When you run your own window cleaning company, you spend a lot of time in your car in between jobs. Fuel costs may not seem like much at first, but they will start to add up over time. Before you pour all of your profits directly into your fuel tank, you may want to learn some easy ways to reduce your costs at the pump. Here are some quick tips explaining how to save money on gas for window cleaning routes.
A lot of the money you spend on gas is likely the result of poor planning. If possible, try to rearrange your routes to group clients together based on where their location. If one aspect of your schedule puts you in the middle of 5 o’clock traffic on a busy highway, make adjustments to avoid heavy-traffic situations. The more efficient your window cleaning routes are, the better your fuel economy is going to be.
As silly as it may sound, try to plan your driving to avoid left turns at all costs. This is a practice that UPS adopted back in 2004, and so far, it has saved the company an estimated 10 million (yes, million!) gallons of fuel in its delivery trucks. UPS discovered that a lot of the idle time that their trucks saw were from drivers trying to turn left, going against the flow of traffic. Making all-right turns, or as many right turns as possible, not only cut down their fuel costs, but it also improved their delivery times considerably.
It’s always a good idea to compare gas prices in your area to see where the cheapest fuel is. Small gas stations in the middle of neighborhoods may be convenient, but they can also be significantly more expensive than high-traffic gas stations. If you don’t want to drive around looking for cheap gas, you can use a site like GasBuddy to compare gas prices online. Then all you have to do is drive to the nearest station with affordable fuel.
This tip has its pros and cons. Overall, driving slowly will reduce your fuel consumption and improve the miles per gallon you get out of your gas take. However, driving slowly could reduce the number of window cleaning jobs you get through in a day, which will inevitably cut back your profits. On a slow day when you don’t have many clients to get through, slow down your speeds and reduce your window cleaning costs at the same time.