The Cost Information System contains a unit cost to recognize, as a separate activity, the cost of stationing trailers at specific customers for their use. Company or leased equipment, tied up in this manner, has a cost which should be balanced against the cost savings gained as drivers need not wait at the customer while the loading and/or unloading is performed.
The unit cost for trailers stationed at customers for their loading/unloading is stated as a cost per trailer day. Expenses and statistics needed for this activity are as follows:
: The cost of trailer pool requires that, if not done already, depreciation expenses be separated into power vs. trailer. If your company accounts do not contain this level of detail, a study or estimate may be made and the depreciation expense mapping split, using the allocation ratios outlined on page D-11 of the LTL/CIS Operating Manual. Leased equipment, without drivers, falls under this category as well.Expenses
Statistics: The following statistics are for Trailer Pool unit cost development:
Working days this period. This is used to develop the cost per trailer day. This amount must be provided.
Average number of trailers. This might be a simple average of beginning and ending period balance, or whatever count best corresponds to the depreciation expenses for the period. This amount must be provided to obtain a unit cost.
Trailers in Pools: The number of trailers in trailer pools, if available. This is used to adjust the P&D vehicle cost so as to not double-count the cost of trailers. The unit cost will be developed even if this data is not available. Subsequent monthly costings will provide this figure automatically by a roll-up of trailer pool counts by customer.
These statistics are entered under the unit cost development item Traffic Statistics.
When trailer expenses and statistics are present, the unit cost calculation will include a cost per trailer day, in cents. This cost may be replaced with a daily lease rate or other amount, if that is deemed more appropriate.
Trailer pool cost may be calculated as part of a shipment costing using the trailer pool button on the extra cost "$" screen. This screen may be opened by double-clicking, or pressing the F7 key, when the cursor is on that extra cost entry item. The trailer pool screen consists of three entry fields:
Dedicated trailers, for the number to be supplied to the customer;
Average weight per day, for the total weight picked up and delivered to the customer each day.
Trailer cost per day, which defaults to the CIS unit cost, if it has been calculated. An amount may be entered if no unit cost is available or if a different amount is needed, for special equipment or lease rates.
When all fields have been completed, click OK, and an extra cost will be calculated to reflect a trailer pool cost per day per hundredweight, with the suffix T. Subsequent costing will calculate this cost for each shipment so coded. The cost results will include a separate display of the trailer pool cost allocation.
For Traffic/CIS, the ongoing costing of all freight, customers requiring trailers to be stationed at their facilities should be set up in the CIS Customer Profile, using the service item Pool Trailers for entry of the number of trailers required. Use of the customer profile to specify pool trailer counts can be bypassed if the information is available via a download file.
When all freight is costed, the system will calculate a trailer cost for each customer, and then pro-rate that cost to all of that customer’s shipments on a weight basis. A report is created showing every customer, trailer cost, and cost per hundred pounds applied to the freight. This report may be reviewed and printed from the Database Builder or Monthly Report Viewer.
More information on the costing of trailer pools is available in TCG’s Technical Paper #3.
Revised February, 2005