Did you know that a smart fuel strategy will actually make you money? Extra cash is sitting right there on your company's spreadsheet masquerading as an expense or hidden inside other costs.

When fuel prices were high, everyone wanted to know how to cut them. Now, while fuel prices are lower (a temporary thing, I assure you), fuel is still one of the highest operating costs for transport and logistics, right after labour. Up to 20% of your fuel costs are buried in labor, administration and overhead. And even more in waste, inefficiency, lost productivity and misappropriation. So, how do you reduce some of these hidden expenses?

Unlike other variable costs, your cost of refuelling is relatively easy to manage. There are a number of things you can do today to eliminate unnecessary waste. And tomorrow, when fuel prices start to creep up again, those savings will be even bigger.

By employing even a couple of these strategies, you can measurably and permanently, reduce your fuel spend. It's a lot of money now, and when fuel prices go up, it'll be even more. You have heard this before: fuel is a non-renewable resource, so plan to be more responsible. Make this a company-wide initiative. Decide who will become your company's Fuel Manager; then empower them to work with you to cut fuel consumption. To get you started, here are a few tips:

How are you currently getting the fuel you need? Does it make sense for you to pay the over-time, maintenance and administration necessary to send your fleet to card-locks? Do site tanks make more sense, or are there hidden expenses related to insurance, environment or theft? Have you looked into having fuel delivered directly to your vehicles? On-site fuelling cuts the cost of labor, reduces environmental risk, eliminates theft and converts time waiting to fuel into more productive work time - roughly 20 minutes per vehicle, per day.

Just this one strategy can save you thousands of dollars a year.

Check with an onsite delivery company and have a Fuel Needs Analysis done and compare it with your current method of refuelling. For optimum efficiency, refuelling is done when your equipment is idle, so productivity is not interrupted. You'll also save the fuel you would have used traveling to and from the card lock location. Add this all up and each month you're saving a significant amount of fuel, as well as hundreds of hours in unproductive labor, which can instantly be converted to productive labor.

Another fuel smart initiative is to measure and manage your fuel. The technology exists to help you record every drop of fuel consumed by each piece of equipment, and have that data delivered to you via email - in turn, allowing you to talk to your worst performing operators and show them where fuel is being wasted and make suggestions on improving their performance.

Your equipment will last longer too. When your operators are reminded regularly about the new fuel smart initiatives, they'll adjust their habits and consume less fuel. With that, operating time is cut. The result is you'll add months to the life of your equipment, cut maintenance costs, and allow you to delay taking on major capital expenses.

The Environmental Benefits

A new fuel strategy can easily save you 10% to 20% in fuel costs and a corresponding amount of toxic emissions will also be cut. You don't have to be a mathematician to understand how this can put more operating cash into your company. With a new fuel management strategy you'll also become part of a worldwide movement to help cut air borne pollutants. As a champion of good fuel management, you can take on a leadership role. Tell your customers what you're doing. It will attract attention and it'll be good for business, too.

As much as we enjoy low prices, we know it'll go up again. No one can predict if it will reach the extremes we saw a couple years ago, but either way, you'll save money with a better fuel strategy.