A slice of the pie

One of the many things I have recently relearned while taking the CABS course through ATBS was the fact that there is only so much money out there to pay an owner operator.

The easiest way to explain it was to describe the money that was paid in from the loads is to describe the money like it was a pie.

You can only slice a pie so many times in order for everyone to get their piece.  This sounds easy enough doesn't it?

Now the question is whether or not the 'company' lets everyone know exactly where all of those slices are and what they go to.

The amount charged for hauling a load is not always the only income the company receives   It also receives compensation from other things, such as bulk fuel discounts.

What are bulk fuel discounts?  These are discounts paid to the company by a major fuel supplier for rather large purchases of fuel.  It's a way to lower the price and rate for the fuel as more is purchased from a supplier.  This does get a person pondering on a few things.  The owner/operators of the company I drive for number as a sizable portion of the companies fleet (such as over 20% of the total fleet numbers).  Taking this into consideration, we don't receive any type of fuel discount although we do constitute a good measurable percentage of the purchases.

I don't begrudge the company on making any profit.  Heck, that's what I'm in this for, the money, I am running a business.  What I do have a minor issue with is the company pocketing all of the discounts that my fuel purchases that 'I' pay for to begin with.  I believe there is a way to work out a system where everyone feels that they are getting what they should.  The question is, will they do right in their business practices and do it?

What did you learn today?

Like I have said earlier I am part of an interesting pilot program that the company is using.

One of the things I have learned is that there are some nice freight lanes, but they do shift around.

There for a while I was having a hard time trying to figure out where they were located at, until a fellow trucker posted on one of our forum boards a nice little website that can be used.

This website does have a monthly service fee, BUT, the small cost of the site can be more than made back just by the fuel savings router it has that you can use just in that.  That portion of it is real nice finding you the cheapest fuel on the route you want to take.  Just that alone pays for the fee in one to two fuel ups.

This site also allows you to create and look at various freight lanes, the going rate in a specific state, and other things of that nature.  It is also a load board showing current loads that are in that area that you are looking at.

There is an age old axiom... Work smarter, not harder.  I also use a nice saying that was coined by Kevin Rutherford who has the website Lets Truck, and a XM/Sirius radio show on the RoadDog channel.  His saying is 'You have to do the hard work'.  What he means by that is you have to do the work that is not easy for you to do.  It doesn't necessarily means work that is harder physically, but work that is more demanding, that you don't do out of habit...yet.  It's the work that can really make you more successful if that is what you want to do.

So, what did you learn today?  You know its a fruitful day when you learn something, even if its small.