Alternatives to iRely Petroleum: Where Jobbers, Petroleum Marketers, Wholesalers, and C-Store Owners Look When the Enterprise Suite Is More Than They Run

iRely sells one platform to petroleum marketers, commodity traders, grain elevators, and ag retailers. For some operators that breadth is the point. For an independent jobber it is the question.

If you run iRely Petroleum, or are being shown it, you are looking at an enterprise system whose parent also runs cocoa, coffee, cotton, sugar, and tea trading, grain origination, feed, and crop inputs. This article is for the jobber, petroleum marketer, wholesaler, or c-store owner deciding whether a platform built to that scale is the right size for a company built to theirs.

iRely at a glance

Where iRely is the right answer

A distributor that is several businesses at once, fuel supply plus a cardlock network plus an ag retail arm plus a commodity book, has few options for one system that covers all of it, and iRely is one of them. Its petroleum line reaches from wholesale transports through propane delivery, unattended fueling, lubricants, and c-stores, and the same ledger runs the grain elevator next door. For that operator, one platform and one support relationship across every line is worth a serious look, and the company's 35 years and 500-plus customers say it has delivered it many times.

Why customers look around anyway

Size. An enterprise ERP is a project. Implementation runs on the vendor's methodology, the configuration options run wide because they have to cover four industries, and the cost reflects both. An independent jobber with fuel, a few stores, and some agents is paying for range it will never use. Operators tell us they want a system whose whole worldview is their business, where the rack file, the BOL, the tax jurisdiction, and the dealer invoice are the main road rather than one configured path among many.

Who answers. iRely runs development and support out of Texas, the Philippines, and India. That is a normal way to build enterprise software and there is nothing wrong with it. Ask, though, where the person who picks up your Monday morning rack-file call sits, and whether they have ever seen a bill of lading.

Modular pricing. Nobody in this field publishes prices, iRely included. What an operator can insist on is a written figure for the pieces they run today and a written figure for adding one more piece next year.

What most jobbers, marketers, wholesalers, and c-store owners actually need

The independent wholesaler I've spent 30 years around runs fuel, but that's rarely his only business. Sometimes it's c-stores. Sometimes it's a haul company. A handful of commissioned agents. Real estate. Separate books for each because the accountant said so. FastDragon is built for that operator, and only for that operator: dedicated to the jobber, the petroleum marketer, the wholesaler, and the c-store owner, direct about the price, modular, and all in one place. You switch on what you run:

• Wholesale distribution. Rack pricing, BOL to invoice in one entry, freight and motor fuel tax pass-through, purchase-to-sales allocation, dealer billing.
• Commissioned-agent stations. Daily settlement of fuel sales, card receipts, rent, and commission.
• Company-owned c-stores. Back office, pricebook, shrink, fuel reconciliation, synced to the POS you already have.
• Accounting and books. A full ledger with multi-entity built in, or posting to the QuickBooks you already run.
• Compliance. Tank, inspection, and permit records with the dates on a calendar.
• Real estate. Leases, rent, and the property side of each site.
• Fleet and haul. Trucks, drivers, and freight billing.
• Fuel rebates, loyalty, and security. Each its own switch.

Run two of those and you pay for two. Add a third when the business does. The move itself is fast. Think six weeks, not six months, depending on the client, and a couple of months for a complex one. Our team does the data work and you keep running your old system until the cutover.

How to run the comparison

Whatever you are leaving and wherever you land, the same four questions sort the field fast. Bring your own numbers to every demo: a month of BOLs, your dealer list, your tax jurisdictions, and one of your own statements.

• Show me my load. One BOL from purchase through tax through dealer invoice, with nothing typed twice.
• Show me the price. A written monthly figure for what I run today, and the figure for adding one more piece next year.
• Show me the exit. How my data leaves if I ever go, in what format, and what it costs.
• Show me who answers. Who picks up the phone at 7 am on a Monday when the rack file is wrong, and where they sit.

Who's behind it

I've been in and around fuel and convenience since the 1990s, on the technology side. I was the tech lead on the Jack in the Box c-store and gas station rollout, working beside their CEO. I also worked at Series2K for over a decade, and still recommend their c-store back office to people it fits. The years since have gone to serving jobbers, who tend to get overlooked by vendors chasing the hundred-site accounts.

Alternatives to iRely for a jobber, petroleum marketer, wholesaler, or c-store owner

For the independent jobber, marketer, wholesaler, or c-store owner, FastDragon is the modular option: everything above, switched on a piece at a time and priced to what you run. The other established systems worth a call are Series2K, ADD Systems, AIMS, and Red River. If PDI bought your vendor, start with the PDI article. Our vendor comparison puts the field side by side and the buyer's guide has the demo questions to bring to each.

If you have a renewal or an upgrade date in front of you, send it to us. We'll tell you in one call whether we fit.

Questions people ask

Book a demo

Sources

iRely: home page (product lines, industries, customer and country counts, years in business, office locations); iRely Petroleum (what the petroleum line covers, cloud hosting). FastDragon module descriptions are ours.