Fuel stealing

Quite frankly at this point i could care less about state law and his wages. The biggest problem is the thefts occur in differant states and as far as i know are next to impossible to prove, i have the documation that the truck has always gotten 5.5-5.75 mpg. A friend of mine in the office is putting a spread sheet together and an exact mpg readout of his time in the truck and the fuel i lost. Another friend of mine is running the truck as we speak, which i have no doubt the mileage will be back to normal. I would think this would be proof enough to recover my losses from his pay. I'm not looking to have the guy arrested, although he deserves it. The sad thing is he'll be back in another truck without a doubt, doing the same thing again. Fuel cost are high and it's getting tougher to make an honest living, but it takes two crooks to pull this off. I guess some owner/operators will do anything to get by.

 

Hi,
Been a long time sense I dropped by and posted a reply or anything.. So... #1 I wanna say, LTNS!!!! Everyone....

Blame,
I've never really had any issues with the drivers we have from stealing things.
I have had issues about the ON time thing. A friend of mine told me to invest in a 2-WAY Phone, or as I call mine a ( chirp ) lol

The phones help us track the driver and Call (page) them.
that way there aint no more Bull#^&^ about, Well I dont wanna use my phone for business. OK, pal... Use ours.... If the PHONE doesnt send the page and respond that means the DRIVERS got the phone turned OFF.

I limit the driver to 2 times a DAY on a NO ANSWER. The rest of the time YOU had better answer that page. We now are able to expense the 2-way phones on expenses and not worry about phone bills. The phones ARE able to DIAL out but you as the owner are able to SEE the calls.

The 2 - WAY system works at a DOLLAR per day usage.
It's a BOOST phone, and the only reason we use them are the 2 way radio.
The drivers can CALL one another and You can CALL them.
In our eyes it's a cheap TRACKING device that's in OUR favor.

The Fuel issue?
I hope to GOD my guys woudnt do that to me.....That would ruin some longtime relationships and kill friends if I had that problem.

All the best, and GOOD Luck!
Matthew

HAPPY Thanksgiving EVERYONE!
May all those Drivers OUT on the road safely TRUCKER HOME for the Holidays!!!!!! God BLESS you and your Families abundantly.

 

Sorry to hear about that situation, I am glad you found the culprits. Your post is not in vain and it has taught me something

 

My ex-driver shows up for his settlement, i show him the figures of what the truck averaged before he started and what it got after his sudden departure. I got it figured he sold off right at 500 gallons in a very short time, he couldn't deny it. He broke down and gave me a sad story of his mother being in the hospital. It was sad if true, most likely bs. I owed him $2196.62, i wrote him a check for $500 and showed him the door. I thought this was more than fair for someone admitting to stealing. From now on i'll be watching alot closer and be alittle less trusting.

 

I want to say I can't believe people would do such a thing...

But with the ever-declining state of morals we see these days, not much surprises me anymore. Between selling fuel to o/o's and stealing reefer fuel, it's just sad to see that "professional" drivers would stoop to that level.

You might check with your local dealership and see if you can buy one of those little computers that downloads all the truck's stats. I know most newer trucks save information in the on-board computer on how the truck's being driven, RPM's when shifting, etc. Part of the problem might be just how they're driving the trucks. Check idle time as well, and it may pay off to invest in a few APU's.

If you can get this data off of the truck, it will do two things. It will tell you if their problem is more in how they're driving the truck, and it will give you more evidence that they're stealing fuel if that turns out to be the case.

Good luck!

 

I hope you have a signed document supporting the withholding of the money from the driver. Otherwise, he can come back to you and try and get the funds. Any withholding of funds not authorized can lead you to headaches.

 

Drugs, lot lizards, who knows what? I feel bad for not catching it sooner. $1700 hit? look at it this way, he didn't have to pay taxes on what he stole. haha. With the high fuel costs i hope this doesn't become a big issue, i feel very lucky not to have lost the money. Another thing, i don't like to judge a man or lady by their looks, but this guy was clean cut, extremely polite, and could handle a big truck as good as anyone i've seen. I thought it was too good to be true. He said he was heading back to the guitar, so be warned hiring a guy in that area with the initials A.B.