Karen’s View

One of the most challenging parts of managing your fleet’s fuel expenses is how difficult it is to predict fuel prices.  Although for the most part, the cost per gallon changes very slowly, that is not always the case.  Don’t forget about 2008, when fuel prices shot up faster than anyone could have predicted.  Suddenly we were paying more than $4 a gallon for fuel.  For a fleet manager who is forced to operate his fleet on a tight budget, these kinds of unexpected jumps in fuel prices can be devastating.

What can you do?  Luckily, there is something called fuel price protection.  This is where you sign an agreement with a company to continue buying fuel at an agreed-upon price, even if the market jumps during your contract period.  Most programs will enable you to choose the length of your agreement.  This gives you the choice of whether you want to lock in your fuel prices for just a few months, or a year or more.  Fixed price fuel programs are available for both diesel and regular gasoline.

Fuel price protection is not a totally new concept, but it is relatively new to smaller fleets.  Large fleets have been using their influence to get fixed fuel prices for a while now.  With many trucks and substantial fuel needs, the promise of their patronage gives them a valuable bargaining chip.

Small fleets, on the other hand, are starting to take advantage of fuel price protection programs, as well.  Even if you don’t have a hundred or more vehicles, you can enjoy the benefits of a fixed price program.

To demonstrate how valuable fuel price protection can be, let’s imagine that we have another spike in fuel prices, as we did in 2008.  Your drivers fill their tanks at a fixed price of $3.00 per gallon, while the rest of the country is paying $4.41 per gallon.  Let’s say you get 500 gallons a month at that fixed price.  That means you are saving $7.05 a month, which works out to be about $8,000 per year if the price jump lasted that long.  Could you stand to save $8,000 per year on your fleet budget?  Who couldn’t?

There is another advantage to fuel price protection, above and beyond simply saving money if fuel prices jump again.  Even when fuel prices only vary by a little bit every week, this makes it difficult for you, as the fleet’s manager, to run an effective budget.  With a fixed price per gallon for fuel, however, you can stabilize your fuel costs, and better predict your spending weeks or even months in advance.  This enables you to budget out months in advance, and make long-term plans based on your budget.

When combined with other tools for managing a successful fleet, such as assigning Fleet Mastercards to each vehicle for tracking fuel consumption and fleet service, fuel price protection helps you to minimize your fleet expenses and maximize your business’s profits.

Technorati Tags: Fleet Mastercards, fleet service

Avoid the majority of risks associated with hazardous waste by using proper safety storage for these materials.

Improper safety storage of hazardous waste materials can lead to some serious, life-threatening issues in the home or workplace. The sad thing is that most of the emergencies associated with hazardous waste could actually be avoided if the materials were stored properly in the first place.

Proper Labeling of Hazardous Waste

The first thing to keep in mind when it comes to hazardous waste storage is that proper labeling will prevent a lot of safety issues. Earth 911 recommends the following tips for labeling hazardous waste:

o    Read the label before storing any hazardous waste. The label provides a lot of really important safety storage information. This information includes whether or not the item must be stored in a well-ventilated area. It also provides information about the temperature range that is safe for storing the materials.

o    Never remove the safety label on a container of hazardous materials. You may need this information in the future. Also, it allows others that enter the area to be readily aware of the risks associated with the product.

o    Properly label any new containers where you store hazardous materials. In some cases you may have to transfer hazardous materials out of their original containers. Avoid doing this if at all possible. If it is necessary, take extra care to properly label the new container with all of the important safety information contained on the old label.

Tips for Hazardous Waste Storage Locations

When selecting the location where you will be storing your hazardous waste, keep the following tips in mind:

o    Never store hazardous waste near your food. Even if the containers are safely sealed, vapors can affect the safety of your food. Hazardous waste should always be stored as far away from kitchens, food preparation and food storage areas as possible.

o    Look out for any sources of heat or flame. You never want to store hazardous waste near anything that produces heat or flame. Doing so causes the risk of fire or explosion.

o    Never store hazardous waste in damp or wet areas. This can cause the containers that the waste is stored in to corrode which can lead to leaks of dangerous materials.

o    Always make sure that the storage area is out of reach of pets, children and anyone else who may not understand the special precautions necessary when dealing with such materials. This may mean putting the materials in a storage area that is up high and out of reach. Alternatively, it may mean putting the materials in a locked room. Regardless of where items are stored, they should always have childproof, tightly secured lids.

