Fuel delivery checks with tank readings

On this page

1. What you need
2. Before the drop
3. During the drop
4. After the drop
5. The math
6. Temperature, in plain terms
7. Which differences to chase
8. Daily readings tie it together
9. Keep the paper together

The driver hands you a ticket that says how many gallons went into your tanks, and your jobber bills you for that number. Most of the time it is right. The only way to know is to measure the tanks yourself, before and after the drop.

Below is a routine a manager or a trained cashier can follow, with a gauge stick or an automatic tank gauge. The numbers in the example are made up.

What you need

• A tank chart for each tank if you use a stick. The chart turns inches into gallons for that exact tank. Tanks are round, so an inch near the middle holds much more fuel than an inch near the bottom or top. You can’t estimate it in your head.
• A gauge stick long enough for your deepest tank, and water-finding paste.
• Or a tank gauge console that shows or prints volume, water level and temperature for each tank.
• A delivery log with room for the date, time, grade, tank, both readings, gallons sold during the drop, ticket gallons and who checked.

Before the drop

1. Match the grade to the tank. Check the ticket against the fill caps the driver is about to use. Gasoline in the diesel tank is a far bigger problem than a short load, and it is much easier to stop than to fix.
2. Take a before reading of every tank getting fuel. With a stick, lower it gently and straight down until it touches bottom, pull it up and read the wet line. Do it twice and use the reading that repeats. With a gauge, print an inventory report.
3. Check for water. Put paste on the bottom few inches of the stick, or read the water level on the gauge. Write it down.
4. Note the pump or register fuel totals for the grades on those tanks. You need them to count the fuel sold during the drop.

During the drop

Many stores keep selling while the truck unloads. That is fine, as long as you count what the pumps sold from that tank between your two readings. Stay close to the truck if you can. If something looks wrong, such as the hose going to a different fill than the ticket says, stop and ask before the drop goes on.

After the drop

1. Let it settle. A fresh drop leaves the fuel surface moving. Wait until two readings a few minutes apart agree.
2. Take the after reading exactly the way you took the first one.
3. Check water again. If the water level went up after the delivery, call the jobber the same day, before that fuel goes into customers’ cars.
4. Note the pump or register totals again.

The math

Gallons received = after reading minus before reading plus gallons sold from that tank between the two readings

Worked example

Say the ticket shows 8,000 gallons of regular into tank 1.

Step	Gallons
Before reading	2,140
After reading	9,930
Sold from tank 1 between readings	160
Received (after, minus before, plus sold)	7,950
Ticket	8,000
Difference	50 short

Fifty gallons short on an 8,000-gallon load is a little over half a percent. On one delivery, that proves nothing. Write it down and keep going.

Temperature, in plain terms

Fuel grows when it is warm and shrinks when it is cold. The same fuel takes up a little more room on a hot afternoon than on a cold night.

Because of that, many delivery tickets show two figures:

• Gross gallons: the volume as measured when the fuel was loaded.
• Net gallons: the same fuel corrected to a standard temperature, so every load is measured on equal terms.

Your supply agreement decides which one you pay for. Find out, and compare your readings with the same kind of number.

Many tank gauges show both a plain volume and a temperature-corrected volume. If your ticket bills net gallons, compare it with the corrected figure. A stick only gives you plain volume, so expect a bit more disagreement when the fuel on the truck was much warmer or colder than the fuel in the ground. A warm load can also shrink a little over the next day as it cools to the tank’s temperature.

Which differences to chase

Every measurement carries some error. A stick is read to the nearest mark, tank charts are close but not perfect, and temperature moves the numbers. Small differences in both directions are normal.

The pattern is what counts:

• Differences that land on both sides of zero over many deliveries: normal.
• Short again and again from the same jobber or the same driver: share your log with the jobber and ask them to look into it.
• One very large difference: check your math, check that you read the right tank, check whether part of the load went into another tank, then call the jobber that day.
• Water that went up: call the jobber that day.

Keep a running total of the differences for each jobber. One short load is noise. A total that keeps growing in the same direction is a pattern worth a phone call.

Daily readings tie it together

Delivery checks work best next to a daily reading. Each day, yesterday’s closing reading plus gallons delivered minus gallons sold should come close to today’s closing reading. When it doesn’t, you have a gap to explain: a short delivery, a meter that has drifted, a leak or theft.

Your state’s tank program may require daily readings and a monthly reconciliation as part of leak detection, with its own rules for keeping the records. Ask your state program or your tank compliance contractor what applies to your tanks.

Keep the paper together

• Write your before and after readings on the delivery ticket or in the log.
• Keep the ticket with the jobber’s invoice, and check that the invoice gallons match the ticket.
• If a load comes up short by more than your normal range, note it before the driver leaves if you can, and ask the jobber for any credit in writing.

In Advantage, staff can take tank readings at each close, deliveries are entered with the driver’s slip scanned and attached, and the phone app shows tank variance by shift, with alerts for low fuel and for fuel deliveries.