RISING OIL PRICES is something we should all worry about as it always also means that the prices of essential goods like food will go up. This has now become so normal, though, that we have become desensitized to news updates about oil price hikes coming up almost every week.
Keeping the business afloat in light of these rising fuel prices is something that a lot of logistics operators are struggling with. If you’ve clicked on this article and started reading this, you’re probably operating a logistics business yourself. I have good news for you, though: You can still save up on fuel and maximize your profits on every trip if you follow these simple tips:
1. Avoid overloading
You probably think you’re saving yourself from another trip when you overload but overloading is actually bad for your truck’s fuel mileage. I know it sounds counterintuitive but overloading forces the truck to produce more energy to pull a heavier amount of load—energy that the truck will produce from consuming more fuel.
2. Get a Fleet Card
If you haven’t yet, get a fleet card. This is a must-have for anyone who runs logistics operations. Fleet cards are cards available from major petrol companies that allow you to pay for fuel and maintenance at gas stations without paying for them upfront. You will only pay for them once the bill comes from the gas station company. This would allow you to better manage your fuel and maintenance expenses as you will be able to track them with the bill. Almost every fleet card also has zero interest.
3. Follow PMS
As the old saying goes: Take care of your truck and your truck will take care of you. Following the Preventive Maintenance Schedule (PMS) closely will also help you save up on fuel. For example, changing oil filters will ensure that your truck is taking in the right air-to-fuel ratio as a dirty filter will cause your engine to consume more fuel.
Another illustration of why you need PMS is misaligned wheels. Misaligned wheels will cause your truck to take more effort to move forward, taking in more fuel than it should. Following PMS would fix this by ensuring the wheels are properly aligned and it would take your truck just the right amount of fuel to roll on the highway.
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4. Get in the high gear on the highway
Sometimes the secret to saving fuel while driving is proper rev-matching. Make sure that you are driving at high gears when driving fast on the highway. Driving fast while in low gear will cause your truck’s engine to consume almost half more fuel than necessary.
5. Stay updated on the traffic conditions along routes
Planning your route is a common practice among logistics operators, so this subsection will only be a sort of reminder for all of you. Traffic conditions these days change suddenly as schools begin face-to-face classes and more and more offices are asking their workers to work on-site from the comfort of the work-from-home setup. Some of the routes you might have taken last year as an alternative route may have gotten a fair amount of traffic and, likewise, other routes that used to have heavy traffic might have gotten lighter.
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