Lease Purchase Fuel Management Strategies

PREFACE: This opening post is long, but one of the things that has really irked all these years is all the high and mighty financial gurus coming down the pike with all the savvy and must do's and kinda seeming like they are "down" on anyone that has some financial troubles but still has the dream of owning their own truck one day. So, that said let's establish a couple things out the gate here.

One: Yes we all know Lease Purchase is not the most sound financial arrangement for ownership. But if we had $50K lying around liquid and a 750 FICO to go with it, we wouldn't be doing this. We'd be in a conventional financing arrangement. We know this, we don't have it but we have the dream and are willing to work hard and take the interest lumps on the chin to realize that dream.

Two: We all know it's "rent to own" and we aren't developing any true equity in the asset during the contract period. It's an "all or nothing" deal for us but we decided to go for it anyway. After my divorce I wasn't crazy about renting to own my appliances and furniture my ex-wife toted off while I was gone but I did what I had to do, got hooked up with a good RTO store and got my appliances and furniture and paid out the contract and my stuff is still serving me well. I took a hit up front but I got my stuff, it's paid for and my credit is well on the mend so I won't have to do RTO come replacement time. Lease Purchase is no different. We are doing what we can until we can do what we want and it's very personal to us. Takes guts and risk to chase a dream. Please don't come preach or call us Fleece Ops. A good L/P deal CAN be done and this is where we'll talk about how. So . . .

Hi all,
I'm putting this up because we all know the biggest variable expense is fuel. You have to have a handle on controlling fuel expense or you are not likely to succeed as any type of driver that pays for their own fuel. We all want to own that truck one day or we wouldn't have signed on as L/P Ops. As an L/P Op, controlling fuel expense is critical to completing the contract and getting that title. The main reason most L/P Ops fail to complete the contract, turn the truck in and go away angry is failure to control expenses and generate revenue. That's a tough one to get but doable and if you want to be an independent of any type, it's a vital skill to master. A company that has miles and is honest and straightforward is the first revenue hurdle and Fuel Expense is your first big expense hurdle. I can't help with revenue. You just have to look and find one that works for you there and that has so many variables it'd be impossible to cover. Fuel crosses onto all boards so this one is about Fuel.

There are many different strategies and resources out there to help keep your biggest variable expense to it's irreducible minimum. Not every strategy or tool is right for every Operator so I'm thinking this would be a great way to share the different "styles" so folks could see a variety and then knowing their own situation see what someone in a similar situation uses. Naturally, this first one will be a little (Ok, a LOT) long but hopefully a good "content setter." Please understand this is not a this is the RIGHT way or WRONG way deal. The "right way" is the way that works for each individual Operator and makes each individual Operator happy with his/her individual results. It's just sharing. Basically three topics rolled into one. Management Style, Brand Selection and MPG. This is just my observations as a JCT Operator. No such thing as a "one size fits all" in trucking, but there are some basics that apply across the board to anyone that pays for their own fuel. That's what this thread is about. All of us that have to pay for our own fuel. Big Oil doesn't need a penny more of our hard earned money than we just have to give up and this is where to share on keeping more in your pocket with fuel expense. All positive, helpful and inquisitive minds welcome. Have a good one and be Safe.

First: What Management Style Fits You?

There are three basic categories: Managing for the next settlement, Managing For The Long Term (30, 60 and 90 day periods) and a combination of the two. I think the first biggest question we have to answer as an individual Operator is about our personal cash flow needs. Do I need the next settlement to pay my rent, utilities etc.; or can I tolerate some fluctuation in my settlements? The reason is this: Managing for the next settlement might be good for this or next week, but might not be as good overall for the bigger blocks, due to missing out on some low price (well lowER price, fuel will never be "low" again) gallons so as not to take a hit on that trip's settlement. That's where your personal cash flow needs come in. Neither way is right or wrong. It's whatever is right for that Operator at that time. We all have different cash flow needs.

Managing for the next settlement it appears the thing to do is keep purchases to a minimum for that week, even if it means passing by that $3.49 PFJ (Pilot/ Flying J), and holding off buying until the trip is done and payroll is done, then buying just what you need for the next leg, even though that might be 75 gallons at a $3.73 LTAP (Love's/ TA/ Petro). That keeps you from taking the hit on that week's settlement which might be what you need to pay personal bills that week. I think of it as not buying anything this week that one doesn't need for THIS week. Don't buy a penny's more than absolutely necessary to get through the week and hold off any bigger fuel purchase as long as possible.

The other Management Style is for the long term lowest Fuel Expense when looked at as a function of a percentage of your gross revenue and managing for the lowest percentage and overall cost. I think of it like I did when I ran a truck stop: Inventory Management. The fuel tanks are my storage capacity and the fuel in them is my rolling stock (inventory). This strategy takes into account a few givens. First is there will be some weeks you'll take a bigger hit on fuel than others. Next is you have the personal cash position to be able to not rely on each settlement being max in order to be able to take on more lower priced fuel now because you know that on Thursday you will be delivering in a high price state and want to have enough left in the tank after delivery to get to the next pick up and get back out of that high price state before taking on any more fuel. At this point I MUST point out that my contract provides that the company pays IFTA, not me. So I don't even consider IFTA and State miles vs State purchase and the resulting taxes there. If you have to pay your own IFTA then you need to look at a bigger picture there.

