Case Study: NEC Cargo
NEC Cargo Turned Every Driver into a Savvy Fuel Buyer with QuikQ Digital Payments
A growing carrier on its way to 200 trucks put QuikQ Digital Payments in its drivers’ hands. The drivers they expected to resist turned out to be the ones using it most.
Growth Puts Fuel Under a Microscope
NEC Cargo has grown quickly. Four years after going fully independent, the Romeoville, Illinois carrier runs 77 trucks over the road and 83 counting its local fleet, hauling dry van freight across all lower 48 states. It rents warehouse space in Illinois, is scouting more in Texas and is building a direct customer base rather than running on brokered freight. The goal is 200 trucks.
Growth like that puts fuel under a microscope. For a dry van carrier, fuel is the biggest expense management can actually influence, and when diesel climbed toward $5.80 a gallon, NEC felt it right away. A normal week ran about $130,000 in fuel. During the spike it climbed past $170,000.
Cutting that number is not a back-office exercise. The person who decides where a truck fuels is the driver, and a driver can only make a good call if they can see what fuel costs before they pull in.
Their old fuel card program did not give them that. A card at the pump, prompts for trip number and mileage, and no view of what the stop up the road was charging. If the reader was down, the driver parked and went inside to stand in line.
A Call from Someone They Already Trusted
Dan Villada, Director at NEC Cargo, already knew Nermin Bedak, QuikQ’s Regional Sales Manager, from years in the same freight market.
“He called me and told me he was with QuikQ, and I told him to just go ahead and book a time to talk,” said Villada. “Once he explained what they were doing with the app and Digital Payments, I told him to get the ball rolling.”
NEC started putting trucks on the program, and Dan points to the app as the thing that changed how his fleet buys fuel.
3 Things the App Changed for the Better
Villada said there are three things about the QuikQ app that have been particularly great for NEC Cargo:
1. Drivers can see what fuel costs before they stop.
Villada said NEC has a handful of owner-operators who have been with the company since the beginning, drivers the owner helped get into their own trucks. They watch fuel closely, and now every other NEC driver does, too. The QuikQ app shows what each stop is charging so a driver can plan the day around price instead of finding out at the pump.
2. They can start fueling without getting out of the cab.
Anyone who has fueled a truck in a Minnesota January understands this one.
“If it’s raining and it’s cold, nobody wants to get out of the truck. Fueling in Minnesota in the winter with that wind is not fun,” said Villada. “So the fact that they can start the process on the phone, get in, type a number on the screen, it’s just faster.”
3. When a card reader fails, the driver is not stuck.
Last month, one of NEC’s drivers pulled into a stop where the reader was not working and the line inside was long. He pulled out his phone and fueled anyway. So, what used to be a lot of frustration and a lost chunk of time turned into a non-event.
Getting Drivers On Board, One Complaint at a Time
Villada has a proven method for getting positive buy-in from drivers. Rather than telling the drivers about the app, he asks a question first:
“I always ask, ‘what’s the number one thing you hate about fueling?’ And they’ll tell you. I respond by telling them how this app makes that better. You do that, then you already have at least half of their attention.”
One driver told Villada he hated carrying a card at all because he was prone to losing things. Villada told him he could pay for fuel using his phone now. That was the end of the conversation. Then it started spreading on its own. Villada said he had nine drivers who called him asking for the app before he ever got around to calling them.
“A lot of the drivers that I thought were not going to be into the app are the ones using it the most.”
The clearest example is a driver named William. He started driving trucks in the 1970s and is old school by any measure. After he started using the app, he upgraded his phone. Then he got an iPad. Then he went from mailing checks to pay his personal bills to putting everything on auto pay, including the Starlink service in his truck.
Saving on Fuel Is a Team Effort
When the price of diesel spiked, NEC Cargo did not issue a mandate. Management emailed the drivers, called them and talked it through with anyone who came into the office. The ask was simple: If possible, try to refrain from fueling in the more expensive states. Use the QuikQ app to find a better price. And it worked.
It’s easy to get drivers to buy in once they see the math. Drivers have the ability to view NEC Cargo’s negotiated discounted fuel price in the QuikQ app. On top of that, the spread between one stop and another can run 20 to 30 cents depending on the state. A driver carrying enough fuel to reach the cheaper stop takes the discount and the better base price together.
Across a fleet the size of NEC Cargo’s, fueling every day, Villada said the QuikQ app helped the company save over $30,000 a month in fuel costs. He also credited the drivers for their flexibility and willingness in adapting to the app so quickly, as it played a huge role in helping NEC Cargo save so much in fueling.
It is worth noting where those savings get spent. NEC Cargo’s drivers favor Love’s, and Villada is direct about why. He said their locations are the cleanest, the facilities are the newest and drivers prefer Love’s food, and when of his drivers hears they are fueling at Love’s, that lands well.
Efficient and Dependable Service, Especially After Hours
Villada also praised QuikQ’s customer service representatives, especially those that work after regular business hours, for keeping his trucks moving.
“Everyone we talk to at QuikQ is very efficient and helpful. Other companies are not like that,” said Villada.
Villada mentioned a situation he dealt with recently where a transaction kept declining. Two drivers had been assigned the same truck number and the system had not been updated, so when both fueled on the same day, the daily limit tied to that truck maxed out and the second transaction was declined. QuikQ’s after-hours team worked out what was happening, and NEC moved its daily limits off the unit and onto the driver instead.
“When you call them, they always ask the same three questions to verify the account, and then they ask what we need,” said Villada. “But they always go above and beyond, too.”
Asked what he would tell another carrier considering QuikQ, Villada did not hesitate.
“I wouldn’t think twice. I’d tell them do it.”
Want to see how QuikQ’s app and Digital Payments program can help your fleet enjoy similar success? Contact us on our website or give us a call.