Our success relies on the success of our owner operators and drivers. Len Dubois Trucking has opportunities for Winnipeg and Manitoba owner operators. Contact us and see what we can do together.
Taking the leap to become an owner operator is a natural progression in a truck drivers career. It’s a big step as you transition from being an employee to owning your own business. Now you’re not an employee with a trucking company – you are business partners.
Once you have skin in the game you need to change your thinking. You now have a bottom line to worry about, cash flow to worry about, and costs and margins to worry about.
The most important thing is to operate your truck as what it is – a business.
It begins with the purchase of the truck. What do you need from this equipment? Do you need a shiny show truck? Do you need a big motor with lots of power?
The answer is you need a quality, efficient truck. Your profit will be determined by your margin; the difference between money coming in and money going out. Like every business you need to be efficient with your money. Trucking has tight margins to begin with and very little upward pressure on rates, efficiency is critical in the trucking business.
The truth is trucks with big motors, big power, lots of shiny chrome, and poor aerodynamics are not as efficient as more traditional fleet trucks which have specs for fuel efficiency.
Show trucks are more expensive which means you’ll tie up more capital in a depreciating asset. If you finance a larger amount of money, on an unnecessarily expensive truck, then the debt maintenance can sink you. Remember this is a tool to make MONEY not an ego projector. It’s a bad idea for any business to make capital investments in equipment which isn’t cost effective for the job.
It takes about 50 more horse power to maintain 65 MPH with a heavy show truck than a fleet truck with favorable specs. This will mean cents per mile in fuel efficiency loss. Heavy show trucks have less payload capacity; gross weight limits apply no matter how good you look in your truck. The ideal weight of your tractor with fuel is 20,000 lb. This allows you to maximize your payload; more shippers today require equipment which can take on heavier loads.
Automatic transmission trucks are mainstream now for a very good reason – PROFITS. Len Dubois Trucking has realized 3/4 MPG increase in fuel efficiency by moving to Volvo’s I-Shift. The automatic transmissions shifts for best fuel efficiency and also takes a lot of pressure off the driver in stop and go traffic. They are really nice to drive.
Success in business happens with good decision and proper information. We work to help our owner operators succeed.
