My company just got our authority and I want to put it to use.

Im not an owner operator but I figure you guys may have the best advice for my situation. I work for a craft brewer that packages, stores, and ships its beer cold. We have a Prostar and 53ft reefer which we use to deliver beer to a network of 15 distributors and counting in the southeast. I head out in the truck every couple of weeks and deliver to 4-8 of them and back haul our empty kegs. We recently got our mc authority as we are working out deals with a couple other breweries to deliver for them to many of the same distributors and pick up their empty kegs.

Since purchasing the truck last year we haven't been running it full time. It is however in our plans to get to that point just hauling our own beer as we are experiencing steady growth. For now Im the only cdl holder at the company and when Im not out making deliveries around the south east, Im working in the brewery. I would however like to run the truck more full time. My boss is obviously completely supportive of us putting the truck to work in its off weeks. We have office personnel and a logistics person as we handle a lot of shipping and receiving as it is. We will all be sitting down in the next couple of weeks and discussing the best plan for running the truck more. I myself would like to play a role in this venture beyond just being the driver. My thoughts right now are to reach out to various vendors we work with already and try to secure some loads. Also, posting the truck available on load boards and working with brokers to see what we can get. There is no pressure to take cheap rates to get the truck moving from our facility as it serves its primary purpose just hauling our own product.

Im sure I will come up with a variety of questions, especially when it comes to protocol for various types of shippers and receivers. For now, any thoughts you guys may have would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Thanks for the replies! brian001219, you definitely recognize why I want to work hard to make this venture work for my employer and hopefully be more than just a driver. Delivering our own product to our out of state distributors is worthwhile in itself, what we can generate on top of that is icing on the cake. We do have a mix of kegs and cans. Probably 65/35 in favor of kegs, so the truck up until now has never been anywhere near fully loaded for the return trip. Some LTL for the return trips if we can get it would no doubt be great and TL jobs for the weeks Im not out delivering our beer is also my goal. Most of our supplies are delivered LTL with some exceptions like grain and cans. I will definitely look into whether or not it would be in our interest to possibly pick up some brokered freight heading in the direction of those suppliers and hauling it back. As for other breweries, for the most part craft brewers are friendly with each other. Some breweries, including ours, even do collaboration brews with other breweries. The one thing we all have in common is our biggest competition is still the mega macro brewers.

 

Our sales people call on stores, bars, restaurants, etc, but they have to place their order through a distributor.

 

The time has come. My boss has given me the clear to put the truck to work. Even though I'm a company driver, I'm the only driver so I still have to figure a lot of stuff out that most companies probably have a plan for already.

What do you owner/ops do if you have a family emergency while loaded? If empty and within a few hundred miles of home with HOS be ######, would you drop trailer and bobtail or park the truck and rent a car? I hate having to plan for something like this, but you never know when tragedy may strike.

 

No doubt HOS would be the last thing on my mind. But what would you do if loaded, and with a reefer especially? My family comes first but I dont want to just ignore my responsibility. If I've got our beer in the trailer, I know my boss wouldn't have a problem with me dropping everything and doing what I have to do. But I want to be able to help him arrange for a repower or something. If its a load booked through a broker, are they prepared to make arrangements in an emergency like that?