Gas Station Owner Catches $7,200 in Fuel Delivery Shortages

Background

Kevin P. owns and operates two gas stations in the Houston metro area, branded under a major oil company's flag. Each station pumps approximately 120,000-140,000 gallons per month across multiple fuel grades. Both stations have automatic tank gauges (ATGs), but fuel reconciliation had been done monthly — comparing delivery receipts to ATG data in a spreadsheet that Kevin or his store manager updated when they had time.

The Problem

Kevin's fuel reconciliation process had a fundamental weakness: it was monthly and reactive. By the time his store manager compared delivery receipts to ATG readings at month-end, any per-delivery discrepancy was averaged into the month's total variance — making individual shortage events invisible.

The industry-accepted fuel loss threshold is approximately 1% of throughput plus 130 gallons per tank per month (per Warren Rogers data). Kevin's overall monthly variance usually fell within this range, so nothing appeared alarming in the aggregate numbers.

But hidden within that "acceptable" monthly variance were specific delivery events where the station received significantly less fuel than the delivery ticket claimed.

The Solution

Kevin enrolled both stations in DohAssist, which includes daily fuel reconciliation. The DohAssist team configured the following daily monitoring process:

1. Pre-delivery ATG snapshot: Tank levels recorded automatically before every scheduled fuel delivery
2. Post-delivery ATG snapshot: Tank levels recorded after each delivery is complete
3. Delivery receipt matching: Actual gallons received (post-delivery minus pre-delivery) compared against the driver's delivery ticket
4. Daily dispenser-to-POS reconciliation: Gallons pumped per dispenser totalizer vs. gallons sold per POS records
5. Cumulative variance tracking: Rolling analysis showing per-delivery, per-tank, and per-month fuel variance with trend visualization

What DohAssist Found

Within the first month of daily monitoring, DohAssist flagged a pattern at Kevin's Station 1:

• October 12 delivery: Delivery ticket claimed 8,500 gallons of regular unleaded. ATG showed only 8,240 gallons received. Shortage: 260 gallons ($780 at $3.00/gallon cost).
• October 26 delivery: Delivery ticket claimed 8,200 gallons. ATG showed 7,980 gallons received. Shortage: 220 gallons ($660).

The shortages were small enough (2.5-3.2% of delivery volume) to blend into monthly totals but large enough to matter: $1,440 in two deliveries.

Over the next 7 months of monitoring, DohAssist documented 14 additional shortage events across both stations, all involving deliveries from the same fuel transport company. The pattern was consistent: shortages of 200-300 gallons per delivery, always on the regular unleaded grade, and always from the same two delivery drivers.

Documented Shortages by Month

Results

Armed with DohAssist's per-delivery documentation — ATG readings, delivery tickets, and variance calculations for each event — Kevin took the following actions:

1. Filed a formal complaint with his fuel supplier, presenting 16 documented delivery shortage events with time-stamped ATG data for each.
2. Received a credit of $5,400 from the fuel supplier for the documented shortages — the supplier acknowledged the discrepancies and issued credit within 30 days.
3. Requested driver changes for both stations. The two drivers associated with the shortage pattern were reassigned.
4. Implemented pre/post delivery verification as a permanent protocol, with DohAssist monitoring every delivery going forward.

Total documented shortages: $7,200. Total recovered via supplier credit: $5,400. Ongoing savings from prevented future shortages: estimated $7,000-$10,000 annually.