When I joined the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC) about a year ago, I was skeptical that it would be worth my time and money. Now after calculating my savings in fuel costs over the past year, I've discovered that I easily recouped my membership fee and a lot more. March 1st was my first anniversary in NASTC and I saved $951 off of the cash pump price at the network fuel stops that I use. The membership includes a myriad of other benefits that are too numerous to mention here, but check out the link above for yourself.
The NASTC Quality Plus Fuel Card is administered by Fleet One. It provides me with a means of purchasing fuel at over 4,500 locations. Quality Plus Network (QPN) is a limited network fueling program that provides trucking companies and their drivers with some of the highest quality stops available. This is how I saved the $951 in fuel for a year. All of the transactions are computed on a Cost Plus, Retail Minus, or Marquee price whichever is better for the trucking company at the point of sale, ensuring fair pricing to the trucking company every time. The discounts are also true discounts, not rebates, in that they are computed daily and subtracted from the billing. The company never has to pay more up front and then wait months for a rebate. QPN includes many truck stops that are already company and driver favorites. The participating truck stops not only guarantee a fair price every time you buy fuel, but provide drivers with access to the quality they need to insure maximum comfort and productivity. In other words, these QPN fuel stops are not hole in the wall truck stops, but some of the most respected name brands in the industry.
It was a little tough starting out because I used to buy fuel with my credit card, which gave me a 25 day cycle to pay it off. However, the price was usually higher than the cash pump price so I was losing money by buying fuel this way. The QPN requires payment every week so I was only able to buy an occasional tank full until I slowly built up my fuel funds. Soon I started to buy all my fuel through the QPN and paid it off every week and have been saving money ever since!