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Map of the United States showing 65,000 Pacific Pride cardlock locations with fuel card in foreground
Use Pacific Pride Cardlock to Fuel your Portland, Oregon Fleet 1024 593 Star Oilco

Use Pacific Pride Cardlock to Fuel your Portland, Oregon Fleet


Seize Control of Your Fuel Spending with Pacific Pride Cardlock

A Pacific Pride Cardlock Card gives you the ultimate control over when and where fuel is purchased. Plus, we guarantee the highest level of control by offering human support to make it easy for a small business. You have enough to manage and don’t need another website to log into! Know who bought what, when, and where — in real time — to better manage the buying decisions by your drivers.

Pacific Pride, CFN, WEX, Voyager and other fleet cards all have similar tools. But with Pacific Pride Cardlock, you’ll benefit from stand alone commercial fuel sites that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

In Oregon, the minimum wage is rising and that means the retail price of fuel is rising to pay for those wages.  While other cards require you to wait in line and pay someone to fuel your vehicle in Oregon, Pacific Pride stand alone cardlock locations avoid that needless labor and allow your business to serve itself around the clock. Get out of fuel lines and save on your total cost of fuel.

Beyond the time and money savings of avoiding retail fuel lines, Pacific Pride cardlock also is far more secure to protect you from someone stealing fuel with your fleet card. Star Oilco’s Pacific Pride cardlock offering has a single simple tool for you: a human being on the other side helping make sure the total program is working. We help you grab control of every drop, dollar and driver.

            We are your partner in Fleet Card and Cardlock Card success.

Star Oilco goes one step further than our competitors by keeping things simple and easy for you. This is done with the obvious human element and best practices that complete the full value that a secured fuel card offers.

Call us and have us take care of that for you. You tell us what you want, we’ll consult with you and you’ll get a working card program.

This is what we recommend for your non-management cards:

  1. Secure your fleet card to a vehicle (attached to the license plate on the bill or place the fleet card on the key ring of the vehicle).
  2. Designate your vehicle cards to only work in the state’s zip codes that you service during the times of day you operate as a business.
  3. Give each driver a unique and secret PIN attached to their name (so when they use a card, their name appears on the bill next to the transaction).
  4. Implement a “No Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” with your Human Resource policy. Have every employee sign a contract with your business that they own their personal secret PIN and it is only for them to use. Star Oilco can provide a recommended policy for you to use. Then, if they share their PIN with someone else, they will be responsible for anything that happens. If theft is happening, it is a “No Tolerance” dismissal offense on the first occurrence.
  5. Use the e-receipts to see in real-time fuel purchases. An electronic receipt is emailed to your Controller or Dispatcher to watch for off-policy fuel usage in real time, which allows your Dispatch or Management to respond the same day to questionable decisions around fuel cards.

                  Imagine how this works for your business in practice

You can set up restrictions by days of the week, hours of the day or even by zip codes. If your business does not operate on weekends, turn off the fuel cards during the times you do not operate. If your fleet is never on the road before 7am and is back at home by 7pm every night, set up those time restrictions to make it that much harder for fuel theft to occur. If you need to update this, change something, order cards, etc., just call our office and we take care of that update for you.

With our e-receipts, your Dispatch will get an email every time fuel is purchased. You will see where, what, when and with whom this occurs. You can reinforce your company fuel policies at the local level the same day — No more waiting for the bill to see if a driver did something that cost you money. By seizing control of your fuel, your drivers will also respond to your new level of control as well. By having control and transparency of what your drivers do, they will require less management as they know you are watching.

Often the most controllable expense related with fuel is the fuel that might slip through a business due to unethical employees or outside theft. Fuel slippage is the industry term for unauthorized fuel taking. With Pacific Pride cardlock fuel, you can take control over fuel purchases and avoid the loss up front with card controls. Contact Star Oilco for a total fuel security solution for your business.

       Seize control with Star Oilco’s corporate fleet card solutions.

If you have further questions about Pacific Pride and control of your fleet fueling, call us at 503-283-1256 or contact us using the form below.

 

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Star Oilco is a proud Independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride Cardlock Fuel Security

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Requirements For Business Access To Pacific Pride Fueling Sites. 1024 556 Star Oilco

Requirements For Business Access To Pacific Pride Fueling Sites.

Requirements for a business to get access to Pacific Pride Cardlock sites in Oregon.

Star Oilco is a proud Independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride.

Get out of the gas line

Pacific Pride Commercial Fueling

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year without retail waiting in line.

Commercial fuel access for the around-the-clock business.

If you want to start using Pacific Pride cardlock cards in your business, please message or call Star Oilco and we will get you set up with cards. Pacific Pride has many advantages beyond the 24 hour self serve convenience. Pacific Pride is designed to secure fuel cards from internal fraud or theft in both small and large business.

