The Local Trucking BlogWelcome to the online community for local trucking, cartage, and P&D companies in North America

A number of TMS providers now offer local trucking companies a variety of alternatives to the traditional in-house installation. In the more traditional setup, both the software application and your TMS data reside on a physical server in your company’s office building. For many local P&D companies, this method of hosting data in-house may still be the best one.

However, there are some other newer options for TMS hosting that you may want to consider.  They include the following:

1.   Data in the Cloud, an App on your Desktop (“Managed Hosting”)

In this scenario, you would launch your TMS by clicking on an icon on your desktop, just as if you’re launching Excel.  The TMS application appears on your screen, just as it would if your data lived on your local. The only difference from the traditional in-house model—a difference that is invisible to the user—is that your data lives offsite, hosted by your TMS provider or one of its trusted providers such as Rackspace.

2.  Data in the Cloud, App in the Cloud (an “All-Cloud TMS)

With this alternative, the TMS application itself lives “in the cloud” and is a web-based application.  You get to it by going to a website and logging in there.  You may already have experienced something like this if you use an offsite login to get access to your Exchange e-mail server.

How to Decide?

As usual, there are advantages and disadvantages to any setup. For example, some add-on TMS options (such as GPS or route optimization) require you to have an in-house TMS, so that its database can talk to your TMS’s database.  In some cases, the cloud-hosted database works just fine with third-party vendors.  Check with your current and potential future vendors and see which is the best option for you.

Happy Shopping from the Local Trucking Blog!

–The Editors

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We hear all the time that communication between dispatchers and drivers is a huge problem in local trucking.  This is what our customers are complaining about:

• Most handheld devices are prohibited while driving.
• Driver/dispatcher communication is a huge bottleneck in the office.  When only one person knows critical ETA or POD information, customers don’t get the info they need when they need it.
• Drivers aren’t reliable in reporting arrival and departure times.

The best way to manage your communications between dispatchers and drivers is to eliminate the need for so much talking.  Now you can cut down dispatcher-to-driver talk and still provide superior customer service.

OneTerminal TMS from JSY Software eliminates risky talk in the following ways:

• It updates actual arrival and departure times for each pickup or delivery with no talking to drivers.
• It separates pickup from delivery so that you have accurate data for each action.
• It lets everyone on your network see all POD information in real time.
• You simply push out updates (like new pickups) to drivers with a click.
• Best of all:  no talking required.

You will be able to get every job done safely without talking to drivers when you are using OneTerminal TMS.

For your free hands-on consultation, fill out the short form below, or contact us at jmiller @ jsysoftware.com (Jonathan Miller) or 877-540-0030.

[contact-form] [contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Website (optional)” type=”url” /] [contact-field label=”Comment” type=”textarea” required=”true” /] [/contact-form]

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The best way to manage your communications between dispatchers and drivers is to eliminate the need for so much talking.

OneTerminal TMS from JSY Software is your solution. It virtually eliminates risky talk with drivers.

• Automatically, and without the need for any driver input at all, keep track of available weight and space capacity on every truck, in real time.
• Keep track of Hazmat quantities and weights, in real time. Send placarding alerts.
• Send order details, including routing instructions, with a single mouse click.
• Best of all: No talking required.

Make your drivers safer and give your staff and customers better information – and get it faster.

OneTerminal TMS gives you a better operation with almost no driver talk.

For your free hands-on consultation, fill out the short form below, or contact us at jmiller @ jsysoftware.com (Jonathan Miller) or 877-540-0030.

[contact-form] [contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Website (optional)” type=”url” /] [contact-field label=”Comment” type=”textarea” required=”true” /] [/contact-form]

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There was an interesting question posed by Deborah Lockridge, editor at Heavy Duty Trucking, early this week, which sparked a discussion thread:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-tips-do-you-have-134135.S.107106598?qid=44123cd7-93fa-474f-9c4e-55590cc41bbd&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=.gmp_134135

While some people commented on fuel efficiency, reducing accidents caused by sloppy backing up, and so on, we feel strongly that having the right TMS is the #1 way to cut costs in local P&D, by reducing bottlenecks and redundancies in the office environment and by making drivers more productive.

If your staff never had to put people on hold to answer a POD request, how much time would that alone save you, not to mention how much your customers would appreciate it?

As one person commented in the replies:  “The wrong software is wrong, even if free, and the right TMS is golden, no matter the cost. The money spent is insignificant compared to the personnel savings and increased productivity of the drivers.”

—The Editors

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The driver shortage continues to make headlines.

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20120213-solutions-to-driver-shortage-elusive/

We have a local angle on the situation, in case you missed it:

http://www.jsysoftware.com/blog/?p=191

Local driving takes some real skills, as our earlier blogpost says. The HOS and pay-per-mile issues that plague OTR carriers, as well as the quality-of-family-life issues so often mentioned, are less applicable on the local scene.

Keep your local drivers safe and busy and you will not have a driver shortage!

–The Editors

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The IRS is announcing a “voluntary reclassification” program that would provide partial protection for businesses that agree to prospectively treat workers, who had been formerly treated as contractors, as employees.

Click here to read the full article.

Food for thought!

–The Editors

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We found this article on TruckingInfo.com that discusses the possible options and benefits of deploying GPS in a smaller fleet:

Click here to see the full article.

Depending on what works best with your TMS, there are a variety of GPS packages that can give you the functionality you need.  In addition to watching GPS “breadcrumbs” on a screen, dispatchers can benefit from systems such as Actsoft’s Comet Tracker, which has simple drop-down forms for drivers to enter arrival and departure times; this can be used as an alternative to geofencing.

Keep in mind that EOBR rules that usually apply for OTR fleets are waived for local trucking because of the 100-mile exemption.

–The Editors

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Everyone is complaining about the driver shortage. But don’t make the mistake of hiring unqualified drivers.  As we have said previously, it is always worth waiting for the best driver to hire instead of panicking and taking the best available candidate on hand at the moment.  Your company will be rewarded with lower turnover, lower claims, and higher productivity.

In local pickup and delivery work, what are the top 5 reasons you would not want to hire a driver?  Here’s our list of best practices:

• Reason #5:  Securing freight. If a driver can’t use e-track or logistic straps, that driver shouldn’t work for you.
• Reason #4:   Liftgates.  Your drivers need to show you — not just tell you — that they can take a skid up and down.  Make every candidate do this in front of you.
• Reason #3:  Math.  Every driver must be able to count the number of pallets in a shipment, with no mistakes.
• Reason #2:  Hazmat. Don’t just look at the endorsement!  Make the driver take a written test.
• And the Top, #1, Most Important Thing in local P&D that a driver needs to do to make you money:  Backing and Spotting.  Make the driver show you his/her speed and accuracy.  When you’re making 20 stops a day, you can’t afford drivers who are slow at this.

Do the right thing.  Be patient, and be tough.  If you flunk between half  and 3/4 of your applicants, you have a good test.

–The Editors

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We just found a great article in the New York Times, on the role that luck plays in some business being 10x more successful in their sectors than others.  Everyone has luck, but the issue is this:  what sort of return on luck do you have?

Click here to read the article.

Moving Forward,

Jonathan Miller, Editor

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Because the proposed EOBR regulation did not address how the rule could prevent EOBR devices from being used to harrass drivers, a federal appeals court in the Seventh Circuit (in Chicago) vacated the regulation on August 26th.

Click here to see the article in CCJ.

As we’ve posted before, the EOBR rule generally would not have applied in local trucking because of the 100- or 150-mile HOS exemption.  Despite this setback for the FMCSA, the EOBR issue is not dead.  Watch this space for further news.

–The Editors

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