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GREETINGS AND SAL-UTATIONS!
Dear NJGCA Members: The last few weeks, we’ve been dedicating a lot of our weekly coverage to our efforts in changing the inspections system. Still, while moving from a CIF-centric to an all-PIF inspection system is a worthy goal, I don’t want you to think that I haven’t noticed the dramatic changes taking place in the market. We’ve seen gas prices change upwards and downwards since the beginning of the year, and are now about 30 cents higher than they were in January. Along the way, we’ve observed an interesting pattern: Prices begin to increase a lot, then fall a little; then again increase a lot and fall just a bit. We are now in an upward spike, but the pattern has not faltered, as each spike follows no meaningful correlation to supply and demand nationwide. With supply and demand relatively steady for the last six months, that means the price hike in gasoline rests almost entirely on the cost of a barrel of crude oil. Unfortunately, market forces are not what are causing crude oil prices to increase. Rather, investors and speculators are once again playing their game. They are gambling that the near- to mid-term supply of crude oil and refined products will not meet demand as we enter the summer months and are now bidding prices higher. Speculators can do this because they’ve made incredible gains in other markets and now have additional liquid capital to play with – and crude oil futures gives them a place to gamble. Every time we see a price spike that is immediately followed by a modest drop in price, the gamblers are making a correction because they have second thoughts on their gamble. They are re-examining supply and demand levels that ultimately dictate what the price should be. But you can’t lay the blame only on the speculators. Oil producers always enjoy it when investor-types come to gamble. These gamblers will roll the dice, driving up the cost of crude and products refined from them, such as gasoline and diesel. Since these oil producers are just as hungry for profit, they won’t complain, but if motorists do not take to the roads as they’ve predicted, they’ll withdraw their capital and prices should fall back. If they don’t lower the price then they will find themselves drinking their oil. I know what you’re thinking: How do you know this Sal? Well, the simple truth is that I don’t. There is NO EXPERT on the face of the planet --- including myself --- who can tell you with any certainty what the price of crude will do. The only thing any “expert” can accurately predict is what will happen under certain conditions. If those conditions materialize, we are accurate. If they don’t, then we would have BEEN accurate had those conditions played out. Still, no one has a crystal ball and can predict exactly how those circumstances will arise – and so the game continues. I expect retail gasoline prices to hover someplace below $3.00 for most of this summer if the current conditions remain.
Our fight to put an all-PIF inspection system into place continues. However, I’m very uncomfortable because the option of eliminating safety inspections altogether is still on the table in order to save the state a few million dollars. Though I’ve met many high level officials in Governor Christie's Administration that strongly support our proposal to require all re-inspections be performed at PIFs (and not permitted to go back at CIFs) there are still high level officials that see a greater benefit of eliminating safety inspections altogether.
While I respect the Governor for taking a hands-on approach to our state’s fiscal emergency, I believe he may personally feel that eliminating safety inspections is the better approach. 1. Keep a digital camera handy in your shop and look out for dangerous and unsafe vehicles. 2. When these vehicles are in your repair bay for a NJ state motor vehicle inspection, take numerous pictures from every angle of whatever may be unsafe; that includes tires with low-tread, bad brakes, front end, mirrors, headlights, turn signals, and especially brake lights. 3. Make certain to take a photo of the inspection sticker that indicates the month and year the inspection was due. A photo of the license plate will be helpful too. 4. Be sure to record the date the photos were taken, the make/model/license plate of the vehicle you inspected, and all of the customer’s relevant information. 5. Email all of the pictures and information to me immediately! Please keep in mind: Customer information will NOT be shared and that the information will be for our internal purposes only. As we’ve continued to report, the atmosphere in Trenton is getting nasty as all kinds of special interests come out of the woodwork to defend their stake in the budget process. But it’s about to get worse. That’s because this week, we’ve witnessed a historic event as voters rejected 59% of all proposed school budgets. It is the first time that a majority of budgets have been shot down in over 30 years. While many worry about how this will affect public education, many more are justifiability upset with how little has been done to curb property taxes. And who came blame them? As a New Jersey resident, chances are that between 60%-78% of your local property taxes go toward education. That’s not an insignificant sum of money and the worse things get, the more we are driving away residents and businesses. While there is no doubt that you are focused on running your business, please pay attention to these events as they will undoubtedly affect you and your small business. These past few weeks, I have asked that if you are having a problem with the implementation of the inspection program, to please contact Debbie Hill at debbie@njgca.org for assistance. We’ve heard from a few of you, but many are not giving us the information we need to get the ball rolling. If you have a problem, please be sure to include any and all information detailing the problems you are experiencing as well as your contact information.
Finally, as we’ve stated the last two weeks, we are interested in amassing a collection of toy trucks for a display at our headquarters. We’re looking for some of you to send trucks that are boxed and in good condition from Exxon, Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Sunoco, BP, GULF, or Hess. We hope you will participate. Please contact me so we can make arrangements to mail or drop them off to our offices in Springfield and attach your business card to each toy donated.
Regards, IN THIS WEEK’S NJGCA ROAD WARRIOR
UPDATE: NEW PIF CLASSES ADDED!!
POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
NEWS AROUND THE STATE ON THE NJGCA HOMEPAGE
MEMBER SAVINGS PAGE
HELPFUL LINKS
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
NEWS AROUND THE STATE ARCHIVE
KNOW YOUR TERRITORY MANAGER!
Jack Leli: Territory Manager for Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, Salem
Bob Quirk: Territory Manager for Bergen, Hudson, Part of Essex (Northern Half)
Frank Stewart: Territory Manager for Morris, Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Passaic
UPDATE: NEW PIF CLASSES ADDED!!
NJGCA is offering 4 SPECIAL ONE DAY DEIC – PIF CLASSES April 27th, May 11th, May 18th, and May 25th
Location for all Classes: NJGCA Springfield Office (Boardroom)
ETEP Re-Certification Classes
Location: for each Class: NJGCA Springfield Office (Boardroom) PLEASE NOTE: We are always in the process of putting together additional classes. If you are interested in taking classes in this time period, please call NJGCA and let us know so we can add you to the list. Call Debbie Hill to enroll in the classes at debbie@njgca.org or call 973-376-0066.
Ensuring our friends in the legislature are re-elected and advocating for our agenda in Trenton are of utmost importance to the agenda of NJGCA.
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.
4/22/2010: |
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