Pacific Pride Fuel Network Graphic

Many small businesses wonder what it takes to use a stand-alone cardlock location as they sit in traffic, seeing the easy in-and-out commercial fueling locations without the lines of retail gas stations. Conveniently located for commercial truck traffic with high flow diesel pumps near industrial areas, ports, and major freeways, commercial cardlock locations have real advantages for many fleets.

As wages rise, the cost of full serve retail gas stations is rising with it and stand-alone commercial fueling can save time as well as money. When businesses see these commercial fueling stations with little wait and 24 hour access, they have questions. Star Oilco can make getting set up with Pacific Pride in Oregon easy.

Self-serve diesel is already legal in Oregon and often cheaper at a commercial cardlock throughout Oregon.
Self-serve gasoline is allowed in several rural counties in Oregon outside of the I-5 corridor. Self-serve gasoline in the more populated parts of Oregon requires a business use described below. If you have a business use for gasoline, you can get access to self serve locations and start saving money over retail immediately.

Pacific Pride Fueling Network Provider

How to get a Pacific Pride Cardlock Card in Oregon

Oregon law currently DOES NOT allow self-serve gasoline along the I-5 corridor. Diesel is legally allowed for self serve, but gasoline as a flammable liquid is not. Therefore, the Oregon Fire Marshall has rules restricting the use of commercial cardlock gasoline for individual uses. For commercial uses Pacific Pride, CFN and other Commercial Cardlock networks are allowed for businesses in Oregon. If you operate a fleet, or reside outside of Oregon, these requirements do not apply in your home state, but if you substantially operate in Oregon the state Fire Marshall will have an expectation of these rules applying to you.

 Rules for using self-serve Commercial Cardlock in Oregon

  • Business purpose required for gasoline cardlock use in Oregon (not any other state).
  • If you are using solely diesel, commercial cardlock is available to everyone (individuals and businesses).
  • If you are planning on fueling gasoline vehicles, you must be a business (or use it for commercial use).
  • To access gasoline at cardlock in Oregon you must be able to prove that you use over 900 gallons of fuel a year.
  • To access gasoline at cardlock in Oregon someone in your business must also take a Oregon Fire Marshall Safety Test.
    • Message Star Oilco below for a copy of the Oregon Fire Marshall Safety Test

 

If you have questions about Pacific Pride or other cardlock systems please don’t hesitate to contact Star Oilco with any questions you may have. Star Oilco has a long tradition of making cardlock easy for businesses large and small. In particular, we specialize in helping you secure fuel usage to eliminate fuel theft and reduce any chance or opportunity for thieves.

The first step required to getting a Fleet Fuel card for using commercial cardlock is to open up an account with Star Oilco.

For more information about how to use commercial cardlock to secure your business from theft, please also check out Star Oilco’s white paper on knocking out fuel theft by implementing a No Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy in your business at www.NoMoreFuelTheft.com.

Pacific Pride & Star Oilco cardlock card can give you control over when and where fuel is bought.

 

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Star Oilco is a proud independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride Cardlock Fuel Security

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Upgrade your Fleet Card’s Security Features 1024 653 Star Oilco

Upgrade your Fleet Card’s Security Features

Human Resource strategies to stop employees from stealing gas and diesel in your  business with these best practices.

 

Upgrade the security features on your Pacific Pride fuel cards with Star Oilco.

Star Oilco is an independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Are you looking to use a corporate fleet card to simplify your fuel buying while also knocking out your exposure to employee gas theft?
Star Oilco can make that easy for you.

Regardless of what system you choose, there are some organizational best practices, that when implemented, will be self-reinforcing in your organization. Simple little changes to how you approach fuel cards will greatly reduce any opportunity for theft.

Whether you use a Pacific Pride, Voyager, WEX, Comdata, Fuelman, or CFN corporate fleet card, you can take inventory of what you are currently doing and upgrade that process with these best practices.

Fleet Card Best Practice #1: Your current vendor should be able to assist you with securing your fleet card.  Call your current card provider and ask for a list of every active card, the last time it was used, the PINs associated with these cards, and security features associated. Check these against your next bill to see what cards aren’t being used.  Turn off a card not being used.

Fleet Card Best Practice #2: Annually take inventory of what cards you have and who is using them. Line up this list of active cards with your employees and make sure there isn’t a lost card out there.  Often a card policy implemented by Human Resources or your Dispatcher is a good way to track what employees have what cards.

On a regular basis, pass a clip board around asking each employee with a fleet card to confirm they still have that card and initial a confirmation that the card is still in their possession.  You would be surprised how individual cards can float between employees as it is easier than asking for a new card.

