Fuel Costs Stealing Your Profits?

[West Coast Vend LLC]

Antonio,

I am just fooling around. This topic has gone a stray and I was just adding my two cents.

Let's be serious. Please.

Gary

[antoniocinisi]

I do like the idea of a scooter.if it is under 50 cc u don`t need a specific license for it and you could carry some candy inside the scooter and some in a backpack.

for some light serviceing it might be ideal,and fun!!

for you bigger vendors it would be useless.

are you on the online chat right now?I am

[dperry]

cons-

cant carry much candy ( besides with a backpark)

not as secure........who cares lol

When you start getting larger, and collecting more quarters per stop, and making more stops, it will start to matter.  Do you know how much $100 of quarters weighs?  How about $200?  $300?

And once you have that much money on you from servicing your routes, you become a bigger target for those who think it's easier to take money from others rather than work for it.

But, if it's all you have to work with, that's what you use. 

[G-man422]

Man Gabe, you are killing this topic.

Lol, it's what I do best Gary.  I was just trying to think of some "out of the box" ideas.  An airconditioned pull behind scooter cart could really save $$ in the long run (for a smaller route).

[dperry]

Over the years I've looked at various other alternative forms of transportation.  Yes, I've been driving long enough to remember ever little hike in the price of gas.  I remember 10 years ago I moved out of the town I grew up in and found that gas was cheaper in my new town.  It went from $1.16 to $1.04 a gallon.  I thought that was one hellova savings. 

Five years ago, it crept to $1.65, and I was looking around for those alternative ideas that I mentioned above.

I've looked into single-seater cars, electric car conversions, natural gas cars, etc.  Right now, they are all too cost prohibative and in some cases don't give you the range you would need in this business.

I think soon we will see a whole lot more alternative fuels like electric fuel cells, renewable natural gas, electric vehicles, and biodiesel. 

I think that the rising fuel costs are a good thing from a national security/environmental point of view.  If they buying public is going to stop buying gas because it's too expensive, then we will be less reliant on foreign oil.  If we start relying on biodiesel, then that will be giving our own farmers a boon rather than the saudi's.

So do your best to buy less gas.  Trade in your guzzler for a gas mizer, or one that doesn't use gas at all.

[22931805]

Slow Down!!!!

Instead of going 70+ MPH, try doing 55 or 60.  You'll be surprised at the difference. It may take another 10 minutes, but hey, it gives you a little more time to see the world!

[dperry]

Slow Down!!!!

Instead of going 70+ MPH, try doing 55 or 60.  You'll be surprised at the difference. It may take another 10 minutes, but hey, it gives you a little more time to see the world!

Good advice for those school zones!

[antoniocinisi]

you will spend an extra 10 minutes of time if you drive 60 mph instaed of 70 mph,if you drive for an hour.in most cases you should save at least a  gallon of gas

hybrids are a really good buy right now,much better then when gas was "only" 3 bucks a gallon.

now if they could only make them faster and better looking.....

[22931805]

and if you do that every day, every trip.....it will really begin to add up.  Before long it would be the same as adding another machine to the route, simply by slowing down a little

[West Coast Vend LLC]

I think the slowing down idea is great! I remember years ago they would advertise that you could save x amount of gallons for each 5 mph you slowed down.

Here in California the speed limits are faster than anywhere. You know if the speed limit is 70 everyone is going 80-85.

Washington Post, June 24, 2004

Stop speeding. The faster you drive, the more gas you use, the more money you spend. Each 5 mph over 60 is equivalent to paying an extra 10 cents per gallon for gas.

CNN Money, April 1, 2008

In a typical family sedan, every 10 miles per hour you drive over 60 is like the price of gasoline going up about 54 cents a gallon. That figure will be even higher for less fuel-efficient vehicles that go fewer miles on a gallon to start with.

Due to the rising prices of gas you can clearly see the savings from the 2004 to 2008 reports about speeding.

Gary

[nzvendor]

Man'o'man have you guys got it sweet in America with gas prices!! We have to pay $1.96 per litre...and $2.11 per litre if you get the high-octane stuff. Diesel is $1.64 here..but then you have to pay for road user taxes!!

Gone are the days when it was $1.00 per litre! Well before my time.

You pay $1.64 per gallon? Thats sweet. Wish it was like that here. They reckon it will soon go over $2.00 a litre for normal gas. :?

[West Coast Vend LLC]

Chris,

10 gallons is 37.85 liters

@ $1.96 per liter thats $74.19 for 10 US gallons.

We are at $4.05 per gallon or $40.05 for 10 gallons.

How do you drive at all?

Gary

[nzvendor]

Hi Gary!

Your onto it. For example, $45.00 (NZD's) gets my fuel tank to Half full and $80.00+ fills it right up. My car is a small vehicle. If I owned a V6 for example, the price to fill it would be above $100.

Recently, my father has been allowing me to use his fuel card but I have to start paying for my own petrol as of next week - first time ever. Thanks to dad though for all the free petrol over the years!

Then, if you get the currency convertor out, you'd see that $45.00 NZD's wouldn't even get a vehicle in America to half full.

Chris

[nuchols]

Just to let you all know that if you have a truck and have the tail gate down it reduces your gas miles. It was proven on myth buster. With the tail gate up it makes a wind bubble, not the correct term of course, but when they conducted the test the truck that had its tail gate down lost 30 miles for the tank. 

