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June 8, 2012 Here's what you'll find in this edition: NEWS AROUND THE STATE APPRAISAL SERVICES TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE MEET THE FOLKS AT LIBERTY GAS MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BELLOMO FUELS POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE: GREETINGS & SAL-UTATIONS! EVENT REGISTRATION (AND CONFUSION), GASOLINE PRICES, AND MARGINS THE BEST REMEDY FOR HIGH GAS PRICES IS HIGH GAS PRICES I was talking to a member earlier this week, discussing events in Trenton and giving him the run down on two upcoming programs the Association will be participating in. After twenty minutes of conversation, I realized that, in relaying the message, I had succeeded in only confusing him – as well as myself! If you were to read and relay that information over the phone, you’d think you were repeating yourself, even if they are quite different and distinct. Of course, it doesn’t help that both events happen on the 12TH (even if they’re different months) and that they both take place at the same location! With that in mind, I thought perhaps it was best to lay everything out so we’re all on the same page! Event 1: What’s more, over 20 exhibitors will be in attendance, including consultants, vendors, and fleet management professionals. There will also be approximately a dozen alternative fueled vehicles on display, including automobiles powered by propane, compressed natural gas (CNG), and electricity. The agenda also includes two panel discussions, one on the economic and environmental cases for alternative fuels; and the other on the options and advances of alternative fuels in today’s market. Featured representatives from the CNG, propane, electric, and biodiesel industries will also be in attendance, so it’s a great chance to network and see the exhibits! The Conference will be held at the National Conference Center, just off the NJ Turnpike in East Windsor. Doors open at 8:30am and the event should be concluded around 12:00pm. To register, you may visit http://njcleancities.eventbrite.com/ or just CLICK HERE If you can make it, I very strongly suggest you attend the Conference! Register at the link above and then reach out to me with your attendance! Event 2: The presentation will focus on fuel station design, development, construction and what is involved in servicing fleet customers. Included will be a presentation laying out the special tax incentives and grants available to entice businesses to switch to NGV cars, as well as a presentation from NGV fleet operators sharing their experiences. A program explaining the economics in how to calculate fuel costs, simple payback and life-cycle savings will also be presented. This event will ALSO be held at the National Conference Center in the Holiday Inn of East Windsor, NJ (399 Monmouth Street, East Windsor, NJ). You can register for the event by visiting http://www.cleanvehicle.org/workshop/Trenton.shtml to sign up! This is a MUST ATTEND event and I urge all NJGCA Members to attend. So how does this fit together? What’s the reason that I’m continuing to push you to see these innovations for yourself? Read on! Many of you have commercial accounts with vendors and businesses that frequent your establishment. Perhaps they have a few sedans, a fleet of pickups, moving vans, or heavy trucks. The point is, they are patronizing your business to fuel up their equipment. What we are seeing, however, is that a number of businesses with fleet cars are switching to CNG to fuel their vehicles --- and your commercial customers maybe the next to switch. The reasons for this are easy to see: CNG vehicles are cheap to fuel and cheap to operate. What’s more, there’s not a tremendous expense in getting a vehicle equipped to burn CNG over ordinary gasoline or diesel. These products are plentiful and easy to procure – meaning the sales infrastructure is there to exploit. There are also huge tax incentives to incentivize businesses to convert or purchase alternate fueled vehicles. They have a lot to gain! So Do You! What isn’t (necessarily) there is a ready infrastructure to fuel these cars, trucks, and equipment. However, in order to justify the investment and have a steady stream of customers, you should approach your commercial fleet customers to ask them if they’ve considered CNG powered cars. From purely a money perspective, the number of tax breaks offered to those businesses operating CNG-powered vehicles is a tremendous incentive to make the switch – and that doesn’t even count the cheaper price CNG customers are paying. All in all, it actually works out to be a double savings! Over the last few years, I’ve been taking baby steps to try and show you the value of such technology and the potential profits you could make for a return on investment. The truth is the future is moving in this direction anyway, so whether you accept it or not is irrelevant. What is relevant, however, is how you will balance your books and keep your patrons five or ten years from now as the market continues to diversify into these new technologies. Put differently, a lack of investment (or vision) today could mean you’re out of business tomorrow. How do I know this? I’ve already spoken to a number of contractors, vendors, and site planners who tell me that your most feared competitors are already taking the proper steps to enter this segment. That’s right – Wawa, Quick Chek, Hess, and other big-box service station chains will soon be refueling their patrons’ vehicles with CNG and electricity. And believe me; hydrogen isn’t that far off either. And Ethanol is emerging in new ways and all bio-fuels will play a part in the future fuel marketplace. What else does this news tell you? If you’ve been in business long enough, and if you’re smart, it SHOULD tell you that there is an opportunity to grab a little bit extra profit as the price drops. I’ve seen a few short-sighted moron station owners rushing to drastically cut their prices. However, thankfully, most people seem to be holding their margins to recover from the slim (or no) profits of normal months. For this week’s Policy Patrol I wanted to point out a piece of legislation that is near and dear to my heart, even though it is not directly related to the businesses we at NJGCA represent. However, it is important to everyone who drives a car on New Jersey highways. S-530/A-2277 are sponsored by Senator Don Norcross (D-Camden), Assemblyman Gil Wilson (D-Camden), and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth). This bill would increase the fine on all those morons you always see clogging up the left lane of the highway by driving as slow as or slower than people in the lane to the right of them. These jerks are a danger to everyone by blocking a lane of traffic and therefore forcing the more competent drivers to have to swerve around them or pass on the right side, increasing the likelihood of car accidents. I can also tell you, from personal experience, that clogging up the left lane can increase road rage in other drivers, which is very dangerous. Thankfully, there is still some measure of common sense in the state Legislature, as last week the state Senate passed this bill by a 33-2 vote. I hope to see it enacted into law soon. From the Manure Pile is yet another example of some Legislator trying to stick the government’s beak in where it doesn’t belong and saddling businesses with yet more unnecessary work. A-2802 would require every business employing more than 100 people (even if those people are spread out at several locations) to submit an annual survey to the Department of Transportation detailing the commuting patterns of its employees. Then, the business will have 2 years to implement a plan that reduces the number of cars commuting at peak hours by 25%. Everybody hates rush hour but how can anyone seriously think this should be something that businesses should spend so much time on developing. They want information on more than a 100 different employees’ driving habits and then they want the business to tell their employees to either start carpooling or start working different hours. The economy is in the toilet! Businesses are working night and day just to keep the doors open and avoid layoffs, and now someone in Trenton who has probably never operated any kind of business in his life wants them to spend hours developing a ‘traffic management program’. This is why people have lost faith in their government, it’s not just that our legislators aren’t making the economy better, but some of them are proposing things that will make it worse. Thanks for listening – See you next week. Regards,
NEWS AROUND THE STATE 6/7/2012: 6/7/2012: 6/7/2012: 6/5/2012:
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. ?
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