The necessity of fueling vehicles in the business and governmental sectors is challenging. Almost everyone has stories of when they’ve had to deal with employees who abused their established fuel purchasing policies. In some cases the damages have been substantial.
We feel it’s very instructive to understand the scope of what is taking place across the nation, and to learn from the mistakes others have made. For this reason, we subscribe to PowerUp Fleet's “Lessons from the Field”. PowerUp Fleet conducts news media researches and archives any stories related to employees abusing a company’s fuel purchasing system. We have displayed these stories here for your review and learning purposes. These types of stories won't happen to you as long as you have our First Focus program in place!
Pay at pump proposal skyrocketing – Costing businesses thousands!
Bend, OR – APRIL 2008 - A Cincinnati, OH woman has been accused of stealing $5,000 worth of gasoline in just seven days by using her company’s gas credit card in what is becoming an increasingly common “pay at the pump proposal” scheme. According to police, Kameelah Williams used her company’s gas card 95 times in those seven days, each time exchanging fuel for cash with strangers she approached at the fuel island.
“It happens far more than we would like to think” says Shane Dyer, President of PowerUp Fleet, Inc. Unscrupulous employees will approach you saying, “Can you help me out? Let me charge about 50 dollars in gas, and all you have to do for me is give me 25 dollars in cash back".
One person quoted in the original Cincinnati news story had this to say, "It was a guy that was pumping next to me. When I pulled up, he mentioned, hey, put yours on mine and just give me the cash instead of going inside. I told him wasn't interested at the time." “The disturbing part is that people, particularly in these times of high fuel costs and tight budgets, actually take them up on it” says Dyer.
Another person interviewed in the Cincinnati story was Jason Gabbard. "A lot of people don't have a lot of money now days and if you have a card and it's going to help you out I’ll give you cash for it," Gabbard says. When advised of the amount Williams was able to steal, Gabbard exclaimed “Wow! That’s a lot!”
The amount being stolen is shocking to people like him who have taken the deal before, believing large companies won't notice. “What they also don’t understand is that they are an accessory to theft, and could potentially be charged” added Dyer. “The only way to limit this type of situation is to implement a high control fuel management program, and that unfortunately doesn’t include Shell Oil company cards as was used in this case”.
County fleet manager steals $4,240 in diesel when his vehicle only uses gas!
NOVEMBER 10, 2007 (FORT MCCOY, FL) - Marion County fleet manager, William Roger Walters, 59, was arrested on charges of stealing more than $9,000 worth of items from the county, including 1,600 gallons of diesel fuel. Records show he used a gas key (apparently from an antiquated key-lock system) over a three month period to pump fuel 44 times equaling 1,655.08 gallons of diesel at an estimated cost of $4,240.18 to the county. Incidentally, the key in question was assigned to the fire department where Walters had previously worked. Walters came under suspicion when other employees noticed that he was pumping diesel fuel into a 50-gallon tank in the back of his county vehicle that only uses gas.
PowerUp Fleet Analysis – First of all, no one should still be using key-lock systems in this day and age. Key-lock’s provide absolutely no control whatsoever over fueling activity. The key simply turns the pump on and rolls a meter to capture gallons. There’s no time, date, or user identification other than you hope the person given the key still has it. In this case, the employee (Walters) took it with him to another job within the county, and then proceeded to steal from the fire department, their available budget, and ultimately the county tax payers. To really describe everything that went wrong here would take too much space on this web site. Suffice it to say that the county has the wrong systems for fuel management in place, and when coupled with an unscrupulous employee, is a recipe for disaster.