Fleets Bring Drivers Into the Fold to Identify Cost Savings
Performance Incentives, Open Talks on Costs Help Fleets Navigate Downturn
Key Takeaways:
- Fleet executives at 2025 MCE said the freight downturn has forced carriers to scale back driver perks and tighten minimum pay programs to control costs.
- Companies reported that redesigned incentives, including Boyle’s monthly fuel-efficiency bonuses that boosted mileage by 1 mpg, helped cut expenses while maintaining driver engagement.
- Leaders said they will continue revising incentive structures and involving drivers in cost-reduction decisions as fleets push for higher productivity and more disciplined pay practices.
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SAN DIEGO — Fleet executives said a combination of achievable incentives and frank discussions about opportunities for cost reductions can help management and drivers work together to navigate challenging economic times.
“This downturn has been tough on all of us, but the one thing that really has to matter is the bottom line or otherwise we’re not in existence,” said Dale Decker, CEO of Fort Dodge, Iowa-based Decker Truck Line, during a panel discussion at the American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition in October. “It’s been tough to look at these things that we really believe in our principles for taking care of the drivers … but sometimes you have to make improvements.”
The panel featured fleets on the Best Fleets to Drive For list presented each year by driver training specialist CarriersEdge.
Boyle Transportation Vice President Michael Lasko said during the panel that his company had to curtail spending on a hotel program for drivers to control costs but involved the drivers in discussions to ensure transparency.
“We had a pretty liberal hotel policy; probably too liberal,” he said. To address the issue, leadership sat down with a driver committee to explain that the program was one where some costs needed to be cut.
“We scaled it back,” Lasko said. “Drivers didn’t love it and gave us some feedback, but we scaled back that program. We involved the drivers, kept our hands open on the table and dealt with them openly and honestly.”
Lasko also outlined how a pay incentive program returned the dual benefit of motivating drivers while helping Boyle wring more efficiency out of its equipment.
“Rather than cut back [further] we got innovative,” he said. “We wanted to lower fuel expenses, so we incentivized drivers and started rolling out monthly incentives. The things we rolled out put more money in drivers’ pockets.” He said the company realized a fleet-wide improvement of 1 mpg with the change.
Decker also had to sharpen his company’s focus on driver pay amid the current downturn.
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“We had a driver minimum pay program where, if they didn’t hit their number, we’d true it up,” he said. “In good times we didn’t enforce it as well as we should. We didn’t want to get rid of the program, because if a driver has a breakdown, it’s not his fault. But we had to put more teeth in it.”
Decker noted that the carrier started drilling down on drivers who knew how to take advantage of the system and began requiring them to more precisely plan routes and share estimated times of arrival.
“We found the ones who wanted to game the system — guys who timed when they dropped their loads,” he said. “If you are gaming the system, maybe you are not in alignment with us. We lost some [drivers] but those who were left are the ones who didn’t rely on it. They’re the ones committed to doing the right things.”
Building on the point, Lasko said, “Maybe turnover isn’t a bad thing. Some people who are not a good fit leave and that’s okay.”
He noted that Boyle works to tweak incentive programs to ensure they’re accessible to everyone.
“We love to gamify that stuff when we can,” Lasko said, noting how the company tailored a fuel-efficiency incentive program so that anyone who hit specific marks could qualify for a prize. The company also crafted incentives so that people who were notching significant improvement could win something.
“The top performers are repetitive winners, and that wasn’t giving us improvement,” he said.
Lasko also noted how drivers who had a lot of speeding events, for example, could not only be incentivized to improve but also look at their peers for inspiration.
“A driver with a speeding problem can see that others don’t have the same problem,” he said.
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Decker noted that adjusting his company’s minimum pay program also inspired the good drivers who remained with the company to improve on an individual basis.
“We started getting more productivity out of each power unit, and we cut down our minimum pay by tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. “We had to do what we [could] from a productivity standpoint.”
Decker was quick to note that the austerity approach spread throughout the company.
“If we’re going to cut something for drivers, we are all going to feel it,” he said. “In the office, personally — across the board so everyone feels it.”
Decker added, “Until we do something that we can measure and show, we are not delivering for our drivers.”
Best Fleets to Drive For is an annual survey and contest that recognizes for-hire carriers providing exceptional workplace experiences for drivers. The program is open to for-hire carriers operating 10 tractor-trailers or more under their own authority in the United States or Canada. Fleets must be nominated by a driver or independent contractor currently working with them. There is no cost to participate. Boyle Transportation and Decker Truck Line both have been on the list for multiple years.
