Posts By :

Mark

fueling-support-for-those-on-the-road
On-Site Refueling in Oregon 768 1024 Star Oilco

On-Site Refueling in Oregon

Wet Hose Fueling and Mobile On-Site Diesel Delivery in the Pacific Northwest.

If some days you have more work than drivers…

Wet Hose Fueling Service in Portland

Mobile On-site refueling or “Wet Hosing” is a solution that will push more money to your bottom line and reduce stress on your drivers.  Star Oilco can also merge our mobile onsite refueling service with our national Fleet Card system.

 One bill, labor saving in town and secured fleet fueling over the road.

 

  Top Five Reasons to Use Wet Hosing for your Fleet Diesel Fueling

On-site refueling or “Wet Hosing” is a preferred method for fueling these days. Fleets of all sizes prefer getting their fleet fueling delivered after hours in their yard. The reasons are numerous but at the top of the list, labor is the driving force behind it.

Shaving off even fifteen minutes of labor–which is one of the two highest costs for most fleets, right after diesel–can have a huge payback to the bottom line.

If your fleet is consistently on overtime or short that one extra hour of legal driver time, picking up fifteen to thirty minutes per truck a few times a month can be a huge opportunity. On top of that fleet fueling, your diesel can also save considerably just by controlling where you pay your fuel taxes (Oregon PUC is tax exempt on the fuel bill, while Washington cardlock and truck stops are paying nearly $.50 a gallon in Washington diesel road tax).  Though you are paying IFTA, why pay the tax earlier than you need to.

Call Star Oilco if you have questions and want to examine the payback value of Mobile On-site Refueling compared against your current vendor for diesel. You might be surprised how much it will save you in time, money and management effort.

Five Reasons your fleet should use Mobile On-site Refueling:

  1. Driver Time – The most valuable resource your fleet owns.
    • Truck drivers are a limited resource and they cost more than you can usually measure in money alone. Without calculating the lost productivity of your truck, you are paying over $10 each time you allow your drivers to stop for fuel. Just the out of route, stopping, and getting back on the road time will put refueling your own trucks at a half hour of lost time. As the average fill up we see is under 50 gallons fueling your own trucks will cost you $.20 to $1 a gallon in labor costs alone.
  2. One More Stop – Picking up productivity in your fleet.
    • Getting drivers on the road and without a reason to be out of route pays back dividends. If you pay productivity bonuses, your most productive drivers will thank you as well. Even in fleets where pay is by stop, not based on hourly wages, the ability those few times a year when drivers are so busy they are bumping up against DOT work rules, they will thank you for the convenience of being ready to go the start of each shift and not having to worry about that one more stop on the way back to base. A few extra stops a year is often worth thousands of dollars to your bottom line–more than a cost of a tank of diesel.
  3. Save on the Cost of Diesel
    • Today the price of diesel at gas stations, truck stops, and other retail options is high compared to wholesale rack averages.  It is not uncommon for our customers to get an extreme labor savings with Mobile Onsite Fueling while also saving on the cost of diesel at the end of the month.  If you are using a credit card to buy fuel, the added Credit Card pricing of diesel is usually $.10 or more cents a gallon. Cut out the retail mark up on fuel and get a cost plus deal with a true wholesale diesel seller delivering into your yard after hours.
  4. Easily Integrates with cardlock and other fleet cards onto one bill easily.
    • If you have a major hub with a critical mass of trucks in town, wet-hosing yPride Advantage Sample Cardour fleet can pay back rapidly. Even if the majority of your fleet is over the road and out of town, on-site refueling can be a money saving proposition. You can also integrate it seamlessly with a Pacific Pride, CFN, Fuelman, Voyager or other fleet card program as well. Star Oil can provide a Pacific Pride or Fuelman card that will work over the road consolidating all your fuel into one bill. Star can also accept Fuelman, Comdata, WEX or Voyager and bill those fleet cards directly with onsite refueling. Call if your fleet uses one of these national fleet cards and you want to move to wet hosing billed directly to the card and license plate of each one of your trucks. (For further reading on corporate fleet card security features please read our article on Upgrade your Fleet Card’s Security Features)
  5. Cost Plus Diesel – Budget to know every day you are getting a good wholesale rate for your fleet.
    • Star Oilco can connect your fleet to an agreed and easily verifiable cost plus supply agreements. Be it OPIS Average or Low Rack Plus agreements we can guarantee you have a good wholesale price of fuel. On-site refueling will provide a simplified fleet management experience for both your drivers and your Accounts Payable department. Call us if you want to talk about what this can do for your business. ( For further reading on the benefits of premium diesel and a wholesale partner for diesel, read our article on What is the benefit of Premium Diesel versus untreated diesel?)

