A businessman has no days off: how to organize a truck company in the USA and not burn out at work

71% of all cargo in America are transported tracks. At the same time, more than 80% of settlements in the United States rely exclusively on trucks to deliver everything - fuel, clothing, medicine and other consumer goods. With a mind-boggling $700 billion in annual sales, the industry is made up almost entirely of small businesses—93% of trucking companies in the United States have fleets of 20 trucks or fewer.

Photo: Shutterstock

It is also an immigrant industry. Many newcomers began their journey in America as truck drivers and gradually developed into small entrepreneurs with several trucks.

The option for your business is almost a win-win: the industry is profitable, there is enough cargo in the USA for everyone - trucks and drivers are always in short supply, and you can also find a job for a partner - the wives of truckers often become dispatchers when a family owns several trucks. But everything goes like clockwork for the time being.

In the truck business, the same story happens to almost all owners of small companies - the business is growing, but there are no more hours in the day to manage it.

The fleet of trucks needs to be managed, and this is a very multi-level and labor-intensive process, noted in Arsus company. Incthat manages this. Arsus representative Stanislav explained that Fleet management includes:

• regular truck inspections;
• repairs;
• round-the-clock calls from drivers whose truck or trailer broke down;
• regular communication with workshops that are always ready to do more with your truck than you need;
• reception of new drivers and their preparation for work (orientation);
• preparing the truck for a new driver - checking and equipping it in accordance with DOT;
• equipping the truck with various amenities for the driver; mattress, microwave, inverter, refrigerator, cargo fasteners, spare fluids (oil, antifreeze, window washer, etc.).

In the event of an accident, communication with the police, the towing service and the nearest available workshop is added to these tasks; deciding what to do with the driver, sending him for a drug (alcohol) test, and then a detailed discussion of the cost and details of the repair, calling the insurance company, etc.

All this operational activity falls on the shoulders of the owner of a trucking company, and as long as he has 5-10 cars, he is able to cope with this, although sometimes he has to stay up at night and spend hours on the phone, especially if an accident occurs.

But as soon as the fleet grows to 20-30 trucks, it becomes almost impossible to manage it on your own, unless the owner of the company is a superman who can work around the clock, not eat or sleep. If a businessman still tries to provide fleet management on his own, then due to constant employment he hardly sees his family, and the level of service in relation to drivers drops.

As a result, the business owner decides to delegate the management of the trucks to a fleet manager. There are currently few such specialists with real experience on the market, so the search can be long and frustrating. But even if you managed to quickly find the right person, he will work from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 18:00 - after all, he also has a family at home, and no one has repealed the Labor Code. This means that you will either have to cover nights and weekends yourself, that is, again not see your family, or look for another fleet manager for these shifts.

Your trucks travel on the roads of America 24/7 365 a year, and to ensure truck management in this mode, you need about 4 fleet managers: for day shifts - one on weekdays, one on weekends, as well as 2 people for night shifts, because one employee will definitely not be able to stay awake 7 nights a week.

This is convenient (assuming that all managers are professionals and do their work conscientiously, although this is not always the case), but expensive. The minimum wage for a fleet manager working 5 days a week for 40-50 hours is $1200, you have two of them: night and day. That is, in total we get $2400 per week. Now let's take those two that work on weekends - night and day. Their pay will be a minimum of $25/hour. Weekends are two days, 48 ​​hours. That turns out to be another $1200 for these two people. In just one week, you spend a total of $3600 on salaries for the fleet department alone. A little expensive...

Photo: Shutterstock

It would be more rational and efficient to transfer the management of trucks to a third-party company that provides these services, rather than creating your own fleet department, which needs to be provided with working conditions, communications, and most importantly (and difficult) - formed in the context of a shortage of professional fleet managers on the market .

Chicago Arsus company. Inc provides truck management services. Its specialists 24/7 do absolutely all the work that the owner of the company did at the stage of its development, regardless of whether you have one truck (and there is no desire and experience to manage it) or a couple of hundred.

Arsus inc services:

• 24/7 support service;
• annual truck inspections (the company has a corresponding license);
• pti and poti, truck/trailer equipment;
• preparation for work of new drivers (online);
• preparing trucks for new drivers;
• damage assessment and investigation in case of an accident;
• budgeting;
• any repair in proven (and inexpensive) workshops in all states with full control of the entire process;
• prompt purchase of any spare parts;
• services of tow trucks with towbars;
• transporting your truck across the US.

In state Arsus. Inc — several dozen people with many years of experience in the cargo transportation industry. Some of them started their lives in America as mechanics, so they are well versed in truck repair; others managed fleets for companies with up to 570 trucks, meaning they would not be intimidated by any adventures that a company that owns a couple of dozen vehicles might encounter.

Arsus inc provides fleet management at all levels - from assistance to the driver on the road and advice on how to fix the problem so that he can get to the workshop without calling a tow truck; before dealing with insurance companies after an accident. In addition, at Arsus. Inc in each state there are 1-2 proven workshops with experienced mechanics, which the company has repeatedly tested in operation.

If your company has less than 100 trucks, then Arsus Inc charges $1500 per week to manage them non-stop. The company is ready to get to work very quickly, even a day after your call.

To find out the details of the service and agree on cooperation with Arsus inc, call 312-792-1650 or visit them Facebook page.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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