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What Are the Rules for Getting a Pacific Pride or CFN Card in Oregon? 512 440 Star Oilco

What Are the Rules for Getting a Pacific Pride or CFN Card in Oregon?

What are the rules for getting a Pacific Pride and CFN Cardlock Card in Oregon?

Star Oilco is a proud independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride fueling is a wholesale cost plus way to buy fuel.  With the crazy market conditions getting 24 hour access to fuel has a renewed appeal to both individuals as well as businesses.  Today the price difference between retail gas stations and wholesale prices at CFN and Pacific Pride sites in part of the state of Oregon provides a huge price value for small businesses.  Add to that the convenience of getting out of gas lines and being able to fuel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year is a big value add for commercial cardlock over retail gas stations.

Pacific Pride and CFN cardlock both use a cost plus from the commercial wholesale rack prices to determine what you pay for fuel.

Avoid the volatility of retail credit card mark up with a cost plus agreement and a Star Oilco cardlock card.

Call Star Oilco and ask for a representative quote to see what CFN and Pacific Pride Cardlock costs compared to other fleet cards used at retail gas stations charging a credit card mark up.  Also look at what a small business can benefit from with the security features of cardlock over giving your drivers unsecured credit cards.

Many small businesses wonder what it takes to use a stand-alone cardlock location. As wages rise, the cost of full serve retail gas stations rise too. In contrast, stand-alone commercial fueling stations have little wait and 24 hour access, which save business owners time and money. Star Oilco makes it easy to set up with Pacific Pride in Oregon.

Self-serve diesel fueling is legal in Oregon.

Self-serve gasoline is restricted in Oregon.

Here are the rules for self-serve gasoline in Oregon.

Oregon has legalized the option for any consumer to fuel their own car at a gas station. But a 24-7 stand alone self serve gasoline option like cardlock is not legal in Oregon without a business license or purpose.  So though you can pump your own gasoline at a retail gas station, you cannot use commercial cardlock without being a business.

Diesel is legal for self serve throughout the state of Oregon. Gasoline is restricted in the more populated counties of Oregon except in certain cases. Commercial fleet fueling is one of the exemptions allowed, enabling a business to get its drivers out of gas lines and cut the labor wasting wait at retail gas stations.

Self-serve diesel has always been legal in Oregon and often cheaper at a commercial cardlock throughout the state. Anyone in Oregon who only uses diesel can get a Pacific Pride or CFN card for personal use.

Gasoline, on the other hand, has some rules that are regularly enforced. 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 is available at a retail gas station only if they offer full serve during business hours.

If you operate a company vehicle, commercial cardlock is the best way to upgrade your fleet security from fuel theft and seize control of corporate and small business fleet fueling. We can serve your business all around the United States. In Oregon though, gasoline is not legally dispensed without a few required safety precautions.

For commercial uses, Pacific Pride, CFN, Comdata, Voyager and other Commercial Cardlock networks are allowed for businesses in Oregon. If you are fleet operator or an individual outside of Oregon, these requirements do not apply in your home state. If you substantially operate in Oregon, the state Fire Marshall will expect these rules to apply to you.

What are the rules for using commercial cardlock in Oregon?

  • Business purpose required for gasoline cardlock use in Oregon (not any other state).
  • If you are only using 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 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, CFN, or other cardlock systems, please don’t hesitate to contact us 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.

To get access to Pacific Pride and CFN locations in Oregon, the first step is to open an account with Star Oilco.

Message Star Oilco below to get started with opening an account to save time and money while fueling.

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 Cardlock Fuel Security

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5 Strategies to Control Fuel Theft and Track Fuel Spending 1024 554 Star Oilco

5 Strategies to Control Fuel Theft and Track Fuel Spending

How to Control Fuel Theft and Track Fuel Spending in your Business.

With gasoline and diesel costs high, theft is on the rise.  Grab control of your fuel.

Set controls and protections on spending and save money by stopping fuel theft.

Star Oilco is an independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

5 Strategies to lock down your gas card

Simple monitoring processes can mean thousands of dollars.   Every dollar needs to stretch a little more.  Control your fuel spending.

Protect your business by setting controls and monitoring systems.  As fuel prices have spiked up, it has become a big priority for many.  What was an inconvenience of internal fuel theft of a few hard to replace employees is becoming a very costly problem.  Below is a strategy of how to grab control of your fuel cards.

Use Star Oilco to secure yourself from that fuel theft while also saving on your cost of fuel over retail. Oregon and Washington have some of the highest minimum wages in the U.S.  As the minimum wage and regulations increase, so do the costs at retail gas stations. This is doubly so in Oregon, where you are paying the gas stations employee to fuel your tank and the employee to be there. We can save you money and significantly reduce your risk of fuel theft while also getting your drivers out of retail gas station lines.

Keep a Good Employee Honest

Just like your business experiencing the squeeze of high gas prices, so are your employees commuting to work.  Sometimes when things get tight an employee may make poor choices.  Maybe they use a company credit card to pay a bill, or they fill up their personal vehicle.  Simple controls on your fuel cards could eliminate these issues.  Losing a good employee because they made a bad decision can cost a company a lot of money. Remove the temptation and secure your fleet cards.

Fuel Cards Designed for the Customer Big or Small

Whether your an owner/operator or you are managing a large fleet of corporate vehicles using commercial cardlocks can help you save time and money.  Stand-alone commercial-only Pacific Pride and CFN sites in the northwest are a real resource for businesses. They speed up the labor associated with fueling and significantly lock down the chance fraud or theft will occur on your fuel card. Stand-alone sites limit access to convenience store items so employees won’t be tempted to spend time browsing and make purchases on the company credit card.  If you need even tighter control we can send an email every time your driver uses your Pacific Pride card and a CSV file with your transactions if you have a 3rd party tracking software.  In addition, your bill can be organized by vehicle or driver. Easily identify who, what and where your employees are filling up.

With Pacific Pride and CFN stand-alone commercial cardlock sites, there are other benefits beyond just the convenience. The biggest difference is that these commercial cardlock sites are built with security in mind. Retail stations are engineered to sell as many products as possible to those pulling up for gasoline. Commercial cardlock sites are designed for commercial users who seek the fastest fueling experience. That is a big difference between the two.

Who can get a Pacific Pride or CFN Fuel Cardlock Card?

