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

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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It now costs over $200 to fill up a straight truck, and pouring 120 gallons into your twin-75 equipped tractor can cost $500.  In an earlier post we discussed fueling strategies.  If $10 is saved on labor, it is as good as $10 saved on fuel cost.  What else is there?

We are not going to list all the well known strategies for reducing fuel efficiency, such as more efficient trucks, driving slower, less idling, correct tire pressure, etc.  Many of these techniques have little benefit in the local trucking universe.  Often overlooked is what kind of diesel is being used. This is a potential money-saver for you.  Think about it.

During the winter months diesel is often blended with expensive additives to prevent ice buildup.  Sometimes standard practice starts the “additive season” too soon and ends too late.  The difference in cost can be ten cents per gallon or more.

In the warmer months, or warmer climates, biodiesel is an excellent choice.  Because of government subsidies, biodiesel is often $0.15/gallon less than plain diesel.  Biodiesel gets the same or better mileage and comes with no additional maintenance or other expense.  Look for a source, figure out the extra labor cost (if any) to get the truck to the appropriate facility, and make an informed decision.  Most wet fueling operations can provide biodiesel.  It is your tax dollars that are providing the subsidy, so you might as well get some benefit from it.

So, what is biodiesel?  Biodiesel is a blend of diesel fuel with organic materials other than ethanol, such as used cooking grease, canola oil, etc.  It is refined and cleaned before use.  Here is a link to an interesting slide show about biodiesel:

http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/sustainability/pdfs/Advance_Biofuel_Webinar_20100827.pdf

As usual:  keep doing the homework, and you can probably keep finding new places to save money.

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How often do you get a quick oil change for your personal vehicle and the technician shows you a dirty-looking air filter, declaring that it must be changed?  Every time?  The fact is that a filter is getting dirty means it is doing its job.  It is not possible to determine by looking if a filter has reached the end of the line.  The best test is using an air restriction gauge. You may find the savings from longer replacement intervals to be enough to buy a carton of gauges!

Here is a link to an article detailing best practices with Air, Coolant, and Fuel filters:

http://www.fleetequipmentmag.com/Item/85449/boost_filter_performance_with_proper_fleet_maintenance.aspx

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