O/O-L/O Fueling: New Policy

Telling an owner where and when to fuel is something that should not be done.

It is your business, your cost. They are taking advantage of the deep discount and not passing it on it seems.

Best of luck on this.

 

No "Big 5"... Just the "Final 4" - No Loves. Though it's crummy deal and an inconvience, it's thier fuel card and they have the right to dictate where I can use it.

Now that said, I'll just move to an all cash system. That will include when I fuel at the Final 4, denying Swift thier take on on the price discounts.

As far as L/Os that can't float thier own cash. Sorry, but if you can't maintain the operating reserves to do so, maybe you should reconsider being an L/O.

 

The only reason that as a company driver or a lease operator your given fuel suggestions is because of fuel tax. I rarely ever put fuel in while I drive through Indiana because the fuel tax in that state is so high. If you use a fuel optimizer that takes your fuel tax and your miles driven in that state into consideration you can save money.

 

I was truly confused when I got this message. Why will eliminating fuel stops at independents lead to better trailer maintenance? I don't see the connection at all. Maybe if fueling at the terminals were to actually increase, and all terminals were to man their fuel islands with capable motivated mechanics 24/7, then trailer maintenance would improve. But those are two big maybes, and I don't see either one changing much with this new policy.

Don't get me wrong, it would be real nice if maintenance did improve. It's especially irritating when I pickup a T-called trailer with issues. I just don't see that this policy change will lead to our trailers being in better condition. Better mechanics would be a more sensible idea. And retribution for drivers who drop trailers in bad shape.

 

Picked up an empty trailer at a terminal the other day, fresh brand new inspection sticker with the day's before date. ABS light glowing like Nuclear Amber and the landing gear was dry as a bone and very hard to crank up. Brake linings looked a little thin, perhaps legal who knows. The mechanics are pretty much mailing it in and letting the drivers do their (the mechanics') job of inspecting.

There is an agenda here-- a multi pronged approach for many goals.
One goal is to see more trailers in terminals by routing more fuel stops there as drivers are in the vicinity.
At the same time, company drivers who bring those trailers in and get their fuel are denied points on their respective Final 4 truckstops and have to use the nasty Swift facilities or pay the $10 bucks -- an inconvenience that is hoped to get a few company drivers to sign a lease in frustration from these new draconian rules.
Yet another goal is to capture and dominate the fuel discounts for themselves (Swift) as opposed to Swifties shopping around on their own purchasing fuel in places perhaps Swift does not have discounts to dip into.

 

I will guarantee you that if Swift is using Comdata that they are getting deep discounts on every gallon of fuel purchased using their fuel card. Most larger fleets will receive discounts of from about $0.02 up to $0.50 or more per gallon at major chains. Independents usually don't have much of a discount. Some may receive about $0.02/gallon.

If you use their fuel card and get advances then you could either transfer the money to a card such as PDCA or use a comcheck. TAB, which is Transportation Alliance Bank was part of Flying J. PDCA is a debit card. I believe they now offer a couple of cents discount at Pilot and Flying J with no transaction fees. Many independent truck stops will give owners the cash price whether you pay cash or use a credit card.

Landstar and some of the other major carriers share some of the fuel discounts with their owner operators, but keep part of it for themselves if you use their fuel card. Discounts can be higher at some locations than others.

If I am paying for the fuel I won't allow anyone to dictate where I buy my fuel, whether I use their fuel card or not. If they insist on only buying at certain fuel stops and there are no fuel discounts that I can receive, then I will not use their fuel card.

This has nothing to do with fuel taxes. It has to do with profit. All fuel cards pretty much track fuel purchases the same. All will track fuel purchases by state, number of gallons, mileage (if you want), and truck number. The owner of the fuel card can check where purchases were made, time, etc.,

 

I use my own fuel card because the company I lease with gives me another 3% to do so. You may want to try them, the discounts are comparable to what I got on the fleet's card.

 

This is kind of an outrage and obviously and underhanded attempt,to exert more control(why? I don't know.) How many terminals inspect trailers when you go to the fuel island,exactly 1 that i know of(Phoenix) and i have been to most of them.Mercer and prime have a generous discount on fuel at most places to commonly fuel and they are far smaller companies than swift.and no Loves! They have the cheapest fuel of the big five and more locations then all but pilot!So I am not sure how this is all going to go down but,I am truly angry about this,and I bet I'm not the only one.
Ps.......bad,bad,bad move swift....cant expand L/o base with this crap! More like shooting themselves in the foot.

 

They cannot force someone who owns their own equipment and pays for their own fuel to only fuel at their designated fuel stops. If this is true, I would expect some to file a lawsuit. You may give OOIDA a call and see what they say about it, if you are a member. Even if you are leasing a truck from Swift, you are still paying for your own fuel. I don't see that it would be legal for them to be able to force anyone who pays for their own fuel to only go to certain fuel stops.

I am surprised that Swift doesn't have some good fuel discounts that they are passing along to their lease operators and owner operators. If not then it would be just as well to use a debit card or get your own fuel card. There would be no advantage to using their card unless you can get some discounts.

Swift might even find themselves in trouble with the IRS when it comes to employee or independent contractor classifications. If they want to exercise this much control over owner operators and lease operators they might find that they could be liable for millions in employer social security contributions. I am interested in seeing how this plays out.