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Fleet Fuel Best Practices

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Use Pacific Pride to control your fleet fueling. 1024 683 Star Oilco

Use Pacific Pride to control your fleet fueling.


SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR FUEL SPENDING WITH PACIFIC PRIDE FLEET CARDS

Star Oilco’s Pacific Pride card can give you control over when and where fuel is bought. 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. We find that small businesses need one extra tool. 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. We keep things simple and we make it easy for you. This is done with the obvious human element and best practices to 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 consult with you, and you get a working card program.

This is what we recommend for your non-management cards:
1) Set the fleet cards with the vehicles (attached to the license plate on the bill/place the fleet card on the key ring of the vehicle).

2) Design these vehicle cards to only work in the state’s zip codes that you service during the times of day you operate as a business.

2) 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).

3) Implement a “No Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” with your Human Resource policy. Every employee signs 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. If they give it to someone else, they are responsible for anything that happens. If theft is happening, it is a “No Tolerance” dismissal offense on the first occurrence.

4) Use the E-Receipt function with our fuel cards in order 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. This allows your Dispatch or Management to respond the same day to questionable decisions around fuel cards.

Now 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 you 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-receipt function, your Dispatch will get an email every time fuel is purchased. You will see where, what, who, and when this occurs. You can reinforce your company fuel policies at the local level the same day. No more waiting for the bill to see 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, feel free to contact us with the form below.

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WEX article on documenting fuel theft 683 1024 Star Oilco

WEX article on documenting fuel theft

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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Star Oilco, Hydrotex, and Donaldson Filtration demonstrate Precision Fuel Management Program Works 1024 574 Star Oilco

Star Oilco, Hydrotex, and Donaldson Filtration demonstrate Precision Fuel Management Program Works

solid proof

09-18-2015 Recology Samples BEFORE Precision fuel management program

First sample taken 09-18-2015, lots of water and visible dirt in samples pulled from bulk tank. The company was having issues with equipment running rough, and they were spinning fuel filters way more than manufacturers recommended changes. We sat down with the plant supervisor and talked about diesel fuel quality testing. He was happy to hear his diesel fuel problems explained. It has nothing to do with diesel fuel quality by brand. All fuel vendors get the same fuel supplied to the Northwest.  The environment where this client is located has dust, dirt, and water in the air constantly due to the nature of the recycling processes with wood products. Our first goal was to sample the tank bottom and nozzle and share the results. As you can see from above, they had tons of water and dirt in the tank. So we set up to clean the bulk tank, polish the fuel with 1 micron filtration,  then install quality Donaldson clean & dry filtration including a 4 micron particulate filter, a water filter, and a desiccant breather trap to control the moisture that accumulates in most all bulk tanks. The client had dirty diesel fuel filters that were only 30 micron, letting all the damaging particles right into the equipment.

 

before

 

Numbers Meaningnumber meaning 1number meaning 2

second sample

COMPARE THE VISUAL AND DATA IMPROVEMENTS

Recology NP sample pic SECOND SAMPLE Precision Fuel Program 03-04-2016

The second round of samples after the tank was initially clean, the process is showing signs of improvement already.

The second round of samples after the tank was initially cleaned, and the remaining fuel was polished with 1 micron filtration. The process is showing signs of improvement after cleaning the tank. The Donaldson Filtration and Hydrotex PowerKleen additive was working on the contents of the tank, and the inside of the tank is being cleaned by the additive. The effects of water that was in the tank, and rust and corrosion showed signs of improvement on the second samples. Both water and rust will continue to be less in volume each time we sample, it is a continuous improvement program. Over time the water and rust goes away or is caught by the excellent Donaldson Clean & Dry filtration and what remains is attacked by the superior quality of Hydrotex PowerKleen additive!

 after

The most damaging particles and water, the ones between 4 and 8 microns,

are being filtered out of the fuel, the one’s we can’t see with the naked eye. Green Transfer After 04-20-20163rd sample

After 6 1/2 months on the Precision fuel management program the ISO count is well below the manufacturers specs for ANY of Recology's equipment. The water PPM if only 42 down from 89, well below ASTM standards. THESE NUMBERS DON'T LIE, THE PROGRAM WORKS!!!

After only 3 months on the Precision fuel management program the ISO count is well below the manufacturers specs for ANY of the customers equipment. The water PPM (Parts per million)  is now 42 down from 89, well below ASTM standards. THESE NUMBERS DON’T LIE, THE PROGRAM WORKS! To maintain this quality consistently the client only needs to change the filtration when the filtration gauges jump 10 PSI over normal flow rate. The Desiccant breather which controls moisture, has an indicator that turns RED from it’s original YELLOW to let you know it’s time to change.  The Hydrotex additive will continue to make the water drop out of the fuel, keep cleaning the rust and corrosion in the tank, and help with lubricity for the equipment that fuels from the tank.

Dont Wait until you see this

Another customer of ours was having issues with their previous fuel vendor, I approached the operations manager and let him know that we had a program that could turn their fuel issues around. He agreed to let me take bottom and nozzle samples from his tank, the results came back un-readable, meaning there was so much dirt and water that you could see it with the naked eye, (not good). All the damaging particles are between 2 and 8 microns. If you can see visible particles and water you know you are in trouble. We recommended our Precision fuel management program including cleaning the tank and using Donaldson Clean & Dry filtration along with Hydrotex PowerKleen additive and our Star Oilco Premium filtered diesel. Within 3 weeks the client saw results.

“The latest nozzle sample is looking very good, will continue to get down around 14/13/11”. In just one week after the second sample the water ppm has dropped to 52, which is well below the goal of 80 ppm. It dropped 20ppm after only one week of Hydrotex PowerKleen additive making the water drop out of the fuel.

The API gravity is down to 35.9, which means more BTU’s (heat transfer) meaning better gas mileage and horsepower. The fuel is burning clean and dry, like it is supposed to.

The client said, “We have not been spinning filters as often as we were in the past, we see an overall improvement in fuel quality since starting the Precision fuel program with Star Oilco.” Look at the before and after data below from the labDiesel Fuel Tank Testing and Cleaning Portland

 

Another satisfied Star Oilco Precision fuel management program customer!

If you suspect you have fuel issues because you’re seeing:

  1. Fuel filters plugging
  2.  Trucks and equipment are running rough
  3. Poor engine performance and fuel mileage below normal
  4. Fuel injector issues, pitting scaring or blown out tips

You may have issues with your bulk tank and filtration on the tank.

We can help you with a complementary lab sample test like you see above.

RULE OUT FUEL QUALITY AND BULK TANK FILTRATION ISSUES

Get with the program that works

                                                                 Get with the program that works

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