fuel cards/discounts

No Fortycal, it's not a matter of whether I'm planning my fuel stops effectively so ill politely disagree since I can pretty much pull up any fuel price in the country with a flick of the wrist, finger or whatever. But it does help that I get Very generous FSC. I've got more technology on board than you can shake a stick at, but I won't bore you with the details. But I understand its probably your MO to criticize a fellow trucker without knowing the facts. Question...has or does anyone FUEL on a reg basis at SAMS CLUB ?? Assuming you're a member.
case in point. As I type I'm going up to Mass to unload. We all know that fuel prices up there are high, really high, so I do my snooping around, and just to give you an example. TA at Willington CT is 4.299 gal approx. so I do my checking around and low and behold a Sams Club that's only a few miles away is selling DSL for 3.769 gal. Now what's wrong with that picture. Lets not get into all this fuel futures nonsense, and confuse it with oil futures. That has nothing to do with daily fuel prices and certainly not to the extent I'm illustrating here. Please don't attempt to tell me there's something unique about Sams Club sources of fuel, cos there isn't any. I know the fuel distribution business better than most of you.
A previous writer had the right idea that the truck stops of this world jack up the price and then attempt to give us
a form of "Mexican" discount. My whole point on this which most of you missed is that we need a much more uniform transparency instead of all this BS that we are getting. Sure, you can call up TA/Petro FlyingJ etc etc but I don't trust those folks anymore to tell the truth than I do the Govt or DOT. Yes, fuel prices will vary from area to state but the above example is a classic example of the greed of truck stops. Keep it simple guys, I'm not looking for some pseudo sophisticated explanation cos there ain't one. How about the truck stops are greedy baracudas and the answer is to shop around get creative and beat this lot to the punch. After all its supposed to be a free market, but price fixing goes on all the time in many industries. This is no exception Its amazing how much secrecy goes on within the trucking industry regarding very important topics. Good luck

 

In retrospect, its best to diversify and keep your options open. There's pros and cons about having a fuel card and sticking to a closed network of stations, truckstops.
In future its going to be an advantage to carry $$$ so that I can stop at wherever and fill up on their cash price. I'm going to scale down NASTC to a certain extent and buy at the cheapest spot at where I am. I'll just do my due diligence and find the best and cheapest place. It will be interesting if I can achieve that at a Sams Club, where fuel prices are pretty good. That's assuming I can get under their canopy !! LOL. See how it pans out

 

Good Sam has a program .8 cents off cash price, Pilot, J, Loves, etc. best card ever.

https://www.goodsamclub.com/lifemember/default.aspx

 

Sounds like a heck of a deal.