With fuel theft on the rise, companies need to take precautionary measures. The biggest challenge to navigate is the unpredictable nature of crime — it’s impossible to know what illicit actors are thinking and planning. After all, they’re working actively to outsmart protective best practices. It’s an issue that’s endemic and timeless to the industry.

Solving the problem means hardening core infrastructure and implementing systems to overhaul operations. In this guide, you’ll learn actionable recommendations for how to identify and prevent fuel theft at your organization. This guide is particularly helpful for leadership at convenience stores and in the fleet space.

Gain perspective for how to stay ahead of theft issues before they have a chance to cause major problems in your business. Read the full report on fuel theft here. 

1. Implement a Digital Analytics System

Many convenience stores and trucking companies still manage their data using spreadsheets, hard files, and paper. With these systems, companies cannot perform analyses at the pace needed to pinpoint — and stop — sources of loss.

With a comprehensive digital analytics solution, stakeholders can work together more efficiently to understand anomalies. It’s about pulling information together and then sharing those insights with personnel to examine operations with precision.

One benefit to a digital analytics system is the ability to monitor sites without being physically present. From afar, companies can monitor electric systems, ensure that equipment is performing effectively, and stay on top of sensor alerts.

Are dispensers being accessed at odd hours? Does tank system data reflect what’s being reported at the pump?

For both convenience stores and fleets, operations are in nonstop motion. At gas stations,  people are constantly picking up nozzles to make purchases. On the road, truckers are laser-focused on safety and making stops when they need to rest.

Spreadsheets can’t move fast enough to keep up with this activity. While it may be possible to identify fuel loss or theft through manual processes, the effort required will be extensive. With an intelligent analytics system, it becomes easier to quickly identify the root cause of an issue — and recommend immediate resolutions.

2. Bridge Gaps with Vendors

Often, it’s a third-party company that’s responsible for managing a company’s fuel inventory. These vendors are well-aware of fuel theft; however, they are overseeing complex processes across multiple companies. Anomaly detection may be challenging given the lack of uniformity across systems.

For instance, Titan Cloud recently worked with a company that utilized six different approaches to retrieving information from data. It was a cumbersome and antiquated process. The company used Titan Cloud to install and manage equipment end-to-end.

Over the next year, the efficiencies gained translated into 1 million gallons of fuel savings for this company. The group was able to prevent loss — including theft — while establishing a stronger foundation for future analysis.

3. Prioritize Staff Education 

Most employees, especially truck drivers and customer-facing staff at convenience stores, are focused on doing a good job. The thought of fuel theft is unlikely to cross their minds until after an incident takes place.

That’s why it’s important for executive teams to keep staff in the loop. For convenience store managers, a few simple measures can help identify theft early on:

• Are certain customers taking unusually long periods of time at the pump but paying small bills?
• What protocols should staff follow after noticing suspicious activity?
• What are some warning signs for staff to watch?
• How can staff best stay in sync with news regarding local crime?

Similarly, transportation and logistics companies need to support their drivers. Verizon Connect recommends the following best practices for fleet managers:

• Ensure drivers are aware of the dangers of fuel theft
• Provide training regarding basic vehicle safety (i.e. after-hours parking, locking fuel caps)
• Install fences, lighting, and security cameras in vehicles and fuel yards as a deterrence
• Remind drivers to park their trucks in a way that blocks access to fuel tanks
• Help drivers identify the signs of suspicious activity

Above all, it’s important to establish protocols for staff to protect their safety. Where there is illicit activity, there is also the potential violence. In no situation should companies put their staff in danger. 

Final Thoughts

With fuel theft being endemic to the oil and gas industry, it’s important to take a bird’s eye approach to rooting out the problem from occurring in the first place. Fighting individual theft incidences and tactics can help — but ultimately, bad actors continually find new ways to outsmart security measures.

Staying ahead of illicit activity means focusing on the basics. Companies will benefit from hardening core infrastructure and gaining a deeper understanding into the problem.

What do convenience store owners, fleet directors and bus terminal managers all have in common?

These are the folks who manage the fuel inventory for their company. Cars, trucks, and buses all need gas. As you know, there is plenty of risk and loss involved in managing a retail fuel supply. Poor fuel management can translate to less profit for the company which the company passes onto the customer.

Fuel is the number one expense for your facility. Fuel inventory variance adds a layer of complexity. You may be thinking, “How can a gallon of fuel change? A gallon is a gallon, right?”

