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Alex Sussman | Business Development | Coast
Tell us a little bit about Coast:
Coast is an innovative Visa fuel card and fleet expense management system that offers greater visibility and control over employees' spending on fuel and other job-related expenses than traditional fuel cards. We provide our transportation clients the opportunity to reduce costs and streamline their business processes. In fact, fleets that switch to Coast from another fuel card save an average of 9% on their fuel bills. They also gain efficiency by allowing their employees increased autonomy while maintaining absolute transparency and communication around all spending activities.
Two of the most exciting elements of Coast are our SMS verification processes, and our integrations. By syncing with telematics providers, we are able to automatically block fraudulent transactions when vehicle GPS is too far from a gas station. Additionally, Coast integrates seamlessly with Fleetio and accounting platforms like Quickbooks for ease in expense tracking. Working with Coast also means qualifying for fuel discounts through our partners. Customers get discounts of 2 cents / gallon from any station, with bonuses at brands like Exxon, for 4 cents / gallon discounts, and Casey’s (in the Chicago area) for 6 cents / gallon off.
We are proud to be a partner in helping to guide our transportation clients forward into technological advances that can completely transform their financial operations for the better.
How did you, personally, end up in the transportation industry?
I worked for Amex in a variety of roles for about 10 years. A few colleagues of mine came to Coast, and pretty soon I followed. The transition from a huge company to one that is smaller and growing rapidly has brought new challenges, of course, but it’s been a really exciting place to be. I truly like all our clients, and our work with the transportation industry specifically has been especially gratifying because these innovations are so needed and so impactful.
What has been your experience as an ILLBA member?
We love being a member so much that we’re actually running an ILLBA-specific promotion right now. Operators can earn a complimentary 12-month ILLBA membership (i.e. Coast will cover it) when they open a Coast account and spend $1,000 or more in their first 3 months.
Beyond that, the ILLBA and its members have been such a great network for us. We don’t get the chance to attend in-person events that often, but we’ve connected with so many people and have benefited from a variety of the opportunities inherent to this organization.
Any predictions, hopes, or ambitions for the future of our industry?
I’m not sure if I have any predictions, but I will say that every employee at Coast is also a Coast user, which means we are growing right alongside our clients. Using our own product allows us to continually give feedback internally from our own lived experiences, and keeps us honest about where we are and where we want to be (which is improving, always).
You can reach Alex at asussman@coastpay.com, +1 704 612 2577, or on LinkedIn.
Read Alex’s full interview on our on our website.
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