Fleet Card Best Practice #3: Audit your transactions regularly. This is a great project for your Account’s Payable to look through. Check against the card list of active cards looking for transactions that occur outside of normal business hours and days. Look for locations outside of your service area as well.  Also look for cards with more than one transaction in a day or large volumes as often that’s theft.

Fleet Card Best Practice #4: Put your Fleet Cards on the key ring dispatched with the vehicle, not with the driver. To limit a risk of a stolen card, restrict card ownership to management and maintenance. Everyone else should have cards directly connected with a vehicles license plate, so if that card goes missing it is obvious.

Fleet Card Best Practice #5: Program your cards for the vehicles they are attached to. You do this by connecting the card to the vehicle with a key ring. Then program the Fleet Card to only allow a specific fuel for that vehicle (regular, premium or diesel), limit the fill volume needed for that vehicle’s tank, and also limit the times of day that vehicle can get fuel. This reduces the opportunity for theft to exceed a small minimum and also makes theft obvious when the limits are hit.

Fleet Card Best Practice #6: it’s the 21st Century so manage in real time.  Make sure your Fleet Card provider can send an email to your Dispatch or fleet management in real time as the fuel cards are being used. Mistakes relating to efficiency or theft will be far more obvious and trainable if the transaction is observed the day of rather than a week. Instant feedback and communication is critical to change bad behavior of driver’s who mean to do well but may just have mad ea simple mistake.

Fleet Card Best Practice #7: Buy fuel by your vehicle not by an individual.  Move your Fleet Card program to a “Floating PIN” system. All modern Fleet Cards should offer this option. It enables you to attach the Fleet Card to the vehicle (all costs are tracked by the vehicle number and/or license plate on your invoices) and provide a unique and secret PIN to each of your driving employees.

If they use the card, their name appears on the bill next to their transaction. If PINs are kept secret and this is enforced, any theft or inappropriate fuel usage will be extremely obvious and accountable.

Fleet Card Best Practice #8: Adopt a “No Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” as part of your hiring process, as well as every time you replace or issue new Fleet Cards. This is a policy managed by your Human Resources or Driver Compliance department. It is a form disclosing that any fuel cards or PINs related with cards are confidential and assigned to a person or vehicle.

Any use of a PIN will be the responsibility of the person who that PIN is associated with. A personal private PIN is their responsibility. If it is used, they are responsible and any observed fuel theft will be a first-time fire/termination offense. PINs are to be kept secret and if the PIN is known by someone else, it is their responsibility to let management know and get that personal PIN changed.

Fleet Card Best Practice #9: Negotiate a Cost-Plus basis for your fleet fueling costs. You should be able to have a frank conversation with your commercial fueling provider about where prices come from and how much margin they charge you. In many markets, fuel providers can even get a wholesale cost plus basis for fuel that beats the retail street mark ups. Pacific Pride and CFN stand alone commercial cardlocks are focused on this type of need. Often the savings for diesel customers is very substantial due to this model of pricing.

Fleet Card Best Practice #10: Negotiate the terms you need for the way you buy fuel. If you have a frank conversation about the terms and costs related with buying fuel, you’ll have more options that are available but not advertised. Industry standard for fuel sellers is either ten day terms with twice monthly or monthly billing. If you have the ability to pay faster, often deeper discounts are provided.

For extremely large customers daily billing could net thousands of dollars in savings a month. For operations relying on 45-day fuel charge reimbursements, talking to a fuel vendor about matching your fuel bill with a fleet’s Accounts Receivable can prevent huge cash-flow crunches.

Need to secure your fleet from fuel theft?

Call Star Oilco, we can make it easy.

Star Oilco can help you field all of these Best Practices. Our motto is “Keep it Simple” and we are there to make this easy. Feel free to reach out and see what Star Oilco can do for your fleet to upgrade it’s fleet fueling security.

To download a white paper on these Pacific Pride fuel card security feature best practices go HERE to our Stop Fuel Theft page.

 

Star Oilco is an independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

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How do you restart your oil furnace after running out of oil? 1024 768 Star Oilco

How do you restart your oil furnace after running out of oil?

                                         How To Restart Your Oil Furnace After Running Out Of Oil

The number of heating oil companies that deliver in Oregon and Washington has dropped in recent years. With that, many longtime and loyal heating oil users have seen their preferred heating oil company and driver go away. Due to that change the new larger roll up heating oil companies are not as responsive as your old smaller company. Star Oilco has been keeping homes in the Portland area warm since 1936 and we want to be there for you. We are locally owned, veteran-owned, and are multi-generation family owned and operated.

