Driver Compensation

Welcome to this Fleet owner quick chat today. We’ll

be discussing how to offset the cost of increased driver

compensation. I’m Jason Walker Chief Revenue officer of

best pass. And today we’re speaking with Ken Johnson Chief Executive

Officer of Leonard’s Express.

Can thanks so much for joining us today. Can you tell us a

little bit about your background to start us off?

Sure, Jason and thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. I’ve

been a CEO of hunters Express for about 10

years and in the industry for about 30 years,

but most my early years on the equipment and maintenance side

and Runners Express as a family owned company.

My family owns it, you know, we’ve I’m fourth

generation and now with this particular company, but as far

as family members when the industry so,

you know trucking’s in my blood so to speak.

Awesome. Well, we all know that driver compensation is elevated

sharply over the last couple of years and an

industry with already thin margins. This is obviously difficult for

many fleets to manage.

So today we’re going to share some strategies that can help and I wanted

you to share your experience on the front line, so

I thought to kick us off at the first question. What can

you tell us about Leonard’s Express and what have

you seen in terms of driver compensation changes

Well, the Learners Express we have about 500

company trucks and different types of operations most

of our trucks operate in Long Haul over the

road. But we do have some some drage work at the

piers as well as short-haul Regional van work and you

know, we’ve seen over the last several years, you know.

Us having to make adjustments on a

regular basis to our driver compensation packages just

to stay current with the market, you know,

the driver compensation has been going up and then

really it needed to rightfully so and you know,

and you know, we’re happy to do that but obviously

Trucking is a competitive business

and all the business has been very good the last

12 to 18 months. It’s still you know, very competitive and

both with our customers and the drivers.

So we you know, I had to work hard to make sure

that you know, we provide not just a fair compensation package

but a place where the drivers want

to work not just because of the money but because of the overall package

and the equality of life, you know trying to make that as

you know positive for them as we can.

Fantastic, so, how can I

told management solution such as best fast help to offset costs

as well.

Well, you know we look at best passes at tool, you know, it’s we’ve been

a customer, you know, almost since the

beginning and you know, we’re you know happy with

that relationship that served us. Well as best passes

grown and their services of expanded we use

it as a tool to help manage our toll costs. It’s there’s

times where our drivers should be on toll roads

doesn’t see us safe. It’s most cost-effective way to

go but it there’s other times where maybe there’s a better option and

no and we make sure that they’re using the

better option. So having that information the best

past provides us, you know, we get it quicker. It’s Consolidated

with all the following agents. It’s listed by truck. It’s

just you know, the reporting is just so much more convenient for

us to use and to make decisions faster and

we’ve used it and especially in the north east to

substantially lower our cold bill, you know,

the other parts of it is, you know, some of the other tools that I think developed

over the years and brought to us like, you know Finding mistakes,

you know, where there was pulling

you know, they’re software catches that for

us and you know and provides options for

getting a rebated. So, you know, it’s it’s

you know, it’s one strategy that has worked well for us and helping us,

you know lower our tolling costs.

Let’s certainly terrific to hear. We love having happy customers

like you so you touched on it a

little bit in the first question. I was going to go back to it. What are some

of the other things that your company has done to try to reconcile increase

driver costs?

You know, we’ve we’ve got a what we

call a cost Management Group and it’s

a few individuals that work on several

different fronts obviously tolling being one

of them. They work with our drivers on making sure we’re

purchasing fuel at the most cost-effective places. We’ve

we’ve got relationships with a

couple of the major truck stop chains. We operate

and All 48 states. So, you know,

it’s making sure we’re buying in the right

States or buying it the right locations that you

know that they’re learning their

trucks efficiently. We have a to use on the truck. We need to

make sure that they use are always working and the drivers are using them, you know

for off duty comfort and you know,

we’re also looking at the other types of equipment we’re running, you know,

make sure that you know, that’s the most cost effective from

a maintenance standpoint, you know that the aerodynamics

and yeah engines are set, you know

to provide us with the optimum miles per gallon.

And you know then using that information, you know,

one of the biggest things you know that we can do as a company is the

work with their drivers because regardless of the technology the drivers

are still responsible for a lot of the on-highway costs

and you know and continue training continued conversations

using the camera technology

to make sure we’re operating safely. You know, it’s all

it’s all part of the equation.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today. And

that’s a wrap for today’s session. Thanks again for joining us Ken and

thank you viewers for tuning in. Thanks for having me.