TSD Fuel Card

[Dennis H]

4 minutes ago, Pduggs said:

We just completed a roughly 5,000 mile trip. I used the card at all fuel stops. Tallying up my saving resulted in a savings of $558.08. Plus there were a couple occasions where I was forced to fuel at stations offering very little discount. 

As I said, if all you're interested in is how much of a 'discount' you received, great! You "saved" $558.08 over what you would have paid otherwise. Then again, if you had shopped and bought your fuel at stations that offered fuel for less, your 'savings' would have been greater. If I buy at Nordstroms and they give me a 5% 'discount' on a shirt when I could have purchased that same shirt somewhere else for half of what Nordstrom charged, did I really get a deal at Nordstroms? The point of my discussion and dissatisfaction with TSD is that the price they post in their app and the price they charge differ. If I'm in charge of the company and I want to get customers to go to Loves for instance, all I have to do is show a price cheaper than any of the other stations regardless of what I'm going to charge once you fuel up there. This is a dishonest practice.

[Pduggs]

1 minute ago, Dennis H said:

As I said, if all you're interested in is how much of a 'discount' you received, great! You "saved" $558.08 over what you would have paid otherwise. Then again, if you had shopped and bought your fuel at stations that offered fuel for less, your 'savings' would have been greater. If I buy at Nordstroms and they give me a 5% 'discount' on a shirt when I could have purchased that same shirt somewhere else for half of what Nordstrom charged, did I really get a deal at Nordstroms? The point of my discussion and dissatisfaction with TSD is that the price they post in their app and the price they charge differ. If I'm in charge of the company and I want to get customers to go to Loves for instance, all I have to do is show a price cheaper than any of the other stations regardless of what I'm going to charge once you fuel up there. This is a dishonest practice.

I’m not sure that is accurate. I saw stations with low prices, but my TDS discount was close or better. 

[jacwjames]

1 hour ago, Pduggs said:

We just completed a roughly 5,000 mile trip. I used the card at all fuel stops. Tallying up my saving resulted in a savings of $558.08. Plus there were a couple occasions where I was forced to fuel at stations offering very little discount. 

Not sure what mileage you get but at 7 mpg you used ~715 gallons and you say your saved $558 or $0.78.  That's pretty impressive.

I don't use the TSD card, I just shop for areas with lower prices.  Based on the posted prices at most of the larger truck stops I pass along the way I usually can save ~$0.60/gal sometimes more. 

[jimc99999]

12 hours ago, Dennis H said:

Posted price was $3.79. TSD's app showed $3.33. Pretty good savings right? Wrong! The way they do business is you scan their card and then they provide you with a receipt AFTER they take the money out of your checking account. I received the receipt and was charged $3.47 per gallon! Still a savings but I could have purchased fuel from a Maverik station at $3.49 and used my credit card which gives me 5% cash back. Better savings but TSD 'fooled' me into thinking the price I'd pay was $3.33.

You don't have to wait until you get the receipt. I've not checked every time but I'm pretty sure I've seen the transaction listed in the app pretty much immediately.

And how do you know the Maverik price wasn't the cash price, with credit price being 3% higher? That would have eaten up all but 2% of your 5%. And if the price changed that afternoon, how do you know the Maverik still had the price listed in GasBuddy. I rarely use GasBuddy and I've found the pump price to be different than some user-updated price from a few hours before.

Sure, it could have maybe been a little tiny bit cheaper at the Maverik. It also would have taken 10 minutes to stop fueling at $100 or so, and then you have to swipe your card again, hope the bank doesn't flag it as a fraudulent transaction and lock your card (same card same pump 20 minutes later type of thing), take another 10 minutes to finish fueling, hope some dumbass didn't park their car somewhere awkward forcing you to disconnect your toad so you can backup, etc. All that to save maybe 2% ($5 on a $250 transaction). Don't forget the much higher chance of dirty fuel contaminating your filters costing even more time and hassle (and $$$ if you can't fix that yourself with spares you carry with you).

For what is generally a pretty successful subset of the general population some people here sure are stubborn about $2. Personally, while I'm not *that* successful (my motorhome is a 97), I'd willing pay $10 extra to fuel at truck stops because it is pretty much hassle-free. Are there lines occasionally? Sure, but it's not like the small gas station with the cheapest price in town never has a line.  And for my last trip, I drove 2600 miles and refueled 6 times, spending a little over $1200 in fuel (I refuel at half tank so usually 45-60 gallons). If it cost even $10 extra per stop then I paid about as much extra as one cheap roadside campground night. Or, about as much as the set of fuel filters I might have needed if I chased pennies for hours?

13 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

Not sure what mileage you get but at 7 mpg you used ~715 gallons and you say your saved $558 or $0.78.  That's pretty impressive.