Also the way I do my route is I have a section on my sheets that show me how many vends I started with and as I service the machines I reduce the vends based off the amount of money I collect. That way I have an idea of where my machines on based off monthly averages.

I would recomend buying a K&N filter to increase your gas mileage.  I also love the idea of a bike!!

Johnny 

[antoniocinisi]

today I rode 80 most of the way to Morris Il. with my tail gate down!!!

Johnny:is speed relevent to the tailgate being down in that mythbuster show?

it seems that airflow would be better with it down at higher speeds.

[nuchols]

What they showed with a small scale truck in a water take and a boat engine that with the tail gate down the draft goes over the top of the truck and hits the down tail gate causing drag and reducing gas. But if you have it up a small amount of around circles around the back of the truck with the help of the tailgate being up and it make a larger air bubble which helps the draft go over the truck and improves your gas. They only factor in speed when it game to both trucks going 60 mph. I have read on a web site that onnce you go over 60 mph your fuel ecomony starts to reduce.

 

Johnny

[antoniocinisi]

the air flow would be differant at 75 or 80 imo it would make a differance

[22931805]

The increased airflow did help you save gas at that speed but not near as much as if you had been doing 65-70.   Sometimes time is more important than fuel savings.....depends on the individual situation.  Anything you do to save fuel helps, but the airflow deal usually is more relevant at speeds of 100 MPH+

[nuchols]

Well from the episode they should the air flow factor occurs at any speed. If its 30, 60 or 100mph. They prove this buy putting a small scale truck in a large water take and put confetti in the tank to show how the air flows and use a trolling motor in from of the model to simulate the flow of air. When they put the tailgate down on the model and confetti would hit the end of the gate.

Johnny

[antoniocinisi]

The increased airflow did help you save gas at that speed but not near as much as if you had been doing 65-70.   Sometimes time is more important than fuel savings.....depends on the individual situation.  Anything you do to save fuel helps, but the airflow deal usually is more relevant at speeds of 100 MPH+

Idealy with no tailgate would be best imo.shave off that extra weight

this is equally important to reduction in speed.

take out everything you dont need from your trunk,back seat or where ever there may be unnecessary dead weight just robbing you of an extra mpgs.while your at it go on a diet and loose some punds,thats extra dead weight too.

[jimbo]

These gas prices and the way they keep climbing are SCARY. Most news Ive read on this expects prices to keep climbing.

Some things I have done in tha last year that have helped.

1- I bought a smaller route vehicle, an 08 toyota tacoma w/shell, this gets me around 22 avg miles per gallon instead of the 15 I was getting with my ford van. For commision stuff its a little tight to work out of but on charity routes it works great.

2- I combined routes when possible and the ones that were smaller i added locations. I also moved back service times on some, not a great amount, just a week or so but it helps.

3- On all my routes, I have the miles listed and amount of gas used so I know exactly what I am spending on each route. Each route has anywhere from 1-4 stops that are just meant to pay for gas and are color coded so basically, my first hour is servicing gear just to pay for gas.

Jimbo

[MountainMan]

I don't know if this will help anyone or not, but this is my plan. (keeping in mind I am waiting on my first machine). I have a regular job working for a company. I rive thier truck to various locations and do a job for them, then move on. This gets me all over the region. I have some freedom while I do this and I plan on using that freedom to scope locations and talk with business owners. I also plan on servicing my on machine on the way to or from.

the second part of the plan. My wife started doing a small bakery route. It all started from her doing the local Farmer's Market. She delivers bread etc to people at thier business each Friday. She has developed a good relationship with them over the last year. We decided that she can be the locator for that town She is already friends with them. She can also service that town since her route only takes a few hours.

All this will save a ton of gas by doing more things while on the same trip. She also shops for groceries that way. we live 15 miles from town and it really adds up over time.

[clearcutvending12]

I REALLY LIKE THAT IDEA

 

 

USE A COMPANY TO GET FREE GAS TO DO UR ROUTE!

 

NICE NICE NICE

[dperry]

I was browsing the internet, looking for info on electric car conversions.  I wanted to see if any had improved on the range.  So far they are looking like they have about a 60 mile range on a charge.

But that's not what I wanted to talk about.  While I was looking for electric cars, I found some info on HHO Conversions.  HHO is another name for H2O, or water.  Many people have been reporting increased milage by using a simple HHO generator.  Many sites offer plans for creating one from items found at Lowes or Wal-Mart for under $200 or so.

Basically, HHO generators will use the car's eletrical system to separate the Hydrogen and Oxygen in plain tap water and feed the gasses into the car's fuel intake system.  Hydrogen is much more volital than gasoline, so the added gas mixture creates increased MPG.

Apparently, one quart of water can go for 900 miles or more, and can increase your MPG by 40%-50% or more.

You can do your homework and find lots of sites that offer HHO conversions, but the one I like best is water4gas.com.

I know that the increases in gas prices are of great concern for venders, so I thought you all might have an interested in this.

[caserri]

Darryl,

This is interesting stuff. I am very intrigued. There are also multiple demo vids on you tube about this. I have posted one below. Good stuff!

Steve