So, that in mind, say for example: topping off at half a tank in SC at $3.69 and being able to get in and back out of FL where it was running $4.09 and $4.19 before getting fuel again back in SC or AL (south GA is still a little rich for my blood if I can help it). In other words, manage your rolling inventory so you are hitting the least expensive places with lots of space in the tanks to be able to "stock up" on low price fuel and only buy just enough at higher places to get you to the next lower price place with lots of space to hold the cheaper fuel. Buy lots of low and only as much high as you absolutely have to. It's more along the lines of managing purchases by State than a one, two or five cent (or a little more) differences within that State or Brand. It's looking more not at the couple of cents between Brands but more at the big differences geographically and what space in your tanks you have to work with. Even when you are going to buy in a higher price state, fuel can vary a pretty decent amount within that state. Take I-75 in FL. Around GA line it will run maybe $4.08, then the further down into FL you go the higher it gets ($4.18 Ocala/Wildwood, $4.28 Orlando and heaven help you if you wind up in Ft. Meyers or Miami needing fuel at $4.59). That's just one example but you get the idea. Geographic price and space in your tanks.

In business cash flow is King and the life blood of any business. Doing what we do we have TWO cash flows to think about and manage. Business and Personal. Managing for the next settlement keeps the week-to-week FLOW higher, but unless one is real lucky it sacrifices some in the long term overall cost. You may need that immediate higher cash for your personal situation. Nothing bad about that. We've all been there. Got to have max I can this week cause I got my car note, rent and electric due next week. We all do what we gotta do to pay our bills. But, you may be in a personal situation where you have surplus in the bank at home to be able to pay that high bill week and still tote a shorter settlement that same week and take advantage of having bought more but lower priced fuel. I think of it like this. I'm gonna run 3,000 miles this week and next. Say I'm averaging 7.0 MPG. I'm gonna burn 428 gallons this week and 428 next week. 836 gallons the next two weeks. I have 200 gallons of storage capacity (always keeping 40 in reserve ideally). Depending on personal bill money needs I can either top off one time early in the week and stretch it to a couple "just a little's" later in the week (week meaning payroll week - not calendar week) and have a nice settlement this week, but I I'm still gonna burn fuel next week and I'm going into next week low on inventory so my beginning of week top off will be more this week than last, then my same "little's" during the week, so this settlement will be a little less than the other and I had to pass up some low price fuel.

The short term strategy keeps the ups and downs in the settlements a little shallower if graphed on a line chart, but overall for the year you bought the same number of gallons but wound up paying more per gallon so the annual expense is higher. A hit we might have to take if we need more immediate cash flow to pay our personal bills. How much depends on where you ran the most as far as geographic prices. The long term strategy the ups and downs on the settlement graph are higher and lower but at the end of the year you bought the same gallons and spent less per gallon so the overall expense was lower and looking at the annual bottom line you made more money for the year than doing it the other way. Made more because you spent less but had some weeks with high settlements and some with not a whole lot for personal bills that week. Which strategy one uses goes by what one needs on the next settlement. A little more now to get my bills paid or a little less now because I can cover my immediate personal bills and more overall at the end of the year (or quarter or however you look long term).

The third strategy is a combination of both and doing whichever one works for you the best for that particular week or month which is honestly what I think is what really happens most of the time. There are very, very few (if any) "always and never" 's in our business. That's why I say there's no Right or Wrong way to manage your fuel if you are doing what you need to do and it works for you. Any ideas, tips, helps, hints, apps etc. anyone has for this are great. Have seen some great stuff about MPG and such but not a whole lot on purchasing strategy. All positive input is welcome and links to helps are great.


At this point I'll bring up Brand Selection (Purchasing Strategy part two). Keep in mind I'm a JCT Op so you may or may not get some of the things we do. Chiefly, cash price at all the big chains and a .05 CPG rebate at PFJ's.

I use PFJ (Pilot/ Flying J) and LTAP (Loves/ TA/ Petro) because it has been my GENERAL experience fuel watching that Love's generally runs about a penny less than the PFJ's and TAP's in the area which seem to run right there at each other pricewise. The other brands seem to run pretty close to everyone else. I haven't found a major Brand yet that jumps out consistently as significantly less than the others. A few years of price watching every day (I ran a truck stop for a couple years) really makes me wonder about collusion in the fuel industry. LOL. It is what it is, though. Personally, I favor the PFJ's because we get a .05/gal rebate each week in our settlements. I may be looking at it wrong, but personally I knock a nickel off the cash price at the PFJ's along the route, THEN compare to the cash prices of the others. I heard from several JCT Operators that we get the .05/ gal rebate at Love's too but WE don't. Tried it. Pumped 100 gallons at a Loves because it was a penny less than the PFJ down the road. No Loves rebate. Also, the rebate is at either a Pilot OR Flying J. They both give it. I'm averaging $15-$20 back in rebates each settlement, and the only time I've deviated, the Love's in Salt Lake City was .20/gal less expensive than ANY other fuel stop along my route so I definitely hit that. I heard via driver rumor mill that The Mormon Church owns that particular Love's so they don't have to pay the State Excise taxes (which is why fuel varies so much at the pump from state to state: State excise Tax is included in the pump price) and pass that savings along. Don't know if that's true but they were definitely much cheaper for sure and no fuel quality issue. It was good fuel far as I could tell.

