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May 4, 2012 NEWS AROUND THE STATE ATTEND THE 2012 ACT EXPO! TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE MEET THE FOLKS AT LIBERTY GAS MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BELLOMO FUELS POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC NATURAL GAS WORKSHOP, BELOW COST SELLING, LOTTERY PRIVATIZATION, SCAM ARTISTS, AND MORE First off, I want to remind you of the upcoming workshop on natural gas that NJGCA is co-sponsoring with several of our allies from the alternative energy world. “The Compelling Case for Natural Gas Vehicles” will be presented on Thursday, July 12th at the National Conference Center in the Holiday Inn of East Windsor. I encourage all of you who are interested in exploring how your business can prosper well into the future. I urge you to put that day aside now and plan on being there. You can find more information and register for the event by CLICKING HERE. As you know, the protection of New Jersey’s Below Cost Selling Law is one of the most important objectives of this organization. In addition to New Jersey, there are several other states that have Below Cost Selling laws. Though they have varying degrees of protection, all of them have a similar motive: to keep the big guys from crushing the little guys and then taking advantage of the remnants of the marketplace once those little guys are gone. Just as in New Jersey, the big corporations are pushing to weaken or eliminate the Below Cost Selling laws of other states. In California, Kroger (a major grocery store chain) wants the Legislature to amend the Below Cost Selling statute so that if a customer buys gas and some other items in a store, the cost for all the items should be lumped together when determining whether or not it’s below cost. If this were to pass in California, then many small chains and retailers would be seriously hurt. It would be effectively impossible to enforce the law. Thankfully, this proposal was narrowly defeated in Committee this week after a tough fight. Rewind to last year, you’ll remember NJGCA and our friends the Fuel Merchants Association of NJ teamed up to fight against a similar proposal in Trenton that also would have permitted Below Cost Selling. Some of the larger big box chains wanted sales made from both grocery and convenience stores to be permitted as rewards for purchase of gas. After it was first introduced in July 2010 its co-sponsor, Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) knew that we would have some serious problems with it. Assemblyman Burzichelli asked that everyone come together and negotiate a fair compromise that would make sure small business owners wouldn’t be harmed or bullied by big chains. I discussed the issue many times last year all the way up until it was finally signed on January 5, 2012. Although the bill isn’t perfect, it reinforces exactly the provision that Kroger wanted to eliminate in California: that no matter what promotions are put forward, it cannot result in the sale of gasoline below cost. No marketer can offer a promotion that is a reward for purchasing gasoline. For example, giving away a free cup of coffee with the purchase of 10 gallons of gas is still not allowed. Just imagine if the big box chain retailer that is already squeezing your margin down to only pennies a gallon by posting unbelievably low prices, what that retailer could do to you if they had a way to legally price their gas another 5 or even 20 cents lower. High prices around the country will keep pressure on legislators to abandon Below Cost Selling laws in their states with the appeal of being able to lower prices by a few cents now, but not worrying about how high prices will be later after the spirit of competition has been eliminated. Don’t think politicians will sell out the future for short term gain? Just take a look at the national debt, public employee pensions, Social Security and Medicare! Thankfully, I believe that we have been able to educate legislators in New Jersey to understand this issue better and continue to protect retailers. This is a continuous and never ending battle. An article was published this week that discussed the possibility that the state of New Jersey will move to bring in a private company to run the state’s $2.6 billion state lottery. While we wouldn’t have much of a problem with a private company managing the lottery system as it is now, there is the potential for serious problems. A private company would be geared toward maximizing their own profits, and therefore they may push for the ability to sell lottery tickets on the internet so that they can sell more tickets and do so without paying you any sort of commission. Worse is the fact that every lottery ticket purchased on the internet removes a customer from your store that may purchase coffee or other high profit items. The simple fact is the state needs more money and is looking everywhere it possibly can to get more without raising tax rates. Rest assured, our efforts to oppose internet lottery sales will continue. Finally, I’d like to revisit an issue that was brought to my attention by a bulletin from our allies the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP/NJ). You may remember last year I warned you about a scam in which someone would call and claim to be either hearing impaired or somehow disabled and relaying a tale of extreme misfortune and being stuck on the road, asking you to pay out cash up front to a tow truck driver. There are many different versions of this scam that have popped up over the years, but they all involve you giving up cash and getting nothing in return. Since I alerted you last year it’s been quiet, no one had notified me it was still happening. But now I’ve received a bulletin from our friends at AASP/NJ some of their members that operate auto body shops have encountered the scam once again. Since I got that bulletin I have had several NJGCA members alert me this week that they received similar calls trying to coax them into a similar scam, however since they remembered hearing about it from me last year, no one fell prey to these dirtbag scam artists. Since the scam is back, consider this your warning: under no circumstances should you agree to forward any money to any other shop or tow truck drivers in order to help a seemingly disabled or hearing impaired customer in distress. I caution you to take steps to investigate the legitimacy of any request because certainly we don’t want to fail to help a truly handicapped or impaired individual that genuinely does need our help. Simply take precautions to protect yourself while serving your customers.
