 |
||
 |
December 16, 2011
NEWS AROUND THE STATE
TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE
APPRAISAL SERVICE
MEET THE FOLKS AT LIBERTY GAS
MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE OR LEASE
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BELLOMO FUELS
POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
TOBACCO SALES…MORE ON ALTERNATE ENERGY VEHICLES….IMPORTANT TRENTON UPDATES …ETHANOL TAX CREDIT ELIMINATED JANUARY 1….and POOP NOW OSHA IS WATCHING US! This week we’re starting off with a product that has long been a staple of the corner gas station and grocery store: tobacco. Despite the best efforts of some, tobacco products remain an important source of revenue for many gas stations and convenience stores, so let me share with you some interesting intel on the tobacco industry that you can use. The government plays a huge role in the tobacco market. While a few states increased their state cigarette taxes this year, there is some movement in the opposite direction. New Hampshire actually cut their cigarette tax by ten cents a few months ago. Rhode Island is also considering lowering their tax by as much as a full dollar in order to bring it into line with the tax rates of neighboring states. There hasn’t been much talk of changing New Jersey’s rates one way or the other, although a report from September showed that the state’s huge cigarette taxes has resulted in 40% of all cigarettes in the state having been smuggled in illegally, denying the state revenue, denying your business income, and doing nothing for the public’s health. You can read more about that report by CLICKING HERE. It is also very likely that the US Supreme Court in the coming months will strike down the law mandating that cigarette cartons post graphic pictures of the health costs associated with cigarettes. Additionally, it seems the FDA will not endorse a proposed ban on menthol, both items of good news if you sell cigarettes. There’s a big new trend you should watch out for if you provide health insurance to any of your employees. Several companies this year, and about 40% of healthcare companies in the coming year have begun adding a surcharge for individuals who smoke. The extra fee is normally about $40 per smoker. I can only recommend to you what I would do if charged that fee…pass it on to that employee! If they’re going to smoke, they should be the ones who have to pay for it. Cigar sales have seen huge growth in the last year and are a very competitive market. Cigar buyers have been shown to visit convenience stores more frequently than any other type of customer, including cigarette shoppers. What’s in store for the year ahead? Cigarette volume is expected to decline nationally by 3.5-4%. The overall trend in tobacco is away from cigarettes. Over 100 years ago cigarettes made up only a very small portion of tobacco sales before sales skyrocketed and dominated the market. Now however, we are in a transition backwards. By 2025 cigarettes will make up less than half of the tobacco market. Most of the remaining sales will come from cigars and moist smokeless tobacco. As the tobacco market gets more diverse and customers demand new types of product, you need to get ahead of these market shifts if you want tobacco to be a profit center. Alternative energy vehicles are still coming and you need to get in from the ground floor if you want to keep your head above water over the long term. Last week I said how you’ve heard me say it a million times and now you’ll hear it a million and 1 times: you are not in the gasoline business, you are in the transportation energy business. I guess this week makes it a million and two times you’ve heard it, and you’re going to continue hearing it! Look for me to begin passing information to you about how you can sell alternate fuels to your customers. Two weeks ago I attended a meeting of the New Jersey Electric Vehicle Working Group, attended by interested parties from as far away as California, Detroit, and even Israel. The technology behind this stuff is evolving quickly and is starting to make its way to market. There was a very informative presentation by Donna Bell, who is managing Ford’s Electrification Strategy. The Ford Focus Electric, which runs with no gasoline, is going to be deployed in the first quarter of next year in 19 key markets including the New York-New Jersey area. They have already partnered with Best Buy, Microsoft, and Mapquest to add support for the recharging infrastructure. They have built a database that will allow customers to set their cars to charge only when electricity rates are cheapest. The power companies are also developing an infrastructure that would prioritize which cars get charged based on how much electricity they need and when they are going to need to use it again. By 2020 there will be bi-directional power flow on electric vehicles, enabling them to support the electric grid when necessary. I mentioned last week about the recent unveiling of a fleet of garbage trucks in Mount Arlington that will run on compressed natural gas. For now, the station that fills the trucks is not open to the public but that could change soon. Once other municipalities see how effective vehicles running on CNG are, they will start switching their fleets as well. Mayor Art Ondish of Mt. Arlington said the only complaint he’s had about these new trucks is that they run so quietly that his citizens don’t hear them in the morning and don’t put the garbage out! Fleets are a perfect way to get your foot in the door on alternative energy vehicles. 20% of all new garbage trucks and buses run on natural gas. By partnering with some fleet owner to supply their vehicles, they don’t have to worry about installing all the refueling equipment on their lot and you get a guaranteed repeat customer who will be buying product on a large scale. Plus, once motorists start to see that they could refill their car at a public location, they would be much more likely to buy one. A Honda