I don't use the TSD card, I just shop for areas with lower prices.  Based on the posted prices at most of the larger truck stops I pass along the way I usually can save ~$0.60/gal sometimes more. 

The TSD app isn't generally going to get you lower prices than the cheapest gas stations. But it will get you pretty close, and in exchange for a couple dollars you get hi-flow pumps, easy in/out, long windshield washers, and a reasonably professional environment.

Edited April 5 by jimc99999

[Pduggs]

16 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

Not sure what mileage you get but at 7 mpg you used ~715 gallons and you say your saved $558 or $0.78.  That's pretty impressive.

I don't use the TSD card, I just shop for areas with lower prices.  Based on the posted prices at most of the larger truck stops I pass along the way I usually can save ~$0.60/gal sometimes more. 

Last I checked my mpg was around 6.5. Of course road conditions, weather, and speed can impact it.
 

We did enjoy a 30-35mph tail wind from Santa Fe to Elk City OK. I think I got over 10mpg that day. I didn’t want to stop, but my body told me I had to. 

[Dennis H]

So, I filled up at a Petro station this afternoon. App price was $3.338, Pump price was $4.04. Checking with TDS they are charging me the correct price. Not sure if i overreacted but the previous two transactions did not reflect the app pricing. For now, I'm a happy camper again but I'll monitor what happens when we fuel up again. My reason for replying to this post was to alert others that the app price may not reflect the charged price which is what happened two times in a row. Perhaps it was a glitch in the system, I really don't know. Since no one responded with a similar issue, I can only assume it had to do with my account. Either way, it appears now, to be working the way it is supposed to...thanks for listening.....Dennis

[Ivan K]

I never had a problem either, sometimes Mudflap is a better option. I only do truck stops. Wish that discounts like the one below came back again...

[Georgia Mike]

2 hours ago, Ivan K said:

never had a problem either, sometimes Mudflap is a better option

Ivan, I was thinking of getting Mudflap but I called there customer service and asked if you pay at the pump and she said you had to go inside to pay. Is that true?

[Ivan K]

33 minutes ago, Georgia Mike said:

Ivan, I was thinking of getting Mudflap but I called there customer service and asked if you pay at the pump and she said you had to go inside to pay. Is that true?

Don, from what I have seen, it depends, in Utah at Mavericks I just punched the code at the pump, some other times I had to go in to show the code so it could be either way. If away from major routes, it still is often the best I could get.

But I only have to go in once, not like old times they would want to hold on to your card until done.

Edited April 6 by Ivan K

[amphi_sc]

I forget where I was when a trucker and I shared discount information.  There was a Pilot or Flying J across the highway from this no name mom&pop station.  It's posted dieseI price was about 0.45 less than the big name across the highway and had a couple of 18 wheelers filling up.  I pulled into one of the empty truck lanes.  My card wouldn't work at the truck lane pump so I pulled to the front car lanes, the card worked at the pump, and I filled up (two swipes to fill).  As I was doing so a trucker came over to share all about Mudflap and how I could save money and how it was better than the inflated discounted prices across street.  I had already pulled up the "flap" info on my phone but it was only knocking off 10¢ off the pump price and by swiping my PenFed card at the pump I was getting 18¢ off ... almost double the Flap discount. (PenFed only discounts via swiping at the pump thus I had tried the swipe in the truck lanes). It did take about 5 minutes more to pump the fuel at the front lanes vs the faster truck pumps, but considering "pay at the pump" in the front lanes vs walking into the store to show a code and get a receipt and in the end paying more for a faster pump that burbs diesel back at me, I'd say the time factor was a wash.  In either case pump access was easy in/out but I will say the front pumps were a lot cleaner than all the diesel stains on the concrete in the truck lanes & that can be a factor in tracking back into the driver's seat.

Fuel is about like religion & politics...

I will add that with Mudflap I can choose which payment method to use dynamically at each fillup, and that is handy for me to choose personal vs business use accounts.

Edited April 6 by amphi_sc
Added Mudflap payment options

[Jeff H]

Hello

Any Canadians using The TSD card?  How did you dea with the US bank requirement?

I am thinking of getting an online US bank account.  Any recommendations for online banks?

[grizzly]

I always look for Indian Casinos as they have the best prices usually then Costco  but getting in and out with a big rig is hard sometimes. I am 45 plus tow so about 70

[Steven P]

6 hours ago, Jeff H said:

Hello

I am thinking of getting an online US bank account.  Any recommendations for online banks?

I'm not Canadian,  but maybe look into Bank of America?  I don't recommend Wells Fargo as I hear lots of complaints. 

[birdshill123]

I am Canadian but I use  my US account. Some Canadian banks offer US accounts: BMO ,RBC

 

[Jeff H]

Thanks guys I will check it out

[03Dynasty]

You can promote the mom and pop cheap prices off the interstate, but what will be your cost if they were too cheap to maintain their tanks and give you a load of bad fuel, water, algae.  No thanks, that would be a nightmare.   

