Moving Words – Organizing
Written by Timothy Brady.
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” – A. A. Milne
In every moving company or agency, paperwork is the oxygen of the operation. It’s what assures a continuous and constant cash flow, the life-blood of the moving business. For a vast majority of movers, the largest bottleneck in the flow of paperwork is documents and receipts handled by van operators. This is due to the environment (the truck cab) where these documents are retained for a time during their normal flow back to the agent’s or mover’s headquarters. A tractor-trailer is constantly moving and vibrating while rolling down the highway. This movement causes any loose items to be swallowed by the gaps and crevices systemic to any vehicle, especially commercial trucks. A single lost Bill of Lading or inventory page that’s needed to invoice a customer can cause panic throughout an entire moving agency; the larger the amount to be billed, the greater the level of panic. It’s very important to have access to shipping invoices, bills of lading, fuel reports, driver logs, fuel and repair receipts, furniture inventories and a menagerie of other important documents. The filing and storage system in the truck cab for these all-important documents needs to be organized for finding them quickly, and easily accessible itself when documents must be pulled and sent to the driver’s office.
How many safety directors, operations supervisors, or Accounts Receivable managers have heard the words, “Well, it was here yesterday!” from an equally-frustrated van operator? A lost bill of lading, DOT inspection report, logbook or fuel receipt can cost a company both time and money if it can’t be found when needed.
All van operators have heard the notorious words: “Pull around back and bring in all your paperwork.” Nothing is more aggravating or frustrating than to realize the sleeper has eaten one or two of the documents the DOT officer will want to see. Or the van operator who jumped in the truck after fueling and tossed the fuel receipt on the dashboard and when it finally gets sent in, it’s so faded it’s unreadable. (We won’t even mention other receipts folded so many times the creases are permanent, or covered in any fluids upon which a truck or trucker depends: diesel, oil, antifreeze; French fry grease, melted cookie fillings, coffee or cola drips.)
How much consideration have you given to organizing a filing system in your van operators’ mobile offices? Each truck, whether it’s a company employee-operated vehicle or one operated by a contractor, is a mini-division of the moving company. It’s as equally important as the bricks and mortar office for each van operator to have a well-organized administrative center in the cab of the truck.
True, it’s one of the more difficult activities for most truckers: keeping their ‘rolling offices’ organized. The dilemma stems from having to live, work and entertain in a space smaller than most people’s walk-in closets. The interior of the average semi-tractor sleeper is little more than 53 square feet of living space. This requires a planning strategy to become, and stay, organized. The benefit is as readily measurable to drivers as it is to their agents. It’ll save time and likely put more money in your drivers’ pockets sooner, as it helps improve the van operator’s and the agency’s or moving company’s cash flow by reducing costs and getting shipping invoices paid in a timely manner. Life and business is a lot simpler if the van operator has a defined routine to put things in their place so they can be easily located later.
Here’s a list of ideas to help your van operators organize their rolling office:
- Designate a specific, accessible location in the sleeper for the office.
- Secure the components of the work area so they’ll stay put in an emergency stop, sudden turn, or accident.
- Design a workspace where documents are reachable without having to drag everything out from the storage area. The best way is to set up an office work area so everything is within arm’s reach.
- Keep a minimum amount of necessary supplies (i.e., pens, pencils, staples, paper clips, etc.) in the in-cab office.
- Set up a larger office supply storage area in a side box or sleeper cabinet for replenishment as needed.
Items needed for a van operator’s rolling office:
- The in-cab office work area should be a large file box containing: log book, permits and lease book; current load’s bills of lading, inventory pads, military shipping forms, accessorial services forms, Gypsy Moth forms, car and special items inventories; writing pads; large mailing envelopes; stapler, staples and paper clips; calculator; pens and highlighters; business phone book or directory and the driver’s system for keeping track of all expense receipts. (Recommended: ‘Quick & Simple Record Keeping for Owner Operators,’ ISBN 0-97224026-8-3, ordered from any bookstore nationwide.)
- The larger office supply storage in the side box should contain several months’ supplies of the items listed above.
Each van operator needs to establish his/her in-cab office in a fixed location in the tractor cab so important items can be easily located, and maintaining record keeping takes minimal time and effort–but with the needed results. This will also enable the agent or a family member to find the necessary paperwork should the van operator become ill or injured, or a situation occurs where someone else must turn in the paperwork. The old adage, ‘A place for everything and everything in its place,’ really applies when that ‘place’ is a van operator’s world.
“Successful organizing is based on the recognition that people get organized because they, too, have a vision.” – Paul Wellstone