Also, I personally don't factor the Driver Rewards points at any of them into price comparison. Best level I could achieve at Loves when factoring 2:1 going on at PFJ right now still didn't knock it down for me. At Diamond Level (4:1 reward no rebate) Loves and them a penny cheaper than PFJ that knocks $3.78 cash at Loves and $3.79 cash at PFJ to $3.74 Loves and $3.72 PFJ (2:1 rewards + .05 rebate). Again, that's just my odd way of figuring things. That's why I just go by cash price minus PFJ rebate and treat any driver rewards as just a perk. I use rewards points for oil, coolant, washer fluid etc. You still get to expense it on your "books" (I am an LLC so I have to keep a Business set of books and General Ledger) because the IRS (according to my tax people) does treat it like you spent money because it is money and you can buy anything you want (except fuel, tobacco or alcohol); it's just "money" you can only spend in certain places. But it's not affecting my cash flow. Anything I can buy for a truck need that I can pay for with rewards points - that's how I do it. I'm gonna fuel so they're gonna give me whatever points they offer so might as well put them to use on something I can expense rather than something I'm gonna buy anyway (coffee, snacks etc.) that I can't expense because in my situation taking a standard per diem deduction is more beneficial than deducting the actual expenses the per diem deduction covers. Per diem is more than I actually spend on those items. Hey. I didn't write the tax code but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna maximize all legal deductions. Again, there's a ton of great apps and resources out there to help with this and this would be a great place to post links, tips, helps and hints about all of it. NOTE: I am NOT a tax professional. I'm just going by what my tax pros tell me and you definitely want to consult your own on this type thing (taxes).

Personally, I'm a bit old school in this planning thing (no smartphone app) and I have the advantage of a fantastic wife at home with an investigator's mind (she's a criminal investigator and treats it like a case: I WILL find that best fuel deal) and a wife's passion for thrift and profit. LOL. She beats the hound outta any app or website I found. We Skype (I carry a regular size laptop with me and have Internet access in most places) during my trip planning, which a MAJOR part is the fuel plan. I tell her where I'm going from and to, what MPG I'm getting and how many gallons I have in my tank without invading reserve (red lines on the gauge). While I'm detailing my route out and clearing it for a big truck, looking at tolls and whatever greenback dollars in cash I may need to pull out of the bank and put in my pocket and pulling up the Google Satellite and Street View Images of where I'm going if I haven't been there before and want an idea of the plant layout, landmarks for local turns etc.; she's calculating how much fuel we'll need and has all the fuel stop websites open in different windows and a Google map open of my route. We use the long term strategy because we are blessed with a personal cash position which allows us to do that. Hadn't always been that way and we worked real hard to get to that point but we finally made it so we can use the long term lowest expense strategy now.

She'll work out our (I say OUR because it is OUR business but we don't team drive. We team in the sense that I drive and she does fantastic Admin and Support from home) fuel stops by looking at the prices along the way and then going to that particular store's website within the network to confirm the price and she isn't above calling that store either. She asks me questions sometimes like: "Hey, the PFJ at such and such is going for .04 CPG cheaper than the one at such and such (closer to me) but you'll have to get down into the red to get there, BUT if you do you can top off there and it'll be a .18 CPG cheaper move for overall for the trip because it's just gonna get higher and higher the farther East you go. I called the stores and the prices on the websites are accurate. How ya feel about that?" At that point I make the decision to fuel at which store based on terrain and load. "Well Honey, I'm real heavy and it's all hills and pulls to that stop. I'll check it at the first stop to see but I'm not keen getting into the reserves like that on this leg with the hills and all. Work it out from that first stop that's .04 higher than the next one and we'll go from there. If I get there and I think I can make it to the other I will, but let's plan on that one for now. Six bucks is not worth the risk on this one." OR "Yeah, I'm good with that. It's all flat, I got plenty of time on the trip to run it all at economy speed so I'm good with going into the red zone as long as it's not too far into it. I don't want to coast in on fumes but I can run this one a little deep for six bucks extra in the pocket." Doing all that we come up with the trip plan while my wife and I are doing something together as a couple and business owners while Skyping and talking about personal stuff too. It's not all business. During this session we also talk about family stuff too. Then the trip is planned and I write it down in my notebook with pen and paper because that's just how I like it. She, on the other hand, has the trip plan "written down" in all her electronic gizmos. She is MUCH more into all the smartphone/ tablet/ laptop/ PC stuff than I am.

Lastly we get to the other big fuel variable and that's MPG.

