Solving the Problems of the Carrier
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Keeping Track of Fuel and Oil Costs
Alternative Methods of Keeping Records of Fuel and Lubricating Oil Issued to Vehicles: the Law Requires that Records Relating to the Consumption ot Od Fuel Must be Kept in a Certain Wag, Which is Described in this Article
IHAVE not previously, in this somewhat disconnected series on cost recording, dealt with the provision which fleet owners must make for keeping check on the issue of petrol and oil fuel. Obviously, no system of cost recording is complete without such a record because, unless a check be kept oii petrol and oil-fuel stocks and issues, leakages sometimes amounting to a considerable gallonage might easily take 'lace.
I have nevertheless, already touched on one aspect of the recording of petrol and oil-fuel consumption—the recording of tne amounts consumed by each vehicle. In that, however, I referred only to the entry, which I recommended should be made on the driver's log sheet, of the fuel which is from time to time put into the tank of the vehiele. That ieeord serves to afford information on one of the most important items of cost but, as dealt with in that way, aftords no check on the accuracy of the figures entered.
This week, I propose to suggest ways of keeping a check upon those figures and at the same time, provide for the complete entry of all dealings in connection with the issue of fuel.
Forms for Recording Fuel Figures give first the most simple procedure: it involves the use of two forms, on one of which is recorded the actual issue of the fuel to individual vehicles, and on the other a day-by-day record of the total fuel issued from the pump, together with nformation as to fresh supplies received and the balance of stock.
Form 1, reproduced with this article, is the first of these. If shows one page of a manifold book of fuel dockets. As is usual in doci.ments of this kind, each page of the manifold book is numbered. The numbers run consecutively so !hat there is no chance of a docket being issued and the issue being passed unnoticed or unrecorded.
With tha object of simplicity, I have made the same docket do tor both petrol and oil fuel. Some operators' may-prefer to have separate books of dockets, one for each class of fuel. arid .I most agree that it tends to ensure that the records as issued are complete. On the forms I recommend there is the chance that the man in charge of the pumps may omit to enter the correct description as to whether it is petrol or oil fuel, and in the form as shown he is called upon to. make a note of that point
It is the business of the man in charge of the fuel stores to complcia the dockets, except, of course, for the signature of the driver,, whosigns the book as a receipt for the fuel and am:tends the signature before the duplicate copy is detached and banded to him. The suggestion is that he hands in this docket with his tog sheet, in just the same way. as he is expected to hand in dockets for fuel which he purchases while on the road. These dockets are"an automatic check upon the entry in his Tog sheet of the fuel which has been issued to the vehicle • Form II indicates how the pages of the petrol-stock book should oe set out. There is, of course, no need in this case for manifolding. Each oage of the book is to be entered' up daily, the information being filled in as required on the form. Again, the form requires practically no explanation. The "total issued" is to be entered by the fuel storekeeper, after he has added the amounts from the dockets issued during the day from the manifold book, to which reference has already aeen made One more point—each complete day commences at 10 a.m. The purpose is to provide that any vehicle which arrives at the depot too late at night to have As tank filled can be replenished first thing on the next morning, the entries being made on the sheet Land on the docket for the day before—that is the actual day when the vehicle ran the mileage against which some of the fuel is. of necessity, debited.
The foregoing method of checking supplies ,an also be used in respect of lubricating oil Provision for this may be made in one or two ways; either precisely similar dockets and day books can be provided, or there may he provision on the docket -I n d on the day hook for rhe issue of lubricating nil and records of stocks. The question as to which. ' of the two methods to use is one which I prefer to leave for individual operators to decide. There is nothing in it,
provided that the desires' result is obtained. . .
Another method of keeping these records is one which was given me by a friend some years ago, so long ago that cannot recall his name and, unfortunately, the dockets, as. I have them before me, give no indication from whom I obtained them. If he reads this article I hope he will take This as an apology for not giving him the full credit.
Once again, two forms are used, but neither is a docket and neither calls for manifolding. One of them, Form III, gives information as to the issue of petrol and lubricating oil per day, Whilst the other provides for a monthly summary of the total issues of petrol and lubricating oil.
Needless to say, if it be oil fuel that is Used then wherever the word petrol appears on the form, the words oil fuel
The form is, too, practically selfexplanatory. The storekeeper in charge of oil-fuel, -petrol and lubricating-oil supplies, completes, each day, the entries required along the top of the form and in columns 1 and 2. The sheet is then ready for the evening, when the vehicles are replenished as they come off duty. As each vehicle enters and calls for its supplies, columns 3, 5, 6 and 7 are completed and the driver's signature placed in the ninth column. If the vehicle be in dock, columns 1 and 2 are carried through daily until it returns to service. In this case, as in the previous one, the new sheet is not issued until 10 a.m.
