June 3, 2011

Dear NJGCA Member:

Here's what you'll find in this edition of the NJGCA Road Warrior, and thank you for reading:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE: GREETINGS & SAL-UTATIONS!
•Retail Street Prices, Internet Lottery Sales, Exxon Lawsuit and MORE!

NEWS AROUND THE STATE
•Ford CEO pleads for single, national fuel standard
•Report: Legislative leaders near deal with Governor on budget
•Consumers have less disposable income thanks to high gasoline prices
•Tenure reform bill finally introduced in State Senate

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE
•TMP: Residential Energy Solutions now AVAILABLE!! 

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE OR LEASE
•Interested in acquiring or leasing a property?  See below!

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BELLOMO FUELS
•Serving New Jersey since 1910 -- Over 100 years of supplying gasoline retailers like YOU!

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE
•Interested in a class?! See Below!

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
•Participate in the NJGCA PAC today and help us keep our Agenda rolling in Trenton!

THE MEMBER TOOL BOX
•On the NJGCA Homepage
•Know your Territory Manager!

 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE: GREETINGS & SAL-UTATIONS! 

RETAIL STREET PRICES, INTERNET LOTTERY SALES, EXXON LAWSUIT AND MORE!

One of the easiest – and hardest – things to do in life is pay attention.  Obviously it’s easy to pay attention when you are focused and calm.  On the other hand, it can be the hardest thing in the world when you’re befuddled and frantic.  If you’re a small business owner working long hours and live a stressful life full of distractions, chances are you fall more into the latter than the former.

Nevertheless, disruptions or not, paying attention…um…pays off.  That’s because when your mind is focused, you can often find a way to take advantage of the changes occurring around you.  Or, put another way, failing to be observant can cost you, but paying attention is invaluable.

Just look at the volatility in the gasoline retail market this week.  If you are paying attention, you’ll notice that street prices are beginning to fall.  Is there an opportunity there?  In short, YES! 

You’ve been continually beat up by the unbelievably difficult retail market out there.  High gasoline prices are eating into your profits, hampering your ability to compete and keep your doors open.  After months of getting thrashed, when a situation like this occurs, you have to take advantage.  In the current environment, a retailer could possibly make between 20 and 30 cents a gallon if you play your cards right and don’t run to hit a rock-bottom street price. 

As this opportunity presents itself, remember that many folks in the press and the general public are accusing you of some really dishonorable behavior.  Some say you are gouging.  Others say you are jacking your prices up at the expense of the motorist.  Still others state that this is typical of business owners in taking advantage of market conditions. I’ve been yelling on top of my lungs to defend you from such critics and silence their unfounded comments.  But even with a bullhorn and endless facts, they’ll criticize you anyway.

Sadly, no one understands how difficult it has been for you over the last year or how you’re being squeezed worse than the public.  Until they see what it is to stand in your shoes, I say let them talk and let them rant!  Take advantage of the current market conditions, make a little more profit, and catch up on your bills and other financial obligations.  This may not last long, so enjoy it while you can, breathe a little easier (even if it’s only temporary), and don’t be in a race to drop your street price too quickly!  Competition and doing right by your patrons is very important, but so is keeping your doors open and your bills paid.

Earlier this week I went to federal court in Newark to observe the legal proceedings in a lawsuit brought forward by a group of Exxon retailers.  The Exxon dealers filed their lawsuit 18 months ago and have made claims that although difficult to prove are ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY TRUE!   Claims that if proven are valuable to every retailer.  The Exxon dealers are claiming that Exxon discriminates by employing their zone pricing tactics that literally steal profits from retailers by charging certain locations higher DTWs.  Exxon (…and Shell…and Sunoco…etc) all charge discriminating prices to dealers and by doing so actually control your profit margin.

Here is the problem.   Not all of the Exxon dealers involved in the lawsuit have turned incriminating evidence over to the attorneys handling their case.  I ran in to similar difficulties several years ago when I thought about 10 NJGCA members would send me their DTW and competitor street prices daily, in order for me to put the evidence together for the NJ legislature, as I wanted to end this discriminating practice.  After a few days of faxing me their prices my volunteers didn’t want to be inconvenienced and my effort died.  Many of the Exxon dealers have done the same thing.

I know that not all of the dealers in the lawsuit are members of NJGCA so I can’t reprimand them because they don’t receive the weekly Road Warrior, but many of you are NJGCA members and I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO SPEND THE WEEKEND TO COMPILE THE INFORMATION THAT THE JUDGE IS REQUESTING!  Yes, you will have to comb thru old records, but the information will be helpful.

Failing to cooperate and submit what is needed will only hurt you and the rest of the litigants.

We haven’t spoken about it much of late, but the hubbub surrounding the internet lottery bill is slowly getting louder.  After the New Jersey Supreme Court handed down its decision to ORDER the Legislature and the Governor to spend $500 million more on urban education, Trenton is looking under every rock and in between the sofa cushions for any additional funding they can use to balance the budget. 

The media is paying a lot of attention to this and so is the public.  In fact, I’ve been interviewed a number of times on this issue in the last week alone.  You can see two such articles by clicking HERE and HERE

More importantly, you should be paying attention to this bill and realize how harmful it will be to your establishment if it’s signed into law.  Half a billion dollars isn’t an easy amount of change to come up with – it’s going to take some creative accounting, additional cutting, and new streams of revenue to fill that void.  Giving residents the chance to buy lottery tickets online is a very attractive program to serve that purpose! 

