Cumberland Farms Cuts Costs and Enhances Safety

About Cumberland Farms

Founded in 1938 and once a one-cow dairy, Cumberland Farms now operates a network of about 600 convenience stores and gas stations in about a dozen eastern seaboard states from Maine to Florida. The company operates its own grocery distribution and bakery operations to supply its stores, as well.

In 2019, Cumberland Farms was acquired by EG Group along with several other subsidiary companies; Certified Oil, Fastrac, Loaf N Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Tom Thumb, Turkey Hill, and Turkey Hill Midwest. Their Store Support Center in Westborough, Massachusetts is now the Store Support Center for all these Companies, and is known as EG America.

The mission of Cumberland Farms is to be a leader in the industry by constantly evaluating and adapting their model to meet the needs of their customers. They aim to be a food service destination by providing fresh products on-the-go alongside their traditional convenience offerings.

Challenge

Since 1994, Cumberland Farms has worked with several other onboard computer partners who provided transponder-based weigh station bypass and electronic toll collection.

“While these partnerships revealed the company’s issue with weigh station delays, they could not provide enough insight to its extent,” said Wayne Thornhill, Director of Petroleum Transportation Cumberland Farms/ Gulf Oil and Fleet and Safety Compliance Manager for Cumberland Farms. “They also didn’t provide many bypass opportunities, if any,” he added.

They expected that the discrepancy resulted from when drivers didn’t factor in additional time lost when entering and exiting the weigh station areas, when filling in their survey reports. This additional time was due to heavy congestion in and around the weigh stations. Through a process of elimination, Thornhill surmised roadside inspections at weigh stations was likely at fault. He was increasingly frustrated that even after changing fleet management partners twice, he had no clear answer.

Solution

In 2015, Thornhill chose Trimble as the company’s new fleet mobility provider because of the system’s ease of use among drivers. Trimble’s integration with Cumberland’s back office programs as well as Trimble’s customer service helped seal the deal. Shortly after Cumberland Farms became a Trimble customer, Thornhill learned about Weigh Station Bypass (formerly Drivewyze). Impressed with the system and its ease of use, Thornhill activated Weigh Station Bypass Analytics for his company’s fuel delivery division. Thornhill admitted that he was a bit skeptical given his prior experience with transponder-based weigh station bypass.

“There’s a cost to adding this weigh station bypass service,” he said. “But then I saw the number of hours and the number of inspections Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze) could help us avoid. When I took that time savings and plugged in our hourly rate, the potential savings I found that we could get with Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze) just blew me away.

Result

Thornhill said that Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze) has also brought about a greater awareness of the importance of completing vehicle inspections and Hours of Service reports. It has helped drivers focus on reporting maintenance issues and taking greater personal responsibility for the company’s safety rating. The drivers see a direct correlation between the company’s safety rating and how many bypasses they can get through Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze).

“Since bringing Trimble onboard as our fleet management partner and Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze) as our weigh station bypass provider, we are much, much more confident knowing that the efficiencies and safety of our operations as a private fleet are better off than they were without Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze).”

Wayne Thornhill, Director of Petroleum Transportation

• Avoided about 60 hours of weigh station delays over one month
• The additional driving time has helped most drivers haul many more loads per day
• Bypasses saved the company over $6,000 in operating costs and increased productivity per month
• What’s more, bypasses saved Cumberland 280 gallons of fuel and over 3 tons of CO2 each month, making a big contribution to sustainability.

Thornhill said that Weigh Station Bypass (Formerly Drivewyze) has also brought about a greater awareness of the importance of completing vehicle inspections and HOS reports. It has helped drivers focus on reporting maintenance issues and taking greater personal responsibility for the company’s safety rating. The drivers see a direct correlation between the company’s safety rating and how many bypasses they can get through Weigh Station Bypass.

FAQs

What results did Cumberland Farms get after turning on Weigh Station Bypass Analytics, hours saved, cost savings, fuel, and CO2?

