Saving on fuel

The first step is to see if you can get a permit to store gasoline. They may also require a double wall, underground tank and sampling wells to allow for easy testing for leaks.

Dunno about bulk, but I've seen one-off situations where good fuel is disposed of for free or at a huge discount- for example, when they drain the tanks of light aircraft, the fuel cannot readily be re-used for that purpose, so it can be had cheaply in lots of a few hundred gallons if you have a place to store it, and can use whatever diesel-like fuel that small turboprops use (Jet A, I think). It costs more than regular diesel to buy, but like horse oats, the price goes down once it's been "processed".

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I would, frankly, prefer to avoid getting permits and registered tanks. Read this however you wish.

Ideally, I want to find, perhaps, some bulk fuel company that could come out and fill our trucks on site, so I am not paying for someone's street corner location.

i

Wonder if you could buy a used home heating oil delivery truck, that way no permanent tank to site and permit. Then possibly you could drive to a bulk distributor and get 1000 gallons on diesel at a time (I assume you need diesel, not gasoline, given the vehicles you listed) and just pump from truck to truck as needed. First thing is to look in the yellow pages for wholesale fuel or oil companies and call them to see what volume you have to buy to open an account.

I would, frankly, prefer to avoid getting permits and registered tanks. Read this however you wish.

Ideally, I want to find, perhaps, some bulk fuel company that could come out and fill our trucks on site, so I am not paying for someone's street corner location.

i

There are certainly companies that do that, as well as gas stations built for fleets. The latter are often unmanned and take only cards issued by them.

I need about equal quantities of diesel and gasoline.

Thanks. I will look into it.

i

Does Illinois have card-key companies? You should be able to save a few pennies that way. A card-key company with a good distribution of stations may be better for you even if they cost a bit more, because you'll have the convenience of getting fuel when you're on the road as well as at home.

Check with your accountant, make sure that you're not double-paying any fuel taxes, or otherwise missing out on tax dodges. I can't tell you because (a) it'll be specific for your state, and (b) I don't even know the answer for Oregon.

This goes back probably a decade and their business model might have changed. There is a station at Wolf rd and Lake st, on the other side of the tracks from you.

I pulled in there once for gas and was turned away. They were a cashless station and their primary deal was filling up fleet vehicles for the industrial strip down there. Companies would have an account (presumably at some sort of discount) and their drivers would get a card and fillup as needed.

Like I said, this was years ago and things may have changed, but it is worth looking into.

Paul K. Dickman

I will go there, I know the place, just across the street from the hydraulic hose store and next to Service Spring.

Thanks

i

Construction companies have these truck-mounted tanks that can dispense diesel either with an electric or manual pump. You might be able to pick up one of these, used. Take it to a bulk fuel outfit and fill the tank, then leave it at your shop and refuel as needed. Not sure if these things can be taken out of the truck when full, though. I don't know anything about them, just know I've seen them at construction sites. Also, you need to make sure you pay the road use tax for vehicles driven on public roads. You can save a fair amount having non-road-taxed fuel for forklifts and such machinery.

Jon

I already have a great 100 gallon tank that I put on wheels.

I have forklifts, it is not a problem at all.

What I would like to find is some discount place that can, say, fill that 100 gallon diesel tank if I take it there. I can just send a guy with a pick-up truck to fill this tank at that site. Hazmat rules do not apply to it since my tank is under 119 gallons. If I can save, say, $60 per gallon, it would be 60 dollars saved.

i

Are there any "Card Lock Fuels" in your area? They are often significantly cheaper than normal fuel stations.

You may wish to review the requirements for onsite fuel storage. In some places..it can be exceptionally onerous.

Gunner

Up here in Ontario there are "key stations" where you go in with your key-card and fill up with diesel fuel. The price is usually significantly less than at a normal service station - and less overall than you could buy bulk for. Having your own bulk tank entails meeting all kinds of environmental criteria as well - and a 100 gallon tank is definitely not going to save you anything because of the delivery fees. There are a lot of trucks out there on the highway that take on that much at every fillup. Baby Bro used to carry 300 gallons (Canadian). If you could buy several thousand gallons at a time there might be some small savings.

Yeah, Iggy, google "cardlock" for your neck of the woods. You should see quite a few. Grants Pass has only 33k people and we have 3 cardlock stations here. That's your best bet for saving money.

Generally, around here, delivery to on-site equipment is more expensive than buying from a truck-stop or card-key fuel depot.

PetroCan provides the service up here - along with Petro-pass key stations.

Lots of others as well.

Average markup at the pump is about $0.12 per gallon. Average on-site delivery cost with average of 55 gallons per fillup is about $0.25 per gallon. It makes a lot of sense for a big operator who can have 10 or more vehicles fueled up on-site while the driver is home sleeping and not being paid for the half hour it takes to go to the station and fuel up the vehicle. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense for 2 trucks with relatively low fuel requirements

Cannot carry 1000 gallons of fuel without a proper permit. It varies state to state and province to province, but MOST areas will not allow

500 gallons of fuel in an unpermitted and un-placcarded vehicle. Most limit to 300 or 400 gallons - there were states where my brother could not legally run with all 4 saddle tanks filled.

I'm not sure how much you can really save, as far as I know the margins on the station end are pretty small. You can get untaxed diesel at the truck stops, but you have to pay the tax anyway to the states you drive through so the net result isn't really different.

Your best savings route is to make sure the trucks are well maintained, tires inflated, etc. and drive for economy, i.e. stay a bit below the speed limit, in the highest gear you can, look far ahead and try to sync up with traffic lights to avoid stopping and all the fuel to get back up to speed etc. and of course don't use a bigger vehicle than you need to. Figure the cost per mile for each vehicle so you know which is optimum since it isn't necessarily the smallest one though it usually is.

I'm really suspecting that since you aren't really in a position to take advantage of untaxed off-road diesel like a big construction company is for backhoes and graders and whatnot, that you will find there isn't much to be saved and it isn't worth the hassle of transfilling from small site tanks to save $10.

Those key stations are untaxed diesel for semis that still have to pay the fuel taxes on a state by state basis based on the miles logged in each state I believe. The net price I don't believe is much different from other stations.