All you need to access Pacific Pride sites in Oregon is a business license and use over 900 gallons of total fuel a year. CFN commercial cardlock sites have the same requirements. When you work with a company such as Star Oilco that can issue both you only need a total of 900 gallons – not 900 each set.  If you are a business using a commercial quantity of fuel, you qualify to self-serve gasoline and you can stop paying your employees to shop at the most expensive retail gas stations with the best mini-mart selection. Late night fueling becomes easier and less expensive and you can get them back on the road 24-7 and usually without a line to wait in.

 

What Do You Need for Fueling Cards in Washington or any other state?

If you drive into Oregon and want to use gasoline, you still need the same requirements as stated above. If you don’t need access to Oregon gas stations it is much easier to get a fuel card.

Top 5 Strategies to lock down your gas card from theft.

Regardless of what system you choose, use these best practices in your organization. Simple little changes to how you approach fuel cards will greatly reduce any opportunity for theft.

Get out of the gas line

Gas Card Strategy #1

TAKE INVENTORY OF YOUR GAS CARDS – Star Oilco can help with this with an annual review of all of your cards, the last time they were used, and who used them.   Know who has your cards! Every year take inventory of what cards you have and who is using them. A clear card policy implemented by Human Resources or your Dispatcher is a good way to track what employees (or vehicles) have what cards. Star Oilco performs an annual card audit in conjunction with our Oregon Fire Marshall audit.

We’ll gladly supply a list of cards that you have and when they were last used. We can line up a list of active cards with your employees and make sure there isn’t a lost or unused card out there. Using this list, 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.

Gas Card Strategy #2

HAVE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUDIT YOUR TRANSACTIONS – Star Oilco can provide you with E-Receipts letting you know every time fuel is purchased by an email making it easy in real time.  Review your transactions regularly for strange transactions such as: multiple transactions per day on a single vehicle or card, switching fuel types, and refuels when your business isn’t open. Reviewing your bill, you’ll want to look for transactions that occur outside of normal business hours and days or if certain vehicles are fueling more than once a day these can be indications of theft. An additional indicator is if fuel is being bought outside of your service area. Some of the most common times of day for employee fuel theft are early morning on the way to work (before you open) or after the bars close after midnight.

Gas Card Strategy #3

ATTACH GAS CARDS TO VEHICLE KEYS – Star Oilco can provide you a turnkey program for this strategy with our fleet card program at no additional cost.  By assigning each vehicle in your fleet with its own card is a great practice that communicates this is a card for business and comes back to the business not their own wallet. Put your Fleet Cards on the key ring dispatched with the vehicle. Each driver is then assigned a number that can be used on any vehicle in the fleet. This way you know exactly who is using the card and which vehicle is being filled. To limit a risk of a stolen card, restrict individual card ownership to management and maintenance. Everyone else should have cards directly connected with a vehicles license plate, so it is obvious if that card goes missing.

Gas Card Strategy #4

SET THE GAS CARDS UP WITH LIMITS –  When you assign a card to each vehicle in the fleet you can set limits based on the vehicle. A gasoline vehicle only needs access to gasoline. If your tank size is 20 gallons, that card should be limited to 20 gallons per transaction. Continue to program your cards for the vehicles they are attached to. You can also restrict a card to ensure no one accidentally buys expensive premium or worse, puts the wrong fuel in the vehicle. Reducing the amount of time they can use a card a day limits exposure to theft. A vehicle that never drives more then 50 miles in a day shouldn’t need to fill up more then once a 24 hour period. This reduces the opportunity for theft and also makes theft obvious when the limits are hit. You can also add limits on zip codes, states, and times of days. If someone does steal a card, they would be limited by the time, location, and purchase amount, ensuring that your theft exposure is a few dozen gallons instead of thousands of dollars.

Gas Card Strategy #5

USE E-RECEIPTS TO MANAGE FUEL IN REAL TIME – It’s the 21st century so manage in real time. You can set-up cards to email you based on each card or, if you have one specific one you are are worried about, that card can be set to email you or your fleet management in real time. Better yet, if theft is occurring, you will see it immediately and be able to react. Not only will this lock down your gas card’s security, it will also allow you to address mistakes relating to efficiency. Owners and dispatchers also use this to see where the driver is and if they are where they said they were when they are fueling. 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.


Need to lock down your gas card from fuel theft?

Call Star Oilco, we can make it simple.

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

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

 

Star Oilco is an independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

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How to save money with a commercial fuel card 1024 544 Star Oilco

How to save money with a commercial fuel card

Save money with a commercial fuel card by avoiding the credit card retail price and preventing fuel theft in your business.

How do you avoid the higher credit card prices at gas stations?

Buy Your Fuel at a Commercial Cardlock

Make sure that employee fuel theft is not robbing from your bottom line.

 

 

  • Buy Diesel from Pacific Pride and CFN Commercial Cardlocks over retail gas stations.
  • Use a secure Fleet Card that ensures that employee theft is locked down.
    • Make sure your company’s Fleet Card is secured for:
      • A Fleet Card attached to the individual vehicle with a secure identifiable PIN for each employee.
      • Only the times of day you operate.
      • Only the days of the week you operate.
      • Only the fuel products your vehicle uses.
      • A limited number of transactions a day to ensure if a card gets misused the amount is extremely reduced.
      • A real time “E-Receipt” that notifies you of fuel purchases in real time to better manage employees for your fuel costs.

Wholesale pricing at a Pacific Pride commercial cardlock.

 Take control of your fuel spend by buying wholesale instead of retail gasoline.

Over the last year fuel costs have jumped to record highs.   Retail gas and diesel prices in particular are high compared to wholesale market purchasing opportunities for fleets.  Retail posted prices for credit card purchases further increase the cost on your business.

Commercial gas station cards that direct your fleet to buy fuel at convenience stores cost far more than the posted price for fuel.  Many of these gas stations also price diesel fuel with the same mark up as premium gasoline. By getting your employees out of the retail fuel line save in several ways.

How do you save with Commercial Cardlock over a retail gas station?

PRODUCTIVITY – Get out of retail gas lines and self serve your fleet 24-7-365.

PURCHASE CONTROLS – Lock down your fleet cards by vehicle, fuel type, time of day, and Zip Codes to ensure a either a well meaning employee doesn’t buy the wrong product or  a stolen wayward card does not rob from your bottom line.

