Wish you could save more money on your fuel costs?  Check out what some companies are doing to help you out.

FUEL CREDIT CARDS

Truckers Advantage www.truckersadvantage.com

This is a fuel credit card that is honored at Fleet One fueling sites nationwide and at over 1,300 rebate and $0 transaction fee locations.  Something to consider is the transaction fee per location.  It doesn’t say that ALL locations are transaction fee free, so you may want to check first.

Momentum Fuel Card offers fleet cards offer up to 20 cents off per gallon on your fuel purchases.  If you are a fleet owner, this might be worth looking into.  www.momentumfuelcard.com

If you choose a fuel credit card, look at the fine print.  Some give you a very low introductory APR rate and then jack the APR to 11+% after the introductory period ends.  Be aware of what this card could potentially cost you in the long run.  Also look at annual fees, if there are any.

Fleet Cards USA offers a fuel savings calculator and assists in finding the right credit card for you.  Fleetcardsusa.com

You pick the area of the country, your vehicle type (18 wheeler) and number of trucks you have.  Two is the least number of vehicles this site will calculate for but if you are a single owner-operator, just divide the Average Savings in half.  Pretty simple.  Something to also consider.

LOYALTY PROGRAMS

Petro Truck Stops

Petro Truck Stops www. Petrotruckstops.com are nationwide and have a rewards program called Petro Passport Driver Rewards.  Here’s a link to get you there.  http://www.petrotruckstops.com/driver_rewards.sstg

You earn 1 point for each gallon of diesel fuel purchased and 1 point for each dollar spent on Petro:Lube services (some exclusions apply).

Redeem points at any of their locations, looking for the Passport kiosk to print out Award Certificates.  Award certificates may be redeemed at the Travel Store, the Iron Skillet Restaurant, the Fuel Island, and at Petro:Lube for all products and services excluding fuel, tobacco, and lottery tickets.  Membership looks to be free as I didn’t find anything indicating otherwise.

Travel Centers of America

Truck Stops of America is another large chain across the country  www.tatravelcenters.com is partnered with Petro Truck Stops to provide Loyalty Program options to drivers.  Earn points to use in their restaurants, shops, and stores.  Plus they have an on-line catalog for easy shopping as well.  Check their website if interested.  Membership is free.

And, while you are on the internet checking everyone else out, check out Easy Trucking Software.  www.easytruckingsoftware.com It is a great software program designed by a trucker for truckers at a reasonable cost and no additional fees of any kind.  Get a FREE Trial Download by going to www.easytruckingsoftware.com and click on Download.  Follow the directions and install it on your computer.  Very easy to use and the download can be turned into either the Owner Operator version or Fleet version with a password.  Information entered into the program is saved, no need to re-enter anything.  Try it before you buy it!  The only thing you spend is your time.

The bottom line is shop around!

Check with your financial institution for a line of credit on your Debit card for business.  See what they can recommend to you.

Like I said before, be aware of all the fine print, such as % rate or APR cost (annual percentage rate), and annual fees if you are looking for a fuel credit card.  If you are faithful on paying the balance off on a credit card each and every month, then the interest rate is not as important to you as to those who may carry a balance month to month.  You may be more interested in the rewards the card may offer than the costs, since you won’t be accruing any.

Let me know if there is a topic/subject you would like to see in my blog and let me know how I’m doing.

Easy Truckin is brought to you by Easy Trucking Software. We hope you enjoy it.

Are you regularly asking for discounts?  If not, why not?  The worst someone will say is no and it didn’t you cost you anything for asking.   But it could be worth your asking time if the answer is yes.  Think of the possibilities of where you could be saving some money.

Discount on your insurance for loss-free driving and ticket-free driving.  Insurance companies love the squeaky clean driver and sometimes reward you accordingly.

Shop around when looking for an insurance company.  Ask some questions about any discount programs they may have and compare pricing.  It could be worth it to be able to pay your truck insurance on a monthly basis rather than quarterly, semi-annually or annually.  If you are dealing with an Independent Agent, try to get a better deal on insurance by bundling your personal vehicles, motorized toys and home/renters insurance all together for bigger discounts on everything.  Ask other truckers who they have for insurance coverage and whether or not they would recommend them and why.  Most people will gladly share good and bad experiences with companies.  You ultimately decide who is going to get your $$ for coverage.

