In the Guidelines for Starting a Dump Trailer Business (I), we have talked about how to choose a suitable dump trailer, in this article, let’s talk about what need to prepare before starting a transportation business.
- Confirm whether a CDL license(Commercial Drivers License) is required to drive your trailer, usually a dump trailer business does not need this license, but different sizes of trailers have different requirements, and each country and state also has different requirements.
- Get necessary insurance. When transporting bulk loose materials, assisting with removal of debris, or transporting other materials, whether short-haul or interstate, it is highly recommended that you purchase liability insurance and get the coverage you need.
- Calculate your operating expenses. Only knowing your operating expenses will you know if you are making a profit. This expenses include the cost of purchasing a trailer (or rent if renting a trailer), the cost of obtaining various certificates and insurance, and other expenses.
- Calculate your delivery fee. You can call similar service companies and ask about their delivery charges to determine an average price that will ensure that you are making enough profit, but also that you are competitive. Minimum fees are also considered when calculating delivery fee. How short of distance will you do and how small of load to make it worth it? When transporting different material, do you want to charge by the quantity or the weight? Will you charge by the load or hourly? What about mileage and tear and wear on the equipment? How to charge?
- Create a billing & payment method
How do you want to charge your customers? There are many options, Paypal, Venmo, Square, Quickbooks, Stripe, etc. You can choose whichever payment method is most beneficial or convenient for you. Beyond that, you want customers to pay before or after delivery, or pay a certain amount of shipping fee before delivery and pay the rest after delivery. From our experience, we recommend that you choose the first option and let the customer pay before delivery. This can reduce a lot of problems, and at the same time, in order to reassure customers, it is indicated in the contract how to deal with untimely delivery under special circumstances.
In order to ensure the successful running of the dump trailer business, we still have to say something more. In the last article Guidelines for Starting a Dump Trailer Business (III), we will introduce how to start the dump trailer business. If you have any problems, please feel free to contact us.