WHOLESALE AVERAGE BASED PRICING – Buy your diesel and gasoline from a verifiable wholesale index.  Pacific Pride Commercial Cardlock sites are all based from an auditable OPIS Average market index plus our agreed margin. Know what and why you are paying for fuel.  (NOTE: Star Oilco will gladly help you audit your current fuel purchase program)

FLEXIBLE – Star Oilco can combine our fleet card program with Mobile Onsite Fueling and our billing simplifies your fuel program management by consolidating all purchases by your license plates on one invoice. Our Mobile Onsite Fueling and Commercial Cardlock invoices are combined showing you all purchases on one invoice also available for export in a CSV file.

You will first of all pick up productivity, a lack of managerial control, as well as a system that conceals employee theft is tied to the cost of buying fuel.  Move your fleet fuel purchases to Pacific Pride’s network card and save per gallon as well by restricting the fuel purchases you would not want.

Now is the time to look at your total cost of fuel.

Let us help you audit your fuel program.

We will help you clarify your bill by showing what you pay, what’s in that cost of fuel, and how you can save going forward. We do this by concentrating on one fact: there are only three fees in the total cost of a gallon of gas or diesel.

How we approach buying commercial fuel with a gas card.  There are only three parts of your fuel cost.  Let us help you understand what you pay for fuel:

  1. The commodity cost of fuel (the wholesale and verifiable fuel cost itself),

  2. The fuel taxes charged by the feds, state, and local governments on top of that, and;

  3. The margin your fuel vendor puts on top of those two very transparent costs.

Fuel bill audit best practices

Tax time is a good time to revisit your policies and systems.

Let us audit your bill and catch inconsistencies and over charges.

We have a transparent way to analyze your fuel expense that breaks it down in an easily understood format. Our approach will demystify what you’re paying in fuel so you can grab control of your gasoline and diesel bills. Our mission is to ‘Keep it Simple’ and make fuel make sense. There are several types of expenses that get added to your cost of fuel.

Pacific Pride Fuel Security

At Star Oilco, we ‘Keep it Simple’ when analyzing fuel bills.

Today, two trends can be witnessed in the Pacific Northwest: fuel prices are all over the place, and wages are rising against that trend. This makes managing for a low cost of gasoline or diesel extremely hard given the labor that might be involved in chasing that price.

Add to that the fact that retail gas stations are keeping more margins than ever in retail fuel history. With minimum wages approaching $15 in parts of the Pacific NW, the cost of retail gas stations is rising faster than inflation.

Stand-alone commercial cardlock locations such as Pacific Pride and CFN help you save on your own labor, as well as avoid the higher retail cost. One additional feature is you can audit a commercial cardlock fuel seller against the commercial wholesale rack price. Retail sellers promising discounts are discounting from a posted price that is based solely on what they decide a good price can be. Today, that’s a historically high margin above wholesale cost price.

Dig into your bill for an understanding of what you are paying and what you are paying for. Let us demystify the fees, charges, and hard-to-understand line items of our competitors. It seems that many of our competitors, much like cell phone companies, want to give you a bill that is as complex as possible so it’s difficult for you to understand your cost of fuel.

We can clarify your bill by showing what you pay, what’s in that cost of fuel, and how you can save going forward. Commodity cost of the fuel, fuel taxes and the margin of the vendor make up every fuel bill.

Wholesale Fuel Cost + Taxes + Margin = Total Fuel Cost

These three costs can be audited and confirmed. When we quote a prospective customer, we take their existing fuel bill and break it down into a spreadsheet that is easy to understand thanks to these definable costs. Take your existing fuel bill. Choose a few locations that are most commonly used by your fleet. Usually just the two most-used sites are enough to gauge if savings can be gained by changing vendors. Focus on the cost there, as this simplifies your focus as a representative sample of your fuel expenses.

In a spreadsheet, make easy-to-read tabs for each fuel and location. Then gather the dates fuel was bought at each location. Place the date and the price per gallon paid in their own columns. Now you know your cost. In the next column, enter the wholesale price of fuel to compare. This is going to be pretty close to what your fuel vendor was paying for it on that day give or take a few pennies.

The commodity cost of fuel is established in the market. Though different size players have discounts, these discounts are usually pennies per gallon and aren’t substantial overall. You can request a 30 day free trial of the Oil Price Information Service or “OPIS” for your local wholesale market for fuel. Government bids often use this service as a transparent bid price for fuel. NOTE: If you are buying with a Pacific Pride or CFN fleet card that uses stand-alone 24-7 commercial cardlock sites, the price will be based on OPIS as well. If you want help with this, Star Oilco can provide you with a copy of OPIS.

After that, the next column is the fuel taxes on that fuel. In another column next to the wholesale cost of fuel, you place the local taxes associated with that fueling site. Your state will usually have a “Fuel Tax Group” or some variation of that name where the state’s website will list all state and municipal taxes.

After seeing the wholesale cost and fuel taxes charged, all that remain is the margin. Many fuel sellers will try to complicate this by passing costs through, but at the end of the day, this is still their markup regardless of what they call it. This enables you to really have a discussion on what price you are charged to use their fleet card.

Our next step is to determine the typical margin you are being charged. Take the real price you paid on a day. Your next column on the spreadsheet will be the following formula:
NOTE: Margin Charged is the result that should be in your new column.

(Cell with the ACTUAL PRICE PAID) – (Cell with the WHOLESALE COST) – (Cell with FUEL TAXES) = MARGIN CHARGED

If you line up all the days for MARGIN CHARGED and average those (select a cell at the bottom of the column and type “=AVG” and select the data in the MARGIN CHARGED column), you will find the average margin. Usually this is about the same on every one of the sheets for the type of fuel you are buying. Diesel and gasoline margins are typically different. Retail gas stations, in particular, will treat diesel like a premium product so don’t be surprised if those margins are over $.40 a gallon in some places.

If you want help with this, call us!

We will empower you with the knowledge of what your vendor is charging you and determine if it is a fair price for the service. Beyond that, there should be no other costs. If your vendor has other costs (fees, invoice charges, etc.), we’ll show you what those really cost per gallon so you understand your true cost fuel.

Star Oilco makes this clear and easy to understand. Let us know if we can help.

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For more on what is required to self serve gasoline as a small business in Oregon.

For more on Fueling Solutions developed for small businesses dedicated to managing a fleet and drivers for local Delivery. 