How about meal discounts?  Take advantage of customer appreciate cards at food stops you frequent.  Some may give you reward $$ that accumulate and others give a free meal after the purchase of others.   Ask the waitress/waiter if they have any program and participate if it’s to your advantage.  Those of you with AARP cards or eligible for the seniors discount, don’t be shy to ask for that discount on your meals.  It all adds up.

I can just hear what you are saying that you can write off your meals.  Maybe so, but we are talking daily out of pocket expenses that you encounter every day.  You decide whether or not you want to keep more of your money right now or wait until the end of the year.  You can still write off your meals, but a little extra cash right now is my first choice.  How about you?

Asking for discounts at big box stores like Wal-Mart doesn’t work so well unless the item is slightly damaged but still usable.  But if you are dealing with a local business, sometimes you can fernagel (negotiate) a better deal by just asking an employee or asking for the manager.

Did you know that the United States is the only country where the people don’t dicker (negotiate) prices with a seller.  True!  Give it a try sometime and tell me about your experiences.

About a year ago my stove quit.  We talked about what I wanted in the next stove and how much we could afford to spend.  And guess what, we found what we were looking for at the price we were willing to pay which was almost half what the stove was originally priced.  Of course the salesman is going to direct you to the more expensive models but we found ours discounted as a floor model and it came with the full one-year warranty which I took advantage of when the oven didn’t heat correctly.  A new “brain” was installed at no cost and everything is now good.  Had we not asked for a better deal, the salesman never would have directed us to the floor models that were for sale.

I am a big Dave Ramsey fan.  If you never heard of him, google the name Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University and check him out.  He gives sound money management advice/debt reduction which has helped us and many others we know.  He also teaches asking for discounts and negotiating prices and not to be afraid of walking away.  If someone is eager/commissioned for a sale, they will try to do whatever they can to make that sale.

We at Easy Trucking Software try to help you keep more of your money as well.  We provide a quality product at a reasonable price you pay for only once.  And if you are an OOIDA member, ask me about the discount we offer just for you.  www.easytruckingsoftware.com Get a FREE Trial Download to check us out before you even spend $1 of your money on anything.  www.easyruckingsoftware.com click on Download.

So back to asking for discounts…….like I said earlier, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.  And the worst that could happen is a no.  But the best that could happen is you save some money right now.

Easy Truckin is brought to you by Easy Trucking Software. We hope you enjoy it.

Knowing the base cost of fuel can save you money.  Want to know how?  Keep reading.

With the cost of fuel what it is, being a successful trucking is getting harder.  That is why you absolutely have to know how to calculate your next fuel purchase.

As you know, the cost of fuel is comprised of the actual fuel cost plus the state and federal taxes collected on each gallon.

It is essential that you know the base cost of the fuel so you can make wise buying decisions.  For example, if you are in one state that has fuel of $2.99 a gallon and has a $0.35 per gallon tax, that would give you a base cost of $2.64 per gallon ($2.99 – $0.35 = $2.64).

The state right next to it is selling fuel for $2.79 a gallon. That looks like a very attractive price, however, their tax rate is only $0.09 per gallon.

This then brings the base cost of the fuel to $2.70 a gallon which is considerably higher than the previous state.  ($2.79 – $0.09 = $2.70)

Finding the tax rates in the Easy Trucking Software program is very simple.

Just go to the tax table page in Fuel Manager and click on the fuel tax rates on the internet button.  That will open your web browser to www.ifta.org which lists the tax rates for each quarter.

By subtracting the tax rate from the gallon of fuel you will know the base cost of fuel and be able to make wise buying decisions.

Let Easy Trucking Software help you run your business successfully.

Get a FREE Trial Download of the Easy Trucking Software software by visiting the website www.easytruckingsoftware.com and click on Download

Tires…….are they really all equal???

According to one of our customer’s by name of Wildbill this is what he has been doing to help improve his MPG.

