Stop thief!

It's not always so easy to catch a driver stealing fuel. Especially if you're pulling reefers with them. A little bit of "reefer" fuel in the tractor will keep the fuel mileage in line enough to keep you wondering. I've caught 1 who worked for me personally and several who worked for companies that I was the manager for stealing fuel. You have to really keep track of your tractor AND reefer fuel usage so you can tell if a truck or trailer is suddenly using a lot more fuel. I guess the lesson I've learned is that if something seems not quite right then you need to take a hard look. If you can prove in a court of law that they were guilty of theft, prosecute them and make sure everyone knows. Might help in the future to make a thief think twice.

 

I once saw a century in a rail yard with seals on the lil doors that open to get access to the fuel tanks since it had full fairings, so i asked the driver what was the purpose of the seals and he said that it was due to theft from other drivers in his company, so from now on every time they put fuel they were supposed to fill in the company's yard with a safety manager next to them that recorded the number of the seal that was being removed to make sure it matched up to the previous numbers recorded for that truck and recorded the new one as well

 

I won't keep drivers that I know that I can't trust. If I had to have a safety manager to check seals each time a truck was fueled I would be finding new drivers. Still, it is a good idea with the seals.

 

Here's a scenerio where a driver may not be selling stolen fuel. He has a company fuel card that he get's fuel money advanced to (he's a leased on driver). He eventually builds a surplus of fuel money on the card, has an emergency and needs some fast cash so he sells fuel that is on his card that he already paid for. It's not stealing, that fuel money on the card is that drivers.

Now that scenerio is pretty thin and not likely to happen but is possible. I heard, I think it's comdata, had come out with transponders now that go in the truck like an ezpass that authorize the pump to dispense fuel. And the island takes pictures of the truck and driver fueling and ties it to the computer fuel receipt for the company. It's being tested now.

 

They are talking about company drivers not leased operators. And in your scenario there will more than likely be some theft, the individual taking the fuel from the other will more than likely not report the fuel on his/her IFTA. That right there is tax evasion/theft. They will also more than likely write that fuel off on their taxes, which is also theft. It would be cheaper to take a cash advance against your surplus than to sell fuel at a discounted rate. Or cut yourself a check from the card that you can deposit in your bank account to take care of said emergency.

 

Load the card with specific amount
Setup a delay as in 4 hrs between use
limit cash advance

You know the trip is 1000 miles, its easy to figure how much fuel your going to need like 5 mpg / 1000 miles = 200 gal x $4 = $800

 

I've had a few O/O's without a trailer that i had to watch the reefer fuel usage. The tractors got great fuel mileage,the reefers used quite a bit.

 

If one driver could get 1,000 gallons of fuel in 3 days then he must not have set limits on the fuel card. When I have issued fuel cards to drivers I could limit their purchases. With one I could limit the number of gallons they could purchase each day. With another I could limit the amount in dollars that they could purchase in a day. I could also allow or not allow additional purchases for antifreeze, oil or other purposes. I limited that to $25. I also checked purchases on a regular basis. I could cut their fuel card in minutes with a computer or telephone call. Most trucks can burn from 100-125 gallons of fuel in an average day. If the driver buys or uses more then either there is something mechanically wrong with the truck or he is selling fuel. When a driver has a fuel card the time, date and location is on the purchase. The company or owner of the fuel card can see very quickly what is going on. If he was watching the fuel purchases the driver should not have been able to get that much fuel. I am surprised that the cops would not pursue this as a criminal act. There are OTHER ways to handle situations such as this if the police won't act. (I didn't say that!)