Fun Beverage is a beer, wine, and soft drink distributor that serves almost 500 customers within an 11,000 square mile area in Montana. The beverage distributor runs a 49 vehicle fleet with multiple drivers per vehicle. Since the drivers are navigating through mountain roads to bring these ‘fun’ beverages to far-flung customers, cutting fuel cost and improving safety are large concerns for management.
Fuel Efficient Fun
President Brian Clark initially looked into a fleet management solution to help cut fuel costs. He explains: “Moving a lot of product uses lots of fuel and we wanted to do something more to control fuel consumption since we can’t control price.” The company had already gone to great measures to become fuel efficient, says fleet manager Scott Lee. “By 2010, we had already bought the most fuel efficient vehicles we could find, and evaluated our routing and services. Fleetmatics was the final piece of the puzzle.” The results came quickly for Fun Beverage. According to Lee, “Our first year with Fleetmatics provides the best apples-to-apples comparison. We reduced fuel consumption by 8%, despite adding two more delivery routes.”
In addition to reducing fuel consumption and cutting fuel costs, Fleetmatics also assisted in creating a safer work environment for Fun Beverage drivers. “Driving mountain roads in winter can be dangerous. With Fleetmatics we can see what’s happening and if one of our trucks unexpectedly stops moving along their route, we know to send out help,” explains Lee. “I can’t underestimate the peace of mind this gives all of us.”
Speeding Salesman
Fleetmatics has also helped a Fun Beverage driver get out of a sticky situation. Brian Clark enjoys telling the story of when a salesman was clocked going 60 mph through a school zone. The driver knew he couldn’t have been speeding in that area. After pulling speeding reports for the vehicle, Fleetmatics was able to prove exactly that. The driver was able to take printed out reports to the judge who concluded: “The patrolman must have been clocking a bird or something.”
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