Thinking of a pallet trailer for making deliveries? You’ve most likely heard of a traditional hauling hot shot delivery business, but, have you ever heard of delivering as a Haulit local delivery business with a pallet trailer? Hauling and delivery jobs are vital to every community. Not everyone has the means or ability to haul heavy or bulky loads. Not every business owner or supplier that needs palletized goods or smaller order deliveries made has the means of making economical or profitable deliveries. This is where you come in with a pallet trailer, as a Haulit hot shot, local delivery service/broker.
The ability to not only capitalize but maximize on small order deliveries with a pallet trailer as a Haulit delivery business is an essential and niche business opportunity. Below we will discuss what a local delivery business with a Haulit Pallet Trailer is, how to get started and how to find loads and jobs within your community.
What is a Pallet Trailer Delivery Business?
Traditional hot shot trucking is a type of trucking, generally done with a flatbed trailer, that carries time-sensitive, typically industrial, materials of smaller quantities. Loads are hired for delivery to generally a single location and within a specific time frame. A local hot shot business with a pallet trailer capitalizes on the specific daily delivery needs within their communities of suppliers, farm and ranch, landscapers, sod and turf, tree farms and nurseries, building suppliers, masonry, rock, brick and block- for starters.
A delivery business with a Haulit pallet trailer maximizes delivery profitability because of the versatility in load abilities and economical operating cost. By using a tilt deck live floor heavy duty pallet delivery and utility Haulit trailer, pallet delivery has never been easier!
How much do local delivery business with a Haulit Pallet Trailer make?
Hot shot or local pallet delivery is typically an owner operated, independent contractor, job/business. Here are several factors to determine income potential.
- Operating Cost: This includes start up costs, maintenance, insurance, gas, business costs (advertising, fee’s, rents, tax rates on income, etc), and self or employee wages.) Traditional hot shot operating costs are around $65.00/hr. We’ve documented that with Haulit operating costs are as low as $40.00/hr.
- Load abilities/ Weight: A traditional hot shot trailer may be able to deliver some landscaping equipment, but can it deliver a load of mulch, dirt, or sand one day and pallets of sod, pavers or block the next without the need of a forklift or hand labor? It’s important to know your load capacities and specific abilities.
- Delivery Fee’s/ Freight Payment: Once you know all you can deliver, a good rule of thumb to find out how much to charge for your delivery fee is to do research on what the current delivery fees are in your community. For starting, you will want to focus on being competitively priced. Once you build connections and the base to your network, referrals will begin and you can play with your price because of your ability to service deliveries so quickly and efficiently. In our own community, we found the delivery prices among tree nurseries, sod farms, rock brick and block suppliers, and averaged the price.
“Even after all our operating costs, wages, etc, our Haulit trailers are profiting $20/hr and we’re running deliveries 2-3 times a day!” – Haulit Owner
What are the requirements to be a local delivery business or local hot shot driver?
With any hot shot trucking business, it is important to understand federal and local laws that apply to the business. Because rules are different from state to state, below is a general outline for requirements. You will want to check with your state and comply with local laws and regulations.
- Licensing and Registering: Obtain a business license for your new owner-operated delivery business. Avoid fines by finding out what specific licensing you will need and if any extra licencing or logging is required for your state. It’s also a good idea to talk with an accountant before beginning to discuss the nature of your business and make sure you understand legalities and business operations of hot shot delivery before you begin.
- Insurance: When starting your hot shot delivery service with a Haulit, Liability insurance is required. You can purchase an amount that works for you and adjust coverage as your business grows.
- Logging: As an owner operator and independent contractor, all logging and scheduling is up to you. Hot shot delivery within 120 miles of your home base requires no logging in most states, but check to make sure. Logging properly will help you with taxes at the end of the year. With Haulit, most deliveries are done within communities and cities within a single state- this saves immensely on the amount of requirements and logging from state to state. Start doing it right from the very beginning; it will save headaches later.
- Scheduling: Having a means of organizing and scheduling loads before you initiate contracts is essential to reflect professionalism and optimal delivery fulfilment. At Haulit, we like to use “Google Calendar”
- Purchasing Equipment: Haulit equipment is much cheaper than current traditional delivery methods (semi truck with forklift, flat bed trailers with forklifts, etc). All that is needed is a ¾ to 1 ton pickup truck and a Haulit Trailer. If you need to purchase a truck, remember that the truck is your business stamina-wear and tear on smaller engines is much higher than trucks with a bigger engine and built for heavier loads. The type and size of trailer you decide to invest in depends on what you are wanting to deliver and what will work best for your business.