NJGCA and our allies need to prove to Legislators how badly small business owners will be affected if this passes.  But we simply CANNOT do that without your help.  I’ve asked you to go to the NJGCA website, download a form, fill it out and return it to us to help give us proof that your lottery purchasing customers also buy profitable items like milk, bread, and coffee.  WE STILL NEED THIS INFORMATION.

If you haven’t done so already, please click HERE to print the form and keep it at your register.  Even if you do it for only two weeks and get it back to me, you will be helping us to help you.

Lastly this week I want to revisit some of the new data that has emerged surrounding safety inspections.  I know that, like me, you’re disappointed that Trenton decided to kill safety inspections last year and how it has impacted your shop.  However, new information has revealed that since their elimination, the number of inspections overall has dropped considerably.  I was interviewed by the Asbury Park Press earlier this week on this topic (click HERE to read it) but made a point of telling the reporter that our members have been continually reminding motorists of the risks involved in ignoring needed safety repairs. 

A key component in getting that message out there is thru the use of the Safety Pamphlet and Safety Poster NJGCA created to better educate your patrons.  If you haven’t done so by now, you should be utilizing both pieces in your waiting room and shop to inform your customers of the risks and consequence for failing to maintain a safe vehicle. 

You can review a copy of both of these pieces by clicking HERE and HERE.  If you don’t have these materials, contact us ASAP so we can send them to you!

Thanks for listening - See you next week!

Regards,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

NEWS AROUND THE STATE

6/1/2011:
Ford CEO pleads for single, national fuel standard
Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company’s top executive, met with lawmakers in Washington earlier this week to urge the adoption of a unified, national automotive fuel standard.  Mulally and other automakers are concerned that failing to create a single standard across all states will create a patchwork of regulations to burden on automakers and motorists.  Some states, like California, seek to create higher fuel efficiency and emission standards that could become difficult for manufacturers to meet.

6/1/2011:
Report: Legislative leaders near deal with Governor on budget
In the weeks leading up to the passage of the state budget, legislative leaders are said to be close to a deal on changing public employee workers’ health benefits through new legislation.  Union leaders have rejected previous proposals to change benefits through legislation, citing that such matters should be decided at the negotiating table through the union’s collective bargaining rights.  Any final proposal would see public employee union members pay more than the current 1.5% they currently pay toward their health care benefits.

5/28/2011:
Consumers have less disposable income thanks to high gasoline prices
As the average cost of a gallon of gasoline is approximately $1.10 more than this time last year, consumers have less money to use on other goods and services.  Overall family budgets are now being squeezed due to the high cost of gasoline, leaving less left over to use on vacations, clothing or recreation.  Analysts state that every 50¢ jump in gasoline prices takes $70 billion out of the U.S. economy, prolonging the economic recession and stifling a recovery. 

5/27/2011:
Tenure reform bill finally introduced in State Senate
Introduced recently in the State Senate, the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey Act (TEACHNJ) seeks to reform the teacher tenure process.  As proposed by State Senator Teresa Ruiz, the measure would end seniority as a deciding factor in teacher layoffs, grant tenure after four years (instead of current three years) and teachers would maintain their tenure for as long as teachers received a positive review for three consecutive years.  The bill has enjoyed wide bipartisan support, though it is anticipated that the state’s largest teacher’s union will oppose many of the proposals in the bill.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES IN OUR “NEWS AROUND THE STATE” ARCHIVE 

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE: 
TMP Energy Solutions Goes Residential!

NJGCA recently introduced you to a major solution to your energy bill for your business.  Through deregulation, you are given the option to choose your energy supplier. No longer are you locked into getting your electricity from one of New Jersey’s major energy distributors.

TMP Energy Solutions may help your business achieve cost reduction due to the deregulation of electricity generation. We have seen dramatic savings by several members who have taken advantage of this program for their businesses. Now TMP Energy Solutions has gone a step further in offering NJGCA members’ savings on their residential electric rates. Yes, that’s right. You may be able to save on your home’s electric bills too!

Here is what you need to do to verify your residential savings and to signup for TMP’s offering.
1. Have at least one of your latest electricity bills. Two would be great.
2. Call me at 973-376-0066.
3. I will do an online analysis of your bill to verify your savings.
4. If you agree to the Residential offering, we will work with you to complete the application.

TMP Energy has provided a residential energy supplier, Champion Energy, to offer NJGCA members the option to purchase their electricity for their home. The term of the Residential Agreement contract is for 12 months at the electric rate on the day your contract is signed. If you decide to end the contract, there is an early termination fee of $10 per month remaining in the contract.

NJGCA now provides you another way to save on your bottom line.  Additionally, any residuals dollars NJGCA receives from TMP Energy Solutions will go towards the NJGCA Scholarship Fund. You save and NJGCA funds the scholarship program for member children going onto institutions of higher learning. Let’s hear from you.

Oh, and don’t forget. If you are also interested in saving on your electric and natural gas bills for your business, all you need do is send copies of your last 3 energy bills to me by mail or fax. I’ll do the rest and let you know what your savings might be.
You have so much to gain and nothing to lose.

-Phil Apruzzi, Director of Membership
66 Morris Ave.
Springfield, NJ 07081
Phone: 973-376-0066
Fax: 973-3760766