Contact Star Oilco with any questions you may have.  

We are here to serve you and keep the process simple.

Construction equipment fuel delivery service

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
biodiesel-feedstocks-caster-oil-and-cwg
Biodiesel Feedstocks – Soybean Oil & Stillingia Oil 1024 721 Star Oilco

Biodiesel Feedstocks – Soybean Oil & Stillingia Oil

This post covers one of the most common Feedstocks in the US, Soybean Oil. In addition, we are also looking into Stillingia Oil in our deeper dive into the feedstocks that Renewable Energy Group (REG) studied in 2009 in the Feedstock and Biodiesel Characteristics Report. If you would like to learn more you can follow the link to read more here about the feedstocks we have examined in the past.

Soybean Oil

Soybean (Glycine max) is a legume that originated in East Asia.  This plant has had a long history of cultivation. Many botanists believe that this bean was first domesticated as early as 7000 BCE in China.  It grows well in warm, well-drained sandy soil.  According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Soybean plant

“The soybean is an erect branching plant and can reach more than 2 metres (6.5 feet) in height. The self-fertilizing flowers are white or a shade of purple. Seeds can be yellow, green, brown, black, or bicoloured, though most commercial varieties have brown or tan seeds, with one to four seeds per pod.”

The United States has had soybeans as part of its history as far back as 1765.  In the 1950’s the US became the world’s largest exporter of soybeans.  If you would like to learn a little bit more about how this crop became important to the US check out this link.

This edible bean has a lot of uses.  A bean is made up of about 20% oil and 80% meal. According to NC Soybean Producers Association,  most soybeans are processed for the oil.  After the oil is removed, 3% is used directly in food products with the rest of the meal used for animal feed.

The United Soybean Board breaks down which animals are using soybeans as the protein source.

“The soybean meal fed in the U.S. goes to several segments of animal agriculture.

  • Poultry eats about 67 percent.

  • Pigs consume nearly 21 percent.

  • Beef and dairy cattle use just over 10 percent.

  • The rest goes to aquatic farming like fish and shrimp, other farm animals and companion animals like horses and pets.”

The oil is then used as food (68%) such as cooking oil – most cooking oils in the US that are listed as vegetable oil is soybean oil.   This oil can be turned into biofuel later.

The rest of the oil is used to create biodiesel and other products such as candles, paints and even plastics.   This crop is important to much of the farming community in United States. If  you would like to learn more there is a plethora of information about this subject on the internet.

Soybean Oil and Biodiesel

Soybean Oil Certificate of Analysis

 

 

Stillingia Oil

The Stillingia Oil from this study comes from the Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera).  Common names for this plant include; Florida aspen, grey popcorn tree, candleberry tree or chicken tree. A native plant to Eastern China and Taiwan, while it can be an invasive species in the US.  This video from UF / IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants  talks a little bit about how the plant looks and some of the characteristic of it.

This tree has spectacular fall colors and it loves warm, and moist climates. The tree grows up to 30 to 40  feet and loses its leaves in the winter (deciduous).

There are several uses for this tree, include soap made from the seed’s aril (the extra seed covering that are white and waxy in this plant).   Use as a nectar plant for honeybees. (source) In areas with seasons it is ornamental and displays beautiful colors along with being a great shade tree in the summer.

