Stop thief!

Hire quality people.
Pay them enough that they don't have to steal from you.
Keep track of the truck's fuel economy.

 

Set the card up to limit what they can purchase so it limits the pain. Fire the sorry SOB and blacklist him.

 

That's easier said than done and why I'll always be just 1 truck. Some of the guys on here with several trucks will tell you... ...you can offer up good pay, good equipment, and hire only the cleanest cut drivers that check out on record - and they will steal from you or tear up equipment.. You just never know til the rubber hits the road..

 

My question is how do you know for sure the driver is stealing?

 

I think that is disgusting.

I have been working for an owner op for 3 weeks now leased onto a carrier with 750 trucks, but he uses his own fuel card. I'm on a dedicated route and he knows how much fuel I should be using. Every time I get back to the terminal on Monday when I show up to start my route, he comes and gets my paperwork and stuff and checks the fuel receipts to see how much fuel I've gotten.

I hope he hasn't been burned in the past, and that he's checking to see if I'm doing the same. Honestly I don't blame him one bit.

I get paid enough to where selling his fuel would make absolutely no sense, but even if I weren't paid well, I wouldn't even think about doing something like that. I think that is sick and I would never steal from my boss like that, and to think that there are some people out there who do that and think it's okay to do that makes me want to take their CDL and tear it to shreds.

I do plan on taking the next step one day and having my own truck, and when I go to hire drivers, I intend to pay them well but I will also want to see a lot of quality experience on their records, not to mention a good safety record. I will probably also have a formal interview to see what kind of clothes he shows up in, as that could also say something about the guy's or gal's personality.

 

I agree, in some places the pump has a picture of a cop on it saying if you drive off and do not pay for your gas you can lose your drivers license, I say, whats the difference? If you sell the companies fuel and do not drive the miles for it you just did the same thing, stealing.
Lose your license.
J-J
ps;There would have to be some pretty concrete evidence before one would take a guys way of making a living. IE; A truck that always got 6.5mpg now with a new driver gets 4mpg and fueling records. Just a thought....

 

it isn't hard to figure out if a driver is stealing from u; just sayin

 

Cap the card at the capacity of the fuel take of the truck. have the card deny the fill up at the same location in a 24 hour period. and then track the fueling. give a small bonus if they fill at places that save the company money. If a driver is saving you money, share it with him, it will help others to do the same. If he is steeling, fire him!

 

You can attempt to protect yourself from this type of behavior as stated in some of the posts.

I was always taught that there is no grey area concerning being honest. You are or you aren't. No amount of pre-employment screening is going to find a thief.

All that being said.... There has to be a mutual trust going on between owner and driver. If you as an owner begins to put allot of controls on a driver the driver will feel he's not trusted. If the driver has never done anything to bring about all this they will take it personal, feel they are not in a good situation and move on.

There has to be checks and balances in place for sure. But it's a slippery slope.