A few things I'd like to say about MPG right off the bat because we so often get everything flying at us about MPG and MPG again and MPG a-freakin'-gain that instead of cash flow being King, MPG seems to stage a coupe and take over the throne. This is ESPECIALLY true with those of us coming off long term time as a company driver and getting MPG and idle time percentages jammed down our throats by management every day. MPG is a big factor, but you have to keep in mind it is just another tool to measure performance. Performance DOES connect to Expense but not as the Holy Grail that we are led to believe as company drivers. It's just their way of putting cash flow management to folks that don't have to worry about Business cash flow (company drivers). WE know those performance metrics lead straight purchasing which is cash flow but company drivers don't tend to look at that. They (formerly most of US) tend to just look at the number of miles and how many of those can I get. Expense control doesn't usually factor to them so the company has to bring that home to them with some targets to hit that affect the company's purchasing.

So, MPG is just another performance tool to let you know how much expense you are incurring along the way to your next purchase. MPG is affected by a few things. Some of which we can control, some we can't. Also, it is important to understand HOW the MPG is being calculated. I think the most accurate is something electronic onboard that figures MPG by how much fuel went through the fuel system per mile the wheels turned. Qualcomm, and many truck brands have electronics that give you real time usage based on the above. They don't factor what you pumped into the tank like other methods that simply calculate the miles between the last time you fueled and the number of gallons you put in this fueling. The result is X miles and X gallons used (pumped in). It pre-supposes you are topping off each time you fuel; thus if you put in 50 gallons then it must have taken you 50 gallons to run the miles between the last fueling and this one so you are getting X MPG. That works great if you are topping off every time you fuel and topping off at exactly the same cutoff point in pumping (like the first "click" on full then don't add any more). That'd be accurate then.

What if you do strategic purchasing, though, and don't top off every time? It seems like that will skew the MPG calculation when you only put 25 gallons in (because of price you only wanted enough to get to the .25 CPG cheaper stop down the road but didn't have enough to make it there) but since the last fuel you went 900 miles or maybe only 60 miles. It will give you a false high or low MPG. Look folks, MPG is a valuable tool but it was designed to measure PERFORMANCE. How is the machine running; efficient or is there a fuel problem? How is the driver performing; Idling fuel out the stacks, shifting, road speed etc. It's a PERFORMANCE measure (metric) so you can track inefficiencies and correct those. There are a LOT of things that go into determining your fuel efficiency. Let's call it what it is. FUEL ECONOMY, that aren't measurable by any mathematical calculation no matter how cool the graphics look on the app or whatever. They just don't factor it in. True MPG MUST come from how much fuel went through the fuel pump and injectors for the miles it went through. That's straight up gotta come from the truck's ECM and told to you somewhere there if you don't top off every time and stop the pumping in to the tank at the same point every time.

Why harp on this? Because as an Op that pays for fuel you want to know how far you can go on the fuel you have til your next buy fuel and how much to buy to get you where you want to buy if you can't get to your next good "buy station" on what you have. Plus; how's the truck doing fuel efficiency wise and how am I doing as a driver to conserve fuel? It's like measuring speed. Bear with me. There are basically three ways to measure how fast you are moving in a truck. Speedometer (which measures how fast a shaft is turning around a sensor), GPS/ Satellite (which is a measure of rate, time distance; it pinged you here at X time, pinged you here at Y time and it's Z distance between the two so therefore you must be moving at XYZ miles per hour to have crossed that distance in that time) and the good old Law Enforcement radar/ laser (radar measures the time it takes for a sound "ping" to leave the gun and bounce off your truck and come back a few times and the differences in the readings are calculated electronically to an MPH OR the length of a laser beam focused on your truck and how fast that beam is lengthening or shortening and the gun calculates THAT rate to an MPH). You will NEVER EVER get all three methods of speed determination to say exactly the same thing because they each measure it a different way and each way has an error factor of it's own.

Same with MPG. Different ways to measure it will give you different results for the same test. In an ideal world they - MPG's (like the speed determination thing) should be real close no matter which measuring stick you used. In the real world (we don't drive in laboratory perfect and mathematic theory conditions) we will get fairly significant differences in our MPG's based on which method you use to calculate it. So the key is to use whatever MPG computational method you like CONSISTENTLY. Tank Drop (mileage and how much you pumped calculation) or Engine Metered (off the ECM data calculations); either one should be fine as long as you are measuring with the same measuring stick every time. What you want to know is: How much fuel is in my tank, how much am I burning now, is there anything I can do to reduce the consumption rate and how does all this affect where I buy and how much I'm gonna buy? The key to the key in MPG is consistency of management measures whatever measure you use. Idle time percentages reported to you are just fuel consumption rates. Top gear percent, cruise percent . . . all just fuel out your tank measures. Don't forget APU time either. You can split a ton of hairs in analyzing all the data but at the end of the day it ALL boils down to what you have onboard, how fast it's getting burned from every source of fuel draw, what you can do to minimize that fuel draw and where you want to replenish the fuel and how much to replenish for your own personal needs at that particular time. Me personally I do watch my MPG and I feel pretty good about my MPG. But it varies more according to my right foot than anything else and there are times when I do sacrifice economy for speed. Knowing my MPG and how much mashing that right foot digs into my wallet helps me determine a speed I'm willing to run to get where I want to go when I want to get there.