If you are out of oil, please let us know and we will make a special effort to prioritize you even if you have never bought heating oil from us before.

We provide the following instructions as a best practice. We do not recommend inexperienced and untrained home owners putting tools on their furnace for any reason.

IF YOUR FURNACE DOES NOT START AFTER A FIRST ATTEMPT PLEASE SEEK A PROFESSIONAL HVAC TECHNICIAN FOR HELP.

 

When do you run out of heating oil? It’s always when winter seems to be at it’s coldest. It also doesn’t help that after you run out and finally get a delivery of heating oil your furnace doesn’t want to start. The cause of this can be many things. From air in your fuel line to a clogged nozzle on your heating oil furnace. Sometimes it is a simple home owner fix. Other times it will take a professional HVAC technician with experience in oil heat (natural gas and oil furnaces are very different things).

If your furnace runs out of oil, we recommend you lower your thermostat only until after you receive your delivery of oil.

After receiving your oil delivery and making sure the tank has settled for a few minutes, turn the thermostat back up to the desired temperature.

Go to your oil furnace and look at the burner, which probably looks like what is shown. To the right in the picture is a little red button.  The red button can look different dependent on your model of furnace and might also look like the several options below.

Push the red button once. Again, only push this button once. After pushing this button, your furnace will attempt to fire up and move fuel. If your furnace begins to start, but then shuts off again DO NOT push the button again. If you push the button three times your furnace will usually go into a lock out safety procedure to protect you and your furnace.

If your furnace does not start after pushing this button once, the most likely cause is air in your fuel lines. When you ran out of oil your fuel pump probably pulled air which is trapped in the lines. Your pump most likely needs air to be purged from the lines and the pump to be primed in order for you to have heat again. This is an easy procedure but should only be done by a trained professional. If you call a skilled oil HVAC technician out to your home, they will also tune up your furnace as well with this procedure.

If you are curious about how this process works, you can find more on You Tube or at Wikihow. For more on what a trained professional would do in the oil priming process is described by Wikihow.

 

 

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Why should my fleet use Pacific Pride fuel cards? 1024 683 Star Oilco

Why should my fleet use Pacific Pride fuel cards?
Star Oilco Pacific Pride corporate fuel card

Pacific Pride Fleet Fuel card by Star Oilco

 

                      A prospective customer asked recently:

          “Why should I use a Pacific Pride fleet card over a gas station credit card?”

Here’s our answer:

There are many reasons to use a commercial cardlock solution for your fleet. The biggest reason why you should use Star Oilco for your cardlock needs is that we are a locally owned and operated business that will take the time to tailor a card program to your specific fleet’s needs by asking questions like:

  • What is the greatest risk of theft that we can secure against?
  • Where is the greatest opportunity for savings in how you fuel?

Fleet card sellers and the larger cardlock companies are often focused on making your needs fit their product. Star Oilco focuses on YOU.  That’s a big difference.

          With Star Oilco, you don’t have to choose between price or convenience

PRICE: Cardlock locations do not use a credit card satellite to run transactions. This means you’re saving 2% to 4% right off the bat by using Pacific Pride or CFN, because cardlock operators taking are not charging you to run your bill through a Visa or other network. Plus, by pulling into a gas station to buy fuel, you’re often forced to pay $.10 a gallon more to use a Comdata, WEX, Voyager, Mastercard or Visa backed fleet card.

With Pacific Pride, you won’t face this charge because it’s on Fleetcor’s network. And by working with a local Pacific Pride franchisee who owns the location, you’ll benefit from their ability to offer additional savings at their location that are not available to anyone else. They own the fuel and therefore have ultimate control on saving you money.

CONVENIENCE: With convenience, comes risk. With Star Oilco’s modern cardlock offering, we can secure your risk and still enable several levels of convenience and access, dependent on your customized fleet need.

                                                     We keep things simple

                                             

24-7 Convenience with Easy to Access Fueling Facilities

Clean, well-lit and large truck friendly cardlock facilities. Cardlock is made for business and if you are operating doubles and triples, we can work with your staff to map out the easy in-and-out high-flow diesel fueling options for your drivers.

Industry-Leading Card Security

We offer a wide range of solutions that allow you, as a fleet manager, to lock down and protect your fleet from theft. If you only operate in specific areas, we can turn off whatever cards you want to not operate outside of where you want your trucks. If you don’t operate after a certain time of day we can turn non-management cards off to guard against after-hours sales fuel theft.

Email Notification for Total Control

See fuel transactions in real time. When your drivers make a fuel purchase at Pacific Pride or other affiliate fueling locations, an email will notify you or your dispatch. If your drivers are following your processes and procedures for fuel procurement, it will be easy for you to immediately reinforce the rules instead of waiting for a bill. Better yet, if something is wrong with the fuel purchase (out of area/time/product), you will know immediately a problem has occurred and can respond accordingly.

