[Fishhook]

Originally Posted by pete379x

Your cousin is misinterpreting whatever information he's getting. Neither the Hook, nor anyone else for that matter, is getting fuel at wholesale or any other level for $.16/gallon

Just because Fedex contractors are paying $1.25/gallon does not mean that is the cost. Fedex is simply subsidizing the fuel to its contractors. I don't believe they get a FSC, so that works out to about the same as any other big company contractor is paying.

Fuel margins are thin on the retail side...pennies on the gallon. If anybody was getting wholesale prices for the numbers you guys are throwing around truckstops would be making a killing on their fuel sales. Taken a look at the financials of any fuel retailer lately? It ain't happening.

well, just going off what I saw on the flying hook's computer. He's a night driver and is responsible for his own dispatches. He has several providers which he can purchase feul from at the rack. He has to buy the one with the cheapest price every night, which varies form night to night. As of last Friday, when I looked on his computer the cheapest supplier was 0.164 per gallon - displayed right there on his computer - so you believe whatever fallisy you want - I believe what I saw on the screen. Also, remeber flying J isn not jsut a truck stop, they have their own refineries, for feul and crude oil, etc. they are a lot more of a diversified corporation than just feul and truck stops. So .16 per gallon, plus .60 per gallon tax, plus transportation costs, plus what they charge equals $3.34 per gallon - welcome to free trade.

Well I'll clarifly this for you. What you saw on the FJ hand held was $.164 ABOVE what the BEST rack price was.I would doubt that was what you saw, more likely it would have been $.0164. If you were to see the first list of suppliers , they would show no price, after you pass by them, it begins to show what the increasing price differences are.Basically it shows you how much more those suppliers are above those that your supposed to be pulling from first. Your cousin has no clue what he is taliking about OR he enjoys pulling your chain :roll:

The $ on fuel is made not at the retail location, but thru exploration & refining. At the retail level it is pennies per gallon, as no worries stated.

One reason Flying J is cheaper than most is that they dont have to add the Comdata charge of a few cents per gallon.

As far as refineries, there are 2 one in Bakersfield Calf, the other in Salt Lake.They serve that area, not the entire Flying J chain. Flying J also has a pipeline /rack in El Paso. From that rack it is trucked allover the southwest, as far as westen Arizona.

Tell your cousin he has no clue.

[no_worries]

Thanks fishhook, knew there had to be an explanation :lol:

Hey, just out of curiosity, do any of the J tankers do overnight runs or are they all short enough to be done in one shift?

[RostyC]

Originally Posted by GMAN

OOIDA does have a program through Fleet One called Truckers Advantage. It is their own version of the Fleet One or Trans-platinum card. There are some fuel discounts, but minimal at this point. If more used the card they could likely work on deeper discounts. Most are only about $0.02/gallon. I met a fleet owner at a Flying J just West of Salt Lake who told me that he bought fuel in bulk from Flying J. The way it worked is that he paid in advance for about 50,000 gallons of fuel and that is what he paid when his trucks fueled up at their fuel stops. Anyone could do it with enough money. Most owner operators cannot afford to prepaid for that much fuel. I am sure TA and Pilot have similar programs. Flying J has their own refineries. I think it would be possible to negotiate better rates at the pump with enough participation.

Yeah, I know about the Truckers Advantage card, I was talking about something more significant than a couple cents though. It would probably be difficult to do because the fuel would have to be pre purchased, then everyone would have to get the amount that they paid in advance for. However as the saying goes, "there are no problems, just challenges and opportunities. 8)

[tootie04]

Pete379x....are you going to lease a truck through a comany or are you buying a truck then leasing it on somewhere??

I would go with the most aero truck i could buy right now and the Cummins ISX cannot be beat IMO. We had the cummins with Arrow and we Always got 7pmg or better with it. If you are looking for and older truck the cummins N14 are good engines too. Make sure you get a dyno!! That is the best money you can spend.