For example: My old Freightshaker (2012 Cascadia with a DD15 and Eaton straight 10, super singles, 460K miles) fuel economy "sweet spot" is 1,200 RPM. Wait a minute Aminal. We are all told in these business classes that MPH is what keeps the fuel in the tank. What'cha talkin' 'bout with RPMs? I'll go you one better and talk about GPH. What? Gallons Per Hour. GPH is how Mariners and Pilots measure fuel consumption and there's a reason. The machine is running at X RPM under X resistance (load, terrain, tire friction ((rolling resistance)) wind etc.) for X period of TIME, therefore it will burn X fuel in X time. How far you go during that time is a function of the gearing. Top gear on a straight ten with whatever ratio this truck has (I'm not keeping it - at 460K the warranty is about to go "pop", so time for a new one; so I haven't bothered to dig real deep into her specs) at 1,200 RPM is right at 60 MPH and on relatively flattish road with 43K in the box and full tanks all around for 10 hours she gets 8 MPG with me babying her shifting and using the cruise and a trailer with one of the aero kits. Mid eights and even low nines when consistent on skillet flat long runs sometimes. That's 7.5 GPH. I'll say this for trailer aero: It has been my experience that either one (side skirt or underbelly) does give me about .5 MPG better than a non-aero trailer. The ones with super singles do better a little on MPG too. Minding the trailer tire inflation is not me being nice and a good Op for my company. Their tires affect MY fuel economy. Better tires equal better fuel economy. Haven't pulled one with a trailer tail and I don't have hubcaps for the drives.

So, I really can't complain at all about the machine's economy. I don't idle (if I'm stopped for anything longer than a long traffic light that key is turned off) either and if the weather is descent I don't even use the APU or bunk heater. Window screens don't burn ANY fuel. Knowing all this I know that if I boost my RPM how much I will lose in economy however I measure it. I say this because we are all (those that aren't yet WILL be soon enough) saddled with these electronic babysitters that give us time problems sometimes. I'll say this for JCT too, their load planners plan VERY well. They have got this whole e-log and running for economy rather than speed thing down. Haven't had a load yet that wasn't PLANNED for me to be able to run it in economy mode and easily make OTD (on time delivery). My e-log jams come as a result of a customer holding me up, not the planners. You're gonna get that anywhere. So, by knowing my truck's economy I can decide on how much I'm willing to give up to get to delivery when I want to. This goes back to the trip plan. Do I run in to the customer the night before and spend the night there (ideally that's what I prefer to do) or hold up and go in, in the morning or whatever. How does that factor into my economy plan? I might give up some economy and run my hours tight to be able to spend the night at my customer. Been woke up by the guard at 2 or 3 AM several times to tell me to go ahead and come on in. It's really cool when you are sending an empty call well before your appointment time. It was worth one leg of less economy. E-log doesn't know WHAT I'm doing when I'm not moving outside the geo-fence (I'll leave that at that).

Back to MPG and RPM. It's said that running economy it's good for the pocket to let her go going down a long hill. Free fuel and the momentum keeps the power band from kicking in til you're farther up the next hill. Maybe so. Hasn't been my experience with this truck, though. I get better MPG by minding my RPM's than speed. Like I said, 1,200 is this truck's sweet spot and that is uphill, downhill and flat. With this Freightshaker and "smart" Detroit I do better economy by doing what I need to do to maintain a consistent 1,200 RPM even downhill. That means whatever gear lets me climb at 1,200 is the gear I choose and since it's not a 13 and I can't split a gear that means there are times I'm in 7th and not mashing it to the floor. Eight lugs and 7th maxes the tach. It's just THAT hill. So I don't max the tach for an extra what; 2-3 MPH? That's NOT gonna make the hill any faster to climb so why push the fuel out the stacks when I'm not gonna get anything back for it? I don't mind burning some extra fuel if there's gonna be something in it for me like the possibility of getting loaded or unloaded early or even just being able to conserve hours on my e-log because the e-log doesn't know what's really gong on, on that sleeper berth line time. I'm not burning fuel for no gain, though.

Downhill I tried both ways. Let her go and maintain 1,200. I got better economy maintaining 1,200. Not a whole lot, about 2/10 MPG but knowing that let's me make decisions better. I choose the gear that let's the Jakes hold her and use the brakes to keep her close to 1,200 RPM in whatever gear I think is the safe downhill speed. As she builds up a little speed I let her get to 1,400 then mash the brakes to 1,100 and just do that til I'm down and back on normal mode. Then I hit resume on cruise. Downhill I keep between 1,00 and 1,300 and do better on MPG than when I let her roll and stroll. My friend who spent 20 years as a Marine Diesel Mechanic on River Tugs and Tows said RPMS are RPMS no matter what's making the shat turn. However fast its turning is however fast the intake valves are opening and closing regardless if it's gravity or your foot making the shaft turn. Kinda makes sense but I'm not sure. I do know that when I manage the RPMs not to get up there even downhill I do get better MPG.

