Music Man Turned Trucker: Owner-Operator Josh Rickards Cuts Costs with Drivewyze PreClear

4 min read

Ever since Josh Rickards was eight years old, he’s had an interest and appreciation for trucking. Growing up, his uncle was a truck driver, and on occasion, Rickards would accompany him on the road and experience what life as a trucker was all about. It was a career Rickards could see himself doing, but he was also passionate about music, which he pursued before becoming a trucker.

In 2001, Rickards got an opportunity to do marketing and promotions work for an underground hip-hop/rap artist by the name of Tech N9ne. Before Tech N9ne became the well-known, accomplished artist he is today – selling more than 2 million albums and collaborating with some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including Eminem, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Kendrick Lamar, and many others – he was playing at small venues and relied on a small production team.

“I wore a lot of hats early in Tech N9ne’s career,” Rickards recalled. “I helped lead his marketing strategy and promoted his music to grow his following. I also drove a van and transported production equipment all over the country when he was on tour. As Tech N9ne grew in popularity and he began playing at larger venues, we needed heavy trucks to transport all the equipment. Tech N9ne’s record label, Strange Music, paid for me to get my CDL so I could drive for the tour. That ultimately started my career as a truck driver.”

After nearly two decades in the music industry and building connections with other artists and tour managers, Rickards saw an opportunity to marry his two interests – music and trucking – full-time. In 2018, he started his own trucking company, Rickards Transportation Services, where he specialized in transporting production equipment for musicians and entertainers throughout the U.S.

Today, Rickards continues to drive part-time and manages his growing fleet of five trucks and four full-time drivers. Hauling production equipment is still the company’s primary business, and it backfills loads with general freight in between tours.

The Challenge

As a small fleet owner, managing drivers and equipment, securing freight to haul, and all the other tasks associated with running a trucking company is a lot of work.

“When I drive, and I’m done for the day, I switch gears and get caught up on emails, bills, and other items I need to do to run my business. There isn’t much time to relax and watch Netflix after a long day on the road,” Rickards chuckled. “It’s busy being an owner-operator, but it’s work that I’m passionate about, and I’m motivated to grow my business.”

According to Rickards, the past decade has brought a lot of new technology to the trucking industry that helps fleets of all sizes operate more efficiently. “Before all the technology available today, it was challenging for smaller trucking companies to keep up with the day-to-day tasks like larger fleets could since they have more resources and staff.”

“As more software has become available, it’s helped level the playing field for smaller companies since many managerial tasks can now be automated or done online. It has also brought new solutions that can help fleets of all sizes operate more efficiently.”

Josh Rickards

Owner-Operator

The Solution

When Rickards started his trucking business in 2018, the timing coincided with the U.S. ELD mandate. To comply, Rickards decided to equip his truck with an Omnitracs (now Solera) ELD. During the onboarding process, he learned about integration partners Omnitracs had with other leading service providers in the industry. One of those providers was Drivewyze.

“Shortly after I got set up with Omnitracs, I discovered Drivewyze and learned about their PreClear weigh station bypass solution,” Rickards recalled. “I quickly realized that it was a solution that could help me operate more efficiently by reducing the number of times I need to stop at inspection sites and the downtime associated with those stops.”

According to Rickards, since Drivewyze was integrated with Omnitracs and he could receive the weigh station bypass solution directly through his ELD without any additional hardware, activating the service was easy.

The Result

Since Rickards began his subscription to Drivewyze PreClear, he’s experienced exactly what he thought he would when signed up and more. While he expected the service to reduce the amount of time he spends at weigh stations, he wasn’t aware of the cost-saving benefits of bypassing inspection sites.

“Each month, I receive reports from Drivewyze in my account that show me how many bypasses I’m getting across my fleet and the estimated time and operating cost savings associated with those bypasses. As a small business owner, any time and money I can save makes a difference. The benefits of using a solution like Drivewyze easily outweigh the cost for the subscription.”

Josh Rickards

Owner-Operator

In a recent monthly report Rickards received from Drivewyze, the three trucks he currently has activated with PreClear received 41 bypasses, for an average of 14 per truck. As a result, data from Drivewyze estimated these bypasses helped the company’s drivers reduce the amount of time spent at weigh stations by three hours and saved approximately 16 gallons of fuel.

Since 2018, Drivewyze has greatly expanded its network of weigh stations online with PreClear throughout the U.S. and Canada. Drivewyze is currently accepted at more than 900 locations in 47 states and provinces and is the largest provider of weigh station bypass in the industry. For Rickards, it has meant he’s continued to receive more bypass opportunities along his routes.

According to Rickards, what separates Drivewyze from other SaaS companies across any industry is the responsiveness of its customer service team. Recently, there was an issue with truck permitting information being shared with the New Mexico DOT for one of its trucks, which resulted in the truck not receiving bypasses in the state. Drivewyze noticed the issue and informed Rickards.

“Drivewyze recognized the problem before I became aware of it and gave me instructions on how to resolve it so the truck could receive bypasses in New Mexico again,” Rickards recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. That alone shows how great their customer service team is and their dedication to ensuring their customers get the most out of their services. Whenever I need assistance from Drivewyze, they are there to help. It’s not often you get great customer service, so when you do, you really appreciate it.”

As Rickards continues to grow his fleet, he’s planning to incorporate Drivewyze’s in-cab safety notifications services to help his drivers stay informed of potential hazards along their routes, such as low bridges, high rollover corners, and more.

“What Drivewyze is doing to address safety hazards drivers experience on the road by issuing free on-cab notifications through Drivewyze Free is admirable,” said Rickards. “Drivewyze is a great company with great services that help small companies like mine operate more productively.”