Fr8monkeys art (or science?) of fueling...

There is an art to it. I tried different things like only buying enough to complete each load (load paid for the fuel and truck payment then me), and putting in enough fuel to finish current load and part or all of the next load. It doesn't matter, whatever amount of fuel you buy and don't burn on this load will be burned on the next load. Where the fine tuning comes in is trying not to buy so much fuel that your paycheck is close to zero or less.

Buying the fuel in the terminals saves about $100 bucks a
week more or less that will be reflected on one's paycheck rather than going into the tanks. Light loads with a following wind with plenty of time to run 54 miles per hour are again money in do pocket. Today I took a load 300 miles starting with a quarter tank, coulda made it but risky so I put in only 30 gallons to finish the load, have a little left over for potential idling in the heat of Los Angeles and keep the expense down because this is the last load of the pay period and didn't want to cut into my paycheck next week.

Swift's Fuel Optimizer to me is an oxymoron. Oftentimes they will say go to fuelstop first, fillup, then go to shipper, but in the next message say 'don't show up with more than 1/2 tanks. As a company driver I dutifully did whatever the fuel optimizer said in that regard and was shortchanged the free showers because I would often run several days of short loads on that full tanks.After a while I would only put in enough to finish the loads like 70 gallons might get me to 5/8ths which is enough to run 11 hours and idle plus get to the next fuel stop.

As a lease operator I take into consideration

• Price
• Weight
• Distance
• Fuel Taxes
• Fuel Card Points Promotions

as for how much and where I will be fueling. Was sitting in South Carolina, load to pick up in North Carolina going to Utah. So I look at the overall picture and try to hit as many of those points above at once as I can. Fueled in NC cuz the taxes are higher than SC, used TA/Petro because they were offering double points, was light loaded so took on maximum fuel. Used all TA/Petro's en route for the points, and fueled in the higher tax states to save more at tax time. Next load which was last load of the week I bought fuel in Wyoming because the tax was cheaper as well as the price so more on the paycheck from that load.

I'm still learning.

 

It is an art because what is it that you want to accomplish? I said in an earlier post,I try to keep my taxes low and put money away in my maintenance account.

I think what scottied said was pretty right on and just provide evidence that we got a pretty sharp bunch here on the forum.

The last couple trips I have been concentrating on a couple things. 1. zero out or get a refund on my monthly IFTA taxes.You pay state tax in most states at the pump thats IFTA. 2.lower my overall income taxes.

So the science part is knowing what each state charges per gallon.Hmmmm how do i do this? well its right there in your rand mcnally!
The reason scottied bought fuel in NC instead of SC is "real cost of fuel"
in that nc has a much higher state tax that goes towards your ifta taxes monthly. these are just examples from my last couple fuelings.

Bought 75 gals in illinois at some dump i would never reasonably ever stay at at 3.899 a gal. Ill charges 37.5 cents a gallon so the "real" cost was 3.525 a gal. find a better real cost of fuel? Bought fuel in nebraska at sapp bros 3.919 ne charges 23 cents a gal so real cost was 3.689 That was one of the best real costs out west.

What about a shower? well could have showered there when fuel was bought,it would have been free.Or buy one later down the road.But fr8t why,oh why would you pay for that shower,are you a sapp!

I saved more money by really paying attention to were i fuel ( the are limitless deals) to more than cover what i eat and showers,but a shower i pay cash for is tax deductible,and helps me accomplish goal #2.

And if you really look at it (when you have the time,don't always have that) there are numerous ways to really drill down on your business.

Those are just a small example of fueling as an art,but I have 9-10 hrs a day to think about this crap everyday,and it goes on,and on,and on........

 

The art is the learning ... then it becomes science ... if you can avoid it never fuel in IN, WY, GA, CO and especially OR. Hunt for bargains and fuel in IL, NE, NC. If you are going through OH and PA, fuel in PA. Fuel at the terminal or Sapps in UT - check the price sometimes Sapps is cheaper. Never fuel at the Lathrop, Joes down the street will always be cheaper. If you are going up the I5 into OR from CA - fill up up in CA at Corning.

I try to make myself end the week with a dry tank.

 

And to further confuse things......some Fleet Cards, like Fleet One that I use a lot, gets you the cash price at the pump, but also gets additional discounts that vary by the truckstop chain.
My truck can hold 300 gallons, but I seldom fill up, as I really don't need to haul around all that extra weight.

 

Pretty much what everyone else said. I to try and fuel at terminals when I can. An example, last week in Denver, Pilot and J and TA, fuel was up around $3.95. Terminal $3.75. As far as price wars, yes. Crossed into GA yesterday, and was seeing $3,83, saw a small mom and pop, new place, 3.73. Today I will fill up here, only because I know what I have left for the week. Will need to purchase another 50 before get home. WHen I get home, tanks will be almost bone dry. I also start the week with full tanks, then play the game.

 

Comdata is cash equivalent and gets you the cash price. The Comdata fee is only a whole whopping $.34 per transaction.