Trucking can be an expensive industry, for both company drivers driving truck loads and owner-operators. While each type of driver has different responsibilities and guidelines to follow, there are still some general habits that might help all drivers save.
4 Truck Driving Habits that Lead to Big Savings
Life on the road is fairly planned out for a driver — you mostly know where you’re driving, what you’re hauling, and where you’re taking it to. But sometimes a trucker’s day can be unpredictable, filled with long waits, detours and unexpected maintenance expenses.
We’ve compiled some quick tips to remember that can help hopefully keep a little bit more money in your pocket.
- Be Wise with Credit Cards:
Using a credit card without regular monitoring, as well as a financial
plan, can put you on the fast track to financial problems. While many
credit cards offer rewards and cash incentives, it takes planning. Don’t
use a credit card unless you have enough money to pay the bill at the end
of every month. Struggling to make payments each month? Switch to using
cash or debit cards for purchases until you can make payments again.
- Find Free WiFi: Cellular
data can be expensive. Keep tabs on places across the regions you travel
that typically have free WiFi. Restaurants, stores, libraries, gas
stations, and many large chains (like Panera Bread, Walmart, Starbucks,
McDonalds, etc.) all have free WiFi.
- Seek a Factoring Partner: This
tip falls in the more administrative category of trucking, but the
benefits can span across all involved in trucking operations. Connecting
with a freight factoring partner could offer tons
of free perks like credit checks on customers and fuel discounts.
- Cook for Yourself: This is a small but powerful change that could help save you money. Again, to be successful with this tip, you will need to plan. Try to get into the habit of planning out meals for the week in advance, and then make one big trip to the grocery store. Even if you don’t cook for yourself for every meal, you could save by preparing one meal and snacks for yourself ahead of time. We’ve written a few articles related to food and trucking that you can check out in our blog section.
Saving money in the trucking industry isn’t impossible, but it will take some discipline and planning. Figure out which methods seem the most realistic for your operation and then try it out. There are plenty of ways to cut expenses. See what works best for you.
Are you looking for other great resources to grow your trucking business? Check out our load board, FreeFreightSearch.com has the world’s largest FREE load board! Get more information here.