Finally, there is a large potential for biodiesel from the seed Oil. Biodiesel magazine talks about some of the potentials for this feedstock:

As a biodiesel feedstock, both the outer coating and the kernel of the tallow tree seeds are high in oil content, as the seeds contain 45 percent to 60 percent oil. Commercial plantations in other countries typically contain about 160 trees per acre, which are trimmed low for hand harvesting. Yields average 12,500 pounds of seed per acre, which can produce 2,300 pounds of stillingia oil, 2,500 pounds of vegetable tallow, 1,400 pounds of meal and nearly 5,000 pounds of biomass waste. In China, the meal is used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Breitenbeck says commercially produced trees average 645 gallons of oil per acre and some experts cite yields as high as 970 gallons per acre.

Since this is an invasive species in the US the benefits and the issues will need to be compared.

Stillingia Oil Certificate of Analysis

 

 

 

Last article for biodiesel feedstocks was – Poultry Fat & Rice Bran Oil

get-an-email-every-time-your-fleet-stops-for-fuel
Get an email every time your fleet stops for fuel 1024 541 Star Oilco

Get an email every time your fleet stops for fuel

Driver management tools built into a fleet card.

Fleet card services mean more than just a bill, it is knowing who buys what, when, and where in real time.

Make sure your Dispatcher on duty gets an email every time fuel is bought in real time.

Know in real time what your fleet is buying and doing to get ahead of bad decisions.

Driver efficiency can drain your profits.  Drivers making the wrong decision about where to buy fuel is also a trainable experience.  Add to that the bad actors who might palm a fleet card.

We give you actionable data in real time as the driver makes a decision.

At those rare moments when thieves creep into your business, we also make sure you see it as it occurs.  This means you can save yourself thousands of dollars in theft before it happens.  Fuel theft usually occurs on the way to work or when bars close.  We make sure you are getting notified at every fuel purchase so you can see the out of place fuel purchase.

Our Pacific Pride cards tie a suite of tools into our E-Receipt tool making sure your team knows who is doing what with your fuel cards.  We also have added tools, if you want them, to turn the cards off by hour of day, days of the week, and by states/zip code protections.  We secure your business from those risks so you can protect yourself from surprises.


Star Oilco is an Independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride.

Get an Email every time your driver fuels up.  Know who, what vehicle, what fuel, at what location in real time – to manage your fleet in real time.

Knock out fuel theft by knowing what is happening when it happens.

E-Receipts are a simple tool that allow you total knowledge and control of your fleet’s fueling.

Managing a fleet is an orchestra of well organized chaos.  Your driver’s decision making, unforgiving customer needs, the randomness of traffic all merge into the daily life of a fleet.  Star Oilco can provide you a very simple tool to help you seize control of where, when and who makes fuel purchasing decisions.  The Star Oilco Pacific Pride card can provide an email notification every time fuel is bought notifying your team so that your fuel policy can be managed in real time.

Control the fuels they can buy, the zip codes they can buy fuel in, limit the quantity of fuel, windows of time to buy fuel (so after hours a borrowed card cannot be use), and get an email after someone gets fuel. Manage your driver’s habits as things happen.

Email notification of who, where, and what fuel was purchased after it occurs.

Many fleets have policies of when and where to fuel.  Avoiding high cost retail pumps, the nearly $.50 fuel higher tax difference for an Oregon fleet buying in Washington state, or if you use wet-hose mobile fueling to save labor and depend on a gallon quantity for a discounted price.  A driver not following your policies is very expensive.

With Pacific Pride’s e-receipt at time of transaction you will have instant confirmation, not month end audits.

Regardless of coaching and communicating often drivers have a habit of departing from even the best managed fleet’s policies.  Knowing the moment this happens can make all the difference.  It also has an added benefit of keeping people from even contemplating fuel theft as the transaction and who the offender is will be immediately noted.

Imagine it.  Your driver stops out of route for fuel, shortly after a text from dispatch asks why?   As you discuss the fuel stop with the wayward driver, they will forever and always think twice before stopping out of route again.

Know who stopped for fuel now, not the end of the month.

Seize control of your fleet’s fuel.  Get started below.

