Most fleet operators track fuel cost per gallon. Fewer track the cost of time spent getting that gallon into the truck. When you run the math, the time is often more expensive than the fuel itself.
The 15-Minute Problem, at Scale
A single fuel stop for a commercial truck takes about 15 minutes from the time the driver leaves the yard to the time they are back on route. That includes the drive to the station, the fill-up, and the return.
Fifteen minutes sounds manageable. Run it across a fleet and the picture changes.
- 10 trucks stopping for fuel once per operating day: 150 minutes per day, 750 minutes per week
- Over 250 operating days per year: roughly 625 hours of paid driver time spent at gas stations
At a fully loaded driver cost of $28 to $35 per hour, those 625 hours cost $17,500 to $22,000 per year. That is before accounting for miles driven out of route, vehicle wear, and the scheduling disruption when a driver runs late because of a long pump line.
For a 20-truck fleet, double those numbers. For operations running multiple shifts or routes with tight delivery windows, the compounding is worse.
This is not a theoretical number. It shows up on timesheets, slows route completion, and compounds across every operating week of the year.
The Fleet Card Markup on Top of That
Most fleet operators also carry a second cost they feel but rarely quantify: the fleet card margin.
Fleet cards charge a per-gallon fee on top of retail pump pricing. When you factor in the retail price premium, card transaction fees, and the volume discount you give up by not buying in bulk, operations typically land 10 to 30 cents per gallon worse off than a well-run on-site fueling program.
For a 10-truck fleet burning 500 gallons per week, that disadvantage adds up to $50 to $150 per week. Over 50 operating weeks, that is $2,500 to $7,500 per year.
Combined with the labor cost above, a 10-truck fleet can spend $20,000 to $29,000 per year on the overhead of getting fuel into vehicles. Not the fuel itself. The process of fueling.
What Changes With On-Site Storage
The FuelCube from Fox Fuel OnSite Advantage puts a diesel storage unit at your yard or lot. Fox Fuel keeps it stocked on a delivery schedule built around your fleet’s burn rate. Your drivers fuel up from the tank before their routes start.
There are no pump stops, no fleet card transactions, no out-of-route miles, and no dispatch headaches from drivers running late because of a fuel detour. Drivers arrive, fuel up at the yard, and go.
The delivered diesel price is typically at or below retail pump price, and consistently below what fleet cards charge after fees. Bulk delivery to a fixed storage location is a fundamentally more efficient operation than a retail pump network, and the pricing reflects that.
The math runs the other direction: instead of losing driver time to fueling, that time goes back into routes. Dispatch runs tighter because the unpredictable variable of off-site fuel stops is removed entirely.
One Variable Worth Running for Your Operation
The numbers above use a 10-truck fleet as the example. The actual impact depends on your fleet size, shift structure, fuel type, and current card arrangement.
If you want to see what this looks like for your specific operation, we can put together a cost comparison quickly. We need your fleet size, fuel type, and approximate weekly usage. We will show you current delivered pricing and what the math looks like at your scale.
Fox Fuel delivers diesel to commercial operations across Montgomery, Bucks, and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania, and Camden County in New Jersey.
Questions about fuel delivery for your operation?
Call (215) 659-1616 or get a quote online. Fox Fuel serves commercial accounts across Pennsylvania and New Jersey from our Willow Grove location – family-owned since 1981.