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The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s 2025 International Roadcheck event is scheduled for May 13-15, and this year, inspectors plan to focus on tires and false record of duty status (RODS). Each year, CVSA places a special emphasis on one driver violation category and one vehicle violation category. During the 72-hour safety blitz, law enforcement will primarily conduct the North American Standard Level I Inspection on commercial motor vehicles and drivers at weigh/inspection stations, temporary sites and mobile patrols.

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Maximizing space within a warehouse and strategically positioning items can lead to significant financial and time savings. The layout and design of a warehouse and a distribution network should be an ongoing process. Shippers can improve their food warehousing and distribution with these six strategies:

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Shifting global economic policies, tariffs, inflation and labor challenges have created a rapidly changing landscape that is impacting fleets’ decision-making. Arriving at the right decisions requires good data, and finance leaders are often tasked with providing critical information on budgeting, forecasting and margins.

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Expanding into a new market, lane or delivery model is a significant investment, but using commercial rental trucks can offer a low-risk, cost-effective way to gauge demand before committing to longer-term assets, reducing financial risk.

Taking Advantage of Market Trends

One of the top benefits of rental trucks is their flexibility, which allows businesses to scale up or down quickly based on market demand or changes to their operations. If a market performs well, companies can extend rentals or transition to leasing or ownership. If demand is lower than expected, they can scale down or exit without significant financial losses or a long-term commitment.

Finding the Best Match

Matching the right vehicle type to the operational needs helps optimize efficiency and control costs. Rentals can also allow companies to test different types and sizes of equipment to determine what works best.

Penske offers a diverse fleet of rental trucks that can be matched to different operational needs, including:

  • Cargo Vans: Cargo vans, also known as sprinter vans, are often ideal for last-mile deliveries, rapid replenishment of high-moving items and small parcel services, and urban logistics. They are also a perfect solution for service-based businesses, such as electricians and plumbers, that are expanding operations.
  • Electric Cargo Vans: Companies looking to test electric vehicles or add sustainable options to their fleet can rent electric high-roof cargo vans that have an estimated range of 100+ miles. They have 450 cubic feet of loading space and up to 3,300 lb. payload.
  • Light and Medium-Duty Box Trucks: Box trucks, also called straight trucks, are available in 12 to 26 foot sizes. These can be useful for companies testing new store locations, expanding service areas or evaluating customer demand in new markets. Many box trucks do not require drivers to have a commercial driver’s license, which can help companies expand their driver pool.
  • Refrigerated Trucks: Penske Truck Rental offers 16 foot cabover refrigerated trucks and 18 to 26 foot refrigerated trucks with CDL and non-CDL options. CDL-required trucks have up to a 15,000 lb. payload capacity, while non-CDL trucks have up to an 8,000 lb. payload.
  • Flatbed Trucks: Commercial rental flatbed trucks are perfect for transporting a wide range of medium-duty cargo. Options include 24 to 26 foot non-CDL flatbed trucks with up to 20,000 lb. payload capacity and 24 to 26 foot CDL-required flatbed trucks with up to 18,000 lb. payload capacity.
  • Class 8 Tractors: Penske has heavy-duty Class 8 sleeper and day cab tractors for companies hauling larger payloads.

Tapping Into Trailers

Trailers provide flexible solutions for companies looking to scale up or down or test new strategies, such as trailer pools for drop-and-hook operations or cross-docking. Trailers can also serve as short-term storage, allowing companies to gauge demand before investing in warehouse space. Options include 48 and 53 foot dry van trailers, 40 to 53 foot flatbed trailers and 53 foot refrigerated trailers.

All commercial rentals, including trailers, include maintenance and roadside support. To learn more about leveraging short-term rental solutions to expand operations while minimizing risk, contact us at 844-906-3404.

Within the cold chain, every degree counts, and maintaining temperatures can get challenging as summer temperatures rise. That is especially true in areas with hot climates, such as Arizona, Florida and Texas. Penske Logistics and Penske Truck Leasing work together to help meet the needs of leasing and logistics customers.

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Driving a Class 8 truck is a demanding job, but advancements in driver-assist technologies, improved vehicle design and better in-cab comfort solutions are making it easier for drivers to stay alert and comfortable behind the wheel and get better rest in their sleeper.

