We keep the truck full for a few reasons:
Trips to our supply houses are a big waist of time. Today I lost 45 min for a will call order that could not be located.
Drive time & fuel. We work all over the place. Might not be many miles but with traffic the way it is you can burn a lot of time. Even if I'm on the way back to the shop to go a bit out of the way to the supplier I could be sitting in traffic an extra 30 min just by hitting rush hour.
Supply house closes at 5:00.
Going to a home center is hit & miss when it comes to them having what you need. I had to go to a few places not long ago just to get 1/2 EMT and it's pipe world here.
We buy quanities during specials. Extra inventory does more good in the truck than in the shop. Don't know how many times we had to buy someting again because it was not worth the hour drive each way to get it at the shop.
Customers add work when you come out. They tell you 2 fans and you end up adding 4. Same with cans.
Customers don't describe what they need very well. Over the phone it sounds like an entire different set-up.
GC have a habbit of calling and wanting something small done ASAP like new construction cans, switches or outlets. Or some kind of kaoss because a customers phone line was hit by a carpenter.
I hate trying to figure out in the morning what I think I'll need to take for the day. You never allways know what you need.
I could make an order of what I might need later to find I'm shorted some 2" lock nuts or a ground acorn.
Tom
