The trucking industry keeps the United States’ economy flowing. Without truck-drivers hauling resources on the road, a great number of industries would come to a stand-still. Around 71% of the United State’s freight is moved by trucks. This equates to nearly 11 billion tons of freight. With numbers like these, it’s no secret for trucking business owners that this industry is so vital to the country. 

Even so, not every trucking business is being run as efficiently as it could be. Just as trucking is important to the country, tracking records is important to trucking business owners. There are many things that can be done to run your business more efficiently, such as understanding your expenses or using trucking management software. 

Use a Trucking Business Plan

It doesn’t matter if your trucking business plan looks into the next few months or years. What matters is that you have one. Basically, your business plan is a road map to running an efficient and successful trucking business. In this business plan, you will document if you will need to buy or lease equipment, what trucking equipment you need, and the number of drivers you manage. You will give a description of your trucking company, as well as its goals. 

Budget the Profits of Your Trucking Business

By pocketing profits to spend instead of saving them, you are digging your trucking business into a hole. If you have trouble with divvying up the profits your business makes, you may want to create a budget. This budget should have some money set aside for future unexpected costs. In the world of trucking, repairs and maintenance are common. Prepare yourself for those uncertainties and save up. By having money prepared for the unknown, you won’t have to worry when a number of trucks need repairs. 

Knowing Your Expenses 

By knowing your business expenses, you can prevent your company from going under. By tracking expenses such as salaries, fuel, truck and trailer finance payments, office expenses, truck maintenance, and repairs, you will understand how much it will cost to run your business. And by understanding how much money you are putting into your business, you will be able to find out if your business is profiting you or not. 

Many trucking business owners keep track of their expenses through a spreadsheet on Excel. Others prefer using pen and paper to input data. TMS, otherwise known as Trucking Management Software, however, is the most efficient way of keeping track of expenses and other data. 

Planning and Optimizing Routes

By taking the time to plan and optimize your trucking routes, you gain the power to maximize your fleet’s overall efficiency and maintain high-profit margins. There are many factors to consider when planning routes for your drivers. You will need to think about planned stops along the way that include overnight stays and mandatory driving breaks. 

Keep in mind that it isn’t enough to plan a particular route and hope your driver makes it there by the estimated arrival time. Delivery trucks, especially those transporting time-sensitive material, have an essential schedule and delivery time window that the driver must meet. While map applications such as Waze or Google Maps may be ideal for personal trips or vacation planning, they aren’t suitable for truck routing. You have to add in your stops manually, and the maximum amount you can add on Google Maps is just 10. 

Fortunately, there is a better solution for optimizing routes for truck drivers. TruckingOffice TMS trucking management software can help plan every route for your fleet with all the necessary stops along the way, helping you stay organized and well-informed. This trucking software will also help you organize your fuel stops along the way and include details on the lowest-priced fuel in the area. 

Keep Track of Expenses with TruckingOffice

Know Your Numbers: How to Manage Your Trucking Business More Efficiently

Are you tired of putting data into spreadsheets? Is it a struggle to keep track of data? TruckingOffice has trucking TMS that will make your life as a trucking business owner much easier. Not only does our TMS keep track of expense records, but it will keep track of dispatch records, driver pay records, truck maintenance records, IFTA reports and payments, invoices, mileage reports, and management reports. Think of all of the spreadsheets you would need to keep track of your trucking business. TruckingOffice’s TMS will keep track of everything for you. 

That’s not all! Crunching numbers takes a great deal of time and can easily become frustrating. Our trucking TMS does all of this for you. All you need to do is enter your information and our TMS will do the number crunching for you. If you are interested in our trucking TMS, but not entirely sure about it, that’s okay! We offer a full 30-days for you to test it out for free! Register for your free trial on our website.