Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/85388
technology Rapid rewards D FuelOpps gives drivers a chance to cash in on fuel savings river mpg rankings are a simple and common fleet strategy for saving fuel. Drivers like to compete and avoid the shame of being near the bottom. The downside is that drivers might resent mpg evaluations because some factors are beyond their control, such as equipment age and model, routes and load weights. Grouping drivers by similarly spec'd and dispatched vehi- cles helps attribute the variance in mpg to driving behaviors. But drivers likely will require more information and prodding on how to improve their shifting, speeding and idling habits. Taking fuel mpg rankings and incentives to the next level can create more work and difficulty. Financial incentives have a more direct impact on relationships with drivers, many of whom may not respond positively to seeing their pay fluctuate. Ed Meiers, president of New Kensington, Pa.-based ECM Transport, decided to try a novel approach to improving fuel efficiency. Last year, the 250-truck company outsourced its 38 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JUNE 2012 ➡ MORE FAIRNESS: Drivers can see their percentile in the group for ➡ FINANCIAL INCENTIVE: Fleets can reward points to drivers for having a positive rating. each rating. fuel incentive program to FuelOpps, a service developed by Pittsburgh-based Propel IT. "At first, we were apprehensive, but drivers accepted it more from outside the company, " Meiers says. "An outside ➡ DRIVER RESENTMENT: Factors such as equipment and routes are beyond their control. entity didn't put dispatchers against drivers. It was (Propel IT's) common goal to help drivers and to educate." FuelOpps auto- matically trans- mits daily driver performance information from ECM Transport's mobile comput- ing system into a separate database. Drivers access the FuelOpps data-