“What can I do about rising gas prices?”

 While everyone is always looking for a way to spend less on gas, the question becomes even more urgent when international events have once again disrupted the global oil supply and spiked the cost of fuel. The pain at the pump felt by consumers has much higher stakes for businesses that rely on bulk fuel to operate. 

Bulk fuel distributors are often without a good answer to the question of what their customers can do about their rising fuel spend, because they too are at the mercy of the market. While no one can control the price per gallon, effective bulk fuel management with FuelCloud can have a massive impact on reducing fuel spending and protecting a company’s bottom line when fuel prices rise. 

Protect the fuel you already have

The place to start controlling your fuel costs is by controlling the fuel you’ve already bought. On average, an unmonitored bulk fuel tank will lose 9% to 14% of its volume to theft, loss, or misuse. Even small rounding errors add up quickly when you’re using enough fuel volume, and those accumulated lost gallons can be a significant drag on your bottom line when fuel prices jump.

FuelCloud protects fuel in your tanks behind PIN-based authorization, and tracks every transaction down to the 100th of a gallon to make sure that your fuel - and your fuel spending - is going where it needs to go. The average FuelCloud customer can get their loss rate below 5%; that’s a nice savings when prices are good, but an even better outcome when prices are on the rise.

Plan for the fuel you’ll need next

Fuel prices can be volatile and unpredictable: even when prices are generally trending up, month-to-month or week-to-week prices per gallon may fall. With the transaction data that FuelCloud provides, customers can shift their buying behavior from blindly filling their tanks to strategically ordering fuel when prices are favorable.

For example, let’s say that a particular tank is 45% full. Without FuelCloud’s transaction data, you have no way of knowing how long that less-than-half bulk tank will last you. If prices are high right now, do you order now and absorb the cost or wait to see if prices come down?

This situation is totally different if you know that at 45% full, your fuel will last another 2 weeks. Suddenly, you can work with your jobber to plan a delivery at a time and a price that’s right for you. You may even be able to optimize how your fleet uses that tank based on transaction trends to stretch another few days out of your inventory, giving you even more time to make the optimal choice.

Maximize your Fuel Tax Refunds

It’s always a good idea to get the biggest refund you can for off-road fuel use, but maximizing your refund is even more important when gas prices start to rise. If you’re using FuelCloud to track on-road and off-road fuel use, filing for your maximum refund is as simple as downloading the pre-filled federal form, verifying the information, and sending in the paperwork.

Maximizing refunds is great, but automating your fuel tax reporting with FuelCloud has the added bonus of helping protect you from audits and penalties. The digital transaction records that FuelCloud keeps are consistent with the preferred format for state and federal auditing boards - in fact, FuelCloud received one of the first perfect audit scores in Texas based on the quality of transactions records our customer kept.

Getting Started Saving Money

Already have a FuelCloud system but not sure where to start? Here are a few tips:

• Pop quiz: how much fuel did you use last week? Was it more or less than you normally use? Know your baseline. Look at total volumes over the last few months to identify a baseline, and see if you can isolate the main reasons why fuel use is higher (or lower) than expected
• Control tank access to direct drivers to better-priced fuel. Rather than giving drivers blanket access to all tanks, limit access so your most expensive fuel is only available to the drivers or jobs that need it most.
• Examine the usage of your 5 most filled vehicles. Are those vehicles being used efficiently? Are they up to date on their maintenance? Are there more fuel-efficient vehicles that could be doing the same jobs? Small improvements to overall fuel use can add up very quickly into big savings

 Building a More Sustainable Business, Now and Tomorrow

Fuel is often the second largest expense (after headcount) at a company, so the reality is that reducing fuel costs is always a priority. While the present moment shows how painful unexpected spikes can be, the measures that customers can take now will pay off even more in the long run as prices normalize. 

The only certainty in the fuel market right now is more uncertainty, and driving season is around the corner. Now is a great time to get started with FuelCloud and to start saving.