If you run a business that does most of its work in one or two seasons—such as landscaping, snow removal, or home moving—things get hot and heavy as the busy season ramps up. Companies like yours require a flexible fuel management process in place to ensure all of your equipment is fueled up when you need to start knocking out jobs. When gas is the largest business expense for your company, you want to develop a procedure that eases the administrative load and assists with the managerial process.
That’s where digital cards can be a huge help. Here are the 4 biggest advantages a digital gas card can have for seasonal businesses:
1. Add & remove temporary employees
For many businesses, seasonal work means temporary employees. And let’s face it: For managers, that means the head count can get chaotic. As employees come and go, issuing them physical company cards can take weeks—and you may not have that long. With a digital gas card like The Fillip Visa* Prepaid Card, you can issue a card to an employee instantly right inside the app, and they can use their smartphone to tap to pay at any gas station that accepts Visa.
2. Less administrative work
Ever regretted uttering the words, “Just put it on your card and we’ll reimburse you?” It’s an easy solve in the moment, but it creates headaches when it’s time to do the bookkeeping. Most seasonal business owners hate administrative work because it’s time consuming and, frankly, boring. Instead of juggling gift cards, company credit cards, cash, or reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses, choosing a digital card makes admin work much simpler. Digital cards don’t leave paper receipts behind, all transactions are recorded and monitored, and managers can set limits based on fuel budgets. That means there’s less busy work compiling receipts, tallying and reviewing transactions, and creating complicated expense projections.
3. Money management
Digital cards also give you controls on spending. Managers can see which employees are spending, the time of day, and what is being purchased. This type of budgetary control can give you peace of mind knowing that the budget you’ve allocated for fuel is being spent on fuel exclusively, and the amount can be adjusted as needed. Digital cards show transactions inside an app, giving you a quick and easy way to view purchases and keep track of employee spending.
4. A universal solution
Some digital gas cards also offer another big perk: The ability to use it anywhere. When your company card ties you to one brand of gas station, you’re stuck with it—even if it’s a lot further away than the one a few blocks from the job your crew just finished. When your crew can pull into any gas station for fuel, they can get from one job to the next much faster.
The bottom line
For most seasonal business owners, the decision to go digital is a no-brainer. If you’re still on the fence, just ask yourself: If I subtracted every minute spent ordering physical cards, reimbursing employees from receipts, or sending them to a gas station that’s an extra 10+ km away because it’s “our” gas station, how much time would my business get back?
