The Trucking Industry - It's NOT About Trucks

I always find it interesting how much attention is paid to trucks in this industry. We certainly need trucks in order to move freight, but it seems like there's a piece missing from the equation most of the time. As much as we need a solid vehicle to move the freight reliably, the truck is really just a tool that allows a driver to perform a service. It's the driver that makes that service happen. If you have a driver and no truck, you can always go rent or lease a truck. However, if you have the truck but don't have the driver (or don't have a GOOD driver), that's a much tougher problem to solve.

Assets and Liabilities
Looking at it from a financial standpoint, trucks are assets that will always depreciate. You can slow that depreciation by taking good care of the truck, but no matter what you do the truck will be worth less tomorrow than it is today. Apologies to my partners that sell trucks, but that's a business reality we can't change. On the other hand, drivers are assets that don't lose value over time. In fact, if you take care of your drivers, they actually get MORE valuable over time. Put another way:

Trucks depreciate...people appreciate

For a lot of you, this is the time to plan and budget for next year, and there's a lot of talk happening right now about what the industry is going to be like in '08. Many are concerned about sluggishness in the US economy, continuing challenges in Ontario, etc. However, the fleets that are doing well, in almost every case, are the ones that continue to invest in their people.

After all, trucks and technology will never give you a competitive advantage - any fleet can have those. What DOES give you competitive advantage is your policies and processes, and the outcomes they create for you. Investing in the people side of the business will ALWAYS pay off handsomely.