New Authority Blog

Trucking company financial protection is just as important as scoring high rates per mile every time you haul a load. Building business credit and researching potential customers are also key ingredients to staying successful. Wes Read, Chief Credit Officer for Apex Capital, brings 29 years of credit management experience. He understands how crucial cash flow, cash reserves, credit reporting, building better credit, and staying financially protected are to taking your trucking company from surviving to thriving. He has invaluable advice along with suggestions on tools and research to boost your business. This blog is the ninth in a series with Apex Experts sharing their industry knowledge.

The trucking industry provides essential services for consumers and companies around the world. As a crucial part of manufacturing and transportation, trucks transport large quantities of raw materials and finished products across long distances. With over 70% of American goods…

We’ve all seen them chugging slowly down the highway. You can’t miss the big yellow banners that say “OVERSIZE LOAD” or the four red flags blowing in the wind. You might’ve even seen a few blinking lights. There you have the handiwork of heavy haul truckers, hard working men and women who transport items that are classified as heavy haul loads. Heavy haul truckers can move just about anything, from a wind turbine blade to a small house. Let’s look at what you do need to keep your heavy haul trucking career on steady lanes.

Are you ready to take that new career leap of faith? Doing that always comes with trial and error, not to mention plenty of time consuming and costly mistakes along the way. When you are starting your new trucking company, avoiding costly and timely mistakes can not only speed up the process so you can get out there and start hauling, but it can also set up your company for success. Five experts from our Apex Startup Program team talk about the most common, surprising, and costliest mistakes they have seen and how future trucking company owners can avoid making them.

Hot shot trucking, like expedited trucking, is all about getting a load delivered in a hurry. There are no hard and fast rules on how far a hot shot trucker goes to deliver a load, as hauls can be anywhere from 50 miles away to across the country. But when you factor in the time constraints and the hot shot trucking requirements, hot shot loads are most often local hauls.

The name says it all: Expedited trucking is all about rush transportation of goods. And we’re talking goods that may also need to be handled delicately and can’t be transferred from vehicle to vehicle. So, think nuclear plant parts. Think laboratory specimens. Think pharmaceuticals. Or think cups for Sturgis. Apex factoring client Rick Metzing, president of Fort Worth-based R&J Logistical Division Inc, an expedite trucking company, hauls a variety of cargo that needs to get there – fast.

For new trucking company owners, the ramp-up work doesn’t stop once you’ve paid all your startup fees and you have your operating authority. Now it’s time to find yourself drivers. You may certainly decide to be your own company’s driver, in which case you would be a one-person operation. But if you choose to hire truckers to haul your loads, you have decisions to make that go beyond merely seeking a trustworthy driver who can safely transport the goods. Are you looking for an owner-operator, independent contractor, or a company driver? What’s the difference? Why does it matter? Well, let us help you decide and explain what you need to know. So that come tax time you’ll understand what makes them a 1099 or a W-2 employee.

Truckers need to get paid fast after hauling loads. Steady cash flow is crucial to keep a small to medium-sized trucking company in business. The steadier the cash flow, the better the chances for success. Yet most carriers are lucky if they get paid in 30 days for hauling a load. That’s just the nature of the trucking industry. Luckily, today truckers do have a choice. The new blynk™ digital payment system for Apex Capital factoring clients gets trucking companies paid quicker than quick after their freight invoices are purchased. No other factoring company offers this type of payment, so no one pays you FASTER – guaranteed!

In the middle of a national pandemic, we all switch to survival mode. We wear masks. We practice social distancing. We make keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe the number-one priority. Truck drivers don’t have the working-from-home luxury during this national health crisis. And a trucking company’s survival depends on delivering the goods that we use daily. But during a national pandemic, those goods may not be moving as quickly and plentifully as usual. So, how can trucking companies keep their businesses going?

When you run any business, especially a trucking company, you spend money to make money. Running a trucking company and managing a fleet, whether it’s one truck or 100, comes with fixed and variable expenses. Planning and budgeting are key, but so is knowing when to save and when to spend.