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Inventory

14 articles on inventory.

Warehouse shelving full of white paint pails, with bundles of steel sign posts and orange traffic cones on the floor

Running the business

Your Real Margin on Sold Materials: Paint, Posts and Cones When Prices Change

How to read the margin on materials a traffic control company sells outright: cost of goods sold, what happens to margin when purchase prices change, margin versus markup with a worked example, and why a line with no cost on file shows a fake 100% margin.

Nov 10, 2026 · 7 min read

Traffic cones, sandbags and stacked sign bases arranged on a flatbed truck deck

Choosing software

Equipment Kits for Lane Closure Packages: Building Them and Keeping Them Honest

An equipment kit is a saved device list for a standard setup, such as a single-lane closure on a 45 mph road. Kits speed up quoting and load-out and cut the number of short trucks. Here is how to build kits from the plans you actually run, what to put in them, and how software should handle them.

Oct 10, 2026 · 6 min read

A worker in a hard hat and vest holding a tablet in front of rows of traffic cones in a yard

Running the business

Inventory Cycle Counts for Traffic Control Yards: A Practical Routine

A traffic control company's inventory is spread across a yard, a dozen trucks and forty job sites, so a once-a-year count is wrong by February. Cycle counting checks a small slice every week instead. Here is how to set one up for cones, drums, signs and trailers, what to count how often, and what to do with the differences.

Oct 10, 2026 · 7 min read

Dented traffic drum and bent sign stand beside undamaged drums in an equipment yard

Choosing software

Tracking Damaged and Lost Rental Equipment on Job Sites

The best system for tracking damaged or lost traffic control equipment ties every device to a job when it leaves the yard, records condition at drop-off and pickup, and reconciles what came back before the invoice goes out. Here is how to build that system, and what it needs to catch.

Sep 23, 2026 · 5 min read

Equipment and yards

Work Zone Sign Types and Sizes Explained

Why work zone signs are orange, what the shape and series tell you, why the same sign comes in several sizes, and what a yard needs to stock to cover the roads it actually works on.

Sep 11, 2026 · 6 min read

Traffic OS — traffic control equipment yard with staged arrow boards and barricades

Running the business

Equipment Theft and Vandalism in Traffic Control: Reducing a Cost Nobody Budgets

What actually walks off a yard and a live job site, the deterrents that are worth the money, and the paperwork that decides whether you recover anything or just absorb it.

Aug 23, 2026 · 7 min read

Running the business

Equipment Fleet Replacement Planning for Traffic Control Companies

Most traffic control companies replace devices when they break, which means replacement spending is unpredictable and always badly timed. Here is how to build a replacement cycle you can budget.

Aug 8, 2026 · 5 min read

Traffic OS — a weathered orange work zone sign catching headlight glare at night

Equipment and yards

Sign Retroreflectivity and Device Condition: When a Device Stops Counting

A faded sign and a scuffed drum are not cosmetic problems — a device that no longer performs is functionally not there. How condition standards work, how to run an inspection that catches decline, and how to make retirement a budget line rather than a surprise.

Aug 8, 2026 · 5 min read

Running the business

Yard Organization for Traffic Control Companies

The yard is where load-out speed, device condition, and inventory accuracy are decided. Here is how to lay one out so morning load-out stops being the bottleneck.

Aug 8, 2026 · 6 min read

Traffic OS — tracking traffic control devices by job site

Choosing software

How Barricade Companies Track Which Devices Are on Which Job Site

The methods traffic control and barricade rental companies actually use to know where every cone, barricade, sign and arrow board is — why yard-count and spreadsheet approaches break down, and what a job-site-anchored inventory system has to do differently.

Jul 26, 2026 · 11 min read

Arrow board lit on the back of a work truck beside a line of traffic drums at dusk

Equipment and yards

Arrow Boards and Portable Message Signs, Explained

What each device is for, where they belong in the zone, how they differ, and why the ones you own are usually the hardest assets in your fleet to keep track of.

Jul 25, 2026 · 5 min read

Worker with a tablet checking rows of striped barricades, cones and drums in an equipment yard at sunrise

Choosing software

Barricade Rental Management Software: A Buyer's Guide

Renting devices is a different business from selling labor. Here is what barricade rental actually requires from software — multi-yard inventory, recurring billing, kits, loss and damage — and where generic field-service tools stop.

Jul 25, 2026 · 13 min read

Rows of drums, cones and barricades in a rental yard as a forklift moves a pallet of drums at sunrise

Running the business

How to Price Traffic Control Device Rental Rates

Device rental pricing is an asset-return problem, not a market-matching exercise. Here is how to build a rate from replacement cost, utilization, and loss — and why most published rates are unusable.

Jul 25, 2026 · 5 min read

Orange and white striped barricade closing a city street for roadwork

Equipment and yards

Type I, II, and III Barricades: What the Types Actually Mean

How barricade types differ, where each is generally used, why substituting a lighter device is a false economy, and what tracking barricade inventory across yards actually requires.

Jul 21, 2026 · 5 min read

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