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A simple way to ensure cutting costs and increasing your revenue is to use a method of measurement.
By using a spreadsheet or just writing down your results can mean big savings to your bottom line.
I have suggested that drivers maintain a record of their fuel mileage results for each fill-up. Over the years, drivers have said to me later that after tracking their fuel mileage, they experienced an increase as high as a mile per gallon.
You may ask… why would tracking your fill-ups increase your fuel mileage? When you begin to track the numbers, it becomes a game. When your mileage is higher, you will want to analyze what things you did correctly or what were the advantages to achieving those numbers?
The same goes for lower results. You will ask yourself… what factors or forces were at play which aided in reducing these numbers?
Now you have answers as to why or what factors influenced your results when comparing.
The same method can be used when tracking the results of freight loads, tire wear, maintenance and basically all other aspects of your business.
Remember: Before you can improve on current numbers, you need to develop a system to measure the results.


Henry Albert

 

Comments (8)

Henry Albert

Henry Albert is the owner of Albert Transport, Inc., based in Statesville, NC. Before participating in the "Slice of Life" program, Albert drove a 2001 Freightliner Century Class S/Tâ„¢, and will use his Cascadia for general freight and a dry van trailer. Albert, who has been a trucker since 1983, was recognized by Overdrive as its 2007 Trucker of the Year.

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It is necessary to know all the variables, otherwise it is garbage in garbage out.

April 10, 2016 20:24:32 PM

Fuel milage has always been a game to me. Tracking each and every tank. Taking pride in the highs, but not ignoring the lows. I'm always asking myself, "what if". What if I tried this, what if I tried that. And always keeping the calculated handy. Setting goals and remembering that this is real money we are dealing with.

September 17, 2012 19:07:18 PM

An ECM download (lifetime trip activity report) will provide a wealth of information regarding fuel usage. Idle time, idle percentage time, idle fuel used, over all mpg, drive time mpg. These are just a few of the many things you can learn about your truck from and ECM report.

September 16, 2012 23:14:34 PM

Mike,

A good rule of thumb for idling fuel consumption is to consider at least 1 gallon an hour. So if you cant track idle time you can get a good estimate of idle fuel consumption. Be aware, this will dilute the MPG calculation.

September 06, 2012 8:31:24 AM

Mike,
I find the ECM data to be a great way to compare a truck to itself as changes are made to improve fuel mileage. The ECM never fills the fuel tank to a different level making it a very accurate measurement.

When comparing two trucks to each other I am only concerned with the figures from the fuel pump. I do not like using ECM data to compare two trucks because if any of the parameters are changed all of the figures of the report become skewed.

September 05, 2012 19:18:23 PM

One thing I would like to start is a better way of tracking fuel used and mileage per trip. I rely on the trucks ecm alot for information and would like to see how accurate they really are. The one thing I can't track without the ecm is Idle fuel. Our drivers are good with idling their trucks but I still can't track the fuel use when they do idle.

September 04, 2012 15:04:35 PM

developing good habits along with information and self discipline are some of the keys to success

September 02, 2012 8:31:47 AM

I have tracked our fuel mileage since the first fuel up in this truck and I have a pretty good idea of the fuel mileage we will get depending on the weight of the load, terrain we will be driving on, and if we will have our pusher axle down. If the load is heavy and in mountains we need a little more per mile to reach our profit expectations. I keep a simple notebook in the front of the truck that we write in each time we fill up to track our fuel mileage and account balance in T-Chek. Fuel mileage is not the only game and sometimes knowing our numbers lets us know if we might need to run faster and sacrifice some of our fuel mileage in order to haul another load.

August 30, 2012 16:52:06 PM