In 2006, the California Legislature passed AB 2330. This law mandated the Office of the Small Business Advocate to commission a study on the cost of regulation on Small Business. This month the study was published with concerning results:

• The direct cost of the regulatory environment in California is $176.996 billion in lost gross state output each year. The direct cost does not account for second order costs.
• The total loss of gross state output for California each year due to direct, indirect, and induced impact of the regulatory cost is $492.994 billion.
• In terms of employment the total output loss is equivalent to the loss of 3.8 million jobs for the state each year. 10% of the total population of California!
• The total regulatory cost of $492.994 billion is four to four and a half times the total budget for the state of California, and almost five to six times the general fund alone.
• The indirect business taxes lost could have helped fund many of the state’s departmental budgets. As an example, the indirect business taxes lost are 60 times the budget of the Office of Emergency Services, and would have paid for almost half the budget of the Department of Education.
• The total cost of regulation was $134,122.48 per small business in California in 2007, labor income not created or lost was $57,260.15 per small business, indirect business taxes not generated or lost were $4,359.55 per small business, and finally roughly one job lost per small business.
• The total regulatory cost of $492.994 billion translates into a total cost per household of $38,446.76 or $13,052.05 per resident. The total cost per household comes close to the median household income for California.

For the complete report, description of the methodology used, go to the Small Business Advocates webpage, www.sba.ca.gov. Many thanks to Assemblyman Juan Arambula and the former CA State Controller, Steve Westly for authoring and sponsoring AB 2330. I have requested information from the Advocates office on the “now what?”. Will let you know what I learn!

My Best, Mary

(I found the list of the Bill’s Supporters and Opposition “interesting”)
Support (partial list)

California State Controller, Steve Westly (sponser)

California Chamber of Commerce

California Manufacturers and Technology Association

California Metals Coalition

California Small Business Association

National Federation of Independent Business

Small Business Action Committee (SBAC)

Opposition (partial list):

AFL-CIO

Ca Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union

California Conference of Machinists

California Teamsters Public Affairs Council

Strategic Committee of Public Employees, Laborers’

International Union of North America

Unite Here!

United Food and Commercial Workers Union

Mary Fleet Manager Wall policy, regulation, small business

Tired of seeing the high cost of fuel eat away at your bottom line? For many businesses, the higher the cost of fuel, the fewer the profits. While businesses can never escape fuel costs entirely, there are things you can do to save money on fuel.

1. Ensure that your fleet is properly maintained.
   Under-inflated tires, dirty oil, clogged air filters and poorly tuned engines all increase your fuel costs. Keeping your fleet well maintained, you can cut your fuel consumption by up to 10 percent.
2. Consolidate your trips
   Mapping software such as Microsoft’s MapPoint can help your company  find the most efficient and at the same time consolidate delivery routes. Group your deliveries by area or only deliver to a group of customers in a city on specific days of the week.
3. Train all drivers not to idle
   When you let your engine idle, all you’re doing is unnecessarily increasing your fuel costs. Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up a vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to warm your vehicle is to drive it. Nor is idling “better” than frequently turning off and restarting your vehicle’s engine. “If you are going to be parked for more than 10 seconds, turn off the engine. Ten seconds of idling can use more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it”.
4. Put speed governors on your fleet to increase your overall miles per gallon
   Speed is the largest factor in fuel efficiency because aerodynamic drag forces go up exponentially with vehicle speed. International offers a programmable option on its engines called Vehicle Speed Limiting (VLS) that caps how fast the truck can travel. Slowing down from 70 to just 60 mph using VLS could yield fuel savings of up to 10% a year.
5. Decrease your delivery area
   Decreasing your delivery area is a quick way to cut down on your fuel costs. Instead of offering free delivery within a fifty mile area, for instance, you might only offer free delivery within a twenty mile area. Another way of handling the problem of the increased cost of making deliveries is to charge a delivery fee that covers the additional cost of fuel.
6. Have your clients come to you rather than going to them
   While not possible for all businesses, changing the routine of who goes where can result in significant fuel cost savings.
7. Consolidate your fuel purchases to one vendor
   Bringing all of your fuel volume to one vendor will increase your purchasing power. Thus saving your company money on fuel costs.
8. Consider having an Onsite Fueling service come to your location
   This will decrease your overall cost of fueling your vehicles because you’ll be saving on the labor expense of your driver doing the fueling. If your fleet returns to your location everyday then this is a viable solution.
9. Track your fuel expenditures
   Just handling the administrative processing of expense checks, collecting receipts, creating reports all contribute to your overall cost of fuel. Ensure that you have an efficient system in place to handle the tracking of your fuel purchases.
10. Driver Skills
    Providing an orientation to new and existing drivers explaining to them how they should drive your fleet is essential to getting the best fuel economy possible. After the orientation Drivers should understand why fuel economy matters. Your company relies on their professionalism and skills to get the best fuel economy while using your equipment.

You don’t have to let fuel costs eat into your profits. Saving money on fuel is possible as long as your’re willing to pay attention to how your driving and willing to make a commitment to cutting your fuel costs.

Chris Fleet Manager Wall anti-idle, consolidate, delivery area, driver skills, fuel purchases, onsite fueling, speed governors, track fuel expenses, vehicle maintenance

1. The use of a fleet card eliminates the need to carry cash

Increasing the level of security felt by fleet drivers. Aid’s in the elimination of fraudulent transactions from occurring at a fleet owner or manager’s expense. If you use credit cards that’s great except for the fact that your drivers can purchase non-fuel items  i.e. coffee, soda, etc. Hopefully, you don’t carry a balance otherwise you’re paying at least 8% – 21% in interest.

2. Control

Superior controls such as; product controls, Gallon limits, Setting the number of transactions per day/week and e-receipt functionality. Suppose you have a fleet of diesel trucks, you know your fleet needs to fuel up (3) times per week, approximately 50 gallons per transaction.

If you use credit cards or cash your not accounting for the “extras” that get thrown on to the bill. i.e. candy bar, coffee, etc. If you’re like some companies you ask for receipts, which is great! However, now you need someone in the office to go through each receipt to reimburse your driver for the expense.

With fleet cards you can set the parameters to ensure that your employees only purchase diesel fuel a maximum of 3 times per week, up-to 50 gallons per transaction.

3. Consolidated reporting

Which do you prefer 1000 fuel receipts to review or two pages of all your transactions for the past week itemized out and broken down by department or cost center. Tough choice.

4. Commercial locations

DeWitt Petroleum also operates a couple retail locations and every couple of months we hear a report that “someone” drove their truck into a pole, canopy or backed into another consumer filling up. For this reason, came “Commercial fueling locations”. Of which, the benefit is a large location that offer plenty of space for large diesel trucks to pull in and out of. Not to mention faster pumps and better coffee.

5. Volume discount programs

Monthly volume is key. Consolidate all of your fueling to one vendor to maximize your volume and buying potential. On another note equally important, if you can’t pay according to the terms under which the volume discount is given then don’t expect a discount.

Jonathan Fleet Manager Wall cards, commercial locations, control, fleet, reporting, volume