CCJ Innovators: At Carbon Express, time is money

CCJ Innovators profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking’s challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact CCJ Editor Jason Cannon at jasoncannon@randallreilly.com or 800-633-5953.

Federal mandates dictate how much time drivers can spend on the road but otherwise time doesn’t factor heavily into the business of moving freight.

“The whole world rates by the hour except trucking,” noted Carbon Express founder and President Steve Rush.

Rush, an early adopter of electronic logs more than a decade ago, saw the opportunity to add more clarity to his bottom line by charging customers for the time drivers spend behind the wheel rather than the number of miles they spend touching it.

“I never understood the rate per mile. How do you calculate that,” he said. “No one’s ever really been able to sit down and pinpoint it to me. No one has a set way. It’s all over the place.”

Seven years ago, the Wharton, N.J.-based liquid bulk hauler shifted to rating by the hour and Rush noted it “opens your eyes to so many wrongs. It makes things so much easier.”

“For 30-plus years, we rated on whatever we thought the traffic would bear,” he said, “and I believe to this day that’s what most truckers do. I don’t care about the mile. I care about the time that it’s going to take me to do that trip.”