Fuel prices have been steadily on the rise over the last few years, making it even more important for businesses of all kinds to track the cost of fuel for their organization. Landscaping businesses are particularly sensitive to rising costs because they rely on fuel for both their vehicles and their equipment. Here are some quick tips for landscaping businesses to proactively manage their fuel costs.

Keep Tabs on Inventory

Keeping an accurate log of inventory is crucial to keeping fuel costs low. Running out of fuel means landscapers will have to get an urgent fuel delivery, which may in turn incur added fees or higher fuel prices. If nothing else, businesses have no leverage to negotiate better bulk fuel prices with their supplier if they desperately need fuel immediately.

Carefully tracking fuel inventory can also help businesses detect and discourage fuel theft. Once fuel has been delivered, it is literally a liquid asset – fuel stolen from a site directly impacts a business’s bottom line.

By keeping an eye on inventory levels and making a point to check fuel levels regularly, you can more easily manage your overall fuel use and costs.

Pro Tip

A smart fuel management system is one of the best ways to keep track of where your fuel is going. Systems like FuelCloud make tracking fuel levels easy, with real-time visibility into tank levels and automated software alerts when a tank gets low.

Optimize your routes

Optimized, more efficient routes mean your vehicles use less fuel getting between jobs, in turn decreasing the overall amount of fuel needed. Better fuel efficiency can also come from instilling new behaviors around equipment use: while the difference between a few minutes of an idling engine and turning equipment off may not seem like a big deal, that wasted fuel adds up over time.

Have Fuel Efficient Equipment

Generally speaking, newer equipment will be more fuel efficient than older equipment. While this is especially true for vehicles, equipment also operates at peak efficiency when it’s relatively new. When possible, replacing old equipment will result in lower fuel use and, in turn, greater savings on overall fuel costs.

Using a Fuel Management System to keep track of your fuel is a great way to monitor and manage how fuel efficient your organization is being. A smart fuel management system like FuelCloud collects all the information you need to keep paperwork and reports simple.