Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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technology No credit? No problem Big Blue Trucking swaps credit with debit to manage spending F uel and corporate card programs are vital business tools. Using credit to delay payment of operating costs – especially fuel – accelerates cash flow, and the card controls help keep spending in line with the budget. Since fuel and corporate card programs are so common, it might be easy to overlook new opportunities to improve current practices. Big Blue Trucking identified an opportunity to swap its credit with debit to save money while improving spending controls and administrative efficiency. The Warren, Ohio-based company operates 65 trucks and hauls general bulk commodities; it also operates a 10-truck company, Prop Logistics, which picks up crude oil from domestic oilfields. Like most carriers, Big Blue issues fuel cards to drivers. Its fuel card program – Heather Best, Big Blue Trucking gives a discount on controller pump prices and Now we know who used (the card). Making the latest technology developments work for your fleet by Aaron Huff limits the amount and locations of fuel purchases. The company also can issue payroll advances to drivers through the card. The fuel card program is working fine, but Heather Best, Big Blue's controller, saw room for improvement in the company's corporate card program. When credit card statements came across her desk, they were filled with charges but no receipts. Big Blue officials who were issued company cards often passed them around to different departments as needed. An officer might have let the maintenance department use a card to buy parts, or the IT department would use one to buy a laptop. The credit card program generally lacked accountability, Best says. In some cases, the bank would cancel a card when it detected more than one person was signing for purchases. Cancellation would disrupt critical services – such as the company's E-ZPass account for toll roads – until the bank issued a new card. A year ago, Big Blue Little oversight: Credit card decided to try a differprograms can lack accountability. ent approach by using amount: Prepaid expense Set a prepaid expense cards limit spending with a debit card program called balance. PEX Card. Rather ways watching: A mobile Al than use credit limits app can let users adjust balances to manage corporate and monitor activity. spending, the company establishes limits through a prepaid balance for each card – similar to how a debit card works. Because each card has to have a prepaid balance, a conversation has to take place internally before employees and officers can use the card to make a purchase. With PEX Card, users also can set up automatic daily deposits to maintain a specified balance. Big Blue gives PEX cards to mechanics, salespeople and other office employees. The balance on the cards is reset daily to between $100 and $250 depending on an employee's area of responsibility; if a larger purchase needs to be made, Best transfers the approved amount to the card. Larger amounts are sent through the company's purchase order system for approval. Aaron Huff is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) 754-4296. commercial carrier journal | may 2013 CCJ_0513_TechDept.indd 29 29 4/22/13 10:42 AM