Edited April 15 by 03Dynasty

[cbr046]

3 hours ago, 03Dynasty said:

You can promote the mom and pop cheap prices off the interstate, but what will be your cost if they were too cheap to maintain their tanks and give you a load of bad fuel, water, algae.  No thanks, that would be a nightmare.   

I've seen that happen, long before I got my first coach.

In 2021 I got diesel at a well known grocery chain.  Price was good but it was the beginning of a clogged filter. 

In regards to pricing, I'm a strong advocate of the TSD program but this weekend the best TSD price was 3.49 then add 60c then add 10% of the "savings".  Nearby was a Buc-ee's at 3.36.  That price was still there on my return trip.  I'm just saying it pays to shop around. 

- bob

[Ivylog]

Stopped at a Buc.ees in December on way south and again 10 days ago as their price was better than any TSDs and I get 5% back. This one has 3 entrances and the last one is less crowded and the last island is all diesel and DEF if you need it.

Interesting pump and no you can’t get DEF by mistake as it has a separate button and hose behind a sliding window. Diesel hose and lever to turn on is on the right. 232 pumps is pretty amazing.

Edited April 16 by Ivylog

[jacwjames]

15 minutes ago, Ivylog said:

Stopped at a Buc.ees in December on way south and again 10 days ago as their price was better than any TSDs and I get 5% back. This one has 3 entrances and the last one is less crowded and the last island is all diesel and DEF if you need it.

Interesting pump and no you can’t get DEF by mistake as it has a separate button and hose behind a sliding window. Diesel hose and lever to turn on is on the right. 232 pumps is pretty amazing.

There is a Buckee's about 30 miles from us on I40 at the Sevierville exit, there price is $3.48, ~$0.57 cheaper then the two Pilot truck stops close to us. 

I'm currently looking at options include the TSD & Mudflap apps.  Anyone have any opinions on which one would work better for us??

Actually downloading the Mudflap app as we speak.  On my last trip I was filling up next to a big Tiffin and he said he uses Mudflap, said he thought it was better then TSD card.

My wife is getting ready to head out on extended trip going to dog shows and visiting friends.  So now I'm thinking I need to do something so she can try and get cheaper fuel.  She already knows to shop around using Gasbuddy but sometimes you've got to bite the bullet and go to a truck stop. 

Edited April 16 by jacwjames

[Ivan K]

Why not get both, sometimes there is only one choice on the road 

[jacwjames]

Not a bad idea. 

I'm just looking at Mudflap now and it says with Mudflap that you and use any credit card to pay, so if I'd put in Sam's card I assume I'd get the 5% discount besides what the I'd get using the app.

Is TSD the same?

Just setting up a Mudflap app and when I went to setup payment it says there is a 1.9% fee for a credit card. 

If I still get the 5% Sams card that would be the best option but how do I confirm??

[Ivan K]

Depends if you get the 5% on any purchase. For my CC it is classified as merchandise purchase, not fuel purchase since it is charged by Mudflap, not by the fuel station.

TSD takes the money from your bank account so no 'cashbacking'....hate that commercial...

[jacwjames]

That is why I avoided TSD is they want access to bank account which in today's cyber world isn't appealing to me. 

With Mudflap I can use a CC which has always addressed any issues I had in the past regarding bogus charges.  

Debit accounts aren't as forgiving>>>> but with a 1.9% difference on several thousand in fuel cost could persuade me to change. 

Edited April 16 by jacwjames

[Ivylog]

41 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

 f I still get the 5% Sams card that would be the best option but how do I confirm??

I wish it was, but you ASSUME incorrectly… you do not get the 5% Sam’s discount as it’s billed as merchandise, not fuel.  Probably 80% of the time I find GassBuddy with  Sam’s card the cheapest (usually at a Sam’s) and TSD or Mud the other 20%.

I have a checking account that I use for TSD and EBay with very little money in it unless traveling 

Edited April 16 by Ivylog

[jacwjames]

5 minutes ago, Ivylog said:

I wish it was, but you ASSUME incorrectly… you do not get the 5% Sam’s discount as it’s billed as merchandise, not fuel.  Probably 80% of the time I find GassBuddy with  Sam’s card the cheapest (usually at a Sam’s) and TSD or Mud the other 20%.

When I travel and need to stop for fuel I'll look at my route ahead of time and use GasBuddy to find the lowest fuel price.  I agree that this is probably the best option.   Gasbuddy map is nationwide and pretty dependable.

BUT I'm looking at setting something for my wife, who doesn't have the discipline that I do. 

Either way I'll have to track the charges and try and catch discrepancies in either the CC or Debit card.   I know that I can set up alerts on the debit card for purchases over a certain amount.