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

Fuel bill audit best practices

Read more on how a Fuel Audit can help your business control fuel costs and demystify what and how you are buying fuel.  Find out what’s in a Star Oilco “Keep it Simple” Fuel Audit.

For a strategy on using Fleet Cards as a human resource management tool to stop fuel theft in your business see the Star Oilco white paper on Stopping Fuel Theft in your Business.

Caravan of white trucks on country highway under blue sky
Renewable Diesel as a Major Transportation Fuel in California 1000 723 Star Oilco

Renewable Diesel as a Major Transportation Fuel in California
RENEWABLE DIESEL IS AVAILABLE

STAR OILCO HAS RENEWABLE DIESEL FOR YOUR FLEET

In the Pacific Northwest we have gone from a complete scarcity of Renewable Diesel availability to several players having terminal positions and this next generation sustainable fuel being readily available.  Star Oilco is ready to serve you with renewable diesel in several blends to meet both your fleet’s financial and carbon budgets.

For years California has lead the west coast with availability of renewable diesel and various blends with both petroleum diesel and biodiesel fuels. This experience is available in the research paper below to help inform your fleet in making decisions about de-carbonizing your fleets.

IS RENEWABLE DIESEL WORTH THE ADDED COST?

Fleet managers fell in love with this exceptionally high quality synthetic diesel fuel. Cleaner and drier than your typical petroleum diesel quite  a few believers are willing to pay a large premium for this fuel.  There are hardcore supporters of this fuel and it’s overall ability to reduce operational cost in far excess of it’s added cost. Which raises the next question.  Is it superior to petroleum diesel?

Caravan of white trucks on country highway under blue sky

IS RENEWABLE DIESEL SUPERIOR TO PETROLEUM DIESEL?

The answer points to yes based on initial experience rating the fuel on real world performance, fuel mileage, emissions system maintenance costs, and the much lower CO2 emissions.

The whitepaper shown is probably the most in depth resource for a fleet seeking to understand the potential of renewable diesel for its own use.

Renewable diesel is a next generation diesel fuel.  It has a low CO2 footprint similar to biodiesel, yet it is a high performance fuel that reduces down time and maintenance in urban stop-and-go fleet use.  Long story short, it is an impressive fuel solving many problems associated with modern clean diesel engines.

Given the newness of this fuel along, with the few producers of it, there is a real lack of in depth research on the subject.

If you have any questions about Renewable Diesel please feel free to contact us.

Contact Us

RENEWABLE DIESEL AS A MAJOR TRANSPORTATION FUEL

This white paper is the most in depth examination of Renewable Diesel operating in the real world. It covers a complete view of the product from the perspective of both fleets operating it and regulators seeking to reduce emissions. In our experience this is the most complete document you are going to find to advise a fleet considering using R99 Renewable Diesel.

Whitepaper – Renewable Diesel as a Major Transportation in California: Opportunities, Benefits, and Challenges.
Whitepaper that Gladstein, Neandross and Associates produced for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and South Coast AQMD.

This report reinforces the manufacturers of renewable diesel’s statements and many anecdotal statements from fleets using the fuel. Renewable diesel sees superior performance in both emission reduction and performance in existing diesel technology. It is a cleaner burning and lower CO2 fuel that also contributes to a lower cost of vehicle maintenance.

According to this August 2017 report, California was on course to see approximately 250,000,000 gallons of R99 fuel sold in the state that year. This is a world-shaking volume of a next generation biofuel. With these readily adopted volumes, no doubt more product will be finding its way into the marketplace. The report cites a CARB expectation of the California Renewable Diesel market growing to over 2,000,000,000 (that’s BILLION) gallons in the next decade.

diesel-fuel-in-portland-oregon
Diesel Fuel in Portland, Oregon 1024 683 Star Oilco

Diesel Fuel in Portland, Oregon

What is the difference between diesel fuel in Portland, Oregon and the rest of the Pacific Northwest?

Oregon Diesel Fuel

Star Oilco delivers and sells diesel fuel in Portland, Oregon.

We are ready for your diesel needs be they off-road, on-road, biodiesel, renewable diesel, or anything else you want.

