Unless you have a keen fascination, trucks most likely do not cross your conscious radar every day; yet in spite of that, they are everywhere, helping our lives run far more smoothly than we can imagine.
They deliver our favorite canned sodas to fast food joints (along with many of the food choices), they help restock the shops with new clothing collections, they make sure the food shelves are stocked… the list is endless.
Because of this, starting a trucking business can be a worthwhile investment, offering almost complete flexibility in whatever sector you would prefer to enter, and allowing you to chop and change as needs are. That being said, what exactly is a trucking business? Where do you begin, and how exactly does one work? If you are interested in the answers to these questions, then keep on reading.
Table of Contents
What Exactly is a Trucking Business?
A trucking business is exactly what it sounds like, though the number of trucks and drivers can vary from business to business. You could have just one person with one truck, or a company owner with many trucks and employed drivers; but regardless, they all are there to achieve the same goal: to get what people need from A to B.
It is estimated that 15.5 million trucks are used in the US, and the flexibility it can offer is popular for business owners as they are able to provide a service to anyone who needs it.
How Does a Trucking Company Work?
Essentially, trucks are hired by companies—both large and small—to help ship or receive products, inventory, raw materials, or anything else they might need for their business. This often means drivers will be expected to work all over the country, getting items to where they need to be in the correct time.
Usually, a business will call up a trucking company when they have goods that need to be moved, and give them the relevant information, such as:
- What items they will be picking up
- Where they will be picking these items up from
- Where the items need to go
- When the items need to be delivered by
While it might seem like a one-man job, there are actually many people involved in the process, from the admin team, the pickers, the packers, the loaders, the truck mechanic, the safety professional, and of course, the driver.
Why Start a Trucking Business?
Starting a trucking business might seem like a daunting task, but there are plenty of reasons why you should take the leap. First off, a trucking business is a safe business to invest in. Business will always need deliveries, no matter what they are and where they are, and trucks are the only way to do this door to door for items that need to be delivered in large quantities. This makes starting a trucking business one of the less risky options when wanting to run your own company.
As we have seen during the pandemic, the US e-commerce sector grew by an astonishing 32.4% in 2020, and while that was during a rare situation, many consumers have become accustomed to shopping online and ordering deliveries—and there is no sign of this becoming less popular, even though life is slowly returning back to normal. This is also another good reason to invest in a trucking business, as more and more companies are becoming reliant on offering deliveries and online shopping.
Starting a trucking business is also relatively affordable, as your main outlay is of course, a truck! Maintenance of the truck, extra staff, and fuel will all need to be taken into account when determining the pricing, but as far as starting up a company goes, this requires very little in comparison to other business start-up options. That being said, you can even get away with not owning a truck at all. You can start a trucking company and hire drivers with their own trucks, which is another way to begin. Both routes have their own pros and cons, so be sure to research accordingly and weigh up the options so you can make the right choice for you.
Be Sure to Make a Plan
If you are thinking about starting up your own trucking business, it is essential that you draft up a business plan. As with all new companies, not only is a business plan essential to the success of your new endeavor, but it is also crucial for add-ons such as business loans or other factors. You will need to show that you have a plan in place for how you want your business to work, what losses you expect to incur, how you will overcome any potential issues, and what your estimated earnings will be, to name a few.
If you are not sure where to begin when creating a business plan, there is no need to panic! Just follow these steps to take you through everything you need to do—once you have decided which route you are going to go down and you are happy with everything you have learnt.
What are the Benefits?
Strangely, some of the benefits of starting your own trucking company are that it can allow you to work from home and it offers flexible hours. You might think you need a massive space to hold a bunch of trucks, but for those who lease out drivers with their own trucks, they might not even need to leave their front room! Even if you do have your own truck, it is likely that it will be on the road more than anywhere else, which leaves you to navigate all of the other business processes from your laptop. As with many companies, when you outsource materials and equipment, you only actually need a phone and computer to do the rest of the work.
Whatever you choose, be sure to research thoroughly everything you need to know about starting your own trucking business and how you would like to go about it. While this might be a safe option for starting your own company, it is not a decision to take lightly.