For all of the long hours spent behind the wheel, the delays and loading and unloading, truck drivers deserve some recognition. Over the past few years, the power of truckies to keep Australia moving, even in times of crisis, has shone through especially strongly.
In the midst of these gruelling trips, constant disruptions and safety challenges, Australian truck drivers are now set to be rewarded in the form of Oz Truckers.
Having launched on April 1, Oz Truckers is a new initiative that provides a range of discounts for Australian truck drivers. Via a subscription process, drivers from the Kimberley to Koroit will be able to save on everything from fuel to parts and repairs.
“During my recent time in the industry, I got to spend a lot of time talking to owner drivers and smaller transport companies – I found they had plenty of pain points when it came to expenses and funding their lives on the road,” Oz Truckers founder Andrew ‘Drew’ Davis told OwnerDriver.
“I decided to create Oz Truckers – a place to provide discounts, rewards and enticing offers for anything that adds value to a driver’s life.”
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Oz Truckers will initially deliver helpful offers that focus on smaller tier owner drivers and companies, with the goal being to evolve the subscription service to something that also encompasses larger-scale fleets. With the service launched, it’ll create an online community of truckies that can enjoy savings on fuel, tyres, parts and servicing, truck/trailer purchases and rentals, workwear, phone plans, subscriptions, insurance and financing, travel and food and beverages.
“We started by thinking of very truck-specific items and expenses that drivers have, such as fuel and parts, before we branched out into more general benefits such as accommodation, travel, home loans and gym memberships,” Drew says.
“It’s all about adding value to our member base and alleviating cost pressures currently placed on Australian truck drivers.”
To create the hub of truck driver savings, Drew and the Oz Truckers team have established a network of partnerships with various companies to achieve benefits for a range of areas. Whether it be buying food at the nearest truck stop or financing key assets, an Oz Truckers membership will allow truckies to receive discount codes for online purchasing and enjoy online giveaways.
“From my time in the industry, I’ve seen a lot of owner drivers who don’t get any discounts on petrol, so this will be a massive boost for them,” Drew says.
“We charge up to $79 a month for membership, with all of the value going back to our drivers and our carrier base. We’ve already calculated that drivers could save up to $500 a month on fuel alone by using our savings, so you already make money out of the membership before looking at the parts and servicing side.”
Throw in truck and trailer financing and further money can be saved at the click of a finger. Through monthly or annual memberships, the Oz Truckers team will continue growing the benefit partnership network to deliver more savings to truckies moving forward.
Drew is also planning a $29 a month membership that will be solely based on lifestyle benefits, meaning drivers who are already on employee benefit schemes with their businesses can still enjoy external savings with Oz Truckers.
“If you work for someone, they may put carriers on schemes that give you benefits on fuel and more,” Drew says.
“So we have an option outside of these core savings where truckies just get access to lifestyle benefits – someone may buy this for themselves, or they may push their business to look after drivers by setting them up on the employee benefits lifestyle membership.”
The benefits that come part of the Oz Truckers membership isn’t just chosen at random by Drew and his team – he has spoken to many transport businesses to learn which savings would help drivers the most around Australia. Having started the idea just late last year, he has already proven the concept will be popular among many drivers and small fleet owners in the near future.
“The appetite for business partners in transport to come onboard has been incredible, as it’s a way for them to target owner drivers and sell their services to them,” he says.
“We’ve had good feedback from partners and carriers that we’ve chatted to, so we know the demand is there to give truckies some savings, from their fuel and parts to their lifestyle choices.”
The Oz Truckers’ website before the app and membership is now live. While word is getting round of the new benefits scheme and how it can save drivers plenty of cash, Drew is now looking to let the entire Australian owner driver network know about the savings he has stored in his Oz Truckers membership.
“We’re also now finalising some deals with larger part and tyre manufacturers to add more savings to the membership,” Drew says.
“On the retail side, we’ll also have more partners added by the opening date, ranging from travel booking websites through to choice hotels, health insurance providers and fitness facilities.
“We don’t want to drip-feed benefits to our members – it’s a matter of having the right partners on board from the start to help truckies immediately.”
Recent focus has been on securing partnerships with health and fitness companies, ranging from gyms through to health food companies. Drew says Oz Truckers isn’t just about saving truckies’ money, but also guiding them towards healthier lifestyle choices while behind the wheel.
Outside of this, Drew’s wider goal is for Oz Truckers to guide truck drivers to be safer and healthier while on the roads. It may just be the start of his new venture, but the release of Oz Truckers promises to revolutionise the Australian truck driving community.
“Stay tuned for more partner information and for early bird rates – there may be costs involved, but we’re confident the benefits far outweigh the costs involved,” Drew says.
“When you have an active membership base getting value from the platform and using it daily or weekly, it’ll create so much opportunity for more value to be added around safety. We already have partners involved in Electronic Work Diaries and fleet management, so we want to build our base and give back to the trucking community as much as possible.”
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