The Business of Independent Service Provider Contracting

What A Long, Strange Trip 2022 Has Been - Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 12/27/22 8:41 AM

By any measure, it’s been, and continues to be, a challenging time to be running a transportation business. However, as we often see, there are many opportunities that present themselves during challenging times.

As we look ahead to better times in 2023, it’s important to take a look at where we are currently at and how we got here so that we avoid mistakes of the past.

Our current situation is rooted in the events of 2019. This period introduced the density-stop / ecommerce push from FedEx Ground. As ecommerce deliveries gained traction and increased in number, they fueled the deterioration of contractor per-stop operating margins.

As you know, ecommerce stops are paid at a lower rate and typically include fewer packages per stop vs. commercial stops, resulting in a stealthy revenue per stop decrease across your entire business.

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Topics: Business Planning, Bookeeping, Management, Business Metrics, ISP, Business, Money, Cash flow, Inflation, Costs, Financial, Margins

3 Tips to Relieve Stress & Help Stay in Control This Peak

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 9/22/21 5:23 PM

It happens every year.

As the package volume builds, so do CSP / TSP stress levels, as well as the risk of an operation getting out of hand.

We surveyed a large number of our "veteran" clients to find out which tasks cause the most stress. Then, followed that up by asking how they alleviate the pressure and stress.

The results were interesting.

The good news is that the actions needed to relieve the stressors are easily accomplished and readily available.

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Topics: Business Tools, Business Planning, Driver Recruiting

The Dark Side Of Increased Density

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 8/8/21 1:16 PM

In this uncertain time, it seems like there was one thing that was certain.

It appeared that stops and volume were marching forward, with no regard for the turbulence and difficulty that we were told surrounds us. 

In a roughly 2+ year environment of growth, the rising revenue tide hid many tree stumps, and kept the good ship Contracted Service Provider sailing happily into the sunset.

All was well.

Until it wasn’t.

Recently, the volume has leveled off and in many cases, retreated.

This dip is not too much different from a “normal” summer, but this time, it hurts...bad. 

Let’s look at why.

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Topics: Business Tools, Business Planning, Management, Business, Investment, contractor, Profit, Money, less, settlement, Cash flow

Changes Are On The Way. Could These Be The Big Ones?

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 4/12/21 2:00 PM

What do you get when you combine:

  • the current regulatory environment, 
  • significant shifts in market demand resulting in large changes in CSA characteristics,
  • the demand from Wall Street & investors for increased ROI,
  • and a cult following of litigious regulators and attorneys looking for big paydays?

Let’s just say that it looks a lot like today.

All these forces are coming together to bring about what could be the largest, most sweeping change in FXG’s business model ever, which will in turn, drastically change how you monitor and run your businesses. 

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Topics: Business Planning, Business Outlook, Compliance, Ground, FedEx Ground, Business, Regulation, Co-employee, change

Fuel Fraud Warning Signs

Posted by Ben Weil on 1/10/21 9:15 AM

Today's blog post is brought to you by our friends at Fleetcor.

As a Contractor, the work seems simple, deliver packages on time and customers will be happy.

It’s not always that easy, there’s an operational side to your business, the public never sees, that is just as important to your success. One example is managing fuel spend. Fuel fraud and misuse can tank your profits, and it’s not always glaringly obvious when it’s occurring, so it pays to introduce regular monitoring controls.

Keeping a watchful eye on expense trends can help catch fuel fraud early, before perpetrators have a chance to rack up extensive charges.

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Topics: Business Planning, FedEx, Business Metrics, FedEx Ground, Business, Metrics, Fuel

2021 Insights for Business Owners

Posted by Ben Weil on 1/3/21 1:43 PM

We recently caught up with two guys heavily involved with building successful transportation companies to ask for their insights into 2021.

The first expert is a long-time CSP from the Midwest, Tracy Taylor. The second is the founder and CEO of eTruckBiz, Jeff Walczak. Both have spent the better part of their careers in the FedEx Ground arena. We engaged in a fast-paced conversation to produce our most recent Truck Talk podcast episode.

Some of the insights may surprise you.

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Topics: Business Structure, Business Tools, Business Planning, Training, Intelligence, Business Metrics, ISP, FedEx Ground, Business, Negotiation, Metrics, Profit, leadership, safety, coaching, Scheduling

The Most Important Goals for Your Transportation Company

Posted by Bob Tiell on 12/13/20 4:00 PM

This week’s blog is the first in a two-part series of posts by Bob Tiell, an eTruckBiz Coach, who resides in Lexington, KY. His experience includes years of operational management at FedEx Ground.

Goal Setting - Business Plans and Safety

Even though we're in the middle of peak, it's time to start planning our next twelve months. If planned well with the right goals set at the beginning of the year, we can make peak 2021easier and more efficient for everyone involved. If you haven't already started thinking about your 2021 goals, perhaps you'll find some helpful direction and starting points in this brief blog post.

Let's start with the likelihood that your company has grown throughout the years, and you’ve probably added supplemental routes. They then became full routes (after FedEx Ground approval).

Plus, you've probably added more drivers and a BC, or two, over the years. What's next?

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Topics: Business Structure, Business Tools, Business Planning, Intelligence, Business Metrics, ISP, FedEx Ground, Business, Metrics, Profit, leadership, safety, coaching

eTruckBiz Just Got Better - Unveiling The New Platform

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 11/15/20 1:22 PM

For more than 8 years, we’ve been building products & services to help CSP’s transform the way they approach running their businesses.