Flexibility or Structured Control.  We offer both!

Whether you want your drivers to be able to get fuel and get on the road as fast as possible or stay locked into a specific zip code of only the lowest-cost commercial cardlock locations, we can make that happen. And not only do we make it easy, we can shift gears quickly to stay ahead of your evolving business needs.

Total Accountability for Fuel Usage

Total accountability means added convenience for your controller, CPA and HR manager. Beyond designing simple security features, we can:

  • Align fuel usage with your vehicle license plates by providing a private PIN to your employees.
  • Track miles per gallon in the vehicles to confirm if the fuel actually went into that vehicle or not.
  • Customize billing to link employee names to card usage.

Bottom line: You will know which vehicle took what fuel and who the person was who fueled it. And when an unlikely fueling occurs, you will have evidence of the person who did it and that the vehicle’s mileage is off, providing proof if needed. Combine Pacific Pride’s total control with a “No Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” for additional authority to fire fuel thieves under any state’s employment laws.

Simple and Accurate Fuel Management and Reporting

Star Oilco’s system enables easy reports anytime you want them. If you require a CSV file or other report for your operation, tax reports, budgeting or other business needs we are there for you to make this easy.

Commercial Diesel Pricing with Volume Discounts

Pacific Pride commercial cardlocks are priced from the wholesale market rate. Our price is straightforward and based a daily OPIS Wholesale Rack report from your local market.  Instead of retail posted price signs where the corner gas station is trying to get as much as they can, our diesel fuel is priced on a cost plus basis. This is far more transparent and will save you money compared to retail on diesel fuel. When prices are high, our prices are far more fair. When prices fall, we fall with the wholesale market from the OPIS Average the day the market starts moving down. Pacific Pride locations are also designed with high speed diesel pumps that save large trucks time.

Try Pacific Pride to see for yourself!

To sign up for Star Oilco’s Pacific Pride fleet card or ask questions:

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Star Oilco is an independent franchisee of Pacific Pride

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How to save money while fueling your fleet. 1024 768 Star Oilco

How to save money while fueling your fleet.

With recent high diesel and gas prices, saving money on fuel is a priority for many fleets.  Star Oilco is here to help you contain the hidden costs of fuel with our fleet card solutions. 

If you are a fleet manager or in charge of corporate fueling and you use retail gas stations, this article is designed to talk you out of it.

Every year, Star Oilco helps small businesses save labor and protect themselves from theft. It’s the little costs we don’t watch that can add up and really cost a business. We help businesses keep a complicated fuel bill easy to manage.  Be it moving to mobile-onsite fueling, a totally secure fleet card solution, or a combination of the two consolidated onto one bill Star Oilco is here to make things easy.

With wages and fuel costs rising together containing those costs is a priority for every fleet.  Both the labor cost sunk in fueling your own fleet as well as the actual cost of the fuel bought, many of our conversations are around how to structure a clear view of this.  We have solutions and can provide a clear view of your fuel costs via Star Oilco’s Keep it Simple Fuel Audit.

Usually the only time a fuel bill is really examined is after a record setting month for overtime, a huge jump up in the commodity cost of fuel, or a giant volume of fuel theft was discovered.  Essentially, when costs have ballooned out of what they should be that is when businesses dig in and pay attention.

If that describes your need, Star Oilco has a proven system to bring your fuel cards under control and return honest employees to the straight and narrow or document the thieves so you have red-handed proof.  If you are local to Oregon and Washington we can also combine this with the labor savings of wet-hose fueling of your fleet.

Whether it’s with a secured cardlock program or on-site fleet fueling at your business location we can make fuel secure, simple, and at a lower cost than retail. We do this by tailoring your fuel cards to your actual business needs.

If you don’t operate on weekends and after 9pm at night, we make sure the fuel cards that serve that part of the business are not usable during those times. We also attach the name of the person fueling to the bill so you don’t have to research or wonder–you always know who it is. Additionally, we can send an e-receipt to your dispatch the moment anyone buys fuel. This ensures you are managing fuel buying habits in real time, not at the end of the month after the bill arrives.  Also every transaction on your bill can show the name of the human being who got fuel to really shine a light on who is doing what.

At the end of every month most businesses are looking at their bottom line and considering how to control the expense side of the equation. With retail gas station fuel, it can be tricky trying to control cost. If you focus solely on the cost of fuel itself, savings can be allusive in the long run. In fact the greatest tragedies in business usually are the things you don’t see in any statistic, especially the price you pay up front versus over all. The two largest controllable fuel expenses we consistently see are labor and avoiding theft.

