Saving money is on everyone’s mind right now with inflation at a 40-year high. As oil and diesel prices surge higher and higher, you may be the feeling the financial squeeze if you’re an owner operator or fleet owner. Given the current situation, it’s more important than ever to use cost and time saving tools in your operations, whether you’re running a one-truck operation or a fleet of 100. Trucker Tools’ driver app is chock full of time and money-saving technologies that can help you and your drivers save time and money while on the road.
Check out these top five cost and time saving features in the Trucker Tools app.
1. Load Search
The load search feature in the Trucker Tools app is free. You don’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee or any other sort of fee to view loads, get a broker’s contact info or book a load in Trucker Tools’ app. (Note that you may need to call brokers to request access to their loads in the app.) The app includes loads from 300+ of the industry’s top freight brokerages and logistics companies. The load search tool is a real-time technology, which means the loads you see in the app are real loads whose information is pulled directly from broker transportation management systems. When a load is booked by another owner operator or carrier, the load is automatically removed from the app in real-time. With Trucker Tools’ driver app, you can quickly search and find loads and reloads with your favorite brokers in your preferred lanes with a few taps on your smart phone.
2. Book-It-Now®
Some of the loads that you may see in the Trucker Tools app will be labeled as Book-It-Now® loads. When you see a Book-It-Now® load in your load search results, you’ll also see the broker’s preferred rate for the load. With Book-It-Now® loads, you have the option to either send a rate quote to the broker through the app or book the load immediately at the broker’s listed rate in the app. The beauty of Book-It-Now® is that it automates the load booking process for you and the broker. Once you book a Book-It-Now® load in the app, it’s automatically recorded in the broker’s software platform. You’ll receive an email confirming the appointment shortly thereafter. Book-It-Now® loads can eliminate long rate negotiations by phone, giving you more time to drive and earn.
3. Routing & Fuel Optimizer
The Routing & Fuel Optimizer was the very first feature in the Trucker Tools driver app. Enter your starting point and destination and the optimizer will find the cheapest stops for fuel all along your route. Many truckers tell us this is their favorite tool in the app because it provides directions, total trip time and info on where to buy the cheapest fuel on each route. You can tap on each of the fuel stops in the optimizer to learn more about the fuel station, including the station’s per gallon price of diesel, phone number, address, whether parking is available and information on amenities like showers. If you tap on Details, you can see how approximately how much you’ll spend on fuel on the entire trip, as well as the total distance covered, estimated savings, estimated time, average cost per gallon and approximate taxes. The Routing & Fuel Optimizer not only saves you money on fuel. It also helps you plan ahead and provides a way for you to estimate your fuel expenses on a load before you accept it.
4. Tracking, Document Upload
Using digital load tracking technology has become part of doing business as an owner operator or fleet. The good news is that you can use one app to track all of your shipper and broker loads: Trucker Tools’ driver app. The app integrates with most of the software platforms used by both shippers and brokers. What that means for you is that you don’t have to download a new tracking app every time you haul a load, which saves time. You can use the Trucker Tools app with multiple brokers and shippers. One of the additional benefits of using the app for load tracking is that you have the option to take photos of BOL and POD documents and send them to the broker through the app once you’ve arrived at your destination. This can be a major time saver and can ensure you get paid promptly.
5. Parking
Driving around looking for a parking spot can eat up your driving hours and leave you frustrated. That’s why we’ve added multiple parking options to our free app for drivers. If you tap on the Parking icon in the Trucker Tools app and enter your destination, you’ll be shown all of the parking options on your route. Included in the results are both free public parking spots and paid parking facilities. Tap on one of the locations in your search results and you can see the name, phone number, location, distance to the parking location, the number of available truck parking spots, details about how to enter the lot, security features, nearby restaurants and local weather. To book paid parking, simply tap on Reserve and pay with a credit card or Apple Pay. You also can locate free parking options by using the Rest Area finder and Truck Stop Guide in the Trucker Tools app.
Check out our most recent driver interview, “Female Leaders in Transportation: Driver and Industry Advocate Ingrid Brown.”
To download the Trucker Tools app, visit https://www.truckertools.com/carriers/.
To start using Trucker Tools’ free carrier software platform, visit https://bookaload.truckertools.com/.
