Every mode of freight transportation has a specific purpose, but there’s a fair bit of crossover. For example, a tanker truck can haul milk or diesel fuel but not gravel, and a refrigerator or reefer truck can carry freight, though not very efficiently.
What Do You Need To Move?
Business owners who survive 2020 know how to look for new opportunities and to move quickly once they see them. If you’ve got a product that needs to go to a new retailer, checking out flatbed semi trailer rentals is a great way to start your business expansion.
Once the path between you and your new customer is worn smoothly, or the new customer is now a steady customer, you might be ready to invest in a trailer or dry van to transport your goods.
Highest and Best Use
If you’re a food producer, you need a reefer or refrigerator truck. Even if you’re not producing food that needs refrigeration, the humidity protection requirements will likely force you into a reefer truck. According to the experts at Hale Trailer, “Reefer shipments are a major part of the freight and logistics industry because of their ability to maintain temperature-controlled environments. They commonly carry frozen foods like meat and produce, but can also be used to transport plants, pharmaceuticals, and electronic goods that require cooler temperatures.”
The decision to buy or rent your truck will probably spin around
- how far you need to move product
- how often you have to ship
- what distance you need to cover
- how fragile your product is
Are you shipping crackers or fresh fish? Both need to move around, but the fish probably need to move faster. Waiting on a rental truck is probably not a great choice. Investing in a used or new reefer truck will take capital and credit, but once it’s paid off, a good maintenance schedule can give you plenty of tax depreciation with no payments remaining.
However, your reefer truck probably shouldn’t be used to haul any other product. Your facility and shipping tools will likely need to face multiple inspections and product checks both pre- and post-packaging. Keeping non-food out of your reefer truck may require you to rent another trailer at some point.
Renting a Flatbed or Dry Van
If you’re headed to an industrial or a production show to display your wares and draw in new clients, your product set up will need to be designed and assembled before you take it down and ship it off to the presentation site. Depending on the size of your display, renting a flatbed so you can be sure of delivery timing will be tempting.
With a flatbed or even a dry van rental, you can fully monitor the transport. Simple features such as
- tire pressure
- load stability
- location
can be monitored from multiple points as your display heads across the country. This monitoring ability is a terrific way to make sure that your employees and your investment are safe and traveling as you planned.
The Big Stuff
In the event that you have to move something large or heavy, renting a custom trailer, such as a lowboy, can be an ideal solution. For example, if you’re able to expand your business and need to move an industrial cooking kettle or blending dish to a new facility, you want the loading, securing and unloading to be as easy as possible.
Depending on the distance your kettle has to travel, the number of bridges, overpasses, and other barriers can make using a lowboy for this crucial move a very good investment.
Other Tools
While you won’t need a dump truck to move any food products, this vehicle rental can make the landscaping around your new facility a lot easier. Again, it’s about putting your resources to the best use. Once you hire a landscape designer, it’s time to look at the projected expenses for hauling in the raw goods that will make your new place look terrific.
If you’ve got capable drivers with a little down time and a trustworthy rental option, why not rent a dump truck to haul soil, mulch, gravel, and other raw products to the new site for the landscape designer and their crew to put to use? You may be able to pay for the design, buy the components separately, and create a great look at a much better rate than you would have paid for the whole package.
Should you need a specific vehicle to maintain your good name as a producer of quality goods in a timely fashion, the investment is likely worth it. Reputation will likely matter more than a lot of other factors as time marches on. However, rental vehicles are a great way to beef up your delivery options.
