Powersource Transportation

9 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 increased its profitability because it remains efficient in all operations. Bakos has purposely maintained an “asset-free” approach highlighted by not owning trucks and relying on customers to help supply trailers. She owns a leasing company that operates independently and can be a resource, but limiting assets reduces overhead and other operational requirements. One key partner for Powersource is Cottingham & Butler, an Iowa-based insurance company that provides much more than insurance policies. Powersource is part of a captive insurance group of trucking companies that essentially receive a group policy discount from Cottingham & Butler but benefit from the same type of broad coverage. This helps to keep costs down in this age of nuclear verdicts, which are broadly defined as jury awards that surpass $10 million. Nuclear verdicts are often driven by juror anger at defendants. The trucking industry suffers from an inordinately high number of nuclear verdicts because truck accidents can cause significant injuries and are a target of many personal injury attorneys. “We share the wealth in that regard by partnering together to keep costs down,” Bakos says. She adds that Cottingham & Butler is also a great partner in driver and vehicle safety. Bakos and other members of the management team regularly attend safety seminars and training sessions and share best practices with the rest of their team with their partners providing guidance and resources that reduce liability. Powersource team members closely follow their collective safety scores and prepare their drivers for random inspections, which can happen anytime and anywhere. One significant accident or poor safety report can “take down a business like ours in a heartbeat,” Bakos says, so she will reward drivers for good inspections and truck maintenance with cash rewards and similar perks. Bakos modestly yet proudly says she has been able to accomplish many of her long- term goals in helping the Portage-based company to grow into an industry leader in the trucking field. She believes keeping up- to-date with technologies that make the