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Fleets have data coming at them from multiple sources, including electronic logging devices and the engine.

When managed properly, information can be used to improve operations and increase efficiency. Otherwise, the vast amount of data can be overwhelming to private fleets, leading to paralysis by analysis.

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Managing data in real time can help fleet operators aiming to maximize efficiency, reduce costs and enhance safety. Fleets have access to more data than ever before, and Penske is pulling multiple data points together in its Fleet Insight platform that customers can use to get a holistic view of operations together in one place.

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The use of telematics continues to increase, with more fleets adopting the technology than in previous years. Penske works with multiple telematics providers to integrate critical data into its reporting platforms. The integration empowers customers with actionable insights, enhances decision-making capabilities and optimizes operational efficiency.

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The scope of reverse logistics — moving products from the end-user back to the point of origin — can be broad, encompassing everything from moving reusable containers back to a manufacturing facility to bringing back retail returns to a distribution center. Reverse logistics can present a vast range of challenges, but Penske has extensive experience transporting products where they are needed.

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Maintaining compliance under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program is a critical component in fleets’ ability to operate safely, secure contracts, manage insurance costs and meet customer commitments. A poor CSA score can lead to increased scrutiny from regulators, a diminished reputation and difficulty attracting drivers. Fortunately, there are several actionable strategies fleets can embrace to improve and maintain CSA scores.
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The driver shortage remains a top industry concern. Comfort and convenience features on late-model equipment can help improve drivers’ experience on the road, which can boost recruitment and retention efforts.

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The use of in-cab safety technologies is becoming increasingly common among fleets, driving significant safety improvements. Private fleets are among those that aggressively manage safety, and safety technologies are providing private fleets with unheard-of levels of visibility, tracking and analytics, according to the National Private Truck Council’s (NPTC) 2024 Benchmarking Report.

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Brake safety is crucial for safe operations, and regular inspections by qualified service technicians, and proper pre- and post-trip inspections by drivers, can ensure brakes perform as expected.

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Fuel is a major expense for fleets, and improving fuel economy can result in significant savings while potentially increasing a vehicle's lifespan. Fortunately, there are several ways fleets can improve fuel economy.

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Robust, well-maintained batteries are essential for the proper performance of Class 8 trucks. Battery failures can lead to costly downtime, delayed deliveries and driver inconvenience. Spec'ing the right batteries, maintaining them and replacing them before a failure occurs can ensure batteries are reliable and performing as they should.

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Rising costs, labor shortages and a challenging operating environment have put immense pressure on fleets to optimize operations and increase efficiency. Benchmarking is a vital tool for companies to compare their performance and critical metrics to industry standards and similar operations to uncover opportunities for improvement and gain a competitive advantage.

Metrics To Monitor Include:

Fuel Efficiency: When even pennies per gallon add up, the cost savings from increasing fuel economy and minimizing fuel consumption become significant. Benchmarking fuel costs can help fleets determine if they’re above the industry average and then delve into contributing factors, such as driver behavior, poorly maintained vehicles or the wrong vehicle specs, and implement corrective measures.

Fleet Utilization: Fleet utilization — the extent to which trucks or trailers are being used relative to their total capacity or availability — is a key performance metric in transportation and logistics. Reviewing utilization rates can help maximize efficiency and reduce operational costs.

Maintenance Costs and Effectiveness: Effective maintenance reduces unexpected breakdowns, extends vehicle lifespan and ensures compliance with safety regulations. High maintenance costs or frequent breakdowns may indicate inefficient processes or the need for vehicle replacement. Metrics could include breakdowns per 100,000 miles and average vehicle downtime.

Cost Per Mile: Fleets’ average cost per mile includes all operating expenses, including fuel, maintenance, insurance, driver wages and overhead. The cost per mile can vary by truck or operating area. Tracking it and comparing it to industry averages or competitors can help identify trends in operational expenses, allowing fleets to dig into and correct issues that may be driving it higher. Knowing the cost per mile is also critical for setting rates.

Empty Miles: Empty miles represent lost revenue opportunities and higher operational costs due to unnecessary fuel usage and vehicle wear. Reducing empty miles improves profitability and resource utilization. Solutions can include optimizing routing and dispatching or sourcing backhauls.