Which brings up cruise. I have heard arguments on both sides of letting the cruise manage the hills and what not. Maybe some drivers DO get better MPG with their right foot than the cruise, but I haven't. I don't know. Maybe they are better drivers than me. That's possible. I'm certainly not Super Driver. I'm just a driver that's figured out what works best for me. These things work for me, and one of them is letting the cruise do as much of the throttle management as I can. As soon as I'm back in the big hole I hit resume and let the computer manage my acceleration anytime I can. Of course that's not always the case. There are times when I need to mash on it and tach her out to get back up to speed fast as I can, but if conditions allow it I let the computer meter the fuel. It's better at it than I am. That might be all these years as a company driver have not caused me to train my foot as well as veteran independents paying for their own fuel. I don't know. I do know I don't have that skill and the computer does so I let it whenever I can.

A very good friend made the comment to me when I started this adventure (he was a lease Op for a major carrier and we are close friends and we talk because A, we're friends and B he's done the independent thing with a reefer outfit and I'm Lease Purchase with a reefer outfit now so he has insight): "Sounds like you're worrying more about fuel and not enjoying driving than anything else." In a way he was right. In the beginning, learning how to work all this out I was, but I wouldn't necessarily have called it "worrying", but yeah kinda. It was constantly on my mind. It is more work doing it this way, but the work is just the planning. Once the plan is in place I'm less "focused" and just relax and enjoy driving and drive the plan. He was right, though. I do get real "focused" and all details and pennies during planning. But your profit is in those pennies. Mind your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves. It's the old question: Which would you rather have; a million dollars now or a penny doubled each day for 30 days? At a week you have $1.28, at two you have $163.84, week three you have $20,971.52 and on the thirtieth day you have $10,737,418.24. There's some serious coin in minding them little copper and zinc Lincolns. With my wife and I we treat it kinda like a video game. It's only "work" if you think of it like work. Think of it as a video game in which you have a truck moving from here to there and you want to get to there then back home with a bunch of cash spilling out your pockets then it's fun work. Plan my drive is work. Driving my plan is fun in seeing the work at work. It's all just a numbers game and I know I'm a weird old geek; but I'm a numbers geek and these numbers are working for me.

I hope they work for you too and let's have some fun sharing apps, sites, whatever - and see how low we can help each other get our Fuel Expense numbers to the irreducible minimum (geek speak for "low as it can go").

 

Respectfully: Maybe in the past, but not anymore. This straight from the Fuel Manager and I tried it. When I didn't get the rebate I called the Fuel Manager. No nickel at Loves. PFJ only. I wish they did. Then I'd be Platinum and have even better fuel percentage.

 

C'mon. Give the guy a break. That's what this is about. Transitioning from Company Driver to Independent. I can't begin to tell you how many things I've had to re-think. We're learning. Trust me. When we take a hit in the wallet we learn REAL fast. I pi$$ed away a whole week's work in fuel savings listening to a stupid GPS and not my gut and Rand McNally Atlas. Put me in an HOS jam too and I had to get a re-power and lost 200 miles. I never made THAT mistake again. Yeah, trust me. We make mistakes transitioning but when the fuel comes out your own pocket you don't make the same mistake twice. LOL.

Oh and that trip plan? Yeah, GPS doesn't know your load and the road. Only the most direct truck friendly (if using a trucking one) route. The most direct route just might not be the best one for fuel economy so I suggest that if you don't know the roads well, pull up a terrain map (Google Maps has that feature) or ask around and consider how heavy you are. I thought I was being clever using the GPS route and taking some back roads to cut miles off but they were hilly as hell the whole way and it killed my time AND MPG big time. All danged day going from 7, 8, 9, 8, 7, SIX! (really?!), 7, 8 . . . I'd have been MUCH better off all around with more miles but the less hilly big roads. Live and learn. I won't make THAT mistake again. $500 gone is a real good teacher. LOL.

The re-power driver was real nice. He chuckled and said: "Don't worry. You'll get it. If you need any help or advice give me a call anytime. Been with JCT ten years and I know our routes real well.", and he gave me his cell number. I got to hand it to these JCT Ops. They've all been super nice, helpful and they all seem real good about taking swaps and re-powers. Not what I expected. I expected a group of independents all out for themselves but these guys haven't been like that at all. They've all been real nice and eager to help you catch on to the independent thing any way they can. Good group all around.

OH, and a word about breakdown for my fellow new L/P Op up there. You know how it is when you're a company driver. You macro breakdown and then call and they tell you where you're gonna go and what that shop is gonna do. Then you just do what they say and they call and pay on their account and you sign the ticket and drive on. No problem. Not when your an L/P Op. They are cool and super helpful with advice but they give YOU options and YOU decide what YOU want to do. That was a trip. Deer in headlights look and

"Um, OK. So what do you need me to do? Where do you want me to take it?"

