diff --git a/abstutil/src/time.rs b/abstutil/src/time.rs
index 66414f9ee5..2501ca5b45 100644
--- a/abstutil/src/time.rs
+++ b/abstutil/src/time.rs
@@ -79,13 +79,13 @@ struct TimerSpan {
 }
 
 impl Timer {
-    pub fn new(name: String) -> Timer {
+    pub fn new(name: &str) -> Timer {
         let mut t = Timer {
             results: Vec::new(),
             stack: Vec::new(),
-            outermost_name: name.clone(),
+            outermost_name: name.to_string(),
         };
-        t.start(&name);
+        t.start(name);
         t
     }
 
diff --git a/convert_osm/src/main.rs b/convert_osm/src/main.rs
index 5af865d155..f25dd99689 100644
--- a/convert_osm/src/main.rs
+++ b/convert_osm/src/main.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ use structopt::StructOpt;
 
 fn main() {
     let flags = Flags::from_args();
-    let mut timer = abstutil::Timer::new(format!("generate {}", flags.output));
+    let mut timer = abstutil::Timer::new(&format!("generate {}", flags.output));
     let map = convert(&flags, &mut timer);
     println!("writing to {}", flags.output);
     timer.start("saving map");
diff --git a/precompute/src/main.rs b/precompute/src/main.rs
index a02792dd48..b4ae2df183 100644
--- a/precompute/src/main.rs
+++ b/precompute/src/main.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ fn main() {
     log::set_logger(&LOG_ADAPTER).unwrap();
 
     let flags = SimFlags::from_args();
-    let mut timer = Timer::new(format!(
+    let mut timer = Timer::new(&format!(
         "precompute {} with {}",
         flags.load, flags.edits_name
     ));