TCH EXCLUSIVE
Hello from Mercertown! I have some breaking news for you today, or it may be old news to you depending on how many rumors you have heard.
Over the next several weeks, Mercer will begin to phase out ComData cards, and switch exclusively to TCH fuel cards. For many years we have provided both cards to our drivers, because in the past you could only use certain cards to fuel at certain truck stops. Both cards are fairly universal now and can both be used anywhere.
Over the past few months, TCH has made several key changes. Your TCH card is now accepted at all of the major truck stops that offer discounts to Mercer. Those stops are T/A, Loves, Petro, Pilot, and Flying J. You can get our cost-plus fuel discount, at any of those locations with the TCH. This was a big factor to our decision because while you can use the ComData card at all of these locations, you cannot get the cost-plus discount at Pilot or Flying J with the ComData card.
Another change that TCH made is they are now a part of the Star Debit Card Network, which like ComData, the TCH card can now be used at Wal-Mart, and many other locations, and ATM’s that use the Star Network.
A lot of drivers have questions as to why Mercer has made this decision, and why did we choose TCH? To put it simply, we want to save our contractors money! Mercer has always been very aggressive about cutting costs for its contractors. We try hard to keep physical damage insurance prices down, we pay fuel taxes for all of our contractors, and we try really hard to get the best fuel discounts we can at all of the major trucks stops. We believe that the more money we can save our driver’s, the better chance that they have to be successful at Mercer!
The best news of all is the new advance fee that TCH is charging us. Since we have decided to use TCH exclusively, they have agreed to lower our advance fee from $3.50 to $1.75! We are estimating that this reduction will save our total fleet of contractors $1.1 million dollars a year! Your advance fees can really add up over the course of a year, so just imagine if you cut that in half.
I think that this will be a good change for Mercer. It will streamline things in the office as far as paperwork is concerned, and it will also reduce the amount of time coordinators spend on the phone trying to figure out which card to put money on. But our biggest motivation is reducing your costs. The comment section is open, and we would love to hear some feedback. If you have both cards in your possession, I would start to load your advances on TCH now, instead of waiting til the last minute. It will really help the process of the transition. Good luck to all, and have a great day!
Jason, please explain how to access my TCH account activity on their web site. I haven’t been able to figure it out.
Thanks.
Let me do some research on this. Will let you all know very soon.
To view your account online, go to http://www.tch.com/tchWeb/appmanager/tch/home, click on the “e-manager” icon on the top right of the screen, and it will prompt you to enter your TCH card number and your PIN.
i like this change to tch i have two questions, how soon will this happen and will there be anything done to make it easier to check our accounts without have to go through the phone with all them numbers. maybe it could be set up like com-data where we can check it on line
Jesse, we hope to have the switch complete by early October. I am researching how to view your account online.
can we get our comdata balances transferred over to the tch card?
Speak with your truck pay person. You should be able to transfer the money over.
way to go Jason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeees you can check it on line at Transportation clearing house .com
We’re all about saving $$$$$$. The less we have to pay in fees the more we can put in our piggy bank!!! WTG Jason!!!
Will the discount for the TCH card be automatic like it is now at T/A and Petro with the Comdata card? Or will it wind up being a quarterly wait with the money being applied to our plates like it has been with Pilot, Flying J and Loves?
Discount is immediate, just like the ComData. None of the truck stops give a quarterly or annual refund towards plates anymore.
They informed us in orient. that Ambest & one other one,,,,I can’t remember which one,, that our fuel rebates would be applied towards our next yrs. plate. Is this the case or is it not? TY.
are we gonna be paying the credit price or cash price just got fuel at the flying j in new milford pa and was charged the credit price dont seem like any savings there cash price is 3.09 credit price is 3.15
Flying J should give you our cost plus discount. They may not print the discounted price on the receipt, but they should only deduct the discounted price. That is, if you are using your TCH card. You will not get our discount at Flying J/Pilot if you are using ComData.
Jason is TCH going to charge us the fee if we use that card at walmart or any place that accepts it?
If you are using it like a debit card, like you would at Wal-Mart, it will be a .75 cent charge.
what are the daily limits (useage) going to be ? #2 what are the advance (dollar amount ) going to be ? #3 i can see trouble when tch goes down hope everbody remembers carry extra MONEY and don’t depend on anybody cause murphy’s law will happen and there you are have to go and can’t
Click on this link to see my previous post about daily limits http://mercertownblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/tch-update-2/. I don’t really understand your second question…As far as #3, at some point TCH will go down, but from my experience, ComData lately, has crashed much more than TCH. Coordinators can issue TCH paper checks in the event that the system is down. I suggest getting a packet of blank TCH checks next time you are here.
concerning TCH checks: I never used them as they were more $ than Comchecks. .75 cents over fee for using card and $1 per hundred.
fee schedule used to be online, now you have to call to get it.
what should we do with our cdta cards shred them or return them to lville
did some checking three states 4 vendors ca ok al ta average discount 31.3 low of260.1 petro average 28.5 low 261.4 loves average 27.9 low 259.6 J & pilot 20.5 low 262.6 now tch is or was connected to the J, & since pilot got involved a portion of our discount has gone south. it took a long time for ta & petro to have tch accepted Hope we dont loose the good discount for 1.75!!!! 11 cent diference in an average discount TA to the J !!!! Going to the J is like thinking you can get a good pair of jeans or boots in walmart. Sorry old habits die hard & I hate that lond — number.
The discounts we get are not going to change. They give us those discounts because we are Mercer, and we have 1800 trucks, not because we use a certain card.