Call for service.

 

 

 

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What does a business need to use Pacific Pride or CFN in Oregon? 1024 931 Star Oilco

What does a business need to use Pacific Pride or CFN in Oregon?

How to Get a Pacific Pride fuel card in Oregon

If you have ever wondered what was required to use a stand alone commercial cardlock location in Oregon – we have answers.  Any user of diesel can self serve diesel at a Pacific Pride or CFN cardlock.  If you need gasoline for a commercial purpose in Oregon and buy over 900 gallons a year you can pump your own gas at a Pacific Pride commercial cardlock.

Proud provider of Pacific Pride and CFN Fleet Cardlock CardsStar Oilco is an Independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride and CFN stand-alone cardlock sites allow commercial users to self serve gasoline 24-7 with security you can not get at any retail station.

Get your employees out of gas lines and ensure control over what they buy.

 

Pacific Pride and CFN are the most secure and convenient ways to buy commercial fuel.

Corporate gas cards are extremely attractive to thieves.  If you are a large purchaser of fuel, having a clear system in place to secure your employee’s fuel buying will be the single most critical component to control your cost of fuel. If you have a small fleet of even one vehicle every purchase can mean the difference of a profit or loss for that day.  Controlling where, when, what fuel, and how much they can buy at some point will be the biggest cost saving strategy you can have. Otherwise fuel theft will creep.

Use Pacific Pride commercial cardlock so your business has twenty-four hour access to fuel.

Star Oilco fleet card program has a clear and simple system to enable your business to seize control of fleet fuel purchases.

If you have a fleet operated by employees and face regular turn over in your business, you are exposing your business to fuel theft. You have to ensure these vehicles can get fuel, while not endangering your bottom line to thieves either inside or outside of your business.

Pacific Pride and CFN fuel cards are designed for small business fleets in mind. They are gas or diesel fleet card options focused on eliminating theft in your operation. They are designed to protect small businesses from fuel theft and give management control over when, where, and what is bought. However, Oregon has limits on self-serve in urban areas. Therefore, there are rules associated with using unattended fleet cards, or “cardlock” fueling, as it is commonly called.

Using Commercial Cardlock in Oregon is a solution to both fuel theft and lost driver productivity.

Whether you are a large dispersed fleet or a small business with a fleet of one.  We can secure your fueling needs from theft. Send any questions you have our way.

Use of a fleet card dedicated for service at a commercial cardlock is the best way to secure your fleet from fuel theft. This will guarantee you seize control of your fleet fueling. For this reason, in Oregon where self-serve is not the standard way of fueling, far more stand-alone 24-7 cardlock locations are available under the Pacific Pride and CFN brands. In Oregon, gasoline is not legally dispensed without a few safety precautions required by Oregon state, so there are other factors a business needs to consider in using it.

Oregon law does not allow self-serve gasoline along the I-5 corridor.  Diesel is legally allowed for self-serve, but gasoline as a Class 1 flammable liquid is not. “Class 1 Flammable Liquid” means any liquid with a flash point below 25 degrees Fahrenheit.  Note: Diesel fuel is not a Class 1 flammable liquid.  Therefore the Oregon fire marshal has rules restricting the use of commercial cardlock gasoline for individual uses. For commercial uses, Pacific Pride, CFN, Comdata, Voyager and other commercial cardlock networks are allowed for businesses in Oregon.  If you are a fleet operator or an individual outside of Oregon, these requirements do not apply in your home state, but if you substantially operate in Oregon, the state fire marshal will have an expectation of these rules applying to you.

Pacific Pride Fueling Network Provider

What are the rules for using commercial cardlock in Oregon?

  • Business usage is required for gasoline cardlock fleet card 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 have a business license (or prove it’s for commercial use).
    • NOTE: Self-serve laws have changed and allow for rural Oregonians outside of the Willamette Valley to use cardlock for self-serve in parts of Oregon. Call Star Oilco for more information on this.
  • 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 Marshal Safety Test.
    • NOTE: Message Star Oilco below for a copy of the Oregon Fire Marshal 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.

Star Oilco Logo with Phone numberPacific Pride Franchise Logo

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For More on Using Fleet Cards and Cardlock Cards as a Management Tool:

For more on using a cardlock card as a Pre-Set Fuel Card similar to a prepaid credit card please read this article. 

Star Oilco recommends that fleets use a “Zero Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” as an Human Resource tool to document that fuel theft is a firing offense on the first event. For more information and an example of a “Zero Tolerance Fuel Theft Policy” please see this article.

If you are interested in using a secure Commercial Cardlock card with Wet-Hose Refueling together as a fuel buying and labor efficiency strategy, here is an article on improving your fleet fueling efficiency. 

For a downloadable white paper on how to eliminate fuel theft in your business please see www.NoMoreFuelTheft.com for this shareable PDF.

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Delivery Driver Fueling Solutions 1024 683 Star Oilco

Delivery Driver Fueling Solutions

Delivery Drivers are more in demand than ever.

The world has changed.

People are discovering the benefits of having food, groceries and everyday products delivered right to their door.

If you are a delivery driver or you have a fleet of drivers, the ability to have access to 24/7 fueling stations, controlling your expenses, and protecting yourself from fraud is important.

Star Oilco is an independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Cardlock access to fuel all day every day

A new year and delivery seems to be here to stay.  Do you have a way to fuel your delivery drivers and protect your costs at the same time?

The ability to have products delivered and a way to fuel those that are delivering is more important than ever.  Delivery drivers are needed more and more today.  Turnover is high, and and trying to control spending can easily become a full time job. If you’re on the road delivering  you need to be sure that you have fuel and a way to control purchases at the same time.  The solutions is Pacific Pride fuel cards.

New delivery drivers and employees mean new risks – control those risks with Fuel cards.

The world is shifting towards businesses that can deliver to the customer versus those in traditional retail.  If you need to control these expenses its important to have systems in place.  Don’t put yourself at risk by handing out Credit Cards to new employees. Instead use Pacific Pride fuel cards and set limits for your drivers and employees on what they can buy, when, where and how much.  Credit cards can be abused and it may be weeks later before you know it happened.  With fuel cards you can get an email in real time as each transaction is used.

