When you rely on flatbed trucking to keep your business up and running, it’s important to look at the fleet you’re using. You might have a commitment to have a specific size in place. It’s a good idea to have a contract in place, though flexibility within the fleet sizing and surges is critical.
Orders Change
If you have one size contracted with no flexibility, what happens if an order changes. Suddenly, a major client has decided to double their order. It’s imperative that you take the order and therefore you have to consider how you’re going to deliver. It’s much easier to be able to call your transportation company and switch to a larger fleet than have to reject the order and potentially lose a customer.
In the event you have a smaller order, you also don’t want to pay for half the truck to be loaded. This will cost you considerably, which means you need to explore a smaller truck, at least for this one time. It will save you money without affecting service.
Seasonal Surges Occur
When you’re in a seasonal business, you have to look at fleets, too. What happens if you’re in the middle of a summer surge and your fleet size is no longer adequate? If there’s no flexibility, then you might be forced to make multiple runs and extend delivery times beyond what was promised.
In the end, you have to be flexible with your business and therefore you need your transportation company to be flexible as well.
No matter how much technology you might have at your fingertips, you need to look at the flexibility of your fleet contracts.
