With gas on the rise many business owners are having a hard time paying at the pump. Being a young economist I have found a few things that have worked for me as well as many other small business owners. Some of you may already be partaking in these activities, but hopefully I note a few ideas that you may have overlooked.

1. Keep track of your gas mileage - Just like your personal budget you always seem to spend less when you write everything down. The same goes for your gas mileage. At every fill up write down the odometer reading and the amount of gas you pumped into your vehicle. This way you can calculate you MPG. Hopefully, this will help you change your driving habits.
   

2. Combine deliveries & map out the trip - Many business owners still do deliveries one at a time. However, if your business permits do deliveries at set times during the days and batch the deliveries necessary. This can help you knock out more birds with one stone. If you’re driving back and forth to your shop you’re wasting gas and time. When doing this make sure you are mapping out the routes. Google Maps can be set to give you the most efficient route. Companies like UPS doing something similar with a different mapping system.
   

3. Get an online shopping cart - If you don’t have a website to sell your products then please get one. Many people are paying at the pump like you. So, if they can’t afford gas how will they get your product? THE INTERNET!! This will save you on overhead and labor cost in the long run. It should also save you time. Start a campaign like “Don’t Waste Your Time in line Check us out Online.”
   

4. Virtual conferences with your employees - If you have many stores across a region try talking to your employees via the web. Applications like Skype allow you to video chat online for free. Another great application is the iChat for Mac users, which allows you to display your screen to the other person you are chatting with online.
   

5. 5. Find a good gas card - Many credit card companies are offering 2-5% cash back for fuel purchases. By doing this you can save yourself a little more money at the pump and track your consumption. If it is your business vehicle it will also help you track you’re mileage better for tax purposes.
   

I am always interested to hear more ideas on this topic. This isn’t a full list by any means, but I feel that you as the consumer may have even more to add compared to my personal experiences. Efficiency is an important factor in running any business and with rising gas prices it is necessary in order to survive. Please feel free to leave some comments or thoughts on the topic below.

Email: questions@businessonthemound.com
Office Phone: 847.380.1448
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Tags: gas prices, Saving Money, virtual conferences

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Economy, Saving Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.