OTA Dispatch Fall 2015

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16 Oregon Truck DISPATCH
GUEST FEATURE
By Christine Logue, OTA Staff
Fuel Pricing and What it
Means to Your Business
By Kevin Bradley @kevinb_flyers
Largely due to the relatively low price
of crude oil and abundant petroleum
supplies, fuel prices are down $1.00 or
more per gallon compared to this time
last year. This means more spending
money for most Americans and a better
bottom line for your business. Having
said that, fuel is a commodity. That’s
why prices are dependent on things like
weather, foreign markets, and legislation.
While it’s tempting to chase the lowest
street price, your best long-term plan
for fuel savings is to be consistent and
use a commercial fuel program.
Most commercial fuel programs
work in one of two ways.
Cardlock Cards—Fuel distributors
partner to create a network of sites so
you can fuel at every partner site and
all of your transactions appear on one
invoice. Security is the real benefit to
using these cards. Since you decide
when, where and what your drivers buy
with a combination of hard controls and
real-time exception reporting, your fuel
spending is optimized. Diesel trucks
with a regular route are a good fit for
this type of program.
Universal Cards—In this case, fuel
distributors partner with a bank. This
card gives you access to retail locations
everywhere, allowing drivers to fuel at
most retail fuel outlets. Companies with