In the diesel fuel business, it is all about pennies.  Fifteen, twenty years ago a price increase of a penny was a big jump and there were sequences of days when fuel prices did not change.  So, when I saw the video on the link below about the National budget it really struck a chord.  I get pennies and often spend time on the far right side of the decimal but when you get up in the millions, billions and trillions frankly it is harder for me to conceptualize.  I thought this would be a great way for my kids and their friends, not to mention my coworkers, to understand the numbers we are hearing about in the news.

What I did not expect is one of the responses I got back from a friend of mine.  She requested that I not send her any more political emails. Now, I admit, I can get on my dad’s soap box and rant a bit with the occasional unsolicited opinion about the current world order.  What a scary realization- I did not even notice a political bend to the video.  If you click on the link it does show the President pledging to reduce the National budget by $100,000,000. My first response was applause and frankly, so was my last response.  (Again I like pennies, so saving even a $0.0025 is good by me!)  What my friend, who tends to lean a little more left then I do, saw in the first 15 seconds was an attack on the President and that framed her opinion of the video, not the remaining minute, twenty three seconds.

I have watched it a number of times and if it were done 3 years ago and the President at that time was featured in the first 15 seconds, I realize that I would have considered it political too.  This would have been compounded by the fact that my leftward leaning brother-in-law is the one who shared it with me!  It really is just a great learning tool.  I am a huge fan of learning, but realize my genetic skepticism would have made me miss this opportunity too.  What a great lesson for me about education.   Information is good, regardless of who shares it with you.  I still applaud budget cuts wherever we can get them, especially since we just sent in our latest donation to the state and federal government…. don’t even get me started….

 http://www.wimp.com/budgetcuts/

My Best, Mary

Mary Fleet Manager Wall DeWitt, diesel, economic recovery, fleet, fuel price increases, petroleum, policy

Recent news articles have indicated that the current increase in fuel prices is a precursor to economic recovery. Thankfully, fuel prices are nowhere near last year’s peak prices. Remembering what last summer’s run up in fuel prices did to our customer base and our credit line, I am a little more wary. Not afraid to hope, but definitely settling in for a longer road to recovery.

When we did our Budget for 2009, we threw many darts and came up with numbers that looked “reasonable” given the current economic conditions. Reasonable volume numbers, reasonable labor costs, and reasonable expenses. We followed a long standing philosophy of being conservative – inflating expenses and minimizing gross profit. Given what happened the second half of 2008, we were VERY conservative.

Tomorrow, I will sit down with our company managers to review how we are doing this year. Look at key metrics used to judge our business and compare our budget numbers to our actual financials. In preparation for that meeting, I asked John, our controller, to do a mid-year modification on two items: fuel expense and credit card fees.

At first blush, we all feel great. We have over estimated the cost of fuel for this year, leaving us significantly under budget on fuel expense for our 30 trucks. In addition, credit card fees are a large expense at our retail locations and we used our fuel cost estimates as a basis for our budget. The problem is these line items were masking other areas where we are OVER budget. We can all agree, this is not the time to be OVER budget. So John is adjusting the numbers.

In all likelihood, we will miss the goal for May. But, it is important that we do not lose focus on what we set out to do this year:

1. Year to dig in, support our customers through a high level of service;
2. 2009 is a year to watch our expenses;
3. 2009 is a year to count our pennies;
4. 2009 is a year to look for the light at the other side. We are catching glimpses of it, but as the bankruptcy filling of General Motors reminds us, we are not out of the woods yet.

What are you doing this year?

Mary Fleet Manager Wall cost of fuel, credit card fees, economic recovery, Fuel Budgeting, fuel expense, fuel price increases