Star Oilco has simple fuel solutions to keep your business moving.

On the West Coast, expect biodiesel blends to be in all diesel fuel. B5 biodiesel being the most commonly found fuel. Be aware though, in Oregon,  B20 biodiesel (a 20% blend of biodiesel mixed with petroleum diesel) is extremely common at retail throughout the state. B5 through B20 blends of biodiesel are becoming more common as Oregon’s legal framework regulates CO2 emissions requiring diesel sellers to blend biodiesel or charge substantially more for every gallon they sell.

On top of that, Oregon has a 5% biofuel blend mandate that can include a number of fuels, most commonly biodiesel and renewable diesel. Washington state also has a mandate for 5% biodiesel though it isn’t as specific as the Oregon mandate.

That’s Oregon Diesel. What about Portland?

The city of Portland has a stand-along city fuel tax due to its policy goals (which cause it to codify rules for low CO2 fuels and the sources of diesel in particular), as well as its own budget needs.

Portland, Oregon Diesel Fuel Mandates

A little known fact is that Portland, Oregon has its own biofuels mandate and fuel tax structure on diesel. This mandate affects all diesel equipment both on and off-road use. It does not affect boilers or HVAC systems though most people selling heating oil and boiler fuel are still handling a 5% biodiesel product to ensure they don’t cross fuel in violation of the law.

Functionally, the city of Portland’s mandate and Oregon’s specific mandate do not make a huge difference. Your biggest noticeable difference is the higher price due to the diesel fuel tax, given that Portland’s biofuel mandate now overlaps with Oregon state’s fuel mandates.

For more on the actual code for biofuel mandates in Portland, see the Portland City Code.

Until 2019, Portland had a 5% biodiesel “methylester” mandate. This meant that Portland mandated that all diesel fuel sold inside the city must contain 5% of biodiesel or sellers of fuel inside city limits would face a fine. For years, Portland actually checked every seller of diesel for a 5% biodiesel blend in person annually. This mandate also included feedstocks and did not allow for palm oil sourced biodiesel, as palm oil is responsible for a large amount of deforestation in Indonesia and other places. The Portland mandate required that half of all biodiesel blended to meet the 5% mandate must be derived from canola and waste vegetable oil sources, as Oregon can produce them.

In 2019, the city of Portland suddenly lined up their mandate to match the state of Oregon’s, which allows for renewable diesel to be used as a feedstock. Anything derived from palm is still a barred feedstock for the fuel to meet Portland mandate requirements (which is distinctly different than Oregon’s biofuel mandate).

Onsite Diesel wethose service Portland
Portland, Oregon Diesel Fuel Taxes

(NOTE: Read this article by Star Oilco for more on Oregon Fuel Taxes Explained.

In 2016, the city of Portland, Oregon created its own diesel tax of $.10 a gallon. This tax is on both gasoline and diesel fuels sold at retail or commercially.  If you are operating vehicles over 26,000 GVW that are exempt from Oregon road tax, Portland also has a weight mile for those tax exempt vehicles.

If you are fueling inside the Portland city limits, that diesel tax will be charged at the pump when you fill up unless you are a P.U.C. tax exempted vehicle in Oregon.

Find a list of every diesel and gasoline tax by city and municipalities in Oregon see the Oregon Fuel Tax Group.

If you have any questions about Portland, Oregon diesel fuel standards please feel free to call or message Star Oilco for more information.

Star Oilco is here to be your Bulk Fuel Supplier in Portland, Oregon.

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

For more on the subject of Diesel fuel please read these other posts by Star Oilco on the subject:

Every Question Star Oilco has been asked about Biodiesel

Every Question Star Oilco has been asked about Off Road Diesel

About Diesel Fuel – Star Oilco’s Diesel Fuel FAQ

Oregon Biodiesel Tax Breaks for Retail Stations

upgrade-your-fleet-cards-security-features-pacific-pride-cfn-star-oilco PNG
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 actually being used.  Turn off an 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

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
ow-does-my-business-get-access-to-a-pacific-pride-24-7-station
How does my business get access to Pacific Pride fueling sites? 1024 683 Star Oilco

How does my business get access to Pacific Pride fueling sites?

