Measuring and managing

http://www.khqa.com/news/headlines/1919942.html

This is just one of hundreds of articles and thousands of companies staring down the barrel of the same problem.

Fuel costs are out of proportion to profit potential and whatever the reason, it's not going to get better any time soon.

With most business costs, the old bean counter/belt tightener approach works fine ... business expense X costs too much, well the just put on the manager's hat and order everyone to buy less X. But if your business is trucking for hire, or you need trucks to move your only profit-making products, you just can't 'do less' ... profits will decrease faster than expenses.

There's a way that will help some businesses make it through this sticky wicket. The lucky ones will be those businesses who actually have a bonafide business plan. It's not enough to own trucks and take on what loads you can get for whatever price you can get .. you have to know how much profit is in each load and turn down those which just burn miles and fuel and break even .. or worse.

To do this, there's no other intelligent way in today's world than to track the vehicles with GPS. Whether you use the 'old reliable' Qualcomm or a cheaper, more precise system, if you can't measure, you can't manage ... and over this coming winter ... those who don't manage to manage properly won't be managing anything come springs.

Dave's thought for the day ... if you're thinking of buying a newer truck or expanding your fleet, wait until Q1 in 2006, there's going to be a lot of good deals on the market.