Revenue Per Truck: Measuring total revenue generated by each truck over a specific period can help fleets uncover performance disparities, identify underperforming assets or operations, and determine which areas to optimize.

Driver Turnover: High turnover increases recruiting and training costs, disrupts operations, and can negatively affect customer service. Monitoring turnover helps fleets identify and address issues related to driver satisfaction.

​Benchmark Effectively

Historically, the freight industry has relied on static forecasting and metrics, such as static KPI reporting and comparisons of the fleet to static industry averages. There are several valuable industry reports, including the National Private Truck Council’s Benchmarking Survey, American Trucking Association’s (ATA’s) Driver Compensation Study, and the ATA Technology & Maintenance Council’s North American Service Event Benchmark Report.

While these reports are valuable, they limit fleets’ ability to create benchmarks that are exactly matched to their operations. Fleets are inherently distinct. They operate in all kinds of conditions. They are spec'd differently, and there are different kinds of vehicles, which means it can be challenging to get an apples-to-apples comparison using reports alone.

Penske’s fleet benchmarking tool powered by Catalyst AI™ allows fleet managers to measure key performance indicators and compare their fleets to create comparisons to their own fleet over time, while creating dynamic comparisons to similar operations and equipment. It looks at comparisons across fuel efficiency and vehicle utilization.

Catalyst AI leverages artificial intelligence, advanced machine learning algorithms and Penske’s rich data set to enable fleet managers to evaluate true fleet performance, allowing them to gain accurate, real-time fleet comparisons and make decisions with greater precision and accuracy.

It processes 57 billion data points, with 200+ million new data points added to the fleet dataset daily. It also synthesizes thousands of variables into digestible key performance indicators and diagnostic metrics, helping fleets uncover the root cause of their performance. More than 300 models run simultaneously to deliver the insights and actions that help drive real change and impact

Try Catalyst AI for free today.

Inflation, increased equipment purchase prices, and rising maintenance and labor expenses are driving operational costs within the trucking industry higher, putting pressure on fleets’ profitability and making it even more important to control costs.

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Flexibility and agility can give businesses a competitive advantage, and rental trucks are a cost-effective solution to tap into additional capacity and equipment without making a long-term financial commitment. Being able to add the right resources as needed can help businesses evaluate new opportunities without a significant, upfront investment.

Here Are 5 Ways To Use Rentals:

Managing Short-Term Surges: Seasonal peaks, promotional events and other temporary increases in demand can create the need for additional capacity. Rental trucks allow businesses to respond quickly to short-term surges without purchasing additional equipment and then scale back down when the market slows.

Trialing New Opportunities: Expanding into new territories, testing alternative lanes or serving new customers can all benefit from an incremental approach. Rental trucks provide an affordable way for fleets to evaluate new business initiatives without committing to long-term leases or ownership. They also allow fleets to refine their approach and confirm demand before scaling up.

Testing Equipment Sizes: Changing needs and operations can alter the types of equipment fleets need. Moving to Class 8 trucks from smaller sizes may allow fleets to consolidate loads and increase efficiency while adding smaller classes can allow fleets to hire non-CDL drivers. Smaller classes may also be beneficial for operations that provide smaller, more frequent deliveries. Rentals allow fleet managers to try different sizes, body types, trailer lengths or other configurations without committing to a purchase.

Evaluating Efficiency: Technology on commercial vehicles is advancing at a rapid pace. Renting different equipment can help fleets compare operational costs and performance against their other equipment, including owned vehicles. Rentals may reveal new areas for cost savings or show which configurations work best for specific routes. They also give fleets a chance to test newer technology, such as driver-assist features, giving fleets insights into potential productivity gains and operational improvements.

Exploring Alternative-Fueled Vehicles: Transitioning to electric or alternative-fueled vehicles is a major decision, and rental trucks offer a low-risk way to experiment with different technologies. Fleets can test how these vehicles integrate into their routes, calculate cost-per-mile savings and gain experience with the infrastructure required to support them. Fleets can use rentals to assess how ready they are for a larger-scale rollout.

Work With Us

Penske offers more than 100,000 well-maintained, late-model commercial vehicle rentals across 2,500 commercial rental facilities. Rentals can be as short as one day or span several months depending on the business’s needs. To learn more, contact a Penske representative at 1-844-906-3404.