I often wonder how the minds of some staff work. Do they think that the fleet manager has a money tree out the back, that provides an endless supply of capital for the purchase of plant, vehicles and equipment? Shiny, they may be, but does the organisation truly require those new items?

What do unjustified new assets mean to the fleet manager? They potentially mean a big hole in your plant replacement program and requests for plant, vehicles and equipment that have had no sanity checks or analysis performed to determine suitability, costs, effects on the maintenance department, etc. I want to see a justification with costs, benefits and risks – not some half-baked wish list!! Sure, the operational staff get their new toy which will satisfy the urge for new fleet until the next whim hits. However, the fleet department may be impacted by this decision well into the future.

I’m certainly not suggesting that all operational staff behave this way. In fact, the majority of staff are very reasonable, practical people. It’s that very small percentage of spendthrifts you need to keep an eye out for, as the consequences of their behaviour may be felt by the fleet department for many years to come.