Fuel Card Discount Program for Owner Ops?

The .447 is California's tax -- Texas' tax is 0.20. Still nastc was cheaper in your case: your cost was 3.23 instead of 3.28 at the pump (assuming diesel prices have stayed the same in the last week). Still a far cry from the 30 cent averages they tout.

 

I was never told 30 cents by NASTC, in fact they told me the 12 to 19 cent is the average. Now this was about 3 years ago when I joined.
So with Texas 20 cent tax that would put Houston at $3.48?
I run From Alabama to Houston a couple of times a week and the cheapest I have seen at the pump this past month has been $3.59. It was a small mom and pop or should I say foreigner owned stop. Definitely not someplace I would wanna take a shower. Always having a shower on the card is sometimes an overlooked benefit of always using TA and Petro. My company pays IFTA so I only have to compare pump price. I am always looking at prices to make sure that what I am getting through NASTC is better. Now if you go to some of the smaller stops or the ones that are not in bold letters in the book you almost never come out ahead. (Bold letters are the preferred stops) with TA /Petro being their major chain). I generally stick with the TA / Petro because the prices are more consistent. And yes I understand that they mark their fuel up higher so the discount is not as big as what the invoice says. Many of the guys I run with are still looking for the cheapest fuel and paying cash and I almost always beat their price by 15 to 25 cents. And I know I do much better since I changed over. I don't spend any time searching for cheapest price, just pull in and fill-up, though I am always watching the signs just to make sure.

 

Yeah $3.479 @ the Stripes on i10 exit 776b.


I agree that banking showers at petro/TA is far more convenient than having to shower where you fuel (if even offered). On the other hand, I don't ever seem to have any problem with people taking 30 minute breaks at the pumps of a Stripes or Sunmart...

 

I hear you on the breaks, on the good side, purchased fuel I 10 exit 4 in Alabama at the TA. Just got my invoice this morning. $3.379. I don't know how many people with NASTC have noticed but you always get the biggest discounts when prices are dropping.

 

That's because the "cost +" basis is calculated daily. Usually fuel retail prices sink slower than the cost so they can squeeze out a little more profit in a declining market. That is, price drops will track the market, not the cost. As the surrounding dealers sell off older, more expensive inventory, they drop price and others creep down to match.

In a climbing market, they push price up immediately despite selling older, less expensive fuel in the ground for the same reason.

My experience with NASTC is an average 5-10¢ savings over cash price when you shop the market instead of just the QPN dealer's cash price. Fuel discounting aside, the whole package is better than anything else I've had offered. However, I can see where it still wouldn't work for some regional or local operations.