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Re: Trucking Company May 26, 2008 3:25 PM
Hi,
I have considerable experience in business (26 years plus), starting, buying & selling my own businesses. One of the businesses I bought, built up and sold was a trucking company (statewide LTL with my own equipment and TL interstate with owner-operators). You can see more about me in my profile.
The person that told you that fuel increases could be passed on is talking about fuel surcharges. That is a very common thing in the industry and one that you should automatically implement. In your business plan's financial projections work out your true burdened cost per mile. This means factor in insurance, driver, equipment cost, equipment maintenance & repair etc. Add your profit margin to this so that you know what you need to generate per mile and that becomes what you quote for your loads (if you are an expedited carrier allow for any extra "hot shot" expedited costs you would incur, or if LTL you'd need to work up your cost-per-hundred-weight based on expenses and margin). And as you establish this is a benchmark ... then you quote a fuel surcharge (usually a %) that adjusts with the rise (or fall) of fuel costs.
I typed the above out on the fly so I apologize if not clear; if you'd like to discuss directly or need some help with your trucking business, again feel free to look at my profile and contact me.
Dennis Lowery
Adducent, Inc.
