Fuel solutions - good or bad?

[rags]

I have been talking to Crete about hiring on with them for one of their regional runs (400 mile radius of Indy and supposed to be home on weekends). When I asked what fuel stops they use I was told they use fuel solutions - they tell you what route you will drive, where you will fuel, and how much fuel you will take on.

I'm not sure I like this. I'm an experienced driver, but I have been out of the truck for a few years. I've never had a job that dictates what route I have to run and where I will fuel.

My question is to those of you who are driving for companies (Crete or any other company) that use fuel solutions. Do you like it or not? What are the pros and cons?

Thanks.

[nrvsreck]

I'm not sure what "fuel solutions" is. My company does the same thing. Not actually giving me a route so much as giving me a suggestion as to where to fuel and how much to take on. I rarely pay any attention to it. I do use their preferred fuel stops (Love's, Pilot, EZ-Go, Speedway, T/A, in that order), but I fuel where and when I want (Love's which I hate, and Pilot which I hate less). I've never heard any complaints about my fuel choices. I do wish they'd let us fuel at Petro, but that's forbidden since they won't cut us a break on fuel prices. I'd imagine at Crete, it's more just a suggestion and not an ultimatum. Just fuel at their preferred stops, fill up every time, and don't worry about it.

[Uturn2001]

If my information is accurate, Crete pays practical miles, and every company I have worked for that does this has routed me and the miles I drove were within 2% of the miles paid out.

Now then, as far as the fuel stops go, you should look at it like this. They are trying to save money, and by telling company drivers where and how much to fuel this can allow them to pay the drivers the money they do.

I would imagine, looking at the terminal locations map, that most of your fueling is going to be done at company terminals, which will save the company big money since they do not have to deal with retail markups.

It would be nice if companies could fully trust thier drivers to fill up at terminals and only buy enough fuel to get to a terminal if they are going near one, but there are enough drivers out there who just don't care to make it problematic at best.

Anyway, I have run both, fuel list, and fuel stop, and it is no big issue to me either way.

[Malaki86]

The only time I ever found the fuel routing to be a pain was when it'd be to put 30 gallons in here, 50 here, etc. I've had one routing (not at Celadon) that was a 600 mile run and had 4 fuel stops. I filled up at the first stop and ignored the others.

[mike3fan]

One of the things that I learned pretty quick when I became an Owner/Operator was the cost of fuel taxes.

What happens is in basic terms is each state charges you so much per mile for running in their state,if you buy enough fuel in that state to cover the miles you run then you don't owe extra money to that state,because you paid them thru the taxes on the diesel fuel.States will give you a credit on any taxes left over that can be used to pay the taxes on states where you do not buy fuel.

Some states with low fuel prices don't charge as much in fuel takes at the pump,if you buy all your fuel in these states you will not recieve alot of credit and you or in company drivers case the company will have to pay the state the taxes direct.

Now imagine a company with thousands of trucks all buying fuel in the same low price state,it can add up to a sizable chunk of change,I have paid as much as $700 for a quarter of fuel taxes because I bought fuel in cheap states and run in states where the tax rate is much higher and didn't buy fuel there.

[Fourcats]

Its a shell game and the company has taken the time to optimize their routes, hopefully. I'd talk with them about it and run as close as you can to the plan.
If there is a "bonus" program look at it real well. A few gallons {out of your own pocket}and not topping up at the end of the month might get you a bonus check. Do the math.

[rags]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the replies. I guess my mind is too set in the old ways and I need to learn to adapt to the new way of doing things.

Mike3fan - thanks for the great info. I know companies pay fuel taxes, but never knew how it worked. While I don't know positively if this is the reason for "fuel solutions" it makes sense that it is at least one of the reasons for it.

Thanks.

[BanditsCousin]

I avergaed $55/month in fuel taxes this summer. Fuel solutions must be aware of the stated above idea on fuel tax and routing.

I fill up when and where I want. If I go to one coast, I just hit up the states I didn't fuel in on the way back. Some states are much higher than others.

I think having minimal weight in fuel allows for the truck to scale a larger load easier, as well as overall weight.