Wildbill tells me he got another 1.5 mpg out of his old 95 volvo with 2,398,523 miles on it and 3.91 rears with 18sp.  “Unless you drive in mud or off road like flat bedders, change your drivers out for all position steers.  I am using Bridgstone r280 getting almost 200,000 miles on them with rotation of course.  But fact is they are extremely fuel efficient and according to Bridgstone the tire has about 5 % less rolling resistance than a normal drive tire.  And when you do that times 8 tires thats 40% difference on the roll.”

“I get great traction in rain, snow, and ice using the same driving practices.”

Thank you Wildbill for sharing your experiences with us.

Tell me how your tires measure up and what are you doing different to help with more getting MPG.

If you have a topic you would like to see an article on, let me know.  I am always interested in hearing from the audience of what you think and what you want to hear more about.

Easy Truckin is brought to you by Easy Trucking Software. We hope you enjoy it.

First some terminology:

The term Crash, this is when a program or your entire PC stops working and may also include a frozen screen.

Reboot means to restart your computer.

Control Panel is the windows feature that gives you access to your system utilities and settings.

OK, with that said, the best thing to do when your PC crashes is nothing.  That’s right, I said nothing.   Give it a couple minutes, it could be your computer is working on something behind the scenes and has not crashed.

After a few minutes and nothing has happened try the “3 finger salute”.   The “3 finger salute” is pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time.  From here you can either restart your computer or in the Task Manager box you can End Task the program that is giving you the problem.

If your computer is still unresponsive, repeat the “3 finger salute” and click Shut Down on the dialog box.

As a last resort, press the Reset button on your CPU.   But again, this is a very last resort.

Taking care of your PC should cut down on the crashing frequency.  Here are a few thing to watch for:  Always keep about 25% of your hard disk free.  Anything less than that and your hard disk will struggle.  To find our how much free space you have go to My Computer (XP) / Computer (Vista) and right click on the hard disk icon.  Choose Properties from the drop down menu.

If your hard disk is filling up fast, delete any programs that you rarely or never use.  Do that by choosing the “add or Remove Programs” icon from the Control Panel.  This should help free up some space for you.  Deleting large audio or video files will also help.

We at Easy Trucking Software www.easytruckingsoftware.com can’t say enough about backing up your files.  We recommend using a flash drive with our program because it is inexpensive and can save hours of time having to rekey information into the program.  Use a Flash Drive, external hard drive or internet storage.  You decide what is right for you and then DO IT!  Do it on a regular basis and it will make your life much easier in the event something happens to your PC and you need to restore a program or file.  I personally have an external hard drive attached to my computer that mirrors the capacity of my hard disk (i.e. 30 GB computer hard disk and a 30GB external hard drive).   I back up everything!

Programs also need a certain amount of RAM (random access memory) to work properly.  Each program will tell you what it needs by selecting Control Panel and click on System Tools and then System Information.  Toward the bottom of the list is the total available physical memory.  Software with lots of graphics, video or sound usually need the most RAM.

Keep your hard disk (C: drive) cleaned up too.  Some regular housekeeping is necessary to keep your PC running at peak performance.

Defragment your disk by going into System Tools and click Disk Deframenter.  This process may take quite a while depending on the size of your hard disk.  Just start it and walk away and do something else for a while.

Remember – A healthy PC is a happy PC.

Easy Truckin is brought to you by Easy Trucking Software. We hope you enjoy it.

What the heck is a firewall?  I know I have one in my car and truck, but what is it doing in my computer?

Your computer firewall is a piece of software or hardware that sits between your computer and the internet that restricts what types of data can flow into your computer or out from your computer.  Viruses can be prevented by using a good firewall.  It will filter or block certain types of network traffic entering your computer.  Things like viruses, worms or unwanted/unauthorized remote access into your computer are blocked at the firewall.  The firewall is built to know the difference between a virus and email and can be configured to allow certain kinds of connections from the outside.

There are two different firewalls, hardware and software.

A hardware firewall would be a broadband router that filters traffic before it even gets to your computer.

A software firewall is a software program that runs on your computer and filters and prevents traffic from getting through to your operating system of your computer.

If you are looking for more information about firewalls, do an internet search on firewalls.

