1189694 Ontario Ltd. C.O.B. as Over The Road
Publisher Peter Charboneau peter@otrgroup.ca
Director of Operations & Editor-in-Chief Cathryn Charboneau cathryn@otrgroup.ca
Account Executive Luke Zentil luke@otrgroup.ca
Account Executive Earle Madden earle@otrgroup.ca
Graphic Design & Advertising lennykuiper.com lennykuiper@gmail.com
Controller Estela Navarrete estela@otrgroup.ca
Office Manager Mary Charboneau mary@otrgroup.ca
All advertisements, and/or editorials are accepted and published by Over the Road on the representation that the advertiser, its advertising company, and/or the supplier of the editorials are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser, its advertising company, and/or the supplier of the editorials will defend, indemnify and hold Over the Road harmless from and against any loss, expense or other liability resulting from any claims or suits for libel, violation of privacy, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or suits that may rise out of publication of such advertisement and/ or editorials. Press releases are expressly covered within the definition of editorials.
Minimum
Robert D. Scheper
Take Charge of Your Business
As an Independent Operator, you are a self-contained business. You have your own business number and all of its related obligations: GST/HST reports, source deductions (payroll remittance), T2 (annual returns) and others. You are also in control of the volume of revenue you bring in with its accompanying costs or expenses. You are the master of your own ship, the captain of your own results. Your choices determine your results.
However, far too many Operators delegate their responsibilities to other associates. Miles are delegated to carrier dispatchers. Rates (if you run percentage) are determined by carrier standards and presentation priorities. Let me explain.
A few years ago, I had a new Operator who had never driven on his own before. He was given the choice to run percentage or run by the dispatched mile. His knee-jerk reaction was… “You always make more running percentage than you do by the mile…”. So off he went on his first trip running percentage. They dispatched him out west and he brought back “sticks” from BC. By the time he delivered them and brought back his back haul he found out he made very little net profit. He ran
that loop for nearly two months before he finally went into the office and said he couldn’t survive running percentage; he wanted to haul by the mile. Dispatch then sent him south, east or wherever else there was freight… he NEVER returned to BC for sticks. After two months he said he was finally making a little money. The Operator never realized that running percentage meant that he was in charge of choosing his own route/lanes of success. His mindset was still set as an employee: I’ll drive wherever they tell me to drive, and I’ll pick up my check in two weeks.
As a business owner, YOU oversee your customers. If you don’t want them… fire them. It’s not quite as clear when you run by the mile, often mileage Operators or Lease Operators, as I refer to them, are under a forced dispatch system. But high-cost customers must be avoided if possible. Keep in mind that you are NOT entirely at the mercy of carriers. In my 2015 book “Making Your Miles Count: Choosing a Trucking Company”, I clearly show that sometimes, VAST differences exist between carrier contracts. In 1996 the difference was $1800 per month in cash flow and in 2012 it was $3200 per
month. So, CHOOSING a carrier is one of the first and most critical choices you make in your business. Your choice determines your destiny.
Another choice I have been writing about for 17 years is the choice of how you present your earnings to the Canada Revenue Agency for taxes. 99% of all those who prepare taxes use the TL2 simplified method, using the $69.00 per day meal allowance system. Everyone knows that CRA doesn’t send you $69.00 for each day you were in travel status. $69.00 is the STARTING figure that is placed in your personal income tax return which is used to calculate a “non-refundable tax credit”. That $69.00 represents a different figure in each province: ONT $16.36, MB $18.34, SK $18.21, AB $16.83, BC $15.56, QC $9.44, NB $19.04, NS $20.80, NT $16.05, YT $16.28, PEI $20.53 or a national average of $17.04 per day. If you compare this to the Non-Taxable Benefits I wrote about in my first book “Making Your Miles Count: Taxes, taxes, taxes” (current figures) $129.25 that represents $112.21 per day multiplied by 245 days (national averages) equals $27,491.45 difference. If you then apply national average tax rates the savings of Non Taxable Benefits to the TL2 is an estimated $12,500. This represents tax savings of $1000+ per month with only the change of how you report your earnings to CRA. This is your simple choice!
This choice is almost always delegated to the firm that prepares your taxes. The option may be awesome, but it represents extra work and expertise from the firm. If they are not willing to do it, YOU pay the price in higher taxes.
Taking control of your business may not be comfortable at times, but you didn’t become an Operator for comfort, you most likely became one to make more money than a company driver could. Making hard choices is a simple part of business, it’s not personal. You need to make the choices that are best for YOU, not for those you have delegated things to.
If you want to check out more advice for Operators go to our YouTube channel (PODCASTS) “Making Your Miles Count.” Lots of great advice… it’s your choice.