If you are curious after reading this, the first step with Star Oilco is a Keep it Simple Fuel Audit performed by our team. Call us if you want to audit your fuel process.

What’s in the price of a gallon of gas or diesel? At Star Oilco we Keep it Simple.

Keep it simple when looking at your bill. There are only a few things in the cost of a gallon of gas or diesel: the commodity cost of fuel, the taxes on fuel, and the margin of the person selling fuel to you. Regardless of where you buy or how high or low the cost, that is what influences your fuel cost. If they call it something else, it’s really marginal and you should negotiate as such. The commodity cost is about the same no matter what. Even the largest buyers in a market are only saving a few pennies and your price per gallon will not be influenced more than a few pennies by this. Taxes should be the same and are easy to verify on Google. Margin is all that’s left. So if you ask your vendor to provide you a cost plus basis it should be very doable. All businesses have cost including oil companies, but they should be able to clearly describe what it costs for them to deliver or supply a gallon of fuel to you.

The cheaper the retail price the longer the wait.

The cheaper the retail price the longer the wait.

Focus on your business’s labor, not on the price per gallon.

If you analyze it, usually your cost of labor to fill up your own vehicles costs more than what the local gas station makes selling you fuel. Add up your cost of labor and the vehicle and know that you are losing probably twenty minutes to a half hour to pull out of route, pull over, and fill up. If you are routing your drivers to save money on a retail street price, you are paying far more for your driver’s to chase savings than you will ever see in savings. The bigger the posted retail savings the longer the line your drivers will wait in as well, making it even more costly to your bottom line.

Remember that if a convenient excuse exists, some will use it. If the answer to why it took so long is consistently because they had to stop and get diesel. Fix that permanently with a fleet fueling company that provides on-site   refueling.

Pride Advantage Sample Card

Prevent theft and keep honest people honest.  

As fuel prices jump from time to time, fuel theft takes off as well. For some people, stealing fuel for their personal vehicles can be almost irresistible. Make it very clear that you do not tolerate theft and that you can verify it clearly. With a “Zero Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” you can get ahead of this eventuality and stop it long before it starts. There are thousands of stories of thousands of dollars in fuel stolen by seemingly good people. It always starts with one person doing it and influencing other employees to think it’s okay. Make sure it is clear that it is not only not-okay, but will be seen and punished. A few years ago a $2.4 Million theft occurred by an unsecured fleet card policy. Though the size of this theft is unbelievable, know if you aren’t tracking fuel purchases with a secret PIN that attaches the name of who did it to the fuel bill, you might be positioning yourself for the same exposure.

As you look at your month end P&L Statement, think about the bigger picture, the bigger costs in your business and that you can engineer systems that give you more control over these costs. Though Star Oilco accepts Voyager, WEX and Comdata cards, we are passionate and feel the Pacific Pride’s solutions are the best for a small business seeking to control their fuel purchase and knocking out theft. If you have questions about how to save on labor and stop theft before it starts, call Star Oilco for a tailored examination of how you buy fuel and how you can save money. We provide Pacific Pride and Fuel Management solutions nation wide in the United States. We can help you get your fuel under control.

Contact Star Oilco to save money on gas and diesel.

Star Oilco is a proud independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride Cardlock Fuel Security

 

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Documenting Fuel Theft – A Wex Article 4 Step Approach 768 1024 Star Oilco

Documenting Fuel Theft – A Wex Article 4 Step Approach

Wright Express Fuel Cards versus Fuelman Fleet Cards for small business

Wright Express  (also known as WEX) has a great article for corporate fuel buyers on the best practices when documenting and confronting fuel theft.

WEX: Tips for enforcing proper fuel card usage and preventing employee theft.

A few things they left out that Star Oilco would include. As a Pacific Northwest Commercial Cardlock provider serving Oregon and Washington, we approach things a little differently than a credit card concept like WEX. We accept and love working with WEX, Voyager, Comdata and other fleet cards but still like personalizing the security of a fuel card to the use of it.  Call your current fuel vendor (or call Star Oilco) and review your security features.  If you suspect there is fuel theft, rather than watch it happen just eliminate the places it can occur. With either CFN or Pacific Pride networks the features are inherit and we can help you guarantee they are being used correctly.