Protect your business by setting controls and monitoring systems.  If your business is picking up, there is less time to monitor individual employees.   Set up systems that control waste and extra expenses, while giving employees the fuel they need to move your equipment.  If your business is slowing down you will need to tighten your belt and watch every expense.  The same controls can be used on your cards to monitor and adjust the fuel expenses.

All you need to access Pacific Pride sites in Oregon is a proof that you are a business and use over 900 gallons of total fuel a year.  CFN commercial cardlock sites have the same requirements. If you are a business using a commercial quantity of fuel, you qualify to self-serve gasoline and you can stop paying your employees to shop at the most expensive retail gas stations with the best mini-mart selection. Late night fueling becomes easier and less expensive and you can get them back on the road 24-7 and usually without a line to wait in. (If you want more information about business requirements see here)

Combine Fueling Cards and On-Site Fueling

If you have a fleet of vehicles that park at a yard every night on-site fueling might also be an option.  This service, also called wet-hose fueling, can help cut costs associated with drivers by reducing the amount of time they are fueling and not delivering product. With larger fleets this can save significant time and expand your capacity for product distribution.  At Star-Oilco we can combine both for a more comprehensive solution.  If you would like to know more about On-Site Fueling options here is the link.

What Do You Need for Fueling Cards in Washington or any other state?

If you drive into Oregon and want to use gasoline, you still need the same requirements as stated above. If you don’t need access to gasoline in Oregon, it is much easier to get a fuel card. (check out those requirements here)

Top 5 Strategies to lock down your gas card from theft.

Get out of the gas line

Gas Card Strategy #1

TAKE INVENTORY OF YOUR GAS CARDS – Know who has your cards! Every year take inventory of what cards you have and who is using them. A clear card policy implemented by Human Resources or your Dispatcher is a good way to track what employees (or vehicles) have what cards. Star Oilco performs an annual card audit in conjunction with our Oregon Fire Marshall audit.

We’ll gladly supply a list of cards that you have and when they were last used. We can line up a list of active cards with your employees and make sure there isn’t a lost or unused card out there. Using this list, 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.

Gas Card Strategy #2

HAVE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUDIT YOUR TRANSACTIONS – Review your transactions regularly for strange transactions such as: multiple transactions per day on a single vehicle or card, switching fuel types, and refuels when your business isn’t open. Reviewing your bill, you’ll want to look for transactions that occur outside of normal business hours and days or if certain vehicles are fueling more than once a day these can be indications of theft.

An additional indicator is if fuel is being bought outside of your service area. Some of the most common times of day for employee fuel theft are early morning on the way to work (before you open) or after the bars close after midnight.

Gas Card Strategy #3

ATTACH GAS CARDS TO VEHICLE KEYS – Assigning each vehicle in your fleet with its own card is a great practice. Put your Fleet Cards on the key ring dispatched with the vehicle. Each driver is then assigned a number that can be used on any vehicle in the fleet. This way you know exactly who is using the card and which vehicle is being filled. To limit a risk of a stolen card, restrict individual card ownership to management and maintenance. Everyone else should have cards directly connected with a vehicles license plate, so it is obvious if that card goes missing.

Gas Card Strategy #4

SET THE GAS CARDS UP WITH LIMITS –  When you assign a card to each vehicle in the fleet you can set limits based on the vehicle. A gasoline vehicle only needs access to gasoline. If your tank size is 20 gallons, that card should be limited to 20 gallons per transaction. Continue to program your cards for the vehicles they are attached to. You can also restrict a card to ensure no one accidentally buys expensive premium or worse, puts the wrong fuel in the vehicle. Reducing the amount of time they can use a card a day limits exposure to theft.

A vehicle that never drives more then 50 miles in a day shouldn’t need to fill up more then once a 24 hour period. This reduces the opportunity for theft and also makes theft obvious when the limits are hit. You can also add limits on zip codes, states, and times of days. If someone does steal a card, they would be limited by the time, location, and purchase amount, ensuring that your theft exposure is a few dozen gallons instead of thousands of dollars.

Gas Card Strategy #5

USE E-RECEIPTS TO MANAGE FUEL IN REAL TIME – It’s the 21st century so manage in real time. You can set-up cards to email you based on each card or, if you have one specific one you are are worried about, that card can be set to email you or your fleet management in real time. Better yet, if theft is occurring, you will see it immediately and be able to react. Not only will this lock down your gas card’s security, it will also allow you to address mistakes relating to efficiency. Owners and dispatchers also use this to see where the driver is and if they are where they said they were when they are fueling. 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.

Work with a business that wants you to succeed and has the tools to protect your fuel expenses.

Use Star Oilco to secure yourself from that fuel theft while also saving on your cost of fuel over retail.  Oregon and Washington have some of the highest minimum wages in the U.S.  As the minimum wage and regulations increase, so do the costs at retail gas stations. This is doubly so in Oregon, where you are paying the gas stations employee to fuel your tank and the employee to be there. We can save you money and significantly reduce your risk of fuel theft while also getting your drivers out of retail gas station lines.

Whether your an owner/operator or you are managing a large fleet of corporate vehicles needing fueling commercial cardlocks can help you save time and money.  Stand-alone commercial-only Pacific Pride and CFN sites in the northwest are a real resource for small business. They speed up the labor associated with fueling and significantly lock down the chance fraud or theft will occur on your fuel card. Stand-alone sites limit access to convenience store items so employees won’t be tempted to spend time browsing and make purchases on the company credit card.  In addition, there are less people at the site and less chance of a coming into contact with someone that is sick.

Need to lock down your gas card from fuel theft?

Call Star Oilco, we can make it simple.

Star Oilco can help you field all of these best practices. Our motto is “Keep it Simple” and we are here to make this easy. Feel free to reach out and see what Star Oilco can do for your fleet to upgrade its fleet fueling security.  If your fueling just one vehicle or your dealing with corporate fueling for 100’s of vehicles, we can help you set up an account.

With Pacific Pride and CFN stand-alone commercial cardlock sites, there are other benefits beyond just the convenience. The biggest difference is that these commercial cardlock sites are built with security in mind. Retail stations are engineered to sell as many products as possible to those pulling up for gasoline. Commercial cardlock sites are designed for commercial users who seek the fastest fueling experience. That is a big difference between the two.

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

 

Star Oilco is an independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

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Use Pacific Pride Fuel Cards as a Management Tool

 

Pacific Pride fuel cards. Stop employee fuel theft by using the Star Oilco Fuel Card solution.