Additional Tips for Storing Hazardous Waste

Finally, some other general tips to keep in mind when storing hazardous waste include:

o    Keep an eye on the containers over time. If you don’t regularly use these materials then schedule a regular time each week or month to check on them. Look for signs of corrosion or leakage. Also look to make sure that the containers aren’t bulging as this can be a sign that the container may be about to explode.

o    Be aware that there are different types of hazardous waste and they should not be stored together. For example, you should not store a corrosive waste material next to a flammable waste material.

o    Never mix hazardous waste materials for any reason. Even if you have two items that appear to be the same, you shouldn’t mix them. It’s an unnecessary risk that shouldn’t be taken.

o    Keep the poison control number readily available in the area where hazardous waste is stored. Hopefully you’ll never have to use it but it should be easy to find just in case.

What is your biggest concern about storing hazardous waste? Share your answer in the comments!

About the Author:

Vera Mosley is a blogger, tweeter, and writer for a safety storage company.  In her spare time, Vera is an avid decorator and Do-It-Yourself expert. Vera can be reached at www.twitter.com/VMosley.

Technorati Tags: Hazardous Waste, Properly Store Hazardous Waste, safety, storing waste

One of the ways you can cut down on your waste is to find other ways to use things than throwing them away.  You’ll be amazed at how many ordinary, everyday items around your house can be used or re-used for something useful.  Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

• Coffee grounds: Have you ever noticed that Starbucks usually offers used coffee grounds?  Coffee grounds can be used in your garden or in your compost pile.  Grounds make great fertilizers and break down quickly when they are composted.  You can add them to the soil in your garden or your indoor potted plants, sprinkle them on top of the soil, or add water and pour the mixture over your plants as a liquid fertilizer.
• Aluminum foil: Are you tired of buying dryer sheets or fussing with liquid softener?  Aluminum foil effectively eliminates static cling, and can be reused!  Just crumple up a piece of aluminum foil into a ball and toss it into the dryer with your clothes.
• Dryer sheets: If you aren’t ready to get rid of those dryer sheets just yet, don’t throw them away when your laundry is done, either.  Dryer sheets actually make great dust cloths for cleaning mini blinds.
• Empty wine bottles: Don’t you hate it when your tall boots crumple and fall over?  Empty wine bottles make a great way to keep the shape of the leg part of your boots without stretching them.  Most wine bottles are the right size, just make sure you wash and dry them well first.
• Orange peels: When you peel an orange, what do you do with the peel?  Or what do you do with lemon and lime wedges after you’ve done squeezing them dry?  Don’t throw these things away anymore.  Running them through your disposal eliminates smelly kitchen sink odors.
• Plastic shopping bags: Many stores are now pushing reusable shopping bags, and some have even eliminated plastic bags altogether, but you may still find yourself inundated with plastic bags.  Don’t just throw these away — besides taking back to the store to be recycled, you can also use them as packing materials when packing up your belongings for moving or putting together a box to ship to someone.  They aren’t as good as bubble wrap, though, so don’t use them for irreplaceable breakables.
• Used magazines: Today’s magazines often have full-color pictures of gardens, pets, and other interests.  Instead of throwing a magazine away once you’ve read it, tuck it away and use its pages as wrapping paper.  You can also use newspaper for this same purpose. For instance, the comics page makes great wrapping paper for a child’s gift.
• Empty glass or plastic jars: Glass or plastic jars, such as what you buy jelly or mayo in, have a lot of uses, so don’t throw them away. You can use them to store food such as nuts, raisins, sugar, and so on.  Glass jelly jars also make great little vases if you remove the label!
• Coffee cans: Coffee cans make great storage containers because of their size and durability.  You can paint the cans to cover the coffee labels and match your kitchen décor, and use them for storing flour, sugar, rice, and pasta.

You will be amazed at how many of the things you use and discard on a daily basis can actually be reused or reinvented.  How do you reuse everyday items?  Or do you have any ideas for how you can start reusing things from now on?

About the author

Vern Marker is a writer on several different topics including how to live cost effectively. She knows how to get the most out of everything from coffee cans to espresso machines.

In the last post, we talked about the Hours of Service regulations, how they impact your drivers’ hours and some of the exceptions that have been put into place.  Unfortunately, these regulations present some challenges to drivers and fleet managers.  Some of these challenges have already been addressed with exceptions to the rules — for instance, limits on driving hours don’t apply during bad weather, or during the Christmas season for retail company employees.  Other challenges, however, still remain an issue for fleet managers.

Falsifying Logs

All drivers that travel outside of a 100-mile radius from the fleet’s base of operations must keep precise logs recording the hours they spend driving, both on duty and off duty.  Unfortunately, falsifying logs is one of the biggest problems that trucking companies face.  Often with the goal of maximizing their pay as much as possible, drivers won’t record all of their driving time.  A company that permits or even subtly encourages this to happen, however, can get into a lot of trouble for violating the law.

