Technology can feel like a luxury when you’re juggling dispatch, billing, and driver issues from the front seat of a pickup. Yet for fleets running 10 to 25 trucks, the right tools often pay for themselves within months—freeing owners to work on the business instead of being trapped in it.
Turn Compliance into Performance Insights
You already own an Electronic Logging Device (ELD); why treat it as a compliance expense only? Weekly ELD exports reveal idle time, cruise-speed consistency, and unused driving hours. One Iowa-based 18-truck fleet shaved 8 percent off fuel spend simply by coaching drivers whose idle times exceeded 25 percent of engine hours. Pair that data with GPS breadcrumbs and you’ll spot detention hot-spots that erode both fuel and driver morale.
Hours-of-Service (HOS) utilization tells another story: If drivers consistently finish the week with unused hours, you may have routing gaps. Minute-level data can guide better load sequencing or identify lanes where you can safely add a stop without violating HOS rules.
Adopt Low-Cost Tools with Rapid ROI
- Telematics & Dash Cams — For under $25 per truck each month, modern units provide speed alerts, hard-brake counts, and engine-fault codes. Fleets using predictive maintenance have cut roadside breakdowns by up to 40 percent. Video evidence also accelerates claim resolution, protecting CSA scores and insurance deductibles.
- Cloud-Based Transportation Management Systems (TMS) — Platforms like Tailwind or TruckLogics start near $100 a month, bundling load planning, document capture, and invoicing. Automated proof of delivery POD upload alone can reduce billing cycles from seven days to two, improving cashflow without a bank loan.
- Mobile Fuel-Finder Apps — Crowd-sourced price data can guide drivers to cheaper diesel along their route. Saving even seven cents per gallon on a 100,000-gallon annual burn nets $7,000—often more than the cost of the entire technology stack
Measure, Refine, and Build a Data-Driven Culture
Technology returns value only when someone acts on the numbers. Choose three key performance indicators (KPI)—fuel MPG, on-time percentage, and maintenance cost per mile, for example—and publish them on a driver bulletin or intranet dashboard. Celebrate improvements; investigate backslides. Quarterly reviews keep the tech relevant and discourage “dashboard fatigue.”
As wins accumulate, reinvest a slice of the savings into the next tool—maybe an AI-based route optimizer or e-signature platform for rate confirmations. Small fleets that institutionalize this cycle of measure-improve-repeat often see double-digit gains in utilization within a year.
Bottom line: You don’t need enterprise budgets to get enterprise results. Start with data you already own; layer in affordable tech; and turn every gallon, mile, and minute into competitive advantage.
At Joe Morten & Son, Inc., we work with trucking operations to protect their bottom lines, whether it’s through implementing tech strategies or risk financing strategies. If a lack of technical expertise is straining your growth, we’re here to help.
Note: These lists are not intended to be all-inclusive.
This material is intended to be a broad overview of the subject matter and is provided for informational purposes only. Joe Morten & Son, Inc. does not provide legal advice to its insureds or other parties, nor does it advise insureds or other parties on employment-related issues, therefore the subject matter is not intended to serve as legal or employment advice for any issue(s) that may arise in the operations of its insureds or other parties. Legal advice should always be sought from legal counsel. Joe Morten & Son, Inc. shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss, action, or inaction alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the information contained herein. Reprinted with permission from Great West Casualty Company.