Star Oilco Pacific Pride Pride Advantage Card

The turn-key fuel card solution for small business seeking to stop employee fuel theft.

Star Oilco’s Pacific Pride card can give you control over when and where fuel is purchased.

Use Pacific Pride fuel cards as a management tool for your business.  With rising gas prices and a shortage of drivers being  a problem, secure your fleet cards to keep honest people honest.  Remove the temptation and save money in your small business.

 

Use Preset fuel cards to control every gallon of fuel your employees buy.

Make managing drivers buying fuel a simple system that let your dispatch know in real time as fuel is purchased.

We promise the highest level of control for your small business.  Star Oilco offers human support designed to make it easy for a small business. Our moto is to Keep it Simple. We help you deploy and manage your secure fleet card program in your business.  You have enough to manage and don’t need another website to log into. We make it easy for you to know who bought what, when, and where — in real time — to better manage the buying decisions by your drivers.  We will make sure you are successful.

Star Oilco Crest

You can use Star Oilco’s Pacific Pride card to:

  • Know who – the name of the driver purchasing and the vehicle they have
  • What fuels – control the products available to avoid costly premium gas purchases
  • Control gallons – the total gallons that can be bought at one time
  • Limit transactions – control the number of transactions a fuel card can have in one day
  • Time – predetermine the time of day that a fuel card can be used
  • Where – zip codes or states that a fuel card can be used in

The Star Oilco secure Pacific Pride card- The best option to knock out fuel theft.

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.  Star Oilco helps make sure the total program is working. We assist in your team grabbing control of every drop, every dollar and every driver.

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

Star Oilco makes sure you are successful in fielding a secure fuel card.  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 get to know what makes us different!

You tell us what you need and we’ll consult with you to get a working card program.

How Star Oilco secures your business from fuel thieves.

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.

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 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.

Star Oilco will assign you a Card Administrator to help you be successful with this.  Where other programs promise tools but don’t follow up, we follow up.  We are here to make sure you are successful with our program.  Human beings answer our phones and long term employees staff your needs being met.

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 has a white paper outlining how you can secure your business from internal fuel thieves. To download this guide on fleet card best practices please go to www.NoMoreFuelTheft.com or message Star Oilco for help.

Star Oilco is a proud and independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

Pacific Pride Commercial Fuel Card

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What’s in a “Keep it Simple Fuel Audit” 1024 683 Star Oilco

What’s in a “Keep it Simple Fuel Audit”

How do you compare different fuel card vendors?

You audit your fuel bill.

We will help you clarify your bill by showing what you pay, what’s in that cost of fuel, and how you can save going forward. We do this by concentrating on one fact: there are only three fees in the total cost of a gallon of gas or diesel.

The three verifiable costs in a gallon of fuel are:

  1. The commodity cost of fuel (the wholesale and verifiable fuel cost itself),

  2. The fuel taxes charged by the feds, state, and local governments on top of that, and;

  3. The margin your fuel vendor puts on top of those two very transparent costs.

Fuel bill audit best practices

Tax time is a good time to revisit your policies and systems.

Let us audit your bill and catch inconsistencies and over charges.

We have a transparent way to analyze your fuel expense that breaks it down in an easily understood format. Our approach will demystify what you’re paying in fuel so you can grab control of your gasoline and diesel bills. Our mission is to ‘Keep it Simple’ and make fuel make sense. There are several types of expenses that get added to your cost of fuel.

Pacific Pride Fuel Security

At Star Oilco, we ‘Keep it Simple’ when analyzing fuel bills.

Today, two trends can be witnessed in the Pacific Northwest: fuel prices are all over the place, and wages are rising against that trend. This makes managing for a low cost of gasoline or diesel extremely hard given the labor that might be involved in chasing that price.

Add to that the fact that retail gas stations are keeping more margins than ever in retail fuel history. With minimum wages approaching $15 in parts of the Pacific NW, the cost of retail gas stations is rising faster than inflation.

Stand-alone commercial cardlock locations such as Pacific Pride and CFN help you save on your own labor, as well as avoid the higher retail cost. One additional feature is you can audit a commercial cardlock fuel seller against the commercial wholesale rack price. Retail sellers promising discounts are discounting from a posted price that is based solely on what they decide a good price can be. Today, that’s a historically high margin above wholesale cost price.

Dig into your bill for an understanding of what you are paying and what you are paying for. Let us demystify the fees, charges, and hard-to-understand line items of our competitors. It seems that many of our competitors, much like cell phone companies, want to give you a bill that is as complex as possible so it’s difficult for you to understand your cost of fuel.

We can clarify your bill by showing what you pay, what’s in that cost of fuel, and how you can save going forward. Commodity cost of the fuel, fuel taxes and the margin of the vendor make up every fuel bill.

Wholesale Fuel Cost + Taxes + Margin = Total Fuel Cost

These three costs can be audited and confirmed. When we quote a prospective customer, we take their existing fuel bill and break it down into a spreadsheet that is easy to understand thanks to these definable costs. Take your existing fuel bill. Choose a few locations that are most commonly used by your fleet. Usually just the two most-used sites are enough to gauge if savings can be gained by changing vendors. Focus on the cost there, as this simplifies your focus as a representative sample of your fuel expenses.

In a spreadsheet, make easy-to-read tabs for each fuel and location. Then gather the dates fuel was bought at each location. Place the date and the price per gallon paid in their own columns. Now you know your cost. In the next column, enter the wholesale price of fuel to compare. This is going to be pretty close to what your fuel vendor was paying for it on that day give or take a few pennies.

The commodity cost of fuel is established in the market. Though different size players have discounts, these discounts are usually pennies per gallon and aren’t substantial overall. You can request a 30 day free trial of the Oil Price Information Service or “OPIS” for your local wholesale market for fuel. Government bids often use this service as a transparent bid price for fuel. NOTE: If you are buying with a Pacific Pride or CFN fleet card that uses stand-alone 24-7 commercial cardlock sites, the price will be based on OPIS as well. If you want help with this, Star Oilco can provide you with a copy of OPIS.

After that, the next column is the fuel taxes on that fuel. In another column next to the wholesale cost of fuel, you place the local taxes associated with that fueling site. Your state will usually have a “Fuel Tax Group” or some variation of that name where the state’s website will list all state and municipal taxes.