Keep your payment as low as possible (who would have thought fuel would be over 3.50 a gal??) Having a truck payment now would be very hard and I know alot of guys are doing it, but the money just is not what it used to be....

tootie

[mike3fan]

Originally Posted by tootie04

Having a truck payment now would be very hard and I know alot of guys are doing it, but the money just is not what it used to be....

tootie

Having a truck payment isn't hard,as long as you haul for good rates and get a fsc,or good enough rates that cover your operating cost(which most people have no clue what theirs is).

[tootie04]

Originally Posted by mike3fan

Having a truck payment isn't hard,as long as you haul for good rates and get a fsc,or good enough rates that cover your operating cost(which most people have no clue what theirs is).

I know what you mean....we have a hard time finding good rates right now BUT we do get good rates in the end. I was just saying to be careful and not bite off more than one can chew right now....

tootie

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by RostyC

Yeah, I know about the Truckers Advantage card, I was talking about something more significant than a couple cents though. It would probably be difficult to do because the fuel would have to be pre purchased, then everyone would have to get the amount that they paid in advance for. However as the saying goes, "there are no problems, just challenges and opportunities. 8)

It isn't much of a discount with the Truckers Advantage Card, but they also don't charge a transaction fee. I also have a TCH card and even using it at Flying J, they still charge a transaction fee. I believe it is about $2/per transaction. By the time you add the transaction fee to their fuel prices using the TCH card you can use the Truckers Advantage Card and come out at about the same money. TA offers a substantial discount to Landstar BCO's and some of the other fleet owner operators. You really aren't coming out any better than if you went to the Flying J and paid cash. Landstar and most of the other fleets who have their own fuel cards do get some of the discount every time their owner operators fuel up. These fleets have made it very profitable to provide a fuel card.

Some of the major fleets who have their own fueling facilities do lock in fuel prices, but must agree to purchase a certain amount of fuel. When prices go out of control, such as now, it really pays off for them.

[Fishhook]

Originally Posted by no_worries

Thanks fishhook, knew there had to be an explanation :lol:

Hey, just out of curiosity, do any of the J tankers do overnight runs or are they all short enough to be done in one shift?

They do run sleeper trucks , mainly out west.There are some long runs there. There are also a handful of sleepers skattered through out the country. I tried to get one based in my area, but, due to the added weight and wanting to run trucks both shifts w/ 2 drivers it didnt make sense.Every area is differnt as far as length of haul, some are 15 miles some 300, just depends on location & prices.

They actually run relay alot in those areas instead of sleepers.EX: El Paso to Phenix/western Arizona.

As far as the Fed Ex $1.25 thing. That goes back to the RPS buy out. It was a term of the buy out. They can do this by NOT passing on any fuel surcharge to the driver/owner, although they do charge the customer one.Fed Ex is not getting any super deal on fuel, they buy it on a daily basis from the cheapest supplier.Flying J , BP, Shell whoever.

[merrick4]

As the price continues to rise without a commensurate rise in rates, I wonder how the truckers in England and other high priced countries deal with high fuel costs? I heard that fuel is like $8 to $10 in those countries. I wonder if the rates are that high over there?

[no_worries]

After doing a little research I see that since January, our diesel prices have increased 41%. During that same period, prices in the U.K. have increased 14%. You're right that they are paying the equivalent of a little over $8.00 per gallon, but their increase has been much tamer than ours so it hasn't had near the impact. Remember, much or our price increase has been due to the plummeting value of the dollar over the past two years. Most of the World hasn't seen the same devaluation of their currency and some, such as the UK, EU, and Australia, have seen their currencies strengthen significantly thereby muting any intrinsic increase in the price of oil.

Weak dollar policy will hit trucking significantly. Even though exports will rise, imports will fall. Since imports make up a substantially larger portion of freight than exports, the result will be less freight. Combine that with the fact that the price we pay for oil is magnified and it's easy to see we face an uphill battle as long as the dollar is allowed to depreciate.

And that concludes today's Economics lesson :? :lol: