The Pump – September 2014

When it comes to fuel, improving efficiency is important, but lowering the price you are paying can have a bigger impact. There are a number of things you can change/try in order to increase efficiency within your fleet and I encourage you to look into them. These things include tires, mud flaps, side skirts, onboard computers, additives, etc. Hopefully, the companies selling these products have goals that align with yours; saving money. However, at the end of the day, you’re still going to need fuel to power your equipment. You can buy less of it which will help, but why not attack the bigger cost first?

As I speak with many fleets, I hear many different reasons or excuses to put fuel management on the back burner, and sometimes they are very valid. As I’ve mentioned in the past, jobs tend to get harder, not easier. There is always a continually expanding list of projects, but with a limited number of people to complete them. That is often the reason why there doesn’t seem to be enough time to focus on fuel savings. Unfortunately, you might be missing or overlooking the significant cost to your fleet and company.

For most companies in the trucking/private fleet industry, fuel is one of the top three expenses. Prices have recently been trending downward, but pursuing fuel savings is still a project worth taking on. If prices were constantly rising it might seem like a higher priority, but don’t let the recent decreases fool you. We all know this is a volatile market and fuel prices will be on the rise again.

It’s always a good time to take a closer look at your fuel program and Sokolis is ready to help. Let us perform a free, no-obligation audit of your recent fuel purchases to determine if there is an opportunity to save money. We won’t take much of your time and we’ll do the heavy lifting from there.

If you’d like to discuss fuel savings opportunities with us in person, here are a couple upcoming conferences we’re exhibiting at: McLeod Software User Conference in National Harbor Washington, D.C. during mid-September, followed by the ATA Management Conference in San Diego during the first week of October. Hope to see you there!

Sokolis