Well, no.

Trust us when we say that there’s a lot of science behind fuel inventory variance. Suffice it to say that the volume calculation of fuel within its container represents an imperfect science. This results in reading errors. 

To make matters worse, many Fuel Directors (we’ve been told) still track their inventory the analog way with spreadsheets. Not only is this cumbersome but also represents a huge waste of time, energy, and money. If you transfer imperfect data to your accounting system on top of flawed fuel readings, then it will be impossible to determine the true cost of your company’s fuel inventory.

But wait, here are a few more surprises.

Other factors, like weather, theft, leaks, and global uncertainty all affect fuel supply.

Know the Importance of Fuel Inventory Variance 

1. How Weather Affects the Retail Fuel Supply

Americans from coast to coast saw or experienced many extreme weather events these past several months. From raging fires in the West to a standstill on I-95 that kept drivers snow-trapped overnight. Nashville, home to Titan Cloud Software, was immobilized for two days after six inches of heavy snow fell and below-freezing temperatures made a surprise appearance.

We don’t think about fuel supply until the demand exceeds it, and then we rush out to top off our tanks and fill our generators. But, what if your local retail fuel outlet didn’t plan ahead of the weather report? What if you bought a bus ticket to visit friends and the depot didn’t factor in weather conditions? What if your area loses power and the local electric or cable company didn’t gas up its fleet?

This is a potential worst-case scenario awaiting your business when you have no weather contingency plan that makes fuel inventory planning a priority.

On the flip side, fuel delivery during bad weather is often hampered. Does your fuel distributor have enough deliveries scheduled? How large is their fleet? Where are their distribution centers and who’s in their network of local distributors? Can they guarantee efficient fuel management? This is when custom automated workflows can become a lifesaver.

2. How Small Leaks Affect Fuel Supply

Leaks in your fuel storage tanks and containers impact more than the environment. Although rigorous compliance is reason enough to take charge of your fuel inventory, leaks also represent revenue loss.

Leakage won’t be found on your spreadsheets. Thanks to innovative technology there’s a way to analyze the changes in height and volume within the tank that allows for rapid and sensitive leak detection. Even tiny leaks can be spotted fast whereas in the past it would have taken days or weeks to solve the problem. When retail margins are slim, every drop matters.

3. What Faceless Fuel Theft Looks Like

Back in the 70s during the oil embargo, when gas was in short supply and car lines were long, it was common to read stories of thieves siphoning gas from a car parked in a homeowner’s driveway. Today, theft often happens in a less obvious way.

Vendors or carriers may “steal” through inaccuracies. Siphoning fuel this way happens through an inaccurate fuel drop. If you’re monitoring your automatic tank gauge (ATG), you should be able to catch this. Titan’s ATG management system will alert you to discrepancies between your tank amount and fuel sales.

We don’t want to sound alarmist. Fuel inventory variance could be inadvertent and no fault of the carrier. Because fuel is a liquid, it expands and contracts based on temperature. Liquid contracts when it’s cold, so the actual fuel delivery and the bill of lading may differ. A cold tanker could be the cause of the variance.

Below ground, the variance may happen for a different reason. Fuel can contract inside the tank when the outside temperature is warmer than the below-ground temperature. There would appear to be an inventory variance even though you received the right amount of fuel.

You can see why the technology protects both the retail fuel stop and the vendor.

4. How Global Uncertainty Shakes Things Up

High gas prices tend to have a ripple effect on consumers’ pockets and businesses’ profits. Gas prices in the U.S. typically increase in the Spring and then decrease in the Fall mainly because demand declines following the warm summer months. But, for the past several months, gas prices have been rising. 

The cost of crude oil worldwide is affecting gas prices at the pump and softening demand. The economics of low demand/high supply is off-kilter because the cost of crude oil accounts for more than half the price of a gallon of gas. Couple that with European natural gas prices going crazy due to the harsh words traded between Russia and the West and panic-buying hit the market sending prices through the roof. Demand for heating oil is also strong, allowing for crude oil prices to remain high.

As long as global uncertainty continues, fuel inventory planning is more important than ever.

Wrap Up

There are many ways convenience store owners and operators can lose money through fuel inventory variance. The good news is that technology exists that can improve your fuel planning. You can manage risk despite extreme weather events, global uncertainty, or fraudsters. 

