The Challenge

The limited number of brick-and-mortar stores that remained open due to the COVID-19 pandemic created an explosive and ongoing demand for E-commerce. To keep up with this unprecedented need, potential customers required price quotes from carriers like CPG within 24 hours. Since CPG utilizes leased chassis, it had to first obtain lease rates from chassis providers to prepare and submit these price quotes. Unfortunately, some chassis providers have a multi-layer process that could take three or four days to produce a rate quote, a delay that cost CPG potential business. 

CPG also is committed to leasing newer chassis as their superior reliability significantly lowers the company’s operating costs. However, there is limited availability of new chassis from some chassis providers as the industry average chassis age is 15 to 20 years old. This resulted in CPG having to lease older chassis with outdated features such as two-piece, five-spoke wheels and bias ply retread tires that led to greater maintenance and repair costs, especially with more usage during the pandemic. These older chassis also had more breakdowns that produced lost driver time on the road and missed appointments, leading to lost revenue. 

For low-cost daily chassis rentals, Milestone’s premium chassis can be reserved easily with its ChassisFinder online reservation system for pick up the same day in most cases or the next day at the latest. 

In addition to chassis rate quote delays and new chassis unavailability, CPG also had difficulty finding flexible, affordable leasing options from chassis providers to accommodate the ever-changing needs of its customers. CPG wanted to be able to quickly increase or decrease its number of leased chassis and move between short and long-term leases on these chassis, while retaining competitive rates to cost-effectively meet customer requirements during this demand surge. However, some chassis providers were unable to accommodate CPG on the leasing options and rates it desired for its customers.

The Milestone Solution

With these challenges continuing to grow during the COVID-19 pandemic, CPG turned for solutions to Milestone, one of the nation’s fastest-growing providers of premium chassis. With their extensive experience in the industry, Milestone’s team of industry experts are authorized to make individual pricing decisions as part of its commitment to delivering exceptional customer service. This allowed CPG to request a rate quote from their Milestone sales representative and receive the quote back quickly which, in turn, enabled them to prepare and provide a price quote to their potential customers well before the 24-hour deadline.

“I am able to work one-on-one with my Milestone contact to get a quote fast — often in less than an hour,” according to CPG Vice President of Container Yard Services Jordan Hunt. “It is very refreshing to receive such prompt, personalized service.”

With an average fleet age of less than three years compared to the 15 to 20 years industry average, Milestone also is helping CPG keep its commitment to operating newer chassis. These premium chassis include a full-range of specialty chassis with modern safety and technology features like OEM radial tires, LED lights, anti-lock braking systems, disc wheels and, in some areas, GPS tracking. While the daily lease rate for the new Milestone chassis is slightly higher than that of the older chassis, the total daily operating cost for Milestone’s new chassis is significantly lower when you factor in the greatly reduced daily maintenance and repair (M&R) costs compared to older chassis.

For example, CPG closely tracks its M&R costs based on the average daily spend on its chassis by age according to Hunt. Blended across its fleet of standard marine (20′ & 40′) and specialty (20′ tri-axle, 40/45′ ext and 20/40′ combo) chassis, CPG consistently sees daily M&R costs increase as chassis hit certain age milestones. “The newer chassis we lease from Milestone cost us $1.10 per day to operate (excluding FMCSA inspections) compared to $3.10 per day for the older chassis leased from other providers,” said Hunt. “While this may not seem like a lot on the surface, this adds up quickly when you operate a fleet of nearly 1,000 chassis — tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars saved annually.”

CPG also feels the newer chassis from Milestone in its fleet improves driver retention. “Drivers get very frustrated when they have to spend time searching for a decent pool chassis, have to pull a less-than-acceptable pool chassis, and/or wait in a roadability lane,” notes Hunt. “Being able to pull into the rail yard, port or depot with their own good-order chassis provides them with the security of knowing they have safe wheels as well as a significant time savings.” This also keeps drivers in trucks and trucks on the road, ultimately bringing in more money for CPG instead of paying out money for breakdowns.

As a very lean and efficient organization, Milestone can offer flexible leasing options and competitive rates to help CPG meet their customers’ continually evolving needs. For low-cost daily chassis rentals, Milestone’s premium chassis can be reserved easily with its ChassisFinder online reservation system for pick up the same day in most cases or the next day at the latest. Milestone also offers affordable short- and long-term leases that can be converted back-and-forth between these options as needed while keeping the same attractive rates. With over 40 locations in its national network, Milestone can quickly move these premium chassis to serve CPG’s facilities anywhere in the country.

“While the biggest draw of using Milestone has been the quality of their chassis, its nationwide network, flexible and cost-effective leasing options and above all, personal touch, have enabled us to lower our total operating costs while meeting our customers’ needs,” concluded Hunt. “We could not ask for a better partner.”