Own Authority back office work load vs when you were Leased on to Carrier

Three trucks, 5 hours one day a week for all of the for mentioned and billing. I would also get the loads for the week for us all.

Spread sheets will be your friend.

 

Ifta and hour or so a quarter

compliance isn’t that bad

fuel get a nastc card better then any fleet will pass down to you

tires I always did better making my own deal with local vendors

liability i insurance is the biggest cost

 

I use Mudflap app for fuel discounts.
the Motive(formerly keeptruckin) fuel card offers .21 off cash price at Loves.
Though they’re high now, it also offers discounts on repairs at BossShops.


Anymore i use Trux out of N little rock, My internet was always down at house, dsl, or if a cloud came up tv/internet went down, so i let them do it, just a phone call and they’ve got access to my completed loads, mileage, etc.
Even when you do tags, here you got to go to little rock to redo at their office or pay them $100 to do it, saves 200 miles plus a days work.

 

People try to complicate back office work.
It's simple. Just don't miss deadlines.
Ifta keep records every month.
Billing is max 5mins from your cellphone if they will accept pictures of POD.

Compliance is nonexistent.
As was said tires are cheaper when you have a local connect.

Fuel I use Mudflap . Works in my area. Midwest

 

I use a laptop with a spreadsheet and every load I do I just fill in the usual stuff (my load number, dates, location, broker, load number, amount, rate the broker etc.) in addition to fuel *2 minutes

Every load also gets a cover sheet I made. I scan them all (cover sheet, bills, fuel receipts) using CamScanner app. Send it to my email. Then I just take out the bills and send those. This gives you a saved copy of fuel receipts in case of audit. *3 minutes

Plates is once a year and takes maybe 2 hours since I go in person to dmv but paperwork takes me 30 minutes and that’s with 5 trucks.

Ifta is quarterly and all the fuel is added up with a click of a button on spreadsheet. Takes me about 30 minutes with 5 trucks.

2290 once a year and takes 5 minutes.

Realistically outside of finding loads, it really doesn’t take much time. This is the part I hate and I do farm it out to my girlfriends daughter. As for fuel discounts we usually try to fuel at certain independents that have lower prices most times vs the big chains even with a discount card. But we have the RTS one that sometimes has good flying j discounts.

 

As said above, the back office is not complicated just slightly tine consuming unless you keep right on top of it. There is no need to outsource any of it although some folks do and that's what keeps me in business. If you do outsource there are plenty of good options available with some research.

The question you are not asking is if the rate difference is really worth the extra exposure, time and costs associated with being fully independent.

Sure, fuel and tire discounts are available, but your insurance will likely double or more vs being part of a fleet plan. Factor in the costs, including your time to do the recordkeeping and the delay in payment (or cost of quick pay) and ask yourself if it is really worth it.

Either way I'm sure you will be successful given your track record of study before jumping into something new. Best wishes.

 

Keeping the squirrel brain corralled and on task is my biggest issue. I go through a licensing agency for everything, no worrying about me not getting #### done on time that way.

 

it's a learning curve for sire especially if your not use to creating or using spreadsheets etc....

my first week here and my biggest fight was getting the bills scanned and sent through email, I figured it out now I'm a pro. cause everyone does it a little different also.

but yes spreadsheets and a good eld program to help with ifta mileage tracking. but over all I'm happy running under my own authority compared to being attached to a company