Each sheet is filed, and every Monday morning the records for the previous week are taken out and the mileage per gallon calculated and entered in columns 4 and 8. This information, of course, checked against previous weeks, is useful for ensuring that unjustifiable fluctuations in fuel and oil consumption do not take place. If desired, a weekly check of the total gallonage issued is subtracted from the total of fuel ahd OA in stock, plus any new supplies, and the balance should then agree with the meter readings on the pump.
At the end of the month, the totals of the weekly sheets are extracted, and the whole amounts entered in the appropriate schedule, which is shown herewith
as Form 1V. The monthly record thus gives the total fuel to each vehicle and the total mileage. The columns headed 4 and 8 are used on die monthly sheet for the figures of mileage per gallon of fuel and oil.
There is provision on this monthly form for issues of petrol made during the month but not entered on the daily sheets, because the vehicles are not entered on the schedule. The reason for this differentiation in 'treatment is that the vehicles with which I am now concerned do not necessarily have their tanks refilled daily; their visits to the petrol pumps are irregular and, therefore, if they were to be entered, they would cause a certaip amount of unnecessary complication.
The operator who designed these forms had rather an ingenious way of providing for their use by the storekeeper. His methods included a means whereby the sheets could be kept clean,
notwithstanding, as it was most likely, that the storekeeper's hands were, if not dirty, at least oily. The sheets are of foolscap size; each is attached to a piece of three-ply wood measuring about. 16 ins. by 8i ins., to which it is held .at the top edge by a paper clip. A piece of zinc or aluminium plate, bent so as to grip the plywood foundation and, at the same time, be free enough to slide up and down, serves as a rest for the hand of the storekeeper so that he can make his entries without soiling the sheet. Incidentally, I should mention that the figures shown in these forms are typical, but fictitious.
The manifold docket shown in Form I can, as a matter of fact, quite conveniently be used in connection with this second method of recording information as to fuel and oil issued. Indeed, I would recommend it, for the reasons already given, as it serves as an accompaniment to the driver's log sheet and as a means for ensuring that the figures for fuel and oil consumption entered on the log sheets are accurate. It is, of course, important to note that, so far as oil fuel is concerned, every person owning an oil-engined vehicle is required by law to keep records, in approved form, of all the heavy oils received for use as fuel on such vehicles, indicating the source of supply, the quantity and description of the fuel and the date on which it is received. He is also required to keep records showing, each day in respect of each vehicle, information as to journeys run, the quantity of fuel supplied to the vehicle, and the number of miles travelled by the vehicle on the journey, or journeys, in respect of which the fuel was used.
Moreover, if the owner of such a vehicle supplies, at premises in his own occupation or use, oil to a vehicle in his ownership or possession, which ordinarily operates from the premises other than those from which the oil is supplied, he must enter, besides the information as to the oils supplied, details of the vehicle, etc., and the name and address of the premises from which the vehicle ordinarily operates: These records must be balanced on the last day of each calendar month, and the quantities of oil fuel intended for use on oil-engined vehicles which remain in stock on that day (excluding fuel contained in the tanks of the vehicles), must be shown on the record.
If the oil-engined vehicle be let on hire, or lent to some other person, records of such loan or hire must also be kept.
All these stock books and records, and documents relating to the sale, purchase, receipt or disposal, of such heavy oils must be kept on the premises for not less than 12 months from the date of the last entry. The documents must be produced to an officer at any reasonable time, so that he may inspect the records and make any entry therein.
Another point; a person owning or possessing an oil-engined lorry must store all such vehicle fuel separately and apart from all other oils, and he roust mark the fuel tanks in such' a way that they can be identified to the satisfaction of the proper officer.
Forms V and VT, reproduced herewith, show how these records may suitably be kept. These forms I have obtained from the Charnwood Publishing Co., of Coalville, Leicester, from which they may be obtained in the form of a book. Each sheet of the book contains the two forms as one page.
Form V, it will be noticed, provides entry for fuel received, date, name of supplier, quantity and description as required by the Act. Each page of the book is sufficient to provide for entry throughout a month, and at the bottam of that half of the page to which I refer as Form V there is provision for taking stock, as is also required by law. On the left-hand side there is provision for the debit, namely stock on hand on the first day of the month; received into stock during the month; and the total. On the right-hand side is the credit-, that is to say, the quantity used during the month, and the stock on hand on the last day of the same month (carried forward) and the total again, which should balance with the ,otal on the debit side.
Form VI, which is the right-hand half of the page in the complete book, provides means for the entry of fuel used for ,six vehicles. If necessary, a book large enough to afford space for entries in regard to 20 vehicles can be obtained from the same source. The first column affords room for the entry of the dateof the journey, then comes a column for a vehicle, at the top of which is to be entered the registration mark and the number and the place from which the vehicle ordinarily operates. Under that heading is to be entered, day by day,gallons issued to the vehicle and the miles that it has run. That is repeated for each vehicle for which provision is made. At the end there must. be entered, each day, the total gallonage and mileage for the fleet,