Moving Words – Time

Timothy Brady

“We must use time creatively.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chances are on the topic of time, when addressing those in the moving industry, I’m preaching to the choir.

However, with yet again another “adjustment” to Hours Of Service by the FMCSA (final rule becomes effective in September, 2020), ‘Time’ is now on our front page. So it’s important to start reviewing the changes to determine its impact on your operation.

Here’s the breakdown:

FMCSA will provide added flexibility for the 30-minute break after eight hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allows an on-duty/not driving period to qualify as the required break.

• The agency will modify the sleeper berth exception to allow drivers to split their 10-hour minimum off-duty requirement into two separate periods—an eight and two hour split or a seven and three hour split (7/3 splits)—with neither periods counting against the driver’s 14-hour driving window.
• FMCSA will modify the adverse driving conditions exception by extending the maximum window during which driving is permitted by two hours. The current rule already permits two hours of additional driving time on the 11-hour clock, so this expands the 14-hour on-duty clock by two hours as well.
• Finally, the agency will change the short-haul exemption available to certain commercial drivers by lengthening the driver’s maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.

The final rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register in the coming week and will be effective 120 days after publication.

Time or miles: which is your most valuable asset? Many in trucking equate success to the number of paid miles traveled. But if looked at in a more pragmatic fashion, it really isn’t the miles that count. Currently there isn’t a specific law that limits the number of miles your trucks can travel in a day, week, or month. What limits your trucks or anyone’s trucks is time. That’s what the HOS places limits upon: 70 hours in an 8-day period, 14 hour per-day rule, the 11 hours of driving prior to a 10-hour rest period.

Not a single mention of miles or limits on distance to be traveled.

In some states it’s conceivable a truck could run 11 hours at 75 miles per hour, equaling 825 miles. But a trucker operating in California, say, with a truck speed limit of 55 mph would be limited in theory to 605 miles per day. Granted, in the real world of traffic congestion, road construction, shipper and receiver delays and numerous other delay possibilities, those mileage numbers are seldom – if ever – achieved.

Therefore, focus on the time required to accomplish a load. There’s an expense category, “fixed expenses” which encompasses all expenses required to keep a small or micro-trucking business open. They’re the bills that have to be paid even if the trucks are parked and the office is closed for a week. Fixed expenses keep on ticking 24/7/365, year-in, year-out. And if they’re not calculated into each load for every trip, they’ll become the enemy of your profit — and success.

The major focus is time; from destination to destination. The reason is that truck payments, insurance, office rent, phones, utilities and the all-important salaries, especially yours, all continue even when your trucks are empty, parked or not. It’s important to make sure you’ve covered this time element for every load you haul.

Three factors will destroy your profitability:

1. Forgetting to factor all the time and costs related to time in the hauling rates you quote.
2. Making sure you calculate from the last load’s destination to the final delivery point of the new load, every time.
3. Finally, because the fixed costs keep on ticking regardless of what your trucks are doing, remember the fewer paid miles a truck travels, the higher your cost per mile.

Therefore, as you look at the revenue streams of each truck you own or dispatch, remember time is the secret to your success. Make sure you are paid for the real time it takes to handle a load, not just the miles required to move it.