8 Ways Small Businesses Can Save Money

The world market is tough right now. Small businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and maximize efficiency. Demand is down and revenues lower. But, that should not mean we are all doomed to accept a fate common to the big auto makers or financial institutions.  

No Way!  

We are small and mid-size business owners and managers. We are actually responsible for making wise decisions in the midst of difficult times. And, no one is coming to bail us out.  

So, what can we do?  

How can GPS tracking help your business?  

We need to improve our knowledge of our own business and take advantage of every tool, including GPS tracking. We have to maximize efficiency and minimize loss and waste.  

Here are 8 ways small businesses can save money in tough economic times?  

1. Look for inefficiencies in your organization. Are your workers wasting time surfing the Internet or playing Free Cell when they could be generating new business? Install tracking software to find out. Are your workers wasting time in the field? Add GPS tracking and let them know you are monitoring their activities. 

2. Cut back on "nice to have" perks. Employees might feel ripped off for a short time when the free soft drinks or snacks are taken away. But, when weighed against the loss of a job, they get over the initial slight.  

3. Ditch bottled water. A report by ResponsiblePurchasing.org says that filtered water is 750-2,700 times cheaper than bottled water! 

4. Stop the printing madness! Almost anything can be held electronically and read there as well. So, do your best to avoid the printer. Save yourself a ton and save those trees as well. 

5. Reduce fuel costs. If you have a fleet of vehicles, you should put policies in place to reduce idling, personal stops, and demand direct routes to locations. GPS tracking will help with that. 

6. Enforce your fleet vehicle use policies. It is one thing to have a Vehicle Use Policy, but you must enforce it. The Track What Matters GPS tracking system will help you ensure your employees are adhering to the policies you set. 

7. Watch out for employee theft. In the past couple of months, our GPS tracking customers have reported at least 2 thefts of vehicles by employees! In each case, because they had our GPS tracking system installed, they recovered the vehicles, with the help of the police, within a couple of hours. 

8. Be certain you are receiving your full pay for the jobs your employees perform. A GPS tracking customer of ours recently reported a $1,350 loss of revenue that he was able to determine by using our GPS tracking system features to know when certain equipment was being used.  

The Track What Matters GPS tracking system can be setup to let you know when fleet equipment is in use and for how long. Successful small and medium sized business owners will tell you that greed and irresponsible management was the downfall of the corporate giants in the financial and auto industries. And, since no one is giving them a bailout using the tax money they are paying, it is their responsibility to ensure success in their businesses using tried and true methods.  

The trained eye can see opportunity when others see chaos.

Steven Van Ooyen

CEO - Track What Matters

SchoolBusRoster.com

IFTA Requirements for Trucking

There is nothing easy about owning a business or running one.  This is especially true for trucking firms.  Though organizations like the ATA work hard to minimize government restrictions on trucking, the federal government annually adds additional restrictions to haulers.  Many people might think this doesn't matter to ordinary citizens.  Unfortunately, restriction on fleets affect us all.  For every extra penny it costs fleet owners to deliver goods or services, they must raise our prices by that penny.  

This past year, hundreds of trucking firms have been forced out of business.  This is partly because fleet owners are being hit by a troubled economy.  But, this is also attributable to fleet owners being strapped by government regulations.  I am not saying that all restrictions put on fleets are excessive or overbearing.  But, I am concerned about the costs associated with additional restrictions placed on trucking fleets.

IFTA, or the International Fuel Tax Agreement, is one example of an added restriction that adds to costs.  IFTA requires fleets whose trucks travel across state lines, to track the miles traveled in each state by trip and even what roads were traveled.  As you can imagine, this is a huge headeache for truckers and administrative personell.  

In an attempt to combat the hassle placed on trucking fleets by the federal governemnent and other governing bodies, Track What Matters has begun offering state by state mileage reporting.  These reports will streamline the process of IFTA reporting for trucking fleet administrators and allow them to spend more time working on revenue generating projects.

Fleet tracking with GPS has a great number of useful features.  IFTA reporting is just another in that long list of GPS tracking features available for fleets.