About the Author:
Robert D. Scheper is a leading Accountant and Consultant exclusively serving the Lease/ Owner Operator industry in Canada. His first book in the Making Your Miles Count series “taxes, taxes, taxes” was released in 2007. His second book “Choosing a Trucking company” is the most in-depth analysis of the independent operator industry today. He has a Master degree (MBA) in financial management and has been serving the industry since he and his wife came off the road in 1993. His dedication, commitment and strong opinions can be read and heard in many articles and seminars. You can find him at www.makingyourmilescount. com or 1-877-987-9787.
CHECK OUT THE PODCASTS AT “YOUTUBE.COM/@MAKING YOUR MILES
Tired of dealing with a fleet management solution that over-promised and under delivered?
Are you looking for a fleet management solution that actually makes your life easier, without contracts or drama? Sound too good to be true?
Give GPS to Go Powered by Geotab a try, you won’t be disappointed, our clients never are.
We’ve been around for nearly 20 years; we are Canadian owned/operated and we understand what customer service means.
Did we mention there are no contracts, and it is less than $1 a day, see the difference with Geotab and GPS to Go
Give Russ/Jason a call and ask about our New Years promotions, they will answer the phone or call you back promptly!
GPS to GO & Geotab are pleased to bring you our new bundle package the “GO Plan” with a NO UPFRONT HARDWARE COST option.
CAN/USA ELD Certified IFTA Included
Complete Engine Data inc.
Maintenance Records
Driver Score
Fuel Management
A.I Engine
Lifetime Ltd Warranty
Geotab empowers your fleet by delivering tangible outcomes that support your operational goals and drive long-term value. Through deep data insights and AI, we enable you to make informed decisions to improve performance, safety, sustainability and cost management.
Get Access to Every Feature from Your GO Device with the GO Plan
Eliminate the complexity of subscription management and get comprehensive access to empower decisions for fleet management and operational efficiencies.
SAFETY DAWG
Chris Harris
YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN!
Every trucking company has a policy and procedure manual. Every company must have written policies to cover all the possible situations that govern a truck driver operating on public highways.
I recently had a fantastic question asked of me. In trucking company policy manuals, all of them say to you, the driver, don’t speed! Obey the speed limit! Don’t go faster than the road conditions will allow! Slow down in bad weather! All speed policies include most of the above.
The question I was asked was, how does a company enforce their speed policy but have a little bit of tolerance built in?
In other words, what if a company only wanted to discipline their drivers when the driver exceeded 10 km over the posted speed limit? How could they possibly put something like that in writing and only enforce a law when the driver was being excessive?
I can hear many drivers laughing now! You were thinking that only breaking the law
by a little bit such as 10 km above the post speed limit is not breaking the law? You know that you will not get a traffic ticket for going just 10 km an hour above the limit. However, you also know you might get a speed camera ticket and in Ontario that puts points on the CVOR.
Why the question? This company is afraid that if they have a crash and prosecution lawyers start to dig, they will see that the company only enforced their speed policy when the driver was above 10 km/h over the posted limit. This will show the lawyer that the company tolerates speeders. And a smart lawyer might just say that the company encourages speeding by not enforcing the law as it’s written. Can you see where I’m going with this? It is opening a huge avenue for prosecuting lawyers to attack the company and their safety culture! This is how nuclear verdicts are won. If the safety culture allows drivers to knowingly break the law and only discipline their drivers for excessive breaking of the law, then what other laws
don’t apply? I know many of you drivers are now saying that I’m being ridiculous. Perhaps I am, but I believe I know the mind of prosecuting lawyers. They look for any opportunity to attack the company and their insurers to make them look evil so that they can get more money from a jury in a verdict.
I know that nuclear verdicts are only happening in the USA, but lawsuits happen in all countries. I have seen some frivolous lawsuits against law-abiding trucking companies. And sometimes the law-abiding trucking company loses the lawsuit, and their insurers must pay out millions.
So, what’s the point of this article? I’m hoping to make you, the truck driver, think, and for safety managers to react.
How do we control speeding in our companies? How do we ask our drivers to obey the posted speed limit and adjust when road conditions are not suitable? It is a tough job and a tough ask.
It is difficult for the safety department to enforce a zero-tolerance, no-speed policy. It is very difficult for truck drivers never to speed. It is hard to never go above the posted speed limit on good roads. Traffic surrounding the truck is almost always going above the posted speed
limit. It is hard for the truck driver to hold their ground and only do the speed limit or less. But here is the thing, when a truck driver operates the truck at the posted speed limit or less, they are being professional, and they are doing their job. That is my belief.
Let the comments rain down! Be safe.
Chris Harris CEO & Top Dawg Safety Dawg Inc.
Chris@safetydawg.com www.safetydawg.com 905 973 7056 556 Upper Wentworth St. Hamilton, ON L9A 4V2
SEARCHING FOR A