What is required 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 do you 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.

What are the 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.

 

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

Star Oilco Logo with Phone number

Star Oilco is a proud independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride Cardlock Fuel Security

biodiesel-handling-and-use-guide
Biodiesel Handling and Use Guide (5th Edition 2016) 1024 683 Star Oilco

Biodiesel Handling and Use Guide (5th Edition 2016)

Where to start when fueling your fleet with biodiesel.

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Biodiesel Handling and Use Guide (Fifth Edition)

If you are a fleet seeking to reduce your CO2 footprint and biodiesel is your drop in solution, this book is your guide.  The Biodiesel Handling and Use Guide is the definitive user’s manual for fleets seeking to field biodiesel and blends as a substitute for petroleum diesel (available from the US Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuel Data Center).

Biodiesel is diesel-rated fuel manufactured from animal fats and vegetable oils by way of a chemical reaction. It is not diesel fuel but it has extremely similar properties, allowing it to be blended with petroleum diesel.

As a drop in fuel, it substantially reduces tailpipe emissions and cuts CO2 emission by more than half when used as a substitute for petroleum diesel. Many states and the federal government have financial incentives to encourage its use. Several states also have mandates for the use of biodiesel as a blend component with diesel fuel.

In the last twenty years biodiesel has come a long way and it is now a mainstream fuel around the United States. In just the last ten years, a great deal has changed with the complexity of diesel engines, the sources of crude oil refined into ultra-low sulfur on road diesel, and the complexity diesel fleets will encounter in operating day-to-day. This book is a scientific and easy-to-read manual to help you navigate success with modern diesel.

The Biodiesel Handling and Use Guide covers the technical aspects of biodiesel and how it differs from petroleum diesel. It also provides advice on higher blends and storing fuel onsite. This guide goes in-depth about equipment compatibility for your refueling infrastructure as well as maintenance concerns you want to get ahead of. There are also checklists included for fleets seeking to move from petroleum diesel to higher blends of biodiesel.

If you have questions or want help in using higher blends of biodiesel in your fleet, don’t hesitate to contact Star Oilco. Even if you are not in our service area, we will be here to help. Star Oilco has been helping fleets succeed with biodiesel blends since 2003.

B20 Biodiesel A PROVEN FUEL

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

For further reading on Biodiesel please see the following Star Oilco pages:

Every Question Star Oilco has been asked about Biodiesel

B20 Biodiesel; a Proven Fuel

Oregon Biodiesel Tax Breaks for Retail Stations

In-Depth look at Biodiesel as a Heating Fuel

 

b20-biodiesel-a-proven-fuel
B20 Biodiesel, a Proven Fuel 1024 408 Star Oilco

B20 Biodiesel, a Proven Fuel

Using Biodiesel in the Pacific Northwest.

(NOTE: B20 refers to 20% biodiesel blended with an 80% petroleum diesel percentage. B5 refers to 5% biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel which is the legally required blend percentage in Oregon state. For more on biodiesel basics, visit the US DOE.)

Biodiesel is the “Drop In Solution” used in the Pacific Northwest to reduce CO2 emissions in diesel equipment.

If you are looking to use Biodiesel in a fleet or a personal vehicle it is as easy as just asking for it.  In Oregon the fuel is everywhere.  From an Oregon and Washington state requirement for a minimum 5% of biodiesel blended with every gallon to large financial incentives this low carbon diesel fuel is ready for you if you want it.

It’s not just the Pacific Northwest.  For years B20 has been a defacto blend at some of the biggest names in fuel. When you pull up to the pump on the west coast you are likely getting B5 or B20 as a blend. In Oregon, B5 biodiesel is the required fuel by law. Oregon also has a B20 incentive for a waiver of state on road taxes.  Washington as well has requirements that biodiesel finds its way into retail and commercial diesel throughout the state.   Additionally, Oregon and California have “Clean Fuel Standard” programs which heavily incentivize low CO2 fuels like biodiesel.  Washington state is expected to pass their own Clean Fuel Standard as well this year.  Biodiesel has been a fact of life in fuel for over a decade in the United States and Pacific NW and it is not going away.