"Can't tell you that Aminal. It's not warranty and you're paying for it so YOU have to make that decision. All I can do is tell you what's around and get you hooked up with paying the shop but the bill comes out of your settlement and escrow so it's all on you what you're gonna do. If it was me this is what I'd do, but it's totally your call. What'cha wanna do? I'll make whatever that is happen for you, but you have to be the one to decide."

Reality check big time. Never before had choices like that and a decision to make and the results of that decision coming out my own pocket. It's a very sobering moment. Visions of dollar signs spiraling down a drain filled my head. I practiced as an independent by running my company truck like I would if I owned it and testing out all my theories and doing minor fixes myself, but the first time you have to decide what to do about a fix that's over your head it's a really big WOW moment.

So I took it to the local Petro and wound up paying them $150 to tell me what I already knew. Coolant level low codes are active. Yeah, I TOLD you that's why I'm here. I keep having to add coolant. What I want to know is WHERE the coolant is going. Long story short (yeah, right LOL) they couldn't find any leaks and thankfully there was no oil in the coolant, coolant in the oil and no steam out the stacks, and it wasn't the thermostat; but where was the coolant going? This refilling is diggin' in my wallet. I'm puzzling over it and calling various shops and mechanics and of course the thing to do is have it pressure tested ($$$). Then I got to thinking about an old 70 model Ford F-150 I had. 300 6 cylinder, 3 on the tree and totally stripped old farm truck with half a million miles on it. Sounded like it had soup cans for pistons, but it started and ran every day. Had the same problem. Vanishing coolant. Turned out to be the radiator cap. Spring got weak and it was opening up under high normal temp and pressure and spilling coolant out the overflow while I was driving, then closing when I stopped (it cooled and pressure went back down) so I never saw the "leak". Well the cap on this Detroit's surge (expansion) tank is just a fill cap. But there was/ is a pressure cap on the side (yes side so when you change it coolant goes everywhere - they couldn't put it on top?) so I called to see how much a new one was. $50. For a plastic cap with a spring and hose nipple??!! Oh, and NO; you can't return it if that doesn't fix the problem.

Well, I'm getting to be a notorious cheapskate and so I thought that before I spent that money on a MAYBE fix or a pressure test AND a new cap, it'd be nice to know if that cap really was the culprit. One of JCT's "welcome aboard" gifts is a plastic "Mason Jar" drinking mug with a hole in the lid and a heavy plastic straw. Has their logo on it. Nice and thanks but I like my Bubba mug so I tossed it under the bunk and promptly forgot about it. I got to pondering the dilemma (60 MPH economy mode leaves lots of time to ponder things - I'll say that LOL) and I got to thinking. I wonder. So when I stopped I got that gift jar out, took out the straw and threaded the overflow hose through the hole in the lid far enough so the end of the hose would be a little above the bottom of the jar. It was a nice tight fit but I put a zip tie on the hose inside the lid just to be sure it wouldn't slide out and I screwed the jar back on and zip tied it down at the bottom of the radiator but away from heat or anything for it to rub on but the frame which is what I zip tied it to. Makeshift see through overflow reservoir and I could see it without opening the hood by looking up under the wheel well. Figured if it WAS the pressure cap I'd find coolant in the jar next time I stopped. If it wasn't the cap, the jar should be dry or maybe just some steam moisture on the sides. Anyway, something to let me know if that spring was opening up while I was going down the road. Temp had been fine this whole time, it was just level kept getting low.

Next time I stopped; nothing, next time nothing, next day nothing, next day nothing and wait: I shoulda had to add more coolant by now. No way, but I'm not complaining. Next day nothing and all week nothing but no lights either and the level was/ is holding. So I guess maybe it was/ is the cap and the fit is so tight on the Jimmy rigged reservoir that it's creating enough back pressure to keep the spring closed. Now, before a friendly tech jumps on me about bypassing an overflow protection; I seriously doubt that rig is tight or strong enough that if the pressure in the coolant system got up there good it wouldn't find a way to force through my Jury Rig. Plus, it hadn't been running a bit over normal temp so the pressure hasn't been above normal at all. You know the whole heat, liquid and gas expansion and pressure thing. What is it Charles's Law or Boyle's Law? Something about temperature and gases and liquids and pressure I remember from Science class. Can't remember exactly which or what though but I remember enough and I'm sure it's not gonna hurt anything or let the pressure get high enough to hurt anything. If it gets that high it'll push the tube out of the makeshift reservoir. It's tight, but it's not THAT tight. If it gets that high I got a bigger problem than a $50 pressure cap for sure.