Get out of the gas line

The Four Step Approach to Fuel Card Management

When a customer tells us they suspect fuel theft this is what we recommend to do with either CFN or Pacific Pride cards:

  1. Establish a no tolerance fuel theft policy and have every employee sign it.  This policy includes an acknowledgement by them they have a secret PIN unique to them and if it is used they are responsible for it. So if there is theft with their PIN they can be fired for that theft.
  2. Now that all users of your company vehicles have a unique PIN code. Attache their name to the use of that PIN.  So when you get your fuel bill, the actual names of the users of the cards is there next to the transaction. Just this best practice (and sharing this evidence with your team) will keep honest people honest. If they know their name appears to the transaction they will think about ownership of their actions.
  3. Ensure you have set limits on the cards to line up with the needs of the business.  Attach the fuel cards to the vehicle that uses them.  Then make sure the fuel type and volumes allowed line up with that vehicle. If a vehicle is diesel, that fuel should be the only fuel allowed to be used.  If that vehicle has a 30 gallon or 100 gallon tank set limits so no more than that can be fueled in a given day.  Just limiting the fuel volume to the tank size of a vehicle can eliminate most of the fuel theft that would occur.  Also you can limit the time of day as well as weekends. If a fleet isn’t on the road after 6pm, you can guarantee no fuel theft occurs after 6pm.
  4. Turn over the cards by having all drivers/staff turn in their old cards. Then re-issue those cards attached to the key-rings of the fleet keys.  Star Oilco can provide a card older designed to go on the vehicle key-ring to make this a no cost easy reform.By doing those things which is an easy project you will knock out most of the opportunity for theft as well as send a strong signal to your team that fuel theft is not okay. Honest employees will understanding clearly that theft is occurring and is not okay, the dishonest employees will know to immediately stop.  If theft continues it will also be very easy to spot as the name of the thief will appear on the bill alongside the transaction. That combined with a No Tolerance Fuel Theft policy will make removing the fuel thief an easy proposition for you regardless of your state of operation.If you do business in Oregon and Washington and have questions about securing your fuel purchases.

For more on how to stop fuel theft in your small business please see the Star Oilco whitepaper on securing your fleet cards at StarOilco.com/Stop-Fuel-Theft/ for a strategy on saving your business from the pain of managing drivers from stealing.

Call Star Oilco’s Sales Team at 503-283-1256 for an complementary audit of your processes and how we can give you peace of mind and less to worry about in your business.

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Close-up of a diesel fuel cap on a yellow fuel tank
Do you know what your diesel fuel quality is? 1024 683 Star Oilco

Do you know what your diesel fuel quality is?

Find out what the bottom of your diesel tank looks like!

Call Star Oilco to get your diesel tested. 

This winter, Star Oilco is offering complementary diesel fuel testing for any fleet operating in our service area. We are providing fuel quality testing in partnership with Hydrotex to assist fleets in our area struggling with containing the cost of fuel related maintenance.  Typically a diesel lab test costs over $200 depending on the lab.  Don’t let the hurdle of a scientific analysis stand between you and full knowledge of what is effecting your fleet.

Since the move to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel in 2007 along with moving changes in diesel refining and biodiesel mandates fuel quality has been a moving target.  More importantly petroleum refiners and distributors follow an ASTM specification for diesel which is not as stringent as the ISO standards demanded by OEMs making the trucks on the road today.  Water and dirt in fuel are robbing your fleet of money.  Get a handle on it and move forward armed with that knowledge.

Star Oilco and Hydrotex can help you understand what is going on, what the quality of your tank bottom is, and what you need to do to reduce the cost of operating your fleet as it relates to diesel fuel.

Call Star Oilco and state you want to get your fuel tested for both ASTM and ISO specification. A member of our team will help you take the sample off of the bottom of your tank as well as from your dispensing nozzle.

Call Star Oilco today for have a sample taken and tested.  

503-283-1256 or email OrderDesk@StarOilco.net

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Stop fuel theft- Pacific Pride fleet cards 512 440 Star Oilco

Stop fuel theft- Pacific Pride fleet cards

Fuel Cards that stop fuel theft with easy to use security controls.

Fuel theft is a very real expense fleets should be thinking about how to avoid.  Every fleet is experience more turn over in their driver pool than they want.  This can cost your business in more than just training expense and overtime.  Add in rising gas prices impacting your entry level employees and an unlocked fuel card is a huge temptation.  Remove the temptation of fuel theft and keep honest drivers honest with Star Oilco’s secure fleet card solution.

Get real time e-receipts when your employees buy fuel with your fleet card.

Having control and real time awareness of what is happening in your small business is a critical piece for growing a successful business. With Star Oilco’s Fleet Cards you can control your fuel cards by only turning them on in the zip codes or states you want to operate in. You can also shut the cards off for weekends and evenings so that when your business isn’t open either is the ability for a dishonest employee to steal fuel.  Our cards also offer real time e-receipts emailing you who is buying fuel where and when enabling your team to reinforce you fuel policies at the moment someone violates it.

Control where, when, and what product can be purchased with your business fleet card.