We at Haulit also offer FREE CONSULTATION, to anyone thinking about starting their own Haulit delivery business.
Finding Loads/Creating Contracts:
A few traditional hot shot businesses services you can use to get started are:
- 123 Load Board
- Fr8star
- Get Loaded
- Trulos Transportation
- Truckers Edge
Hot shot delivery with a Haulit is a specific niche market delivery service for communities. You will want to start advertising within your community as soon as possible. It’s time for business cards and even a simple webpage! A few ways to begin advertising your hot shot business could include:
- Word of Mouth: A call to friends, family, and anyone in your community letting them know that you’re open for business, what you can deliver, and to ask them to let others know.
- Make a good impression! Word of mouth will be a driving life force to your business. With a Haulit, and its unique ability to deliver without the hassle of a forklift or manual labor and your ability to get deliveries done quickly and efficiently, referrals will come easily.
Think about a way of sending a thank you- taking time to meet who you are delivering for, and letting them know you appreciate them. A good trailer is vital, but building relationships and a strong network for ongoing referrals is where the real currency lies. - Initiate Contracts: Make a list of all of the companies in your area that offer delivery of large items, make a phone call, and ask them if they are in need of the ability to deliver small load deliveries, like palletized or bulk materials and let them know you can broker deliveries for them. Obtaining even just a few contracts with a some of those services could provide you with all the delivery work you could want! You may even have to expand your business soon and hire more drivers to help you with all the deliveries!
Here are a few ideas, specific to Haulit delivery abilities, to help get contracts started:
- Sod farms- Sod and turf delivery
- Landscapers- Materials and Supplies to job sites (Rock, Brick, Block, Pavers, Mulch and even debri clean up)
- Tree Farms or Nurseries- Tree and Plant Delivery (Home Depot, Lowes, Local Stores)
- Construction Workers/ General Contractors (Debri Clean Up and Material Delivery)
- IFA or Farming stores (Hay, Straw, Supersacks, Fertilizer, Wood Pellets, etc)
- Car Washes (Ice Melt Delivery)
- Family- moving delivery across town (they make great referrals!)
- Friends- Everyone knows someone needing something moved or delivered. (Appliances, broken appliances, furniture, etc.)
Once your name and business is out there, you’ll be booking up your calendar in no time!
This video shows different types of loads you could contract with nursery and landscape products.
More information here on How to Start as an Independent Contractor with Haulit and other ideas for getting more loads
Do hot shot drivers need CDL with a Haulit?
In most US states hot shot drivers only require a CDL license when their loads are over 26,000 lbs. GVMW (Gross Vehicle Maximum Weight). Because all Haulit trailers are engineered to haul 10,000lbs of cargo, in most US states a CDL in not required. Check with local laws and regulations regarding CDL requirements.
More information here on how Haulit helps with Maximizing Pallet Delivery Profits & Solving the CDL Driver Shortage.
How many hours can a local pallet delivery and hot shot driver drive?
A hot shot driver is owner operated and sets their own hours. The amount of hours a hot shot driver can drive in a day is determined by how many hours you want to work by how many hours and days you want to be delivering. You will need to check with your state to find out if there are any on duty hourly regulations.
Why start a local delivery business with a Haulit Pallet Trailer
- Work is local or regional so you’re never too far from home.
- Be your own boss, set your own hours.
- Low start up costs
- Minimal licensing
- High pay rate
- Niche delivery service opportunities
- Low operating costs
Type of Haulit trailer needed for a hot shot delivery business.
The type of trailer, size and features, will depend on what type of truck you have and loads that you want to deliver such as:
- Materials being delivered
- Pallet capacity
- Weight/load capacity
- Bumper Pull or Gooseneck
For a complete list of Haulit Trailers, capacities and speculations please visit our website at www.haulit.com
Take a look at Haulit F.A.Q.’s for more information.
A Haulit hot shot delivery business is an essential and niche business opportunity to make necessary and timely deliveries within communities and cities. With a pallet trailer, being able to offer a service that is both feasible and economical to clients provides a beneficial and valuable service. The Haulit trailer was created to capitalize on small order deliveries, especially for niche pallet, bulk, and bundled services.
Contact our office today for a free consultation. We’d love to learn more about you, your business, and if Haulit is a fit for your delivery operations.