After seeing the wholesale cost and fuel taxes charged, all that remain is the margin. Many fuel sellers will try to complicate this by passing costs through, but at the end of the day, this is still their markup regardless of what they call it. This enables you to really have a discussion on what price you are charged to use their fleet card.

Our next step is to determine the typical margin you are being charged. Take the real price you paid on a day. Your next column on the spreadsheet will be the following formula:
NOTE: Margin Charged is the result that should be in your new column.

(Cell with the ACTUAL PRICE PAID) – (Cell with the WHOLESALE COST) – (Cell with FUEL TAXES) = MARGIN CHARGED

If you line up all the days for MARGIN CHARGED and average those (select a cell at the bottom of the column and type “=AVG” and select the data in the MARGIN CHARGED column), you will find the average margin. Usually this is about the same on every one of the sheets for the type of fuel you are buying. Diesel and gasoline margins are typically different. Retail gas stations, in particular, will treat diesel like a premium product so don’t be surprised if those margins are over $.40 a gallon in some places.

If you want help with this, call us!

We will empower you with the knowledge of what your vendor is charging you and determine if it is a fair price for the service. Beyond that, there should be no other costs. If your vendor has other costs (fees, invoice charges, etc.), we’ll show you what those really cost per gallon so you understand your true cost fuel.

Star Oilco makes this clear and easy to understand. Let us know if we can help.

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Call for service.

 

 

 

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Fleet Fueling in Portland, Oregon and Fuel Security 1024 576 Star Oilco

Fleet Fueling in Portland, Oregon and Fuel Security

How do you eliminate the management hassles of fueling your fleet in Portland, Oregon?

Use Star Oilco’s Total Solution fueling service.

Stop burning labor costs and dealing with management headaches trying to track fuel in vehicles. Let us simplify this for your administration. We can make that really simple with our Total Fleet Solution.  Bulk, Wet-hose Fleet Fueling, and Pacific Pride cardlock when and where you need it.

Seize Control of your Fuel Costs.  Save Money.  Stop Slippage!

Star Oilco’s best practices when thinking about bulk fuel security at your facility.

Wet Hose Fueling Service in Vancouver, Washington

Star Oilco is your Fleet Fueling Services Company with solutions to knock out fuel theft.

Mobile Fueling Service, Pacific Pride Cards, and connecting fuel to your HR Policy can save you thousands of dollars a year in the long run.

“Fuel Slippage” is an industry term for the fuel that you can’t account for in the actual course of business. A stolen tank of gasoline on a company fleet card or diesel saddle tank that came up empty without explanation. We are here to help stop slippage in your business.

We have strategies on how to protect yourself from internal theft, how to use prepaid and preset fuel card controls with employees, as well as securing yourself from external theft. This article is about protecting your fleet from physical fuel theft.

Fuel theft is on the rise in the Portland, Oregon area.

In Portland, Oregon with the rise of homeless campers all over our industrial areas, we have seen a increasing fuel theft. Star Oilco can help you knock out fuel theft. For as hard as fleets work to make a dollar, seeing it shrink from the bottom line due to criminal theft is an avoidable scenario. Think ahead, remove opportunity for thieves to steal, and create systems that keep honest people honest.

The biggest preventive measure Star Oilco can provide is total control of what goes into and out of your fleet. If you have a bulk tank, a tank monitor and key control cardlock system is very affordable these days, guaranteeing inventory is kept to the gallon. If you have fleets on the road without a tank please consider using Pacific Pride secured cardlock fueling in combination with Mobile Onsite Refueling of your fleet in your yard.

Stop Fuel Theft: Best Practices for Portland, Oregon

Prevent fuel theft in Portland, Oregon

To train your fleet consider the following best practices below:

1 – Educate your people on the dangers and evidence of fuel theft

Fuel thieves usually come back again and again. Make sure your whole team is aware of the mess fuel thieves usually leave behind. Transferring from a saddle tank to their vehicle or container leaves a mess. Also make sure they are aware of unsafe places. Unsecured yards, especially with homeless campers in diesel RV’s, are a prime environment to expose yourself to theft. If you are a refrigerated trailer fleet, make sure your drivers tell your clients that unattended reefer trailers are the favorite hunting ground for fuel thieves and a locking gas cap is not necessarily a deterrent.

2 – Install fences, lighting, security cameras, and work with the local police.

Vehicle yards are a popular target for fuel thieves, so make it as difficult as possible for them to get in unnoticed. Secure fencing and bright lighting make your yard far more visible from the road and less attractive to thieves. Security cameras can act as both a deterrent and an effective way to catch criminals if theft ever occurs. Also, make sure you report theft to the local police to ensure they are tracking activity. It can be discouraging given the scale of the problems in Portland right now, but the data matters.  You never know when a fuel thief will get caught for some other crime and the evidence of pumping equipment and containers will tip off the police of the culprit.

3 – Fit bulk tanks with level monitors and inventory control systems.

Inventory control systems are extremely affordable now. Not only is it a convenient tool to track tank levels for your ordering purposes and provide proof that the tank is not leaking for local environmental regulators, it will also tip you off if an odd time of day is seeing fuel drawn. Inventory control systems have also become far more affordable than they were ten years ago. Key control for turning on power to your fuel dispensing system, which will track drivers, and the equipment they are fueling (license plate, equipment number, on-road, off-road, or tax exempt status) will keep you informed.

4 – Defensive parking, landscaping and crash protection.

If it is not easy for someone to get immediately next to the fuel tanks of your vehicles or bulk tank, it is that much harder to steal. Park vehicles in a way that protects and blocks access to someone trying to operate a pump to easily reach your fuel tanks. If you are using on-site refueling, your vendor can suggest some ideas that still enable them access to your saddle tanks without problem.

5 – Communicate with neighbors, vendors, and employees that theft is suspected or definitely occurring.

Many fleets have multiple vendors access their yard at night or over weekends. Make sure those vendors are on your team and on the look out. Tire and fleet fueling services should let you know if a loiterer appears to be in your area in the middle of the night. If a gate has been tampered with or a mess is obvious inside the yard, make sure they are letting you know earlier rather than later. Also, be aware during business hours. Fuel thieves will often scope a yard during the day to target later that night. Take note of anyone acting suspiciously around your yard, perhaps engaging them to find out what they’re doing. Don’t hesitate to ask them what they are doing either. Face to face contact can encourage them to find another place to be a criminal.

