Six ways fleet operators save on gas (and you can, too)

While you may long for $2 gas, the truth is that higher prices – in the $3 to $4 a gallon range – are the new normal. Here are six money-saving tips, used by fleet operators, to save money on fuel:

5. Minimize driving time

Amy Sancetta/AP/File
In this May 2012 file photo, a Federal Express truck makes a delivery in downtown Chagrin Falls, Ohio. FedEx and other fleet operators schedule deliveries to avoid rush-hour traffic and save fuel.

Fleet-based businesses often have drivers on the road overnight or at off-peak times to avoid rush-hour traffic. That's probably not practical for many daily commuters. But if situations allow, consumers should consider: 1) finding work closer to home; 2) working a flex schedule so they don’t have to commute during rush hour; 3) relying on video-conferencing instead of in-person meetings; 4) and using public transportation more frequently. 

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Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

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