Learn more about how Titan can perfect your retail fuel management.

The most unlikely catalyst 

Digital transformation has changed almost every aspect of our lives, from smart homes and appliances to virtual conferences and mobile apps. But the convenience store industry has historically been much slower to adopt these new technologies, until now. The onset of the pandemic made retailers reevaluate how to best serve customers who needed their services but were cautious about interacting with other people. This left many owners and operators grasping for ways to create efficiencies in their forecourts and operational systems, with many turning to digital solutions for help. In fact, Nielsen calls COVID-19 “the unexpected catalyst for technology adoption”, evidence of which can be seen in c-stores across the country in the form of new self-checkout stations and online ordering.  

The pandemic may have kickstarted technology integration, but replacing manual processes with new technologies doesn’t mean you have to use a different platform for each solution. That’s why Titan Cloud Software offers just one powerful platform, so you can manage all your site operations in one place. 

Titan Cloud’s platform offers three distinct solutions: environmental compliance, facility maintenance, and wetstock management; all of which integrate easily with your existing equipment and vendors. Data from ATGs, testing vendors, service providers, and back-office systems are all aggregated into the Titan platform, so you can see all your insights in one streamlined dashboard, saving users time and money.   

Environmental compliance for the modern era 

Managing compliance with spreadsheets and filing cabinets is like trying to run a store without a cash register: disorganized and vulnerable to mistakes. Titan’s environmental compliance software has round-the-clock tank monitoring and remote ATG management, so you can respond to leaks more quickly and minimize the damage to your site. The platform also houses all your compliance documentation and tracks important dates, so you never miss a deadline and have access to required documents in a moment’s notice. 

Fuel data at your fingertips 

Owners and operators have been discussing how to optimize their forecourts for years but organizing and analyzing large amounts of data was a time-consuming task, until Titan Cloud introduced their advanced fuel management software. With 24/7 remote access to your fuel system, organized forecourt data is just one click away, so you can monitor flow rates, nozzle availability, and inventory levels without interruption. Real-time inventory information and updated forecasts can then be sent to carriers and internal systems resulting in fewer runouts and more fuel sales.  

In addition to providing the tools you need to analyze your data, Titan’s platform also includes Perfect Gallon, the next generation solution for wetstock management. Perfect Gallon focuses on three critical areas for a greater ROI: inventory variance, frictionless fueling experiences, and fuel deliveries. Perfect Gallon uses a more accurate tank chart and corrects for meter drift, temperature, vapor loss, and fuel density to give you the lowest inventory variance possible. At the same time, it monitors and prevents slow flow, nozzle unavailability, and tank shutdowns, so you can improve your customer experience and increase fuel sales overall. Perfect Gallon also calculates fuel deliveries in real time, so you can reconcile them against Bills of Lading to eliminate short deliveries for good. Managing your wetstock has never been easier or more impactful to your bottom line than it is with Perfect Gallon. 

Site maintenance, streamlined 

You don’t make money when your assets aren’t working, which is why an efficient maintenance program is key to a successful c-store. Titan’s facility maintenance software was created with retailers in mind, so it has customizable features for purchase orders, work orders, and vendor management. It also allows you to manage your assets from inside the platform, so you can attach work orders to specific pieces of equipment and track comments, dispatch history, and even warranty information.  All of this can easily be compiled into a variety of reports for better decision making and a more streamlined, profitable business. 

A single source of truth 

Maintaining several software platforms with individual workflows can leave gaps in your processes and cause mistakes that are costly to correct. Unifying your solutions on one platform gives you the flexibility to manage all your site operations from anywhere. Titan Cloud customers have seen incredible returns on their software investment, from reducing environmental fines by 80% and increasing fuel sales by 6% to 40% fewer fuel runouts and annual savings of $3M from reducing variance. Results like these just go to show that using Titan’s compliance, maintenance, and fuel solutions together give retailers the largest boost in profits.   

Looking ahead 

Ongoing challenges related to the pandemic coupled with changing customer expectations mean digital solutions are here to stay. As these new technologies are implemented, retailers should ensure that they keep their technology stack as streamlined as possible by looking for software that integrates easily with their existing platforms or offers multiple solutions on one platform. Investing in these solutions upfront will help retailers avoid operational gaps and stay ahead in this highly competitive industry.  

Interested in saving time and money with Titan solutions? 

