CLIENT #1: PEAPOD 

The on-site fuel program provided by Palatine Oil Company has eliminated all of these issues. Peapod has reduced fuel cost, increased driver productivity, reduced fuel shrinkage, and eliminated fuel station vehicle accidents.

In addition, our monitoring of fuel consumption per vehicle and per driver has helped our drivers improve their miles per gallon. We also utilize the fuel reader to advise drivers of preventative maintenance schedules. 'Peapod highly recommends the Palatine Oil Company for their customer driven team and attention to detail.' 

Palatine Oil came to Terra Cotta Truck Service, looking for our business, over 5 years ago. He claimed to be able to have competitively priced fuel, and the best quality fuel, with good service. We decided to give Ron a chance at servicing us. Within two weeks, one of our drivers asked if we were still using #1 fuel oil in the springtime; he thought that his truck was running and performing really well, and he thought he was still paying for #1 fuel oil, during the winter months. I explained to him that we had changed fuel companies, and when he learned that he was not paying for the higher end fuel oil, yet getting the same or better performance, he was pleasantly surprised. The service of Palatine Oil Company cannot be compared. Not only do I have "a # one" quality of fuel going into my trucks, but over the past 5 years I have gained a great relationship with owner, Ron Cox and his family.'

The business model for Peapod, L.L.C. depends upon ultra-efficient usage of its stepvans, which are full of pre-sorted grocery orders from thousands of customers.

Peapod is one of the nation’s leading interactive grocers – serving families in metropolitan areas such as Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.; Fairfield County, Ct.; Hartford, Ct.; Washington, D.C.; and New York suburbs in Westchester County and Long Island.

Most of its customers choose the items they want from lists accessible on Peapod’s web site. Then they expect Peapod to deliver the items at a designated time. This can lead to logistical challenges.

In the Chicago area, for instance, Peapod covers an area about 100 miles in length and 40 miles wide – from southeastern Wisconsin to south Cook County in Illinois and from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Fox River Valley.

With 60 trucks to cover in hundreds of communities, Bob Kruse, senior transportation and facilities manager for Peapod, knew that the company could not afford to displease customers by wasting time on fueling issues.

The Chicago area’s approximately 40,000 Peapod customers expect grocery items to be delivered at times convenient for them, which means drivers cannot take 20 to 35 minutes just to refill a stepvan’s tank at a gas station, Kruse said. Delivery times also can be waylaid if drivers are searching for gas stations that will accept fleet fueling cards.

So, four years ago, when Peapod was establishing its fleet facility in northwest suburban Lake Zurich, Kruse was keeping productivity in mind as he gave the order for installation of two 2,500-gallon Flameshield aboveground storage tanks.

“Fueling takes three minutes at our site,” Kruse said. Pumps twice as powerful as the standard for gas stations, and no convenience-store distractions, add to the speed that keeps Peapod’s trucks on the move. 

Kruse was also concerned with risk management, and accepted the recommendation of a contractor that Flameshield’s double-wall design and two-hour fire rating provided essential protection on environmental and fire-safety issues.

Portability, in case a change in location was ever needed, and ease of installation also influenced Kruse’s selection. “We were up and running in a week,” he recalled. “You can’t do that with an underground tank.”