I was under the impression that we were business partners. Changing fuel cards without any discussion with your owner/operators smacks of company truck operations and no choice on our part. I do not like any part of the TCH system, difficult finding what your balance is by phone or web, the food sucks at flying j and pilot, and like one owner commented, never know when Flying J/Pilot will go down the tubes as Flying J has recently, then what happens to our money in their bank?
TCH can be used at TA, Petro, & most independants as well.
Ron,
I spoke to approx 15-20 contractors, all of whom used the ComData card exclusively. I told them about the negotiating process I went through with ComData and TCH, all agreed with the proposed change. I basically asked ComData and TCH to give me the best bid for 100% of Mercers fuel card business. TCH gave me a substanially better bid. The two reasons for suggesting the change to Mercers General Management Group were contractor savings. Using the TCH card would give contractors the opportunity to purchase fuel at Flying J & Pilot at a cost plus price, the savings on this is potentially over one Million dollars. The second was the reduction in the advance fee, approx $525,000. Owner Operators that perferred T/A, Petro and Loves will continue to receive the same discounts with the TCH card as the ComData card. ComData did not negoiate the discounts you receive, Mercer negoiated the discounts with all the fuel vendors, and ComData and TCH are simply the card companies Mercer used to process the transactions. I apologize if this change caused you any grief, the purpose was to use the card that saved Mercer contractors the largest amount of money and provided a quality service.
Jason, I have read all the comments & I’m sure u know u can’t make everybody happy,,,,some don’t like TCH, some don’t like F/J, some just plain flat don’t like any kind of change whatsoever. I for one figure if it saves me money,,,,HOOOORRRRRAAAYYYY!!! I can find a decent meal somewhere, we all know trkstps are not the best eatin anymore & they’re not cost friendly! I do have one question however, When did the 1.75 rate become eff. cause the last time I looked I am paying 3.75 for ldg my TCH card. U R dealing with a guy thats tracks every nickel here. I believe if I save a nickel here there and over there, pretty soon I got a bunch of nickels = DOLLARS. Just keep doin ur deal. TY.
While I am all about saving money, the choice of which card to use should still be the owner/operators decision. TCH has never been user friendly and what happens when TCH system is down??? How do you fuel then? Having a “backup” card seems to be more logical.
I for one despise TCH. But when I heard about this change a few weeks ago, I went ahead & made the switch. I figured that I better get use to it. TCH for me is more dificult to use & it seems like it is more troublesome for the girls at the fuel desk as well. When I go in & ask for my fuel ticket, they can’t find it easily as they did with comdata. Now I have to tell them the control number to get my fuel ticket. Another thing I don’t care for when it comes to TCH is the online reports. Comdata itemizes your monthly reports & shows all the fees like the $1.00 charge for ATM withdraws & the $0.75 for debit card transactions. TCH doesn’t show an itemization to seperate the tax deductable fees. It’s going to be an accountants nightmare to figure that stuff out. Is there a way that TCH can be talked into itemizing this stuff?
Daniel,
I have discussed this with TCH and it will be added to the website. The report will show the complete transaction, fuel, fuel discount, cash advance etc. My guess is it will be available by November.
Jason,i use Comdata at Speedco and asked them if they accept TCH and they said yes,however….i was told it must be set up for oil changes/service etc.I called Louisville and asked about that and was told that was the first they had heard about that.It reminded me of an incident 8 years ago,i was getting my truck serviced at the F-J in Gary and was told that i could not use the TCH card there.Maybe theres something to it.Anyway any info would be welcome.
Neil I have used T C H at Speedco with no trouble
Jason,
Thanks to you + Tim on trying to save us money. Every bit helps these days.
Question; When will we lose the cost plus discount when using the Comdata card at Loves + TA, or will we?
Knowing me, I’ll prolly wait until the end of September to switch after all the bugs have been worked out. (maybe)
Steve,
Mercer drivers have been enjoying the same cost plus prices at Loves & T/A with the TCH card for over a year now. When I set these discounts up, they were setup on both cards, not just ComData.
Mercer has been using TCH since 1998, the same time we setup the ComData card. Neither card has a preference at the truckstop, they only want more Mercer gallons.
Jason are we going to be able to transfer money from our tch acct. to our bank acct. like the comdata?
J.C.,
TCH is working on this and I believe it will be available by November 1st. TCH has is setting it up for you to do over the phone or on http://www.tch.com. I believe one of the options is an automatic withdrawal from your TCH card on a weekly or monthly basis. I will provide more information as soon as it is available. Thanks
jason….with the flying j/ pilot merger. would it be possible to designate each with a ‘j’ or a ‘p’ on fuel website so we know who is who? the reason asking is that pilots have no resturants and j’s do but the way it is set up there are like 500 locations listed and too much leg work to then look it up in a directory book.
Patrick,
I will request this today.
Tim
Maybe it’s me but after several tries I am having a problem pulling any information on my account other than cash advances. I tried using the link provided and even the help icon but to no success. I need to have a list of transactions including discounts to see where the money goes for bookeeping purposes and to audit fuel recipts. I know this info exists on the site but where do I go to get it? When I had this service before, only the corporation had access not the card holder. Is this still the case and when will it be corrected?
Tim,
Go to http://www.tch.com and click on emanager. You will need to enter the card number and pin number. It will give you the deposits and withdrawls, it does not breakdown the fuel and cash advances though. I have put in a request with TCH for another option in the driver menu to include the information you have reuested. TCH is working on this and it should be available soon.
I would rather pay $3.50 and not have to deal with TCH.