Due to a mix of federal and state incentives to use biodiesel, there can also be financial advantages for a fleet dedicated to making B20 biodiesel its fuel of choice. You can see evidence of this at truck stops and other retailers making B20 available in Oregon and Washington, as well as in the trucking lanes of the United States. America’s largest fleets are choosing B20 biodiesel in order to reduce their cost per mile. So can you.

In an effort to deliver the best value to truckers, many U.S. truck stops are blending biodiesel up to 20% when the market enables them to pass along a lower cost yet high quality ASTM specified diesel fuel to their customers. Most prominent is Pilot/Flying J, who lists where and when their sites are serving up B20 or lower blends. Pilot/Flying J buys biodiesel directly and blends on site in order to give their customers the best value possible. Loves Travel Centers also sell biodiesel blends around the U.S.

In Oregon, due to a diesel road tax waiver on B20 sales, gas station retailers Safeway, Leathers Fuel, Spaceage, and others are offering B20 biodiesel as their retail diesel offering. Oregon’s system requires the biodiesel be sourced from used vegetable oil refined biodiesel products. Biodiesel has been in Oregon’s fuel supply since 2006 when the city of Portland mandated B5 biodiesel blends within its city limits. The state of Oregon followed Portland with its own statewide mandate not long after.

(NOTE: If you operate a retail gas station and are curious about Oregon’s fuel tax breaks for biodiesel blends here is a more in depth article Oregon Biodiesel Tax Breaks for Retail Fuel Stations that explains these rules for retailers of fuel).

Biodiesel has been in our fuel system since 2006 and the technology that goes into making it has vastly improved. It is proven in diesel engine performance while also creating a diversified supply for energy and significantly reducing emissions from the working fleets of the world. Biodiesel substantially reduces emission coming out of your stack without a major impact on price because it helps to offset high diesel prices.

B20 Biodiesel A PROVEN FUEL

If you want to look at using B20 blends in your fleet, we are here to help. Star Oilco carries B20 blends for mobile onsite refueling every day of the week. We also have dyed/off-road/heating oil blends of B20. If you are an over the road fleet we can provide B20 at our cardlocks as well as help you procure it with a fleetcard over the road. Let us know if we can be of help.

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
upgrade-your-commercial-fuel-efficiency-in-portland-oregon
Upgrade your Commercial Fueling Efficiency 1024 576 Star Oilco

Upgrade your Commercial Fueling Efficiency

Use a Pacific Pride Cardlock card to save money.

Commercial Fuel Best Practices for Fleet Managers.

Use commercial-only Pacific Pride Cardlock locations, along with our wet-hose fueling service, as a winning combo for your fleet.

Save on labor and fuel costs.

Are you looking to use a commercial fuel card to simplify your fuel buying?

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 your commercial fuel service 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. You can connect these best practices to a policy driven approach to knock out fuel theft and guarantee more efficiency in keeping your commercial fuel needs met.

Fleet Card Best Practice #1: 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 actually being used. Turn off an 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 HR 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 accounts 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 it’s obvious if that card goes missing.

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 commercial fuel provider can send an email to your dispatch or fleet management in real time as the fuel cards are being used. These “E-Receipts” are an easy way to manage good behavior and knock out bad actors in real time. 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 later. Instant feedback and communication is critical to change bad behavior of drivers who mean to do well but may just have made a simple mistake.

Fleet Card Best Practice #7: Buy fuel by your vehicle not by an individual. Connect large volume commercial fleets to mobile onsite fuel and one invoice makes it easy to see what vehicle was fueled by by who. You can do this by moving your commercial fuel card program to a “floating PIN” system. All modern fuel 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: Commercial fuel buyers, especially in the Pacific Northwest, have buying power!  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 commercial fuel program from fuel theft?

Do you want to reduce driver labor hours with wet-hose refueling at the same time?

Call Star Oilco, we 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

Contact Form

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.