So This morning I go out (I'm on hometime) and look over my truck (note: another thing different as an independent. As a company driver I parked my truck in my driveway on hometime, got my perishable groceries from my Coleman cooler and laundry out, shut off the batteries and didn't give her a second thought til time to go. Buying her, RTO as it is but buying just the same, I think about her a lot more even on hometime and am usually doing something with her during hometime that I would have let go til out and OTR as a company driver. Anything I can do during hometime saves me no pay during OTR shop time.) and what do I see? About an inch or so of coolant in my Jimmy Jury Rig zip tied plastic Mason jar reservoir. So, I'll post this and it's off to my local big truck bone yard (small town SC but it's a trucking small town - around here you either work at the cement mines or truck) for a $7 used pressure cap. There's a few tore up 2012 Cascadias with the DD 15's there. Frankie's pretty sure the caps are still there on them and I can pull one (unscrew - big whoop) myself for and have one for $7. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Seems like it will. Hopefully will have saved about $250 in pressure testing and a new cap. If not then I guess I'll have to put her in the shop. Fingers crossed, though.

I guess I posted this long old thing to kinda let the new Sni L/P Op know from a fellow L/P newbie that there is a lot of changing that's gonna happen in your thought processes and decision making paradigm. Some of it is subtle. Some dramatic but it really IS a whole new way of thinking. It's a whole different FEELING too. I totally get the being independent and the rants I've seen by independents about regulations and what not. A poster I've had conversations in the past said it quite well. The money is about the same, the work is a LOT more but there's nothing in the world like the FEELING as an independent and it's worth every minute of it.

I guess I could get mad and slam the company about this. I mean it started two hours after I took possession of my truck on our maiden voyage together. I'm not gonna, though. Two things: First, as an independent we are a small business in and unto ourselves. Anytime you engage in any business venture you assume a certain amount of risk. That is to say you take on a certain amount of risk that just comes with the turf as a business owner. The turf depends on which type of business you go into. I chose the trucking business and the risk my truck might have an undiagnosed problem is just one of the risks in any trucking venture. It's more of a risk as an independent than a company driver for sure but it just goes with the turf. The return is higher if I pull it off though. I make a little more than I did as a company driver but one day I'll have the title to a truck and in reality by the time I pay it off it'll only be worth about $25K. But that's a $25K asset in my company's name (mine and my wife's) we didn't have before and a nice start on something more conventional and along with the savings and experience as a trucking business owner, and credit score repairs we will have built up by that time - a real, real good shot the bigger money as a true Owner Op. Second, it's NOT the kind of thing the shop would have known about. It's something that would only become visible under a load and rolling or a pressure test. Last time I checked, pressure testing the coolant system was not a check off item on any pre-issue maintenance list. They (JCT) let me go over all the maintenance and repair records and there was nothing anywhere about a coolant issue. If there was JCT would have done something about it and charged the cost to the appropriate party. They have been TOTALLY straight up and open about everything. Including the accident the truck was just in and repairing the front visor (which still squeaks and chirps like a chipmunk with a megaphone at every puff of wind or running over a painted line LOL - but hey it's a USED truck, its attached good and the lights work and I'll be tightening that squeak up myself this weekend). They had no way of knowing unless the previous Op made them aware; which a dollar to a donut he didn't because he was deep outta pocket on the visor repair ($900 - it was busted to hell and back) and bailed on the whole deal. Probably cussing JCT for cheating him somehow by charging him for an accident repair that wasn't his fault. Probably didn't get it that as an independent it doesn't matter if the accident was your fault or not. You pay for the repair. It's called "the cost of doing business." A deer strike is nobody but the dead deer's fault but as an independent YOU pay for the $3,500 repair bill for a smashed bumper and hood. That's the cost of doing business in the trucking business as an independent. Do your best not to hit a deer, invest in a Bambi Guard, and if someone else hits you; go after their insurance carrier and if they are uninsured or underinsured . . . that's why they make you carry UM/UIM coverage. That way you're only out the deductible (which is gonna get paid and the repair will be made because the company took $25/ week out your settlement and put it in the bank for you just in case this happened). Then you sue the other driver in small claims court (via your driver legal plan which as a company driver I didn't go for but as an independent I do) for your deductible and legal expense and downtime. But how you gonna blame the company for putting Humpty Dumpty back together again and charging you for it (at a shop hourly labor rate about $20/ hour less than going rate outsourced AND their at cost parts buying power price point - no mark up on parts, think you'll get that at Freightliner or another outsource?). If I'm mad at anyone it would be the Op that knew about this but did nothing about it.

So, I can't really put this off on JCT in any way. I went into it with eyes wide open and this is just the unfortunate side of the risk I assumed when my wife and I decided to become independent business owners in the trucking industry. JCT didn't know about it and had no practical way to know that would be REASONABLE for me to expect them to. Sh!+ happens. Quite often in this industry. Sucks it happened to me and straight out the gate but that's just the way it goes. Has nothing to do with JCT and everything to do with that barstard Murphy (Murphy's Law). Oh, and thanks Murphy. Windshield washer stopped working? Really? You didn't throw enough at me straight out the gate? $200 to my name and a dream and YOU gotta throw this on me from the get go? That's allright MoFo Murphy. I got this one too. I beat you before and I'll beat you again.

THAT'S the attitude you gotta have as an independent. This much I HAVE learned.

Happy hunting all. I gotta go now. Got work to do. Something a few million fellow Americans in the unemployment line would love to say. So, Thank You Lord. I got work to do.