CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Truck Parking Club (TPC) is highlighting how customer WEL Companies is using both sides of the TPC marketplace to keep its fleet productive, improve driver experience and create a new revenue stream from unused truck and trailer parking spaces on their yards.
“WEL Companies is proving that truck and trailer parking shouldn’t be viewed as an operating expense, but rather an operational efficiency, productivity, safety and driver retention gain” said Evan Shelley, TPC founder, CEO. “By monetizing underutilized parking at their own facilities while using our marketplace to reserve parking for drivers nationwide and storing equipment, they’re demonstrating an innovative model that benefits their business, supports their drivers and helps expand truck parking capacity for the entire industry.”
How it Works
WEL Companies uses TPC to reserve safe, legal parking for its drivers across the country.
That alone makes the fleet more efficient, recovering driving hours, time and fuel drivers would otherwise lose searching for a spot, maximizing miles driven, improving asset utilization and reducing driver’s daily parking anxiety, that’s one more reason to stay with the fleet, according to a TPC press release.
WEL Companies has been a Property Member for almost two years, listing available truck parking spaces at its terminals and warehouse properties. Revenue generated from those bookings adds a second return on top of the operational gains.
Safe and Legal Parking
According to the release, for many fleets, parking is an afterthought, and drivers lose valuable driving hours searching for a safe, legal place to stop. WEL Companies treats reserved parking as an investment in how well the fleet runs. When a driver knows there is a guaranteed, legal, secure space waiting, that driver spends less time hunting for parking, maximizes driving hours, keeps equipment utilized, and is more likely to stay with the company. That value holds up on its own, before a dollar of parking revenue ever comes in.
WEL Companies – Taking it a Step Further
By listing unused parking at its terminals and warehouse properties on Truck Parking Club, the company has turned space that would otherwise sit idle into a revenue stream. Bookings have ranged from everyday carrier parking to large projects, including a stretch when dozens of flatbeds staged equipment for the NFL Draft at WEL’s Green Bay area location, according to the release.
“Truck parking has historically been viewed as a cost of doing business,” said Dalton Tielens, president, WEL Companies. “Truck Parking Club has changed the way we think about it. We’re improving the experience for our drivers while turning available space at our facilities into a revenue-generating asset. It’s a smarter approach that supports our business and contributes to solving one of the trucking industry’s biggest challenges.”
Expanding Truck Parking While Creating New Revenue Opportunities
“Truck Parking Club unlocks existing private property to quickly add truck parking capacity across the country without waiting years for new construction,” TPC said. “The marketplace includes trucking terminals, warehouses, repair shops, storage facilities, industrial outdoor storage, hotels and other industrial/commercial properties with available parking.”
For property owners, underutilized land becomes a new source of income. For carriers, it provides reliable parking that keeps drivers productive and equipment moving. And for professional drivers, it means less time searching for parking and more time focused on delivering freight safely.
“WEL Companies was among the first fleets to fully use both sides of our marketplace a few years ago, now we have hundreds across the US,” Shelley said. “They are improving operations, generating new revenue and helping expand truck parking capacity for the industry. We are seeing firsthand this model offers a meaningful opportunity for fleets to take care of their drivers and equipment, and monetize their terminals, warehouses or other commercial properties.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
