managing fuel

Are you a company driver? If you are don't sweat it. Companies do not pay pump price, not even close. They negotiate with the truckstops due to the large quantities of fuel they purchase.

 

And some even tell you which Fuel Stop and how many gallons to Fuel.

 

Yea that's what I've heard. Larger companies might pre purchase a million gallons of fuel and by micro-managing their drivers they can take full advantage of lower tax states. They still have to pay tax regardless but are able to get more fuel for their buck. None of this is anything a company driver needs to worry or think about, especially a brand new driver.

 

Time management is the most important and hardest to manage. It's how you line your pockets.

 

MYDAT Trucker is good app for android phones, you it updated regularly and is very accurate. Fandango menitoned gasbuddy.com I use their app as well. Mydat trucker can break down fuel stops by interstate or travel direction and distance.

 

If you are working for a good size company, they will issue you a fuel book with all the fuel stops and you don't have to worry about the price at all. If it is a smaller company or an O/O maybe they give you the freedom of picking your on fuel stop. That's good. Then you can choose wherever you want to fuel.

When I think of managing fuel, I think of where is the next approved fuel stop ahead of me on my trip?

Let's say you have 250 gallon fuel tanks on your truck and you have just fueled up. Write your mileage down on your log or on a notebook. As a rule, it takes 50 gallons of fuel in the tanks to actually run the truck. You can go lower than 50 to say 40 but, I always get a little nervous with just 40 gallons of fuel in the truck.

So 250 minus 50 is 200 gallons of useable fuel. 200 gallons times 6 miles to the gallon, is 1200 miles. On your trip after you have fueled, look on a map and figure out where your next approved fuel stop is. If it is 800 or 900 miles, you know you can make it just fine.

 

The company that I work for now doesn't care about fuel prices, or MPG for that matter. Their accounts are profitable enough that their focus is on getting the load delivered, and delivered on time. It's not uncommon for me to deadhead 150 miles or more to pick up a load that delivers 80 miles from where I pick it up. They'll send me out with a 350 mile load in a day cab with a 500 mile fuel range, knowing that I'll need to fuel away from the terminal during the trip (we fuel at the terminal whenever possible), AND that I'll be overnighting in a hotel.

Bottom line: If you're a company driver, and your company doesn't focus on fuel, then you don't need to worry about it either. There's a lot more built in to the true cost of the fuel than simply the pump price.

 

They agree on price/s relative to market/spot prices according to volume. The greatest expense in just about every other industry is wages. In trucking, it's fuel. Some might see fuel management as micro-managing drivers, but they sure can't count on drivers to manage their fuel, in any manner. There's isn't any reason to throw good money out the window. A penny saved...

It's one of the differences in professional and amateur, thinking like a "boss", for the carrier. It's often the little things you do that can set you apart from the amateurs, and they add up.

Maybe not at all carriers, but it sure isn't going to hurt a guy to learn to manage his fuel.