It's been a bit of a rough year for Butterfly Xpress owner-operators Bill and Karen Barhite, Overdrive's 2023 Small Fleet Champs in the 3-10-truck division. That's been the case for most around trucking, of course.
"We’re hanging in there," Bill told me this morning from his and Karen's 2024 Volvo out over the road, echoing 2023 11-30-truck division champ Larry Limp when we talked earlier this year. With rates in the toilet, Barhite added, and some attrition among leased owners retiring and/or just exiting the business entirely, Butterfly Xpress is down a few units from 10 last year to seven and expecting some conditions improvement with an end to the uncertainty of the election year.
"It’ll calm down," Barhite said, feeling lucky for dedicated freight from partner brokers and not being "reliant on load boards now." If that was the case, "it would be extremely ugly. ... Election years always stink. Everything goes into a doldrum of wait-and-see. I’m confident it’ll be better next year."
[Related: Small Fleet Champ Larry Limp and team take DIY maintenance to new levels]
We were talking with just two weeks left before judges begin the process of winnowing down Small Fleet Championship entrants to a set of semi-finalists for the next round.
There's still time to enter prior to the July 31 deadline for all forms to be filled out. Enter your small fleet (3-30 trucks) via the form at this link. After you complete the form there, be on the lookout for a follow-up email from Overdrive editor Todd Dills to get the secondary semi-finalist form completed as quickly as possible.
Owner Barhite noted his company's recognition has helped him weather the current "survival mode" the company's in, as he put it. "We’re not making killer money" so far this year, yet "we're not bankrupt either," more than many can say as carrier exits have been something of a norm.
"Once the political drama’s over with and the market adjusts," he said, he's hopeful to be able to fulfill a "big dream" of his -- to compete again in the Small Fleet Championship, next time in the 11-30-truck division. For now, with steady rates locked in with the brokers handling his dedicated lanes, he's been finding cost-cutting areas to help profitability.
"We've been tweaking our cell phone usage," Barhite said, to cut the fixed expense, and Karen's stepped up her in-cab chef's game. "She cooks a lot in the truck" to save over-the-road. "Fuel’s gone down a bit since this time last year," he added, and "we still have our NASTC fuel card, which helps us out tremendously" with discounts that "can't be beat," in his words.
[Related: Controlling fuel costs -- key to any owner-operator's survival]
His status as Small Fleet Champ for 2023 is "another feather in our cap when we're trying to recruit" new people to the operation, he said, though current market dynamics sometimes feel like even "the presidential seal of approval" might not do much to persuade anyone.
For all of you putting your name into the hat to compete this year, finally, he said, "I wish all the candidates good luck, and …" Here he paused, reflecting.
“Ah, I’m jealous," Barhite said. The trip to Nashville to championship sponsor NASTC's conference for the big win last year "was a whole lot of fun! I truly learned a lot. I wish I could it all over again."
