Brainstorm solutions with your employees. Changing habits can save money.
Part one will discuss ways to help minimize this increased cost. Part two will focus on ways to approach your customers with varying ways to offset this added cost.
Get Your People Involved
- Meet with your people and get them engaged
- Make them aware of the challenge. Be specific, say our gas cast have gone up $/month
- Make sure they understand the potential impact this will have on the financials
- Brainstorm on possible solutions, ideas or additional info needed
- Decide on some specific areas that we can address or measure
- Assign champions to these areas
- Meet regularly to review progress or make any needed adjustments
- Measure results and reward positive results
Right-Sizing Your Equipment and Vehicles
- Take an inventory of all vehicles and equipment
- Now determine if these really make sense. Are we overkill on size?
- Look at the sales, supervisors and owners vehicles
- Get rid of the clunkers, they eat gas, look bad and are often unsafe
- Update vehicles and equipment with up-to-date fuel efficient technology
Minimize/Eliminate Driving Habits and Behaviors that are Gas Guzzling
- Needless Idling: in the yard, at the pump
- Don’t Tailgate: It’s not only dangerous and illegal but there is wear and tear on the brakes, and the fuel efficiency drops considerably
- Cruise Control: Use when practical. It saves 12 to 14 percent on fuel
- Slow Down: It’s safer and saves fuel in a big way. Some use GPS on this
- Acceleration: Jack-rabbit starts to suck up fuel and tax the transmission
Proper Maintenance and Tire Conditions
- Clean Air Filters: Clean or change on field equipment and vehicles on a regularly scheduled basis
- Tire Pressure: This is a BIG one, have metal caps, check pressure weekly, have a gauge in each truck, over-inflated wears out tire, under-inflated causes “Drag” and loss of MPG
If you have any other ideas on how you’re saving on gas costs please share them with us
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