Large Truck Operations:
How Can They Be Made
as Frugal as Possible?

Whether you drive one truck or manage a fleet, you know truck operations can be expensive.

We read in the November 2009 edition of "The Rolling Review" newsletter published by Mike's trucking company that the EPA has mandated changes to each new tractor totaling some $20,000. New engines will be $15,000 more each on top of the cost of the tractor. Ouch! Have A Great Idea for Frugal Truck Operations? Share it!

It's never been more important for truck drivers to save money while operating their commercial motor vehicles.

Owner operators may be especially concerned about saving money on the operation of their trucks.

Over time, we plan to address different aspects of operating a large truck, both driving and non-driving aspects, in order to help you save as much money as possible.

We did an entire 9-page section about idling as a part of truck operations:

• Truck Idling: An Overview of the Need, Problems, Cost and Alternatives
• A Hot Truck: On Summer Heat, Truck Heat and Bake Oven Conditions
• Home Sweet Home: Addressing Idling and Creature Comforts for Pro Drivers
• Air Quality and Idling: Driver Comfort Bumps Up Against Environmental Concerns
• Idling Costs: How to Calculate the Need for Idling Alternatives
• Addressing Anti Idling Sentiment and No Idling Laws
• Idling Alternatives for Climate Control and Electrification in Trucks
• A Little Empowerment for Drivers Without Idling Alternatives
• A Proposition Between Drivers and Trucking Companies Regarding APUs

If you're planning to drive during holidays, you may wish to read some tips about surviving New Year's Eve, especially as it concerns signs of drunk driving.

We seek professional drivers' help in listing free truck parking at shippers' and receivers' locations.

We do address the aspect of drivers who try to pin fault on others for their own actions.

You may also wish to view an updated operational costs of trucking report (released in 2011) from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).

Money saving tip: Whenever the cost of trucking goes up, the cost is passed along to the customer and eventually the consumer. All truck drivers are also consumers, and we want to keep costs low and profits reasonable. To accomplish this, we can employ various techniques to make truck operations frugal. For example, take the awareness of fresh and stale red and green traffic lights that help drivers save fuel. If a driver sees that a traffic light has been red for some time (a "stale red"), then he or she can back off on the fuel to give the light time to change to green without having to bring the truck to a complete stop before proceeding.

Have A Great Idea for Frugal Truck Operations?

Do you have a great idea about saving money on big rig truck operations? Share it!

Truck Operations Ideas Other Visitors Have Shared

Click below to see truck operations ideas shared by other visitors to this page...

Resources

Sherilyn Thompson provides through her Simplified-Solar-Power.com website information about Smart Trucks that utilize solar power and other alternative energy sources.

Dianna Lambert runs TheTruckingVA.com (the Trucking Virtual Assistant) that provides compliance services and does adminstrative office tasks, research, bookkeeping, social media assistance and more.