There is a significant difference between cash and the clock.
Cash comes and goes; the clock never returns.
How many hauliers fret every time they are doomed to count yet another vehicle returning from a successful delivery carrying nothing but fresh air? This is a prime example of how the clock cannot be beaten while the wallet can be refilled. The money may be recouped by carrying back loads, but that opportunity in time to carry something while the wheels trundled and the fuel burned will never come back. Here are simple tips on how to maximise every one of those opportunities, and point your SME to optimum efficiency
Are your vehicles ready?
You need to make sure your vehicles and drivers are ready for the back loads because you, as a planner for success and not failure, need to eliminate all dead mileage. Probably the only thing worse than knowing you missed the return leg is knowing that your dead mileage came from unprepared vehicles. Hence you need to plan to assure yourself of the ability to work in such a way that you can sell off these return leg journeys with the same confidence as if the vehicles were leaving fresh and ready from your home depot.
Who is the next client (and the ones after that)?
Just as you plan to create a client list that moves your vehicles from your depot in a continuous flow, be prepared to counter-balance this with clients who will mirror this list to fill back loads. You may have a very firm hand on the operation of your routes and vehicles, but if no one needs to move cargo from those return legs, what is the point? You don't need to be able to tell the future, but you do need foresight enough to see that your hopes for clients to fill your return legs are not pipe dreams.
Can you handle your routes?
Since you ultimately want a steady flow of back loads coming back to your depot, it is essential to know these routes back to front so you can market the return legs properly and in a timely fashion. If you tend to have a rather laissez-faire attitude to the organisation, you are more likely to struggle to find cargo in time to fill your vehicles on their return leg. It's a fact: dead mileage comes from slipshod routes.
How about an online haulage exchange?
By marketing on online haulage exchanges and keeping yourself switched online at all times, you'll grow your chance of matching a last minute trip to a potential client for back loads. Online haulage exchanges take advantage of the Internet to connect you to an ever-growing hub of clients looking to move their cargo, both now and in the future. It is a modern way of killing dead mileage.
How many hauliers fret every time they are doomed to count yet another vehicle returning from a successful delivery carrying nothing but fresh air? This is a prime example of how the clock cannot be beaten while the wallet can be refilled. The money may be recouped by carrying back loads, but that opportunity in time to carry something while the wheels trundled and the fuel burned will never come back. Here are simple tips on how to maximise every one of those opportunities, and point your SME to optimum efficiency
Are your vehicles ready?
You need to make sure your vehicles and drivers are ready for the back loads because you, as a planner for success and not failure, need to eliminate all dead mileage. Probably the only thing worse than knowing you missed the return leg is knowing that your dead mileage came from unprepared vehicles. Hence you need to plan to assure yourself of the ability to work in such a way that you can sell off these return leg journeys with the same confidence as if the vehicles were leaving fresh and ready from your home depot.
Who is the next client (and the ones after that)?
Just as you plan to create a client list that moves your vehicles from your depot in a continuous flow, be prepared to counter-balance this with clients who will mirror this list to fill back loads. You may have a very firm hand on the operation of your routes and vehicles, but if no one needs to move cargo from those return legs, what is the point? You don't need to be able to tell the future, but you do need foresight enough to see that your hopes for clients to fill your return legs are not pipe dreams.
Can you handle your routes?
Since you ultimately want a steady flow of back loads coming back to your depot, it is essential to know these routes back to front so you can market the return legs properly and in a timely fashion. If you tend to have a rather laissez-faire attitude to the organisation, you are more likely to struggle to find cargo in time to fill your vehicles on their return leg. It's a fact: dead mileage comes from slipshod routes.
How about an online haulage exchange?
By marketing on online haulage exchanges and keeping yourself switched online at all times, you'll grow your chance of matching a last minute trip to a potential client for back loads. Online haulage exchanges take advantage of the Internet to connect you to an ever-growing hub of clients looking to move their cargo, both now and in the future. It is a modern way of killing dead mileage.
Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the world's largest neutral trading hub for same day back load jobs in the express freight exchange industry. Over 2,500 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Norman_Dulwich
No comments:
Post a Comment