ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
Those nickles add up.
Do you own a calculator? What does a 1-cpm average decrease in cost yield for a guy running 150,000 miles per year?
What if its a nickle per mile?
IFTA and Profit Based Fueling Practices
- Thread starter Electric Chicken
- Start date
- california fuel tax fueling ifta profit
Those nickles add up.
Do you own a calculator? What does a 1-cpm average decrease in cost yield for a guy running 150,000 miles per year?
What if its a nickle per mile?
mndriver
curmudgeon extraordinare
Has more to do with ethics.
His own words, he admitted he could fuel at the TA greencastle or the pilot Hagerstown.
TA being 30 cpg cheaper for the company.
10 miles apart. On in PA, one in MD.
He chose Hagerstown because it benefits him because he had a pilot rewards card and refused to get a ta card.
Neither are anything to write home about but a conscious decision on his part because his boss says it doesn't matter.
HE KNOWS it makes a difference.
So do the hard right and not the easy wrong.
His own words, he admitted he could fuel at the TA greencastle or the pilot Hagerstown.
TA being 30 cpg cheaper for the company.
10 miles apart. On in PA, one in MD.
He chose Hagerstown because it benefits him because he had a pilot rewards card and refused to get a ta card.
Neither are anything to write home about but a conscious decision on his part because his boss says it doesn't matter.
HE KNOWS it makes a difference.
So do the hard right and not the easy wrong.
Tazz
Infidel
And out of route, ease of access, timing costs what?
Look I get what your trying to tell him. It simply does not apply.
Not going to dig all the way back buy I believe he said that one is easy in out as well.
Also a small but highly relevant fact you folks keep leaping over. You have no idea what Punkin I'd paying for fuel in either of those states. No you do not because Punkin does not pay what you would.
It could be he is at the same amount regardless. You are assuming off of pump price, but they pay no where near that.
mndriver
curmudgeon extraordinare
Yep.
Prime had a web page with fuel prices at each truck stop. The prices were not the same as pump price. Sometimes, the higher pump priced fuel was actually contract priced less. They passed contracted prices through to lease-ops.
I don't think there's any further point in arguing with DC. We're off his radar now.
ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
You miss the point... average cost reduction - you don't get that paying $30 in burned fuel to save $10 at the pump.
On the OTR side you can't ignore than penny savings, as long as the cost to achieve those savings make sense.
For @dchawk81 cost savings comes in time not fuel. The local and per-load gig is a different business model than OTR.
mndriver
curmudgeon extraordinare
I don't think anyone else does get my point other than @Hammer166
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
They ran him off, arguing petty nonsense that doesn't even apply (much) to a local operation, and calling him a steering wheel holder.
He deleted his avatar. That's not a good sign.
Exactly. If Pumpkin wanted him to fuel at Greencastle instead of Hagar Town they'd tell him to.
This isn't some little mom and pop outfit where little things matter anyway. It's a big giant corporation, soon to be (if not already) owned by investors who don't give a flying fuck if he lives or dies as long as he keeps working and making them money.
ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
We all get it. Its doubtful that Pumpkin is paying pump price - with corporate discounts there's usually not a lot of difference between Pilot/Flying J and TA per-gallon fuel prices. Base price fuel today is...
TA Greencastle - $1.9970
PFJ Hagerstown (I81) - $1.9913
That's after corporate discounts and fuel tax are removed. And yes, all of us "get" the impact of varying IFTA rates across state lines. Illinois ain't next door.
So, assuming Pumpkin has a similar situation as Prime - all the invective aimed at @dchawk81 was unnecessary, and all y'all owe him an apology. It doesn't matter which one he fills up at as far as cost is a concerned. If he saves time at PFJ, he's ahead.
That includes @Hammer166
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Tazz
Infidel
Uhm no. What some of us are very patiently explaining to you is that your beating a drum that is pointless in his case.
So... Have a nice day
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Here's how it works...
When I drove @Blood's green machine he told me on this run between KCMO and Chicago, with that truck's fuel capacity it makes sense to only get fuel at Kearney, MO.
Missouri because IFTA and Kearney mainly because of consistency - it makes nice pretty numbers to look at when monitoring fuel economy.
He didn't say I HAD TO fuel there, he basically just explained that's what he does.
So except for a couple of times when we switched trailers at the halfway point, that's what I did.
He got his fuel tax savings and consistent numbers to look at, and because the truck has plenty of capacity I never had to stare at the gauge while the needle hovers over the E for 200 miles like I often did at Covenant Transport due to their computerized fuel stop planning.
See how that works? The man paying for the fuel wanted it bought at a certain place so he said something about it. It's not complicated.
At dchawk81's operation, nobody's ever told him where to get fuel, (other than what chains his card works at) so he gets his fuel at places that work out best for his time.
Van Wyk only has accounts with the PFJ chain and a few others out east like Wilco-Hess or whatever.
The Pilot closest to my house is a clusterfuck. If I need fuel that's where I have to go even though there's a Petro across the street. So when I was going home I'd look at the gauge and if I could make it from home to Chicago to reload, and then out to somewhere like LaSalle or Davenport (most of my outbound loads for them go west) I'd skip it, or I'd fill up earlier. I never once got fuel there and it's the #1 reason I got a scanner in the truck for Transflo because it was a mess.
The parking spots are lined up around the perimeter, but it's only big enough for one "aisle", the space required for lining up and backing into a spot is also the main lane for circling around to line up with the fuel island. And the fuel island is always backed up due to fuel island squatters. (I've driven the wrong way across the CAT scale to get out of that place before.)
Due to its location in a high tax county in a blue state, it's not a good IFTA choice anyway but let's say there's a place like that in dchawk's stomping grounds. The Flying Hook at the 323 in Virginia (Clear Brook) for example.. When time is of the essence, do you think he's going to waste his time at a clusterfuck like that if he doesn't have to?