Recently, the FXG model itself has been transforming in unprecedented ways. For most CSP’s , the days of being a “hands-on” operator are gone, and the need to provide leadership & management through systems, processes and people are quickly being implemented. The days where you or your BC’s could “jump in a truck” to fix things are gone.

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Topics: Business Structure, Business Tools, Business Planning, Timekeeping, Bookeeping, Intelligence, Business Metrics, ISP, FedEx Ground, Business, Negotiation, model, Metrics, Profit, leadership, safety, coaching, Scheduling, Dynamic Route Optimization

Time Traps: Action & Assessment Phases

Posted by Ben Weil on 10/18/20 9:45 PM

As we’re approaching peak this year, conversations with FedEx Ground Contractors reflect a sense of urgency caused by the expected increase in package volume. From California to the east coast, everyone is feeling the pressure. Rental trucks have long been reserved by others, new trucks are scarce, the competition for finding and hiring temporary drivers is tough, and the new pre-load technology is time consuming at best.

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Topics: Business Tools, Business Planning, Business Results, Business Metrics, FedEx Ground, Investment, Profit

An Organization Time Trap

Posted by Ben Weil on 10/4/20 7:33 PM

A common thread amongst FedEx Ground Contractors is the amount of time and effort required to handle everything that’s expected to stay compliant, safe and profitable. If you’ve been tracking our blog posts about time and task management, this is the third in a series.

First, we suggested tracking where your time is spent. From there, we looked at the likelihood that working seven-days a week has resulted in losing your identity. You’re known by your job.

Now, let’s examine how to improve your working situation.

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Topics: Business Tools, Business Planning, Business Results, Business Metrics, FedEx Ground, Investment, Profit

Tracking Financial Results Like FDX

Posted by Ben Weil on 9/20/20 10:02 AM

Did you read FedEx’ Quarterly Results issued last week? The financial news outlets wrote absolutely glowing reviews.

Yahoo! Finance headline declared, “FedEx Corp. Reports Strong First Quarter Results” while Barron’s headline gushed, “FedEx Destroys Earnings Estimates. Things Are Getting Really Good.”

Reading further down the page you’ll find, “Operating results increased due to volume growth in...U.S. domestic residential package services, yield improvement at FedEx Ground..., and one additional operating weekday.”

Could Yahoo! Finance and Barron’s write the same headlines about your last three months? You don’t issue forecasts, but if you did - would you be blowing it out of the water, too? If not, why not?

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Topics: Business Tools, Business Planning, Business Results, Bookeeping, Business Metrics, FedEx Ground, Investment, Profit

How To Crush Your Routing Goals

Posted by Ben Weil on 5/5/20 1:58 PM

Ground CSP's, generally, possess exceptional area knowledge for the areas they service. They can utilize this knowledge to plan routes and take into account all the intricacies of a particular area.

Now, however, CSP's are starting to see that the old process of developing static routes to cover a particular service area is going the way of the horse and buggy.

Routes now need to be planned dynamically. This means that with the transformation of stop characteristics (residential) along with an evolving FXG business model (heavy focus on eCommerce), route planning needs to change constantly.

In order to remain successful, today's CSP must adapt to this new demand as the business continues to change. The number of routes and the actual route "boarders" need to be engineered in such a way to be flexible based on work load characteristics. 

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Topics: Business Tools, Business Planning, Business Results, FedEx, Ground, FedEx Ground, vendor

Brian Reeves on Recruiting

Posted by Ben Weil on 4/2/20 5:08 PM

Today's blog post is by our guest blogger, Brian Reeves, of Reeves Delivery Group.

By Brian Reeves, Reeves Delivery Group

MANAGERS WHO RUN ESSENTIAL BUSINESSES NEED TO BE RECRUITING HUGE NUMBERS OF NEW EMPLOYEES TODAY, JUST IN CASE THINGS GET 50 TIMES WORSE.

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Topics: Business Planning, Driver Recruiting, FedEx Ground, Business, leadership

Financial Health Assessment: More Important Than Service?

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 1/27/20 3:52 PM

As of 1/10/2020, it’s a new day for FXG CSP’s.

You may recall we’ve talked about TRANSFORMING your Lifestyle Business into a 

Transportation Compan y for the past several years.

FXG's announcement of the new Financial Health Assessment added a new, critically important component for how they keep score on your business performance, and your value to them.

Engaging a third party, RapidRatings, to examine your financial health, then reporting those findings to FXG will create a measurement (number) that will become just as important as your daily service - if not more so.

As a CSP, you should understand the significance of this announcement and the reasoning behind why it will be so crucial going forward.

Let’s take a look at what is going on here...

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Topics: Business Planning, Business Results, ISP Negotiation, Business Metrics, Contract, Profit

Settlement Simulation Tool For ISP Negotiations And Much More!

Posted by Jeff Walczak on 4/29/15 6:06 PM

It is finally here!

After a considerable amount of work on our part and feedback from you, we have developed a tool that will help you prepare for your transition to an ISP operating agreement.

It is important to point out that the tool has been developed in both a mobile and a desktop version.

Soon you will see why.Contract_Negotiation_2

We didn't want to develop this tool with just your ISP negotiations in mind. We wanted it to be useful in many other situations as well,

And boy is it ever!

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Topics: Business Planning, Business Results, ISP Negotiation

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