 80 percent. Turnover at less-than-truckload carriers fell three points to 9 percent. Comdata offers varied discounts for independents Small carriers looking to manage fuel and operating costs have a new option in Comdata's new MyFleet Program, designed for fleets with 100 or fewer trucks. Smaller fleets get deals on fuel, hotel stays, scale weighs, establishing credit, factoring services and more. Visit Comdata.com. Bypass sites expanding PrePass-approved trucks now are eligi- ble for weigh station pre-clearance and bypass at new locations near Mt. Pass, Calif.; Superior, Wis.; and Sundance, Wyo. Help Inc. also has installed new weigh-in-motion scales at two PrePass locations near Cheyenne, Wyo. Drivewyze also is adding bypass services at seven weigh stations in Michigan on U.S. Interstates 69, 75, 94 and 96, all major cor- ridors for Michigan's busiest international commercial crossings – the Ambassador Bridge and the Blue Water Bridge. James Jaillet