Small and medium-sized trucking fleets are definitely feeling the inflationary crunch. Mike Dorfman, co-founder and chief operating officer of Koffie Financial, describes what they need to do to deal with those pressures.

Trucking is a margin-sensitive business, and right now small and medium-sized fleets are feeling skyrocketing fuel costs, maintenance and labor costs, and the expense of maintaining insurance.

“Using technology is a great way to mitigate some of the inflationary increases,” Dorfman says. “There are lots of technology to find the best fuel rates, find credit facilities, retain drivers, usie safety technology for increased fuel efficiency, and reduce idle time. But it’s tough out there right now.”

Is there a specific technology to zero in on? Dorfman recommends monitoring fleets in real time. “Actually knowing how many miles your drivers are running, where they're going, when they're fueling up — those things are really critical,” he says. “Route planning can be critical as well. Make sure you're optimizing hours of service. A telematic system, dashboard cameras and back-office software can be really critical to increase profit margins.”

Insurance has been “pain point number one” for trucking companies for over a decade now, Dorfman says. “It's typically the third-largest expense after fuel and labor for small and medium businesses. And it's more critical now than ever to try to control those insurance costs from skyrocketing year over year. For us, that means proactively having safety programs, driver retention programs, and making sure that you've got stability to the business. That can really help mitigate insurance costs.”

The best way to defend against litigation is to have telematics and dash cams in the trucks, Dorfman says. “I know sometimes that can be unpopular. There are privacy concerns there. But using cameras to your advantage to defend yourself in the case of a crash is mission-critical at this point.”