How do you keep track of your numbers?

Opps, not done.

I use my weekly reports and I have access to some truck data through the eld systems, to see where we are all at. The key is having the drivers communicate things like truck issues and where they are at. Most will send a text to the computer which pops up on one application while those we can access their elds, we can see in near real time where they are at.

My weekly reports for the trucks are key, they indicate trends that need to be addressed and determines their life within the company.

The key for me to running an effective organization is policies to tell others what to do when something happens.

 

I’m a single truck owner operator and i started with a simple excel spreadsheet with 4 pages. One tracks expenses in all of the different categories. Second one tracks fuel separately and i include my cost, pump price, gallons, etc. The third one tracks my income and includes pickup and delivery location, line haul any acceseorials, and break down my loaded rate and total miles rate. The fourth page is a summary where i incorporate that info to give me the big picture. It includes total revenue, total expenses, total profit, rate per mile, cent per mile profit, etc.

I started tracking basic stuff and added on new columns whenever needed. Had very little experience with excel prior and found most everything to be very simple with the hardest thing being transferring info from one page to another and even that was super easy once i read about it.

Not sure if i really need to be this detailed but honestly i only update it about twice a week and that takes all of about 10-15 minutes. The one thing I’ve realized is that even though I’ve got a good reliable pre-emission Detroit series 60, I’m still spending enough money on it that i could’ve bought a new truck and prob been in the same position.

 

Awesome work! I think you are right @Ridgeline, knowing how to handle any issue in advance is critical.
So every truck in your operation is well aligned and with a strategy. Do you book loads based on that strategy?

 

Thanks @TheDudeAbides the more time you spent on it, the more you learn, right?
When you check your results of income and lanes, do you trace a strategy based on that? I mean, are your results making a way to set up a strategy for your operation, or you just try to book the best-paying load every time?

 

There is a strategy, but the drivers in the majority of trucks deal with the loads. I give them the opportunity to make the money they want to make with some rules to it. So far it has worked out better than if I selected the loads and let them just do the work.

I also have two other parts of the company, one is deticated work and the other is heavy haul, the deticated work is mostly contract work with the same drivers and a couple floaters for specific accounts. The hh work is throug two companies who dispatch them.

 

One truck , leased on to LS.

I know little about spreadsheets, good with a calculator but poor with computers.

I’ve watched guys lose data from not backing up, screw their entire year, file extensions - so I use Mr Rutherford’s profit gauges.

I find it easy, which I guess is lazy - but as @Tug Toy said - you have to know exactly where you’re at to be able to improve.

 

KR Profit Gauges accounting system is very good. If it had an invoicing module, I would use it too.

 

I take an old fashioned bookkeeping approuch to this and KPI's - key performance indictors. 5 point financial analysis profit & loss statment. Just like the regular P & L statment as follows.

1) total gross sales
Minus -
2) cost of goods sold
Equalls =
3) gross profit margin
Minus -
4) overhead expenses
Equalls =
5) net profit. (Or loss)

The first KPI i like is gross profit margin. If you dont have enough there you will stay a truck driver forever. The second KPI i like is percentage of labor in relation to fuel. If you spend more money on fuel than you do on your drivers your drivers will find a better employer. If you are a 1 truck owner operator your boss is an idiot. The big uglies got to be big and ugly by expanding that gross profit number and percentage. In my humble opinion the big deal of tracking empty miles in relation to loaded is a bit overblown. If you think its more important to reduce overhead expenses than to increase gross margin think about how much $$$ large companies have in overhead expenses in relation to smaller operaters like us.

 

After reading and reflecting on your advice, I think a lot of the key indicators you state are related to Expenses. I mean, to track profit, is more about how and what are you spending on, right?
Don't you think there should be an indicator of where your revenue is coming from (lanes, states, shippers, etc.) so you can build your projections on what loads to grab in the future?

 

The reason I stated my favorite KPI is gross profit margin is that number is very dynamic in BOTH directions. You can achieve margin expansion by either raising your gross sales or decreasing your cost of goods sold. As far as where are your sales coming from ? You find that out by looking at your invoices , the bills you send your customers. The 5 point financial analysis can be performed on every individual load not just once on the the entire business as a whole. Lanes , states , shippers is trucking. Finanacial analysis and P&L statement is business. By using business analysis you can find out where the BEST business is coming from not just loads.