After a challenging year of unexpected changes and adaptations, many are looking forward to a fresh start in 2021. As retailers are thinking about long-term goals and top priorities, here are a few resolutions every c-store owner and operator should make: 

1. Become EMV Compliant 

EMV compliance has been a hot topic for years as major credit card companies insist retailers upgrade their point-of-sale (POS) systems to use chip readers or take on the fraud liability themselves. The deadline to comply has been extended to April 1, 2021 after key industry players voiced concerns over the impact of COVID-19 on retailers. A Conexxus survey conducted in June 2020 showed that only 15% of retailers were fully EMV compliant with most retailers lagging in upgrading their outdoor POS systems due to cost and complexity. With the April deadline rapidly approaching, EMV compliance should be priority number one.  

2. Stay on Top of Technology Trends 

The pandemic forced c-stores to quickly adopt new technologies to keep up with changing regulations and customer needs. CSNews’ Technology Report shows that almost 75% of retailers increased their technology spend from 2019 to 2020, driven in large part by EMV compliance, but also by the need for greater business intelligence and reporting capabilities as well as better store-level inventory management. To jump start 2021, owners and operators should seek software that can organize forecourt data to help them make better business decisions and drive greater profitability. Even though a pandemic accelerated this technology evolution, customers expect an upgraded experience, and you don’t want to fall behind the competition.  

3. Move on from Manual Compliance 

In the wake of ongoing challenges and the strain COVID-19 has put on the convenience store industry, many retailers have a long list of to-dos and may be facing budget reductions. That’s why retailers should focus on investments that can free-up cash reserves, such as switching to a digital compliance solution. Not only will environmental compliance solutions streamline processes and allow employees to access data and documents remotely, but Titan Cloud’s compliance solution decreases fuel releases and remediation by 80%, so users can reallocate their environmental reserves for other important projects. Make 2021 the year you commit to a faster, more reliable compliance process.  

4. Migrate to Mobile 

Mobile apps dominated the industry last year as many retailers created or updated them to include online ordering, delivery, and customer loyalty programs to meet changing customer needs throughout the pandemic. With many customers still wary of venturing indoors, a mobile app offers socially-distanced options to make your customer feel more comfortable visiting your store and facilities, which makes it well worth the investment. Adding a customer loyalty program can also be a great way to attract customers with promotions and retain them with reward programs. Regardless of where you are in the mobile app journey, this is the year to use it to the fullest. 

5. Finally Take Control of Wetstock Management  

2020 was the year of frictionless: painless shopping, easy mobile payment, and streamlined fueling at the pump. Continue this trend in 2021 by offering a frictionless fueling experience with Titan Cloud’s Frictionless Fueling. This comprehensive wetstock management solution helps you reduce runouts, nozzle unavailability, and slow flow – three things that can damage brand reputation and push loyal customers to competitors. Upgrade your wetstock management program this year, so you can offer a customer experience that’s truly frictionless.  

Looking for Solutions to Help with These Resolutions?

Contact one of our specialists to help find solutions to support your goals.

by Kurt Gutzmann, Chief Scientist

What exactly is a “tank chart” and why do we want it to be “perfect”?  A tank chart tells us how much liquid is in a tank based on the height of the liquid. It sounds simple. Tanks might be cylindrical, or they might be ‘capsules’, cylinders with hemispherical end caps (see Figure 1). Still, there are some formulas from analytical geometry that will give us the volume of liquid for a given. The tank might be tilted a bit, perhaps 1 inch (25 mm) from one end to the other, so the liquid will pool at one end as it gets low. 

Figure 1. Ideal Tilted Cylinder 

This problem was solved over 350 years ago when Euclidean geometry met Newton and Leibniz calculus. However, the “solution” makes the very big assumption that our tank is “perfect”, i.e. it is well and truly a cylinder. The reality is the tank only looks like a cylinder at a coarse level of resolution. If we zoom in on the tank, we will find all kinds of irregularities, deformations, and internal volume-occupying structures (gussets, pipes, pumps, welds, and more). These cause the tank’s shape to depart significantly from the ‘ideal cylinder’ or ‘ideal capsule’. So, the volume calculation above will produce errors by overstating the volume here and understating it elsewhere in an unknown manner. 

Is the calculation good enough? That depends on what we are doing with the volume. For bookkeeping purposes, it might be sufficient. For measuring how much fuel we just received in a delivery, it might be close (+/- 3%) but probably not. For leak detection, it is not nearly good enough. For precision and accuracy of inventory variance for environmental compliance purposes (+/- 1% US, +/-0.5% Canada) the calculation will fail most of the time. 

