Diesel fuel prices fell 4.2 cents to $4.088 per gallon as reported by the Department of Energy (DOE). It looks like after several weeks of diesel fuel climbing it has now taken a turn for the good for the transportation world.
The 4.2 cent dip per gallon is the largest decrease since December of last year. Nationally believe it or not diesel fuel prices are 3.5 cents lower than at this time last year. As a fleet manager if you plugged in the same diesel fuel cost as last year in your fleet management program, your doing pretty good compared to budget.
The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil settled at $91.95 per barrel on Friday, $1.27 below a week earlier. Compared with a year earlier, the price of WTI was down 14.4%. This would say that diesel fuel should continue to fall.
We have seen a sharp increase in diesel fuel margins at retail locations over the last couple of weeks. This basically means for the gallon you paid the truck stops a few weeks ago, you’re paying about 20 cents more in margin. Yes, your fleet fueling cost has gone down but it hasn’t gone down as fast as it should be with truck stops holding onto margins or additional profit.
As I always say profit isn’t a 4 letter word and everyone deserves to make as much profit as people allow them to make. It’s your choice on how much profit you want to contribute to the truck stops.
A good strategy for your fleet management is to ask questions, what might appear clear might be fuzzy if you don’t really understand how diesel fuel prices work.
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