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eesakiwi - That do make me think, My mom always taught us no matter how bad we may think our individual problems may be real or perceived. To always remember it could be much worse, someone somewhere has real problems and to get on with what you can deal with so your problems don't become even a bigger problem.
Army do you know who "Big Oil" is? I have switched to E85 for the two newest pickups. Do everything I can to be innovative, efficient and aware of my world. I sometimes chuckle when one of my brothers brings up this or that bill. My weekly fuel bill is over $1k a week. I defy anyone to put it in on paper, explain to me and the millions California's dealing with it how we get to pay more because???? So far I have herd it's not big oil doing it, it's the governments fault. It's the price we pay to live in paradise. It's the cost of labor and real estate (honestly thats is the only two that have some truth to it). I really want to see black and white reasons, not for the sake of a argument. I have been trying for 6 days to find answers, I come up with $3.10 to $3.50, but reality is $4.11 (now) and more than likely $4.20 by Friday.
Burt, I haven't researched it, but I have seen it mentioned that Cali has a different blend and that may cause prices to be higher for many reasons.
have you looked into a bulk fuel tank? I know a farmer that has a few and it saves him a fortune.
Bulk fuel tank requires local fire department and California enviromental permits, after paying those permits, the price will be over $5 per gallon and would still have problem of uncontrolled prices.
We have come up with some temporary solutions internally: Daily tracking of each crews milage vice monthly, vacation for some, and putting one truck idle per week by combining crews. Still will need to raise rates if this persist!
I don't know your range or number of trucks and equipment burt, I'm assuming quite a bit at 1k a week
but when prices were real high a few years ago We applied a fuel charge, instead of the rate raise.
our bills are itemized and the total doesn't change that much but it really helped curb the beating we were taking on driving and running equipment at, to/from the jobsite.
It was never much I think the highest was $25. but 5- 10 in fuel money every stop... 20 or so stops a day on our two crews.... roughly
when prices dropped we removed the charge as there was really no need unless a certain job or property requires excessive amounts of fuel.
sounds like you have done all you can do to try and keep cost down and be competitive...gotta pass the buck
Have you tried researching the supply chain ? I know i has some pretty big questions when the price of oil doubled in a single year awhile back. That helped set my mind at rest.
Working out better logistics could help reduce consumption.
I'm in a rural area so there's more driving to get from job to job but i typically don't rack up more than 9,000 miles a year. I'm averaging about 10 - 11 gallons of fuel use per week with an old f-150 running a 351. A lot of it is just planning the stops so that everything is in a straight line. It helps that all of my work is within an eight mile radius of the shop. Saves a ton of commuting time so there are more billable hours.
Small jobs ( 1 - 2 hrs) get billed at a higher hourly rate because they're so inefficient to do. The larger jobs where you drive there, work for a full day, then return to the shop are more cost effective to do.
Would it be more or less efficient to have the guys take their work vehicles home at the end of the day ?
How about service & maintenance ? I typically run a full synthetic motor oil in my machines. You can figure on an extra mile or two per gallon with a good synthetic. Have you looked at specialty plugs & wires. They can make quite a difference !
I was on a Ford Forum a few years back and there were some really sharp automotive techs in your neck of the woods. These guys knew their stuff. While the rest of us were averaging 15 - 16 MPG on our big v-8's they were pushing 22 mpg with the same motors. They had done a few small specialty mods but more than anything it was knowing how to set the engine up right.
Don't know about you, but i hate being dependent on imported oil & the people that are always jerking us around on the cost of a vital resource.
Every bit of streamlining reduces that dependence.
As Ryanw has stated, Northern Cal. is paying about $1.00 a gallon less, they use the same blend as Southern Cal. So the California special clean air "blend" could not be the total reason for our runnup in gas prices. The biggest reason that I can honestly see is the Torrance refinery still not up to capacity since the last August fire. Exxon/Chevron are playing a "stall" game in getting that refinery back to 100% capacity. They want AQMD (Air Quality Management District) and State EPA to roll back air quality standards. So that is the problem, Big Oil and Big Politics, with the working people paying for the tug-a-war game, (once again).
What I'm going to do is get as efficent as we can to survive this B.S. again! One of the things I noticed was how much needless cargo our trucks have been hauling around. Added weight decreases gas mileage, so extra weight needs to go. I found some trucks with dirt, rocks, concrete and just trash, I know was from jobs two or three weeks ago. So we are on a clean up the trucks first. Then limit unneeded miles and track each trucks cost weekly as best we can.
I don't know if this it for price increases, but yesterday was $4.21 and today $4.19 so down $0.02 (better than another increase).