If we have a more perfect calculation, one that accurately and precisely (see Figure 2) gives us volume from height, we can use that ‘perfect tank chart’ with confidence that the numbers are correct.

Figure 2. Precision and Accuracy 

So how do we get such a perfect chart? One way might be to pour known amounts of liquid into the tank, check the height, and record it as we gradually fill the tank. This might get us some accuracy, but if we want precision, we will have to use little tiny amounts at a time which is not feasible. The tank manufacturer uses this procedure to ‘calibrate the chart’ for the tank (the ‘strapping chart’), but it is only at a very coarse level and lacks precision. Another way to perfect the tank chart might be to put a laser rangefinder inside the tank and measure it for various distances in every direction and then use that data to build up a finite element model. This process works best on a truly empty tank, which is rare, so while the method is precise, it could also be inaccurate. 

A third way would be to measure the amounts of fluid going in and out of the tank over time and record the corresponding heights. The inventory going into the tank must equal the fuel exiting the tank, unless there is some evaporation, breathing loss, or temperature-based shrinkage or expansion. This is close to perfect since we can account for the latter factors and record precise height measurements. The height measurements do not have be accurate for most purposes except for run-out estimates.  

We are mainly interested in the changes in volume for changes in height (the differential domain). It does not matter much whether our ruler is on the bottom of the tank or 10 feet below the tank (see Figure 3) in order find height differentials. 

Figure 3. Height Difference Measurement

From Perfect Chart to High ROI

Titan has developed novel and innovative methods for analyzing the changes in height and volume that produce a tank chart that is much closer to perfection now than any prior methods in the industry. The Titan Cloud Perfect Chart is accurate and precise (the units of volume are micro-liters, and the height is measured in micrometers) which allows Titan to provide its customers with: 

• Inventory variances close to zero (0.8%) 
• Delivery measurement within 0.7% (+/- 3.4 gallons on a 5,000-gallon delivery) 
• Rapid and sensitive leak detection – even tiny leaks can be detected within hours instead of days or weeks
• Measurement of dispenser meter drift – meters can be properly re-calibrated to ensure that correct revenue is received for fuel sold, and weights and measures compliance risk is eliminated

The Perfect Chart serves as the foundation for Frictionless Fueling, Titan Cloud’s wetstock management solution that leverages your existing forecourt equipment for a greater return on your software investment. By starting with a precise and accurate tank chart, Frictionless Fueling helps convenience store owners and operators minimize inventory variance and increase profits at every site monthly. 

Want to know how Frictionless Fueling can help you boost profitability? 

Contact one of our specialists, so you can start managing your wetstock with confidence. 

To care about wetstock management is to care about saving—and making—money. If you buy or sell fuel, wetstock management is required to ensure that you receive and dispense the amount of fuel you paid for. Good wetstock management helps companies keep track of their fuel inventory so they can detect fuel losses when they occur and use their resources efficiently.  

Every fuel retailer has a process to manage fuel inventory, as fuel is by far the largest expense an operator incurs. As with other commonly used industry terms such as inventory management or inventory reconciliation, wetstock management is a global term that attempts to address all potential sources of variance including tanks charts, meters, deliveries, temperature, theft, and leaks. Technology can help.  

Many convenience store operators have a wetstock management process in place, but it comes in the form of massive spreadsheets and error-prone manual entries. Since most local regulators require accurate and timely fuel reports, automating your wetstock management process is vital for day-to-day forecourt operations. Without an accurate and dependable process using scalable technology, owners and operators are exposing themselves to enormous risk.  

Replacing manual wetstock management processes with an intelligent software solution (such as Titan Cloud’s Frictionless Fueling) gives c-store operators greater visibility into their fuel movements, so they can account for every drop of fuel purchased. Fuel management software minimizes inefficiencies caused by slow fuel dispensing, over dispensing, and shortages for a better customer experience and greater profits. After implementing Frictionless Fueling, one Titan customer found that they reduced inventory variance significantly, reduced acceptable delivery variances by 60%, and increased fuel sales by 3% per site. Focusing on wetstock management is a critical part of any convenience store’s path to greater profitability, so get started on improving your system right away.  

If you’re ready to improve your wetstock management, get in touch with our team.