A Way to Save Dollars on Diesel Fuel Purchases

Posted from near Bryce National Park, UT



Who doesn't like to save money when it comes to RVing?

 I've been called cheap by some, but I like to think I'm frugal. I can sum up my philosophy by saying that I don't like to pay more for a product when I don't have to.

When I was informed of a new way to save some money when it came to purchasing diesel fuel for the motorhome I sat up and did my own research and decided to give the following program a try.

Wow, I just read the above and it sounds like an advertisement.  Believe me, it isn't. This is just a simple way to save money at the diesel pump.

Let me begin by saying that the following post is pertinent to DIESEL FUEL users only. If you own a gas rig you can stop reading at this point.

When we travel, we re-fuel the motorhome almost exclusively at Pilot or FlyingJ. I'm not interesting in getting into a debate over cheaper places (because I already know of them). We like the convenience of using the truck lanes at these stations because we know that there will be no issues getting in and out of the station.

Also, because we are Lifetime Good Sam Members we have been able to use the Pilot/FlyingJ RV Plus card and receive a discount of .08 cents per gallon for diesel and .06 cents per gallon on gasoline for the toad.  Pilot/FJ then sends a monthly statement which we pay in its' entirety from our bank account. This has worked without a hitch for all of our 7 years of fulltiming.

Recently, however, I discovered a new "fleet discount card" program which RVers are eligible to sign up for. The trucking company which administers the program is called TSD Logistics, Inc. out of Texarkana, TX. If you would like to learn more about TSD Logistics, Inc. Click here.

The above company is offering the TSD Fuel Discount Program to RVers thru the use of EFS card locations (Loves, Pilot/FJ, Petro, and Travel America) truck stops. TSD Logistics claims savings of between .20 and .40 cents per gallon.

Here is a brief description of how the program works
1. An interested party (RVer) fills out an online application form and submits it to TSD Logistics.
2. Fuel purchases are quickly sent to a phone app (We have android phones and the app is entitled "EFS Card Control".) I would imagine there is an available app for Apple users also, but not sure. On Edit: Thanks to one of our blog readers (See comment #1 at end of blog), the EFS Card Control app is available for Apple users under the same app name.
3. When fueling at one of the above stations you insert the EFS card at the pump. When finished, you may still go inside for a receipt if desired.  We don't do that anymore, because the phone app has already received the transaction in short order.
4. TSD Logistics charges a fee of 10% on the SAVINGS for each gallon.  An email is sent out daily with the prices TSD has contracted with the above truck stops.
5. On the following day,  your selected bank account is automatically debited the price of the transaction.

Real Life Examples
Here are two examples using fuel purchases at Loves Truck stop.

8/15/19  Loves in Grand Junction, CO
              Cash Price at the Pump:   $3.069              Pumped 48.88 gallons
              EFS Price for that station on that date:  $2.623

EFS savings per gallon was 44.6 cents
TSD fee is 10% of savings per gallon:  44.6 x .10 = 4.46 cents
My NET savings per gallon off the station price was 44.6 cents - 4.46 cents =  40.14 cents/gallon

So.........we saved $19.62 on this fill up.  Not too bad for just using the EFS card.

8/16/19  Loves in Salina, UT
              Cash Price at the Pump:  $3.049             Pumped 32.14 gallons
              EFS Price for that station on that date:   $2.701

EFS savings per gallon was 34.8 cents
TSD fee is 10% of savings per gallon:  34.8 x .10 = 3.48 cents
My NET savings per gallon off the station price was 34.8 cents - 3.48 cents = 34.45 cents/gallon

So......we saved $11.07 on this fill up. Again, savings just for using the EFS card.
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What we've found so far is that Pilot/FlyingJ prices are discounted at a consistent basis of 5 cents/gallon. That means that our current Good Sam card tied in to the Pilot RV Plus card would give us a better discount (8 cents).
As you can see from the above uses at Loves' Truck Stops the discount was 34 and 40 cents per gallon.  Pretty good discount for using the same product (diesel fuel) I feel.


For anyone wanting to take advantage of the EFS fuel card offered through TSD Logistics, here is the link to a simpler form they've created for RVers.    EFS Card Application
(Please note that the increased demand for these cards has caused a delay in TSD mailing them out as quickly as when I obtained mine. I believe the average wait is about 10 business days at this time.)

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If all of the above has confused you, here is the quick version of how the fueling process works directly from the TSD Logistics' site:

        We issue you an EFS card.

Pull into the truck line in the back of the store.

Insert your EFS card into the fuel pump.

A prompt will show to ask for specific information that verifies the owner.  You enter the correct information and pump your diesel.

The next day the money is drafted from your bank account and you receive an email showing you the details of the transaction and our fees.

Our fee is 10% of the savings per gallon.  So if the retail cost is $3.00 per gallon and our cost is $2.50 per gallon, your fee will be 5 cents per gallon.

If we can’t save you money, you owe us nothing!

There are no long-term contracts to sign and no hidden fees.  If you choose to not use the program any longer, simply don’t use the card.

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Full Disclosure on "Spreading the Word" about this diesel price savings program

Ok, so here's what I get out of this should you decide to take part in the program.
You'll notice on the EFS Card Application that there is a place to insert someone who referred you to this program.  The choice to fill in this line is TOTALLY up to you. If you decide to insert "Steve Fischer" on that referral line, here is what I get (directly from the TSD Logistics site):

                                   Refer a Friend Program

If we sign someone you refer

We will pay you $25 after the first 100 gallons

and another

$25 after they reach 500 gallons.

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Again, the choice is up to you concerning the referral, but hopefully you'll find the program will save you some money in fuel costs.  We are very satisfied after only 2 uses of the program thus far.

Should you have any specific questions about the program, the best person to assist you is Tara Rape (trape@tsdinc.com) or her phone number   800-426-7110 x125.

As always, thanks for stopping by to take a look!