If you have any questions or want our perspective we encourage you to reach out.  

 

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Advice is always free and helping is why Star Oilco is here.

For more reading on using securing your business from theft:

Star Oilco Fleet Cards to secure yourself from employee fuel theft at gas stations and cardlocks.

Seven ways to stop fuel theft before it happens.

Use Star Oilco Pacific Pride cards as a management tool. 

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Prepaid and Preset Fuel Cards Strategies for Small Business 1024 683 Star Oilco

Prepaid and Preset Fuel Cards Strategies for Small Business

Use Commercial Cardlock exactly like a Prepaid Credit Card as a strategy for eliminating fuel theft in your business.

 

Are you really just looking to eliminate your fuel theft risk?

With the recent economic slowdown, now is the time to field new management tools.  Let us help your business seize control of your fuel buying.  Know when and where fuel is bought by your employees.

Credit cards are a bad tool for this. Use the card controls and e-receipt function of Pacific Pride Cardlock fleetcards to have the same control as a Pre-Paid Visa or Mastercard but without the card charges and higher prices of fuel (get our White Paper on how to use fleet cards to stop fuel theft).

Keep control, save money, and stop would be fuel thieves.

Avoid expensive Credit Card fees while getting commercial pricing and the built in security you deserve.

Solve problems with Star Oilco preset fleet card program.

There is a growing industry of prepaid credit card programs being marketed to fleet operators as a solution to fuel management. The bigger advertisers are Bento for Business and Net Spend, which provide Visa or Mastercard credit cards with controls to protect the issuer of the cards. If you are asking yourself ‘what are the advantages of a prepaid card for fleet fueling’ the answer is simple.  Control.

What separates Star Oilco from a pure prepaid credit card is that we are total control to ensure only fuel is purchased with the card and that a commercial price can be found avoiding retail stations in many markets.  We definitely agree that prepaid credit card programs can be effective — if managed properly.  But there are draw backs to credit cards versus a restricted and programmed corporate fleet card.

The biggest of these being your business has to pay full retail credit card pricing for your fuel.  Add to that the opportunity to misuse a credit card isn’t removed and a gas station can often sell anything your employee puts on the card with fuel. Wouldn’t it be better to lock purchases down to the specific products your fleet needs?

The Star Oilco Card has all the features of a prepaid credit card at a far lower cost.  The Star Oilco Pacific Pride card has a fuel only purpose and fleet-specific protection.

Star Oilco’s fleet card program provides the same controls as a prepaid Visa or Mastercard but with the added benefit of being fuel- and fleet-focused.

Star Oilco’s approach is security-minded and designed to offer your Dispatch, HR, and Managers total clarity of what is happening daily with fuel. Like a Prepaid Visa or Mastercard, Star Oilco’s fuel card programs control transactions per day, time of day or by zip code and can add other restrictions for use, such as an e-receipt, to provide a real-time alert every time a card is used.

Unlike a Prepaid Visa or Mastercard though, we gear the security features to follow a vehicle — not a human being.

We set the controls to match the reality of the vehicle that needs gas, diesel, propane, maintenance or a hotel. Instead of a card issued to a human, it follows the company vehicle. Your drivers and employees are held responsible for a secret PIN that will show up in e-receipts, reports and invoices by their full name. The cards follow the keys of your vehicles and remain controlled by your Dispatcher and other Managers.

Star Oilco’s fleet cards are focused specifically on fleet needs.

Realistically, fleets face employee turnover. Hassling with babysitting a credit card budget each day while still giving an employee a credit card they can spend on anything isn’t a real solution. We are focused on the fuel need of fleets and have features prepaid credit cards do not.

CONTROL ALL FUEL BUYING BY:Pacific Pride secure fuel cards

-RETAIL SITES OR COMMERCIAL ONLY

– SPECIFIC FUEL TYPE

– GALLONS PER TRANSACTION

– TRANSACTIONS PER DAY

– TIME OF DAY

– PART OF TOWN (Zip Code)

 

The biggest difference: We have prepaid controls without having to tie up your cash in a prepaid program. 

As fuel prices change, your ability to use a credit card (not to mention their terms!) can change without notice. Our terms stay the same, and for credit worthy businesses, we are thinking of you in terms of gallons not a arbitrary dollar number. The biggest example is the reality of volatile fuel prices.

Fueling a fleet is a gallon game, not a dollar budget.

With a prepaid credit card, you will always have to examine your monthly fuel budget. The real downside to this occurs when prices spiral above $3 a gallon. At that point, you not only have to increase your credit exposure (and possibly tie up cash in a deposit dependent on the terms of the card) but the likelihood of theft increases as well.

A Star Oilco Pacific Pride or CFN fleet card operating on the Fuel Man network sets your limits by the approved products, the gallons per day and a number of transactions per day. This limits your exposure to theft not in an arbitrary and ever changing dollar figure but the actual fuel a driver needs.

Another reality about fuel: Retail fuel sellers hate paying a credit card processing fee.

They pass that on with a “credit” price. So not only does a prepaid card tie up your operating cash flow in a deposit, you’ll pay a higher price for the fuel you buy. It is also estimated that moving from a retail gas station and convenience store fueling method to a commercial Pacific Pride or CFN site will save you ten minutes per fueling transaction. Being a commercial only island there are smaller lines, saving you measurably on driver labor.

Pacific Pride and CFN also have stand alone 24-hour/7-day/365-year access commercial fueling sites with high flow diesel. For operations running all hours, commercial access is a profound improvement over retail.  These sites are priced not from a retail credit card price but a wholesale plus basis. This is a quantifiable and transparent way to negotiate a fair and competitive price for fuel.

If you want to look at Star Oilco’s approach to fuel cards, call us at 503-283-1256 or leave a message in the form below.

We look forward to helping you secure your fleet fueling easily while saving money on your total cost of fuel.

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Get out of the gas line

Star Oilco is a proud Independent Franchisee of Pacific Pride

with over 30 years of experience in solving fuel security issues for our customers. 

For more please see the following other blog posts:
Seven ways to stop fuel theft before it happens.

HR strategies to combat fuel theft – Upgrade your fleet card security.

On-site fueling as a labor saving strategy.

Oregon Self serve laws for retail and commercial gasoline.

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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.  

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