When I drove @Blood's green machine he told me on this run between KCMO and Chicago, with that truck's fuel capacity it makes sense to only get fuel at Kearney, MO.
Missouri because IFTA and Kearney mainly because of consistency - it makes nice pretty numbers to look at when monitoring fuel economy.
He didn't say I HAD TO fuel there, he basically just explained that's what he does.
So except for a couple of times when we switched trailers at the halfway point, that's what I did.
He got his fuel tax savings and consistent numbers to look at, and because the truck has plenty of capacity I never had to stare at the gauge while the needle hovers over the E for 200 miles like I often did at Covenant Transport due to their computerized fuel stop planning.
See how that works? The man paying for the fuel wanted it bought at a certain place so he said something about it. It's not complicated.
At dchawk81's operation, nobody's ever told him where to get fuel, (other than what chains his card works at) so he gets his fuel at places that work out best for his time.
Van Wyk only has accounts with the PFJ chain and a few others out east like Wilco-Hess or whatever.
The Pilot closest to my house is a clusterfuck. If I need fuel that's where I have to go even though there's a Petro across the street. So when I was going home I'd look at the gauge and if I could make it from home to Chicago to reload, and then out to somewhere like LaSalle or Davenport (most of my outbound loads for them go west) I'd skip it, or I'd fill up earlier. I never once got fuel there and it's the #1 reason I got a scanner in the truck for Transflo because it was a mess.
The parking spots are lined up around the perimeter, but it's only big enough for one "aisle", the space required for lining up and backing into a spot is also the main lane for circling around to line up with the fuel island. And the fuel island is always backed up due to fuel island squatters. (I've driven the wrong way across the CAT scale to get out of that place before.)
Due to its location in a high tax county in a blue state, it's not a good IFTA choice anyway but let's say there's a place like that in dchawk's stomping grounds. The Flying Hook at the 323 in Virginia (Clear Brook) for example.. When time is of the essence, do you think he's going to waste his time at a clusterfuck like that if he doesn't have to?
Okay, so here's my observation, from the standpoint of the one paying the bills. I run regional on time-sensitive, same-day deliveries. I do not chase pennies and nickels on fuel. I fuel up at the terminal on my way in, when the trailer has to cross the fuel island anyway. It saves me time. Each minute spent fooling around with fuel costs me a mile. Each mile lost costs me about 65 cents after expenses.
If I find somewhere to buy, say, 200 gallons of diesel and it's two cents cheaper, I have saved $4 on that fill. But between getting off the freeway, getting into the fuel island, filling up, getting my receipt, waiting for trucks to clear the exit and then getting back on the freeway, I have lost 25 minutes. When I fuel at the yard, it takes five minutes to pump 200 gallons and that's it, because I was already there anyway. The additional 20 minutes cost me 20 miles, or, at 65 cpm after expenses, $13...so basically, I paid $11 for that $4 savings.
If I hired a driver to run my truck on this account, I would expect him to fuel the way I do and I don't GAF about his Pilot points. If he wants Pilot points, he can go get his own truck.
If I find somewhere to buy, say, 200 gallons of diesel and it's two cents cheaper, I have saved $4 on that fill. But between getting off the freeway, getting into the fuel island, filling up, getting my receipt, waiting for trucks to clear the exit and then getting back on the freeway, I have lost 25 minutes. When I fuel at the yard, it takes five minutes to pump 200 gallons and that's it, because I was already there anyway. The additional 20 minutes cost me 20 miles, or, at 65 cpm after expenses, $13...so basically, I paid $11 for that $4 savings.
If I hired a driver to run my truck on this account, I would expect him to fuel the way I do and I don't GAF about his Pilot points. If he wants Pilot points, he can go get his own truck.
Rigjockey
In Gord we trust!
Most times if you can fuel at the terminal you will be better off. A company that can have on-site fueling can probably get a better discount than any discount fuel station, plus the mark up. I have to assume the tax rate remains the same so your IFTA would be looking pretty good.
Yes. Washington tax rate applies. I pay 49 cpg fuel tax at the pump, the highest rate in the area I run and number 2 behind PA nationwide...until California squeezes in between, anyway.
When I was OTR, I planned my fuel stops according to price before tax, as Hammy and MND say. Pennies matter when you're going to stop en route anyway. When you're running OTR, especially when bidding loads like MND or getting a percentage like IP, you are selling the trip: pickup to delivery. Whatever expenses you can eliminate for the trip is part of what will determine how profitable the load will be.
I don't sell loads. My commodity is time. I intend to sell my time for the highest price I can get for it. 15 minutes of my time is worth more than a few dollars I might save by adding a stop in the middle of my load.
The business model is not the same.
ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
Most days I can do better than terminal price - add an hour for dealing with inbound and outbound inspection bays, and yeah... I can do a heckofa lot better.
@Injun - they've been building a new 10-bay inbound inspection unit in SPRIMO, west of the training pad. Moves inbound access to Packer Rd instead of Mayfair.
Rigjockey
In Gord we trust!
Yeah okay bud! you keep building on that dream. while set stacks of paper aside for my retirement.
ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
Any day running your own truck is more profitable than working for some jerk.
Rigjockey
In Gord we trust!
Even the day a $30,000 rebuild is needed? This may hurt you but I run a bidness. Personal expenses vs income! if it was not profitable I would not be doing it. I know you big shot wannabe the next J.B.Hunts can't grasp that concept but, Zero investment and profit only. Turn key venture.
Welp. That may be the case, but I'm working way too hard and have way too many headaches to keep doing this. I'm actively seeking a great opportunity to work for some jerk and make truck ownership hassles his problem.
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