What is the best virus scanner around and will it catch all viruses trying to enter my computer?

There are a variety of virus scanners on the market.  To name one that is the best is subjective and we all have our own favorite program that we swear by.  Pick one and install it on your computer.  Something is always better than nothing.  The advantage of having a real time virus scanner, which is preferred, is it will detect viruses as they they try to enter your computer and are stopped and deleted.  You may notice that your computer runs a little bit slower in this mode but it is worth it if you don’t end up with a virus in your machine and all sorts of computer headaches.  If you feel you need a second virus scanner, run it from time to time to catch anything that slips through the first scan.  There isn’t one anti-virus program out there that will catch every virus.  Each program is a little different from the next.

This is where having a firewall in place is another deterrent of viruses sneaking in and infecting your computer.  Pay attention to warnings you may get from your firewall or virus scanner when downloading anything to your computer, and don’t open an email attachment that is not recognized.

My computer is running slower and slower and where is all this junk email coming from?

What could be happening is you have spyware that has attached itself to your computer, gathering information about your internet habits and sending them back to someplace else.  Suddenly you are getting more and more email from places you have never visited making your email a nightmare to wade through.

There is help!  Do an internet search for Free anti-spyware software.  There are quite a few out there.  Read the reviews and pick one and run it to remove the spyware from your computer.  Do this on a regular basis if you are a regular internet surfer and be sure to update your anti-spyware software too.  The first time I did this to my computer it ran over 30 minutes cleaning out all the “junk” that had attached itself to my computer.  Wow, did it make a difference in my computer speed.  If you can set this up as an automatic function on your machine, so much the better.  Then you won’t have to try to remember to run the anti-spyware.

Just as you want your computer to run smoothly when you need it, so should your business.  Tracking all your data is important to know exactly how much money you are making and the expenses you incur.  That’s where Easy Trucking Software comes in.  Easy Trucking Software will keep track of all your income, your expenses, your fuel and mileage, helping you stay on top of your business every day.  But don’t take my word for it, visit our website at www.easytruckingsoftware.com and get your FREE download (don’t you just love that word FREE).  Try it out before you buy it and remember that your trial download can be turned into the real thing with just a phone call to purchase.

Easy Truckin is brought to you by Easy Trucking Software. We hope you enjoy it.

Taking your trucking business to the next level may mean:

• searching for and taking better paying loads,
• signing on with a different carrier
• expanding your business by adding another driver or two, or
• getting your own authority

Your next level will be different than the next drivers next level.  You decide and set the goals you want to achieve for your business.

Getting to that next level will involve some work on your part.  It means you need to have your finger on the pulse of your business.  You need to know where your money is going, how much are you spending, and what you are spending it on.

Evaluate your business and know where the fat is and begin the trimming process.  Do this often on a regular basis.  Why pay for services you aren’t using and things that are not necessary.

Since we have cell phones and no kids as home anymore, we got rid of our home phone last summer and haven’t missed it.  I now pocket the money I was spending on a home phone that was seldom used anymore.  All our friends and family got the email or snail mail regardlng the phone change and cell numbers.   Everyone likes being able to reach us wherever and whenever.  I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not.

OK,  its time to start with paper and pen.  Sit down and write down your business goals and your plan to get you to your goal.  Like mapping out your route to your next drop, you need a plan.  Sometimes there are detours, but take them as they come and don’t worry about them ahead of time.

Put to paper what you want to achieve in your business, for example, by year end.    Then start thinking about and writing down all the things you will need to do to reach your goal.  Be realistic with your goal setting too.  You want to be able to achieve your goals.  Analyze your map of things to do often and decide whether or not your goal is achievable in the time frame and tweak things from time to time to stay on track.

Also having good trucking software to help you keep track of all your business income and expenses is key.  Getting the reports you need to evaluate your business is also a must or you are shooting in the dark.  Easy Trucking Software can help you with this at a very affordable price.

Dropping our home phone is just one of the things we did to save money.  Now it’s your turn to trim unnecessary expenses and take your business to the next level

Easy Truckin is brought to you by Easy Trucking Software. We hope you enjoy it.