Case Study - Yard Creations - Who'd Like An Extra 7 Yards of Material, Plus An Additional $110 Profit, Per Load?
Yard Creations took advantage of Air-Weigh on-board scales to haul more and earn more.
Solution Overview
CUSTOMER: Yard Creations
LINE OF BUSINESS: Nursery/Landscape Supplies
LOCATION: Mountain Home, Idaho
IN BUSINESS SINCE: 1995
AIR-WEIGH ON-BOARD SCALE USER SINCE: 2022
The Situation
Yard Creations has been trusted for decades to supply landscape supplies and materials to the residents of the Mountain Home, Idaho area. Customers count on Yard Creations to offer more than 28 bins filled with different landscaping rocks and bark, along with a great many other items they can’t find elsewhere.
A problem for Yard Creations is the cost of shipping, particularly the challenge of picking up materials from other states and hauling them back to Mountain Home. Owner Richard Brandt is a retired over-the-road truck driver, and realized Yard Creations could save money by owning its own tractor and belt trailer.
But with such heavy material to haul, the company found itself minimizing the size of its loads out of extreme caution to avoid exceeding the legal weight limit while on the road. The result was far less material coming back per haul, which was making the cost of shipping prohibitive.
Yard Creations Case Study eBook
Learn how Air-Weigh On-Board Scales helped Yard Creations add 7 extra yards of materials per load in this case study. View or download this case study as a free PDF eBook.
The Answer: Air-Weigh On-Board Scales
Yard Creations bought a belt trailer to haul the heavy material it provides its customers. Brandt knew he wanted an on-board truck scale, but because the belt trailer is spring-loaded, Brandt had a difficult time finding a scale provider that could work with a spring-loaded trailer.
Air-Weigh had it.
The results:
- Instead of loading the trailer far underweight out of caution – typically as low as 15 yards of material – Yard Creations now loads its trailers to approximately 22 yards of material. Since the business sells the material at $50 per yard, that facilitates an extra $350 in sales per load, and additional profit of $110 per load.
- Yard Creations hasn’t had to do a single reload as a result of being overweight since getting the Air-Weigh scales.
WHAT THEY TOLD US ABOUT THE IMPACT OF AIR-WEIGH ON-BOARD SCALES
Quotes from Richard Brandt, Owner (and retired over-the-road truck driver)
The Importance of Maximizing Loads:
“It’s not a long trip from Boise to Mountain Home – about a 45-mile trip. But we also have to go up to Washington state to get this white rock that we sell, and when you go that far, you want to get as much as possible, so you load up to the legal limit.”
All the Best Cowboys . . . :
“There are some cowboys who will load heavy and just pay the weight ticket. But I own the company, so if I get a $50 weight ticket, that really cuts into my profits. And if you get too heavy, they’ll shut you down.”
Spring-Loaded? No Problem:
“The belt trailer was a spring-loaded trailer, no airbags. Air-Weigh had a great setup for that, and they were the only ones who did. I didn’t even know it existed. Anybody with a spring-loaded trailer does a lot of guessing (about weight), but these things are so accurate. Once you get the hang of it, they’re within 200 or 300 pounds.”
Goodbye, Reloading:
“I go up to Rexford and I’ve got to load out of this pit. You can use their scales but it’s two or three football fields away. So if the loading operator has you overloaded, then you have to offload. I don’t need to worry about that anymore. I can sit there and say, OK, I’m good on the front. Put the next one on the back. I get loaded real quick with no mistakes. I haven’t had to reload once.”
Visibility:
“I have the one on the belt trailer and one that goes on my tractor, which will tell me the weight of both my tractor and my trailer. You can stand there and see it all on your phone.”
Outstanding Service:
“They’re an awesome company to deal with. If I have any questions, they get me right into support. They’re always there. Just a great company.”
“I go up to Rexford and I’ve got to load out of this pit. You can use their scales but it’s two or three football fields away. So if the loading operator has you overloaded, then you have to offload. I don’t need to worry about that anymore. I can sit there and say, OK, I’m good on the front. Put the next one on the back. I get loaded real quick with no mistakes. I haven’t had to reload once.”
The Conclusion
Since investing in Air-Weigh on-board truck scales, Yard Creations no longer loses money by intentionally underloading out of caution to avoid weight tickets. It typically hauls 50 percent more per load, resulting in additional profits of more than $100 per haul.
And the company has not had to undertake a single reload since getting Air-Weigh scales.
Yard Creations Case Study eBook
Learn how Air-Weigh On-Board Scales helped Yard Creations add an extra 7 yards per load in this case study. View or download this case study as a free PDF eBook.