Many of you are probably thinking, “well that’s a no brainer,” but have you really thought about it? Yes, filling up your truck at your own tank on your own property is pretty convenient. Yes, most gas stations are within decent driving distance, or at least in your route to your destination, so sure that’s convenient too. Well you are right, but at the same time, there are some key elements you are missing out on that could be costing you. How much time are you wasting? Who is using your fuel? Are your drivers really going to be taking proper care of your equipment? Let’s review these items….

The unseen value is NO WASTED TIME.   As the old cliché goes, “time is money”. Production time and efficiency is lost when your fleet is driving around looking for fuel.  Not to mention the additional miles and wear and tear on your vehicles.  An additional 4-8 miles per day, per vehicle adds up quickly especially when you are on a shoe string budget to begin with.

Consider this. The average driver will spend a half hour traveling to and from the pump, refueling your vehicle. For those visual people, let’s take a look at the table below showing quite clearly, what you would be saving.

 

Cost Savings

Driver Hourly Pay $12.00 $15.00 $18.73 $20.00 $25.00
Driver $3.00 $3.75 $4.68 $5.00 $6.25
Time to Fuel Up .5 .5 .5 .5 .5
Average Gallons 20 20 20 20 20
Driver Cost Per Gallon $0.38 $0.47 $0.59 $0.63 $0.78

 

Theoretical Pump Price        $3.31
Real Per Gallon Fuel $3.69 $3.78 $3.90 $3.94 $4.09
           

 

Now that you see how much money you are wasting driving around, the next question is, who is using your fuel? Using tanks on property leave a higher risk of someone stealing your fuel.  It is easier to pull 500 gallons of fuel out of a tank than it is to go to multiple pieces of equipment to get the same 500 gallons.  New trucks and off-road equipment are even coming with locks on the fuel tanks to assist in reducing theft.

On a jobsite, it is very difficult to know where and who is using the fuel.  Most service trucks do not record where they pump or how much which could also be wasting money.  Fleet fueling allows you to know which piece of equipment and which operator is using the most fuel.   Metered tickets will show what was delivered into each specific piece of equipment.  Having this type of information, allows your company to make educated decisions about managing your equipment and how to budget your jobs in a more efficient manner.

So that brings us to the final question, are your drivers really going to take proper care of your equipment? Most service truck drivers are responsible for not only fueling, but also greasing and maintaining equipment.   How much of their time is actually spent doing that? Don’t they have to go from jobsite to jobsite making sure they have fuel?   Preventative maintenance is KEY to reducing downtime AND major repairs.

For your last thought, if none of the above has struck a chord, think about this; when you calculate the price per gallon of fuel on your jobs, do you calculate in the cost of the service truck driver?  Are you calculating what it costs you to fuel the equipment opposed to using a fleet fueling service?  You should.  If you are not, then you are not comparing apples to apples.  When ALL things are taken into consideration, even though the price per gallon may be higher, it is still CHEAPER to fleet fuel.

IF YOU ARE STILL NOT CONVINCED having a professional fleet fueling service is the way to go, ask yourself these questions.

  • If your employee has a fuel spill, who is responsible for the clean up?
  • If your fuel tank gets algae or contaminated, accidentally or otherwise, who is responsible for expenses?
  • If your fuel tank or any of its components gets stolen from the job, who’s responsibility is it to replace it?
  • How much money do you spend replacing fuel filters, diesel additives, pumps and other equipment associated with owning a tank?
  • How much production time would you gain if you didn’t have to worry about fuel every day?
  • How much of your employees time is spend tracking how much fuel you get and where it goes?
  • If you own a tank over 550 gallons how much time and money is spent making OSHA happy?
  • How do I make sure my employees filling at the stations are only fueling my equipment?

These are just a few main items that make fleet fueling the right choice for any company with work vehicles. The math is simple, the reasons are clear, fleet fueling is the way to go.  Contact Lynch Oil TODAY at 1-800-847-4161 to get your business going in the right direction.