Looking for an ELD for your truck? Right now, if your internet is like ours, Black Friday and Cyber Monday special sales are slamming the feeds. Is this the right time to buy a new ELD?
Reviewing your ELD contract is one piece of winterizing your trucking business — see the full owner-operator checklist.
Short answer: a cheap ELD is worth buying when it meets the FMCSA mandate and carries no long-term contract — not because it is discounted. The ELD mandate does not require extra bells and whistles, so an easy-to-install, easy-to-use basic device is all most owner-operators need. Buy on what your trucking business actually requires, not on the size of the markdown.
Still shopping? Our guide to the best gifts for truck drivers covers ideas that fit a life lived in a truck cab.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales?
Every year, people go a bit crazy right after Thanksgiving. With the upcoming holidays, people want to get the perfect gift for their loved ones. But there’s another, more practical aspect to making purchases this time of year.
For an established trucking company, it’s Q4. Right about now, most small business people have a good sense of what their cash flow will be for the remainder of the year. Decisions about equipment, software, and upgrades are made now. Knowing your business’s financial state and making wise choices to invest in your trucking business go hand in hand during this time of year.
Maybe You’re Just Getting Started
Starting a trucking company as an independent trucker or an owner operator, there are dozens of expenses that a driver for a big trucking firm covered. There are two major purchases a new trucking company needs to make – an ELD and trucking management software.
So if you’re looking for a low-price, no-contract ELD for your semi truck, TruckingOffice ELD is a great bargain. The mandate doesn’t require extra bells and whistles. An easy to install, easy to use, it’s basic. Exactly what you need at a price you can afford.
It’s easy to get carried away with Black Friday sales or Cyber Monday offers. Taking some time to think through decisions about investments – even in the rush of the holiday season where “Special Offers” abound – is smart. Forward thinking, instead of focusing on “I gotta get it now” fears, avoids buying equipment that might not be the best choice.
Save Your Money To Build Your Trucking Business
If you’re an independent trucker or an owner operator, you are a small business owner.
There’s a lot more to trucking than picking up a load and delivering it across the country. Like any business, cash flow, maintenance, and customer service are part of the job. As a solo entrepreneur, those tasks must be taken care of, or the business would fail.
Build Your Trucking Business with TruckingOffice
If you’re planning a career in transportation, you know what tools you need to maintain your rig. Recognizing that there are tools necessary to run your business is just as important. Making the right choices to run a trucking business is as serious as making sure that a trip rate con covers the cost of a load. Plenty of new truckers think they can make Google Docs, Sheets, & Maps do the work at no cost.
Why doesn’t Google work well?
How many spreadsheets will you need for
- dispatches
- maintenance records
- accounting records
- IFTA and IRP miles per state?
and that’s just the basics! There’s a lot more that spreadsheets don’t do well.
- If an invoice created in Google Docs is paid, someone has to manually go into a spreadsheet to enter the payment.
- If a DVIR showed a tire problem, where do you keep the receipts and records for the repair?
- Tracking miles per state per quarter (or every six months) for taxes is important, but how do you find the current tax rates for each jurisdiction?
Complete trucking software runs your business without hours off the road
Using a trucking software package that integrates with an ELD is the best of all.
TruckingOffice offers the best options for the solo trucker or the fleet builder. We’ve got affordable trucking management software that handles everything, including automatic rate con load entry. TruckingOffice PRO with TruckingOffice ELog makes your life easier and managing your business smoother by helping you handle your tasks better and faster:
- dispatches
- routing
- invoice generation and tracking
- expense management
- IFTA and IRP
- maintenance
- Trucker Stats™– reports to show the state of your trucking business.
Combined with the TruckingOffice Electronic Logging Device, you’ve got everything you need to build a successful trucking business – even from the cab of your truck.
Contact us today to try TruckingOffice PRO free trial help you avoid loads that cost you money to deliver and to discover what equipment is the most profitable for you.
Frequently Asked Questions About Buying an ELD
How much does an ELD cost?
ELD pricing varies by device and provider, and the total cost is more than the sticker price — monthly fees and contract length matter more than the upfront number. The FMCSA mandate does not require extra bells and whistles, so a basic, easy-to-install device satisfies the rule. TruckingOffice ELD is a low-price, no-contract option built for exactly that need.
What is a no-contract ELD?
A no-contract ELD is an electronic logging device you pay for without committing to a multi-year service agreement. It matters because a long contract locks an owner-operator into a monthly cost regardless of how the business changes. TruckingOffice ELD is a no-contract ELD for semi trucks, so you are never tied to a term you did not plan for.
Is Black Friday a good time to buy an ELD?
Black Friday can be reasonable timing, but the discount should not be the reason. By Q4 most small trucking businesses have a good sense of their cash flow for the remainder of the year, which is exactly when decisions about equipment, software, and upgrades get made. Forward thinking beats reacting to a Special Offer banner.
What does a new owner-operator need to buy first?
A new trucking company has two major purchases to make: an ELD and trucking management software. Drivers who worked for a big carrier had both covered by the company, so these become new expenses when you go independent. Buying them together — software that integrates with the ELD — is the strongest starting position.
Can I run a trucking business on spreadsheets instead of trucking software?
Spreadsheets handle the basics poorly once a real trucking business is running. You would need separate sheets for dispatches, maintenance records, accounting records, and IFTA and IRP miles per state, and they do not connect: if an invoice is paid, someone enters that payment by hand, and a DVIR tire problem leaves receipts and repair records with nowhere to live. Spreadsheets also will not tell you the current tax rate for each jurisdiction.
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