Why did Britz move to Flex Rates?

Once upon a time life was simple. Britz had set rates, they didn't change. It didn't matter if you went from Sydney to Cairns, or Cairns to Sydney. It didn't matter if you booked 6 month in advance, or the day before... the rate was the same.

While this was nice and simple to work with, it was causing some big problems. People were starting to book later and later, which meant Britz could not plan its fleet and relocation's far out. Vans were never where they needed them, relocation costs went up and availability was a real problem - customers wanted a van in Sydney but we had to turn them back. We had thousands of vans, but none of them were in Sydney. Customers and Agents wanted lower prices and more availability, but Standard rates were increasing costs and making availability harder. Then Britz came across the Idea of Flex Rates.

You can make it sound complicated, but the idea is quite simple. Its the equivalent of looking out the window and seeing how many vans you have in the yard. If you have lots, you have a low rate. As the yard starts to empty, you raise the rate. Britz do that weekly, for each vehicle and branch.

It has worked well and Britz has been able to offer lower rates and more availability as a result. While many agents were worried about working with flex rates at first they soon saw how this not only allowed them to sell more, but that once they figured out how to work with flex rates that it ended up being much simpler for them. So that is what this post is for, to help explain how flex rates work, and how agents can work with these in their systems, websites, brochures, etc.