One way to get around this problem is to utilize electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) on all of your trucks.  These basically monitor each truck’s movements via GPS, allowing the system to accurately track each driver’s time spent on the road, as well as other things such as how long they spend letting the truck idle at truck stops.  In fact, GPS would so completely eliminate the problem that requiring these devices in all fleet vehicles has been discussed, and will likely happen eventually.

Underused Vehicles

A parking lot half full of trucks sitting idle can also be a concern for many fleet managers.  In the industry, it is standard to assign a different vehicle to every driver.  Unfortunately, when drivers are taking their required 10-hour break, their trucks are sitting in the parking lot.  This results in vehicles being underused, or, more precisely, in fleet managers having to buy and maintain more vehicles than they actually need (if you count up actual driving hours).

Fleets that run around the clock might consider allowing drivers to share trucks on alternating shifts.  This allows a fleet to have the same number of drivers and routes, but also a fewer number of trucks.  Instead of assigning a gas rebate card to every driver, you can instead assign one to every truck, to ensure that you are still able to track each vehicle’s gas mileage and maintenance using the card.

Unfair Compensation Rates

The limits on driving hours is frustrating for many truckers because it prevents them from being able to make as much money.  Many over-the-road truck drivers are paid for the mileage, rather than the hours they spend driving, which is why falsifying logs and putting in more hours (and thus racking up more mileage) is so tempting.

Unfortunately, most trucking companies don’t pay their drivers based on actual miles.  Instead, they use software or mileage guides to figure out the mileage.  Unfortunately, these tend to be fairly conservative in their estimates, which means many drivers are underpaid for their trips.  This makes it even more tempting for drivers to falsify their logs and put in more driving hours.

In addition to using GPS, another great way to get around the challenges created by these rules of the road would be to pay drivers by the hour.  If drivers were paid according to the number of hours they worked, the Hours of Service regulations would thereby put a cap on their earning potential, while at the same time ensuring that they would get paid fair wages for all hours worked (and not just time spent driving).  In effect, it would completely eliminate the desire to falsify logs and drive for longer than regulations allow.

These are just a few of the challenges that come up as a result of the rules of the road.  What are some other challenges you have encountered?

Technorati Tags: fleet fuel cards, fuel compliance

Many drivers choose their jobs because of the amount of independence and solitude they get to enjoy.  No co-workers to deal with all day, and no managers monitoring their every move.  Being alone in a truck all day may sound like torture to some, but to others it’s the perfect job.

However, there are rules of the road that need to be followed — regulations that determine how much time your drivers can spend on the road.  Both drivers and their fleet managers may find these regulations to be very limiting, especially if your fleet is short-staffed or your drivers want to maximize their earning ability.  However, penalties for violations of these regulations can be quite stiff, so it is good to know what your drivers can or cannot do.

Before we discuss the actual regulations, however, remember that these rules are put in place for the safety of your employees and other drivers on the road.  Driving for long periods of time without rest is physically and mentally taxing, and the risk of falling asleep behind the wheel puts your drivers, your business’ property, and the other drivers and passengers on the road in danger.

• Commercial drivers are not allowed to drive for more than 11 hours in a 14-hour period.  This allows three hours for breaks, meals, and other duties such as loading or unloading the truck.  After 14 consecutive on-duty hours are over, the driver MUST have 10 hours off.  This allows them plenty of time to sleep before their next shift.
• Drivers also can’t drive more than 70 hours total in an eight-day period.
• Over-the-road truck drivers must keep detailed logs indicating driving time, non-driving on-duty time, and off-duty time.  On the other hand, if the fleet has electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) in their trucks, driving time is tracked by GPS, and the handwritten logs don’t have to be kept.
• Drivers who stay within a 100-mile radius of “home base” do not need to keep logs, as long as their employers keep track of their driving time to ensure they don’t exceed the limits.

These regulations were put into place because of trucking companies that were making their drivers work long hours, endangering them and others on the road.  However, the law does recognize that there are some times when driving longer hours simply can’t be helped, and there are exceptions written into the law for these circumstances.  For instance, during bad weather the limits don’t apply, recognizing that weather can cause longer than normal times to go the same distance.  Also, short-distance drivers for retail businesses are allowed to exceed the driving limits during the holiday season.

Even with allowances for special circumstances, these regulations can cause some difficulties in scheduling drivers, planning routes, making deliveries, and scheduling fleet service.  In the next post we’ll look at some of these difficulties.