Just another reminder, I’m flying to California May 14th where I will be moderating a panel discussion on the “Integration of Alternative Fuel Refueling Infrastructure Into the Existing Retail Environment”, discussing alternative fuels like hydrogen, natural gas, ethanol, and electric. CLICK HERE for more information or to register your attendance if you are so inclined to attend. If you review the agenda you’ll see my panel kicks off Wednesday afternoon at 3pm. Certainly any of you that are interested are welcome to register, just let me know you’re coming and I’ll meet you out there! The Policy Patrol and Manure Pile are taking a break this week. Nothing new and urgent has been introduced down in Trenton, and believe it or not there haven’t been any stupid and ridiculous bills for me to poke fun at. Thanks for listening – See you next week. Regards,
NEWS AROUND THE STATE 4/30/2012: 4/30/2012: 4/29/2012: 4/29/2012:
Click on the banner above or visit THIS LINK to open a PDF with instructions on how to get your Complimentary passes for the 2012 ACT Expo!
TRAINING CLASSES!! PLEASE NOTE: FUTURE DATES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 973-376-0066 or DEBBIE@NJGCA.ORG TO LET HER KNOW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING A SPECIFIC CLASS. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO GAUGE YOUR NEEDS AND KEEP TRACK OF THOSE WISHING TO PARTICIPATE!!
MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE TMP Energy Solutions We have had a number of NJGCA members successfully reduce their rate per kWh signing up through our energy saving program. We know it’s difficult to collect 12 months worth of previous electric bills to get an “accurate” analysis when comparing a variable rate to a fixed rate, but we now have another option available. This new solution is a power purchase option; the other program is still in full force and has saved members thousands of dollars. If you sign up for the power purchase option, you will be grouped with other NJGCA members until the minimum KW demand is acquired. By pooling the member’s usage together, you will be able to take advantage, as large energy users do, and receive a lower kWh rate. Each member will receive their own contract. Each member is responsible to sign and return the agreement the day it is received in order to secure the price for their group. Please do your due diligence, so when you receive the proposal and the agreement you will be able to make an intelligent decision. If by chance, you still want us to assess you bills, to give you a price to compare, we will require12 months of your most recent utility bills. There are no bills required, but we would still like to have one bill per meter on file to check account #’s, meter #’s service addresses and other pertinent information incase there is a problem. The term of the agreement is for 12 months. During this term period, you will have price protection against any energy price increases along with a low fixed kWh rate. If you are interested in becoming part of this power purchase option, please contact Phil Apruzzi at the NJGCA. Remember when you sign up your energy through the NJGCA Energy Program, TMP makes a considerable donation to the NJGCA Scholarship Fund through their proceeds. This has no affect on your rate, and costs you nothing out of pocket. We hope to help hundreds of NJGCA members reduce their utility costs by participating in this and our other cost reduction programs. Our purpose, in the endeavor, is to help NJGCA members lower their energy costs while supporting the NJGCA Scholarship Fund. Contact Phil Apruzzi at 973-376-0066 or email Phil at phil@njgca.org. Mention that you are interested in saving money on your energy bills. NJGCA & TMP Energy Solutions will handle all the rest.
POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
Promoting our agenda in Trenton is of utmost importance to NJGCA and our members. We defeated BELOW COST SELLING We made history in getting FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL signed into law! We have built large support for RIGHT TO REPAIR and got it passed out of the Assembly We defended your small business against the false accusations of Attorney General Anne Milgram We gained wide support to move New Jersey to an all PIF Inspection System and close the CIF lanes ...and MUCH MORE!! In each instance, we achieved these goals with the help of our friends in the Legislature! If every member contributes just $100.00 we will be able to provide the help necessary to ensure victory for our allies. PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO: I understand that times are tough for all NJGCA members, but this is just as important as any battle we have fought in the past. We have made great progress in Trenton. I hope that you will answer the call. THE MEMBER TOOL BOX |
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