[evertruckerr]

I drive for Crete and what they refer to as the fuel solution is sent to you along with your trip assignment. It just tells you where they want you to fuel and how much fuel to get. They want you to fill up in the locations where they have worked out the best deal with the company selling that fuel. You are also allowed to fill up at any terminal w/o authorization and are not required to drive out of route just to get cheaper fuel. We fuel mostly at Pilots plus TAs and Loves. They don't run you around getting 50 gal here and 50 gals there. Usually a short pump in the higher prices stats and a fill across a state line where is cheaper. It's also easy to change your full route by calling your Fleet manager(just tell them where you want to fuel). I've done that a few times when I don't want to fuel at a stop that I know will take me an hour to get in and out of. I just tell them I missed the exit. I don't abuse the option, so it's never been a problem.

[Clay51]

I drive for Crete and what they refer to as the fuel solution is sent to you along with your trip assignment. It just tells you where they want you to fuel and how much fuel to get. They want you to fill up in the locations where they have worked out the best deal with the company selling that fuel. You are also allowed to fill up at any terminal w/o authorization and are not required to drive out of route just to get cheaper fuel. We fuel mostly at Pilots plus TAs and Loves. They don't run you around getting 50 gal here and 50 gals there. Usually a short pump in the higher prices stats and a fill across a state line where is cheaper. It's also easy to change your full route by calling your Fleet manager(just tell them where you want to fuel). I've done that a few times when I don't want to fuel at a stop that I know will take me an hour to get in and out of. I just tell them I missed the exit. I don't abuse the option, so it's never been a problem.

You must not run out of the Wilmer terminal. At Wilmer, the terminal manager's attitude is "that is your fuel solution", no matter what it is. I once saw her tell a driver to put 72 gallons in at one stop, go west 37 miles and fill, then go back east on her route, a total of 74 miles out of route, because that was what the computer said.

[Crackaces]

I think I can comment on this because when I started with Watkins Shepard they would give you a Fuel solution, but did not care really where you fueled. Today (starting in November) you get 1 CPM for complying with the fuel solution and not complying means a violation against your safety bonus.

At W&S The Qualcom provides the fuel solution software program information based on your empty and available macro. There is not the specific fuel solution macro given a trip number. Now W&S does not use the Pre-plan software module at all -- so a problem happens when you get a load assignment before you send your Empty and available macro.

You can see years of running under one set of circumstances and making a change causes some disruption in the routine.

Admittedly before November I planned my fuel stops so I would wake up in the morning and combine the Pre-trip with the fuel stop saving 15 minutes. Now because of 50 gallons here and 50 gallons there I have a greater percentage of time spent "below the line." (W&S requires at least 15 minutes for each fuel stop no matter the gallons ingested) Some weeks it is an extra hour or two that I needed to complete the end of week load. It would have been sure nice to have that wasted time back .... :sad:

One other very frustrating problem is that we now have a fuel contract with Pilot. Before I would just find myself a Flying 'J'. Now there are problem Flying "J's" out there but far fewer in my experience than problem Pilots. What do I mean by Problem? Entrance and Exit horror stories ... trucks backed up to the street waiting to fuel .. trucks parked every which way blocking the fuel island -- even during the day. So you now have to deal with this rather than just pass the stop by looking for a better place to fuel. Since November I have dealt with 3 such situations costing better than an hour when I just needed to keep the truck moving to make an appointment.

The other thing I liked about Flying J's was the room to sit waiting for a shower vs. Pilot's with zero places to sit besides the fast food restaurant. Now my shower coupons are Pilots and ... Pilots with low fuel prices ..

Anyway .. I am getting an extra 120 bucks per month complying ...

[rags]

evertruckerr - thanks for the response. This makes me feel a little better about being told what I HAVE to do for routing and fueling. Awhile back on one of the boards (CAD?) a Crete driver mentioned having to go 50 miles (one-way) out of route to get fuel. I didn't know if that was fairly common or unusual. My long-haul experience is back when fuel was about $1/gallon. While companies were concerned about the cost of fuel it didn't seem as big a deal as it is now. My jobs since then have been "local" with only one location for fueling. Guess I need to learn to come out of the dark ages into modern times. :shock:

Clay51 - yikes! With any luck I won't run into this. If I do, hopefully it will be only on rare occasions.

Crackaces - I know what you mean about some truck stops being hard to get into. When I was long-haul my company's main terminal was across the street from the J in Indy. Wow! That could be a mess. There were times all I wanted to do was get to my terminal but had to wait in all the traffic lined up on the street waiting to get fuel at the J. I had heard there were times the traffic would be backed up onto 465. :shock:

Thanks everyone for the responses. Even though I can now better understand the reasoning being "fuel solutions" I still think it is a pain in the *&*(#.