Pete Hendrickson
Big Truck Rental
Vice President –
Route Ready Truck Sales
Big Truck Rental’s Vice President of Route Ready Truck Sales Pete Hendrickson discusses the economics or truck rental through the company’s Complete Fleet program.
1. What is Complete Fleet?
Complete Fleet is a new offering from BTR that allows our customer organizations to leverage rental as a permanent fleet strategy to improve financial metrics, reduce frontline turnover and de-risk their supply chain. The new program provides easy access to new trucks on an ongoing basis with optional preventative maintenance packages.
2. What financial metrics can Complete Fleet improve?
The simple math on ownership versus rental shows that the monthly note on a garbage truck is about 65 percent as much as the rental expense. The gap between rental expenses and hard ownership costs closes quickly when factoring in operational efficiencies and balance sheet management associated with ownership. From an operating standpoint, replacing old trucks with new rentals can reduce frontline employee turnover, reduce maintenance costs and eliminate costly service disruptions when trucks are being repaired. From a balance sheet perspective, every rental truck eliminates anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000 of debt depending on the specific unit, unleashing dry powder to pursue growth opportunities and improving overall return on invested capital.
3. How can Complete Fleet reduce employee turnover?
Fifty percent of CDL drivers are retiring in the next five years, and large retailers are paying six figures to members of this diminishing talent pool. In addition to the shortage of CDL drivers, attracting and retaining qualified service technicians to maintain trucks is an increasing challenge. Having newer equipment is a tremendous selling point for drivers and mechanics and can quickly lead to a reduction in turnover, positively impacting the bottom line.
4. How does Complete Fleet de-risk a garbage company’s supply chain?
The recent supply challenges have demonstrated the importance of an intelligent, diversified supply chain. Complete Fleet offers diversification in two ways—speed to market and meeting off-balance-sheet truck needs. Delays in truck deliveries lead to revenue loss and potential breaches in contract while the flexibility in accessing trucks without capital allows companies to take on speculative or seasonal business without the burden of debt or large cash outlays.
5. Where are you seeing the most interest in Complete Fleet today and why?
Quantified financials showing how rental as a permanent strategy can improve the bottom line has led to adoption by large national and regional independent companies across North America. From a municipality standpoint, the ability to immediately replace old trucks with zero capital burden has been strategic in addressing the labor shortage. Anytime a solution can be both strategic and cost-effective, the adoption is wide and fast, and that’s what we’re seeing with Complete Fleet.
