About this episode
Erin Wakefield took over her father's taxi business with 5 cars and 8 unhappy drivers and has built Yellow Cab Medical Transport in Salem, Oregon into a 44-vehicle operation, almost all wheelchair and stretcher vans. In Part 1 she explains her banana rule for pricing, why she offers every level of service even though ambulatory rides don't pay, how rising tire, insurance and workers' comp costs get passed on, what an insurer-required camera system did to her safety scores, how she handles drivers who call out, and why great service, matching vans and uniformed drivers win facility contracts without ads.
Key takeaways
- Erin started with 5 cars and 8 drivers almost 14 years ago and now runs 44 vehicles, only 4 of them ambulatory. She once ran about 60 and cut back because bigger wasn't better.
- Offer every level of service. Like the cheeseburger on a Mexican restaurant menu, ambulatory rides rarely pay, but contracts only call providers who can handle oxygen, stretcher, bariatric, overnight and same-day trips.
- The banana rule: the store sets the price of its bananas. If a payer won't pay what a trip costs you, let them buy it somewhere else.
- Know your costs from your own bank data. Her tires went from $87 to $147 in five months, and she passed the increase on rather than absorb it.
- Her insurer required its own camera system at renewal. It added about $17,000 up front on top of a 22% rate increase, and her fleet safety score climbed from under 50 to over 90.
- Facility contracts come from doing the job well and looking like one company: matching vans with your logo, ID badges and $15 polos embroidered for $8.
Chapters
- 0:00 Cold open: the banana story
- 0:22 Meet Erin Wakefield of Yellow Cab Medical Transport
- 1:06 From 5 cars and 8 angry drivers to 44 vehicles
- 3:08 Why you offer every level of service
- 4:05 Private pay and broker cash flow
- 5:15 The banana story: setting your price
- 7:49 Rising costs: gas, tires and passing them on
- 9:17 Insurance-required cameras and safety scores
- 10:31 The $17,000 renewal surprise
- 12:11 Holding your rates
- 14:00 Accountability and same-day trips
- 15:23 Treating drivers like they matter
- 19:26 Handling call-outs
- 20:37 How to win facility contracts
- 22:07 Why Erin runs on Bambi
