Driven for Success
If you run a small trucking company — whether you’ve got one truck or forty — and want to run a smoother, smarter business, you’re in the right place.
I’m Mike Ritzema, founder of Superior Trucking Payroll Service, and each week I break down the business side of trucking: payroll, per diem, driver recruiting and retention, and all the back-office stuff that small carriers just don’t have time for.
You’ll get real-world stories, straight talk, and practical tips to help you avoid costly mistakes, stay on the road, and grow with confidence.
Driven for Success
S1 E20 The True Cost of Trucking Payroll After You Outgrow Small-Fleet Thinking
Many trucking fleet owners believe payroll “only costs a few hundred dollars a month.”
That may feel true at ten trucks.
It’s almost never true once you’re running a mid-size fleet.
In this episode of Driven for Success, we break down what trucking payroll really costs once your fleet grows past small-fleet size — and why so many owners dramatically underestimate the impact payroll has on their operation.
We talk through:
- Why the payroll fee is the wrong number to focus on
- The hidden labor costs that never show up on a payroll invoice
- How payroll errors and rework quietly drain time and focus
- The cash-flow chaos that comes from unpredictable payroll timing
- Why many recruiting and retention problems are actually payroll problems
- What well-run mid-size fleets do differently to keep payroll boring — and profitable
You’ll also hear why many “payroll providers” are really software platforms, and why software alone stops being enough as fleets scale. At this stage, payroll isn’t a task — it’s infrastructure.
If you’re an owner or executive running a growing trucking fleet and payroll feels heavier, more chaotic, or more fragile than it used to, this episode will help you understand why — and what to do about it.