In Pamona, California two men altered a van to steal thousands of gallons of gas with a stolen credit card.  Credit cards are not designed to secure a business or an individual from fuel theft. Pacific Pride fleet cards are. Especially for corporate or small business fueling.

Similarly in St. Petersberg, Florida an employee used a company fuel card without security controls to steal over $3,000 in gasoline.  Pacific Pride’s controls make this type of theft extremely transparent and easy to get ahead of.

Star Oilco’s Pacific Pride fuel cards can secure your small business from this kind of threat. Be it a special van altered with a giant tank or an employee fueling up his wife’s car while fueling his own company vehicle we can prevent the risk of huge theft.

Pacific Pride Fueling Network Provider

Use a fleet card that sets controls on the gallons that can be bought, time of day, and area of town a card can be used in.

How we do this is with the designed Pacific Pride system which limits your fleet cards to total gallons per transaction, number of transactions a day, time of day, and locations you would actually need fuel. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A gallon of restriction literally might be worth tens of thousands of dollars of possible theft. Call us for more information. 503-283-1256

Star Oilco is an Independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride. We are there to make commercial fueling simple for you.  For more information on preventing fuel theft, saving money on fuel, or simplifying your fuel management all you have to do is ask. We want to help.

For Star Oilco’s Whitepaper on stopping fuel theft please go to www.NoMoreFuelTheft.com page to download it.

Fuel bill audit best practices

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Pacific Pride commercial fueling station with text highlighting cost-saving benefits of using cardlock fuel cards.

Using a Pacific Pride cardlock fuel card helps businesses save through wholesale pricing, detailed fuel usage reports, enhanced security, and real-time e-receipts.

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Backup Generator Fuel – Keep Full 1024 1024 Star Oilco

Backup Generator Fuel – Keep Full

Star Oilco Generator Refueling Service in the Portland area.

Set up a Generator Diesel “Keep Full” account with Star Oilco before the bad weather.

Need fuel for your backup generator? Star Oilco delivers emergency diesel fuel right to your location before the power goes out and while you’re relying on it. We offer fast, reliable backup generator fuel delivery in Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington, and surrounding areas. Whether you’re powering a business, hospital, data center, or another business that uses a backup generator, you can count on us to keep your generator fuel tank full, your lights on, your business running and your customers served.

 

Commercial Fleet Fueling in Portland

 

Remember that ordering diesel for your generator is a specialized service.

You want to stabilize and treat your diesel for generators and other back up equipment.

Order fuel treated for long term storage!

We often receive questions about backup generators, backup water pumps, and other emergency equipment. Fueling these critical pieces of equipment is a special kind of fueling service but we’re here to answer all your questions. We also encourage you to call with questions about generator fuel.  If you have questions about your building’s back up diesel generator’s fuel quality in the Portland, Oregon area we will sample and test your fuel at not cost with if you have an account with Star Oilco.

Generator Fuel is a specially treated oxidative stabalized off-road fuel designed to store for years.

Fuel for a backup generator is a specialized product. Besides the fuel, the service itself takes a vendor who understands your needs and can keep you up and running in an emergency.

Generators take off-road diesel, of course, but you want an ultra low sulfur diesel to ensure it works with modern emission systems. Some companies may deliver a higher sulfur heating oil product that looks the same but can foul the emission systems of your equipment.

Backup Generator Fuel in Portland

Beyond just the service provided by a truck and driver, you also want a vendor who offers a fuel stabilizer and biocide for the special long term storage needs of your backup generator. Star Oilco recommends you add a biocide and long term storage stabilizer to your fuel to ensure it is good whenever you need it. We use Valvtect Bioguard Plus 6 for generators, emergency water pumps, backup boiler fuel, and other long term storage purposes. This product kills any existing biological growth and stabilizes your fresh diesel fuel for long term storage. Make sure your diesel is ready the next time you need backup power.

As a complimentary service to our customers, Star Oilco will also test fuel for its quality. If you want to confirm fuel quality at the time of a top off, let us know and we will ensure the driver has a sample kit to get your backup fuel tested for peace of mind.

Feel free to message us if you need a backup tank filled. If you are in charge of Corporate Fueling, please call with any questions you may have.

Read more about stabilizing your generator fuel for long term storage.

Keep it simple with Star Oilco. We make it easy for you to be prepared. Don’t wait for a power outage to find out your generator is low on fuel. Trust Star Oilco for fast, dependable diesel fuel delivery for backup generators in Portland, Salem, Vancouver, and throughout Oregon and SW Washington. Whether you need on-site generator fueling, dyed diesel, or emergency fuel service, we’re ready to help. Call (503) 283-1256 today to schedule your standby generator fuel delivery and ensure your power stays on when it matters most.

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