After enabling Weigh Station Bypass Analytics, Cumberland Farms avoided about 60 hours of weigh station delays in a single month. The fleet saved over $6,000 in operating costs per month, conserved roughly 280 gallons of fuel, and cut more than 3 tons of CO2. The extra drive time also allowed most drivers to haul more loads per day.

How does weigh station bypass reduce hidden downtime and improve cost-per-mile for private fleets?

Hidden downtime often comes from time lost entering and exiting congested weigh stations, which drivers may not log. Bypass services reduce those stops and inspections, and analytics quantify the hours avoided so fleets can tie savings directly to hourly rates and cost-per-mile. With fewer delays, trucks run more productive miles, fuel use drops, and per-mile operating costs improve.

Drivewyze/Weigh Station Bypass vs traditional transponder-based bypass: which offers more bypass opportunities and better analytics?

In this case study, traditional transponder-based services offered few, if any, bypass opportunities and limited insight into the extent of delays. Weigh Station Bypass (formerly Drivewyze) provided richer analytics and more bypass events, revealing where time was lost and how many inspections were avoided. Those metrics helped justify the subscription by showing clear time and cost savings.

How did Cumberland Farms identify unreported time lost at weigh stations and quantify the impact of congestion?

The team analyzed cost-per-mile and noticed gaps between reported non-productive time and actual time lost. They suspected drivers were not capturing the added minutes spent entering and exiting congested weigh station areas. After enabling Weigh Station Bypass Analytics, they could measure avoided inspections and hours, then multiply those hours by their hourly rate to quantify the impact.

Is a weigh station bypass subscription worth it for a 100+ vehicle fleet? Evidence from a real-world case study.

For Cumberland Farms’ 137+ vehicle fleet, Weigh Station Bypass delivered about 60 hours of avoided delays and over $6,000 in monthly operating cost savings. It also saved around 280 gallons of fuel and more than 3 tons of CO2 per month, while enabling more loads per day. Leadership concluded the service improved both efficiency and safety performance.

What’s the link between a fleet’s safety rating, driver inspections/HOS compliance, and the number of weigh station bypasses?

Drivers reported a direct connection: solid inspections and HOS compliance support a stronger safety rating, which in turn leads to more bypasses granted. Weigh Station Bypass helped reinforce that behavior by making the payoff visible, encouraging proactive maintenance reporting and accurate HOS logs. As compliance improves, the safety rating improves and bypass frequency increases.

How does Weigh Station Bypass integrate with Trimble, and what benefits did drivers and back-office teams see?

Cumberland Farms chose Trimble for driver-friendly workflows and integration with back-office systems; Weigh Station Bypass connects within that environment. The combined setup delivered easy in-cab use, analytics that highlighted bypass opportunities, and fewer inspection stops that disrupted routes. Both drivers and office teams gained confidence in the fleet’s efficiency and safety.

How can a fuel delivery fleet increase daily loads by reducing weigh station inspections and delays?

Turn on a weigh station bypass service with analytics to cut inspection stops and time spent in congested weigh station ramps. Use the analytics to quantify saved hours and adjust dispatch to convert that time into additional runs. Maintain strong vehicle inspections and HOS compliance to protect the safety rating that helps unlock more bypasses.

What sustainability gains can fleets expect from weigh station bypass (fuel saved and CO2 reduced), based on real data?

In this case, monthly bypasses saved about 280 gallons of fuel and reduced emissions by more than 3 tons of CO2. Skipping weigh station queues trims idling and stop-and-go time, which lowers fuel burn and emissions without changing routes.

Steps Cumberland Farms took to cut weigh station delays and uncover true operating costs per mile

They audited operating costs to find gaps, then pinpointed unreported time lost to weigh station congestion. The fleet adopted Trimble for driver ease and back-office integration and enabled Weigh Station Bypass Analytics. Using the analytics, they quantified avoided inspections and hours, converted them to dollars, and reinforced inspections and HOS compliance to sustain more bypasses and better cost-per-mile.