7 Reasons You Should Outsource Fleet Services for Your Waste Management Business
A waste management business should focus on its duty of keeping the city and various neighborhoods clean. The purpose of a waste management company is to transport, dispose, and recycle waste. Their expertise doesn’t lie in maintaining their fleet trucks, nor does it involve managing driver behaviors and assigning routes. However, a waste management company with poor fleet management not only wastes time and money, but can decrease customer satisfaction as well.
Fleet management plays a pivotal role in the success of any waste management business. We go over the many benefits of why your waste management company needs to outsource fleet services to mitigate safety and maintenance risks, improve quality of service, and boost productivity.
If your waste management business is having trouble managing its fleet, it’s time to consider outsourcing fleet services to trusted professionals. We’ve compiled a list of the seven reasons why you might consider outsourcing fleet services for your waste management business:
1. Free-Up Time and Human Resources
A third-party fleet management company may be put in charge of your fleet operations to oversee:
- Fuel costs
- Fuel consumption
- Vehicle maintenance
- Route planning
- Asset utilization
- Driver management
Along with these operations, a fleet management company can oversee the implementation of programs that would decrease waste and boost company productivity. Instead of allocating employees to do some of these fleet management tasks or hiring a team of mechanics, you can outsource these tasks to a professional fleet company with expert experience. In turn, you’ll be able to free up your resources to provide better waste management services to your designated neighborhoods while having the confidence that a team of professionals is handling your fleet with care.
2. Save Money Long-Term
You may think that hiring in-house or conducting fleet management yourself will be the cheaper option for your business. However, fleet services will likely do a better job and be more efficient at managing fleets. Instead, your business should double down on your expertise in waste management and leave fleet management to a trusted service provider. The last thing you want is to take on a task that’s too complex and takes you away from areas of your business you’re best at.
There are a variety of ways that fleet management will save your business money, such as:
- Renting vehicles versus purchasing
- Optimizing route planning to negate wasted time and avoiding traffic
- Maintaining your vehicles to prevent costly repairs
- Reduce poor driving behavior, which is not only unsafe but can cost you money
Furthermore, insurance companies who see that you’re working with a fleet services company tend to offer discounted rates. Fleet management companies can also refer you to a network of suppliers or mechanics for the best possible rates.
3. Opt for More Sustainable Fuel
A waste management business will do everything in their power to reuse the waste. However, one of the most forgotten wastes that waste management companies fail to utilize is energy-efficient fuel. Ironically, the mission of a waste management company is to provide economical, efficient, and hygienic waste storage; however, they often fail to protect the environment in the process.
Garbage trucks have been estimated to use 1.2 billion gallons of diesel per year, resulting in 27 billion pounds of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Fleet services are more likely to help you transition from diesel or biodiesel fuel to natural gas. CNG or compressed natural gas cost less than diesel fuel and are better for the environment.
4. Mitigate Risks
Working with a fleet management company can help you minimize risks when it comes to staying compliant with a number of insurance and regulatory requirements, along with reducing accidents and avoiding costly fines. It requires a specialist to conduct risk assessments and develop a risk management policy for driver-related activities and vehicles in the workplace. There are four categories that a fleet must be compliant with:
- Vehicles
- Drivers
- Operations
- Management
For example, fleet managers can utilize their technology to monitor driver behaviors and proactively address unsafe driving practices, such as harsh braking and speeding.
5. Fleet Companies Utilize Telematics
There’s a reason why 75% of fleet managers use some form of vehicle telematics for fleet management software to oversee fleets. Many over-the-road fleets spend as much as 40% of their time idling and 19 hours per year logging paperwork. Fleet services will provide you access to telematics and fleet management software to improve efficiency and safety while lowering your fleet's costs. Fleet software tools have plenty of functions, including:
- Monitoring driver behavior
- Asset tracking
- Staying compliant and store eLogs
- Tracking vehicles
- Route planning
6. Allows You to Acquire More Vehicles
If you’re looking to scale and grow your waste management business, you’ll need a good line of credit and work with a professional fleet management company to lease vehicles. Outright owning vehicles is difficult for companies who don’t have enough startup capital to purchase fleet trucks. Most fleet management companies offer very generous and flexible leasing arrangements, which reduce the amount of debt on your waste management company’s balance sheet compared to most traditional loans.
Once you have twenty-five or more fleet trucks, you may consider outsourcing fleet services to lower the overall cost of ownership and begin looking for opportunities to improve efficiencies.
7. Fleet Services Offer Newer and Better Vehicles
Although owning a vehicle offers more control and limits the monthly expenses of leasing one, high-mileage trucks are usually more trouble than they are worth. Fleet trucks that are past their prime are usually more expensive due to opportunity costs resulting from lost productivity, along with more frequent and higher fuel and maintenance costs.
Newer models of vehicles tend to be more fuel-efficient, meaning they have lower emissions and better fuel economy compared to older models. As a waste management company, you’re able to stand out from other competitors by building an environmentally conscious brand.
Replacing a vehicle every few years just isn’t feasible and would be an overwhelming capital expense. Fleet services will provide the vehicles in a cost-efficient manner while also keeping them well-maintained. A fleet service business can provide an array of services in regards to upkeep, such as providing vehicle maintenance, fuel cards and insurance, licensing and registration, and use reporting. Not to mention all of the miles and fuel purchases will be monitored for each vehicle.
Conclusion
For a waste management business that is tasked with keeping our neighborhoods clean, the burden of their day-to-day operations may seem daunting. Especially for small to mid-sized fleets, it may be the time to make the transition to outsource fleet services. Hiring in-house fleet managers can be expensive, and dedicating fleet responsibilities to managers can cause your leadership team to wear too many hats.
Even if you’re a small business, it’s not too early to outsource fleet services. Within the outsource fleet management market, about 20% of fleets are small businesses. However, a recent survey we conducted showed that 44.83% of companies still keep their risk management in-house and use fleet management software to do it.
Check out Azuga fleet management software to begin managing your daily operations, such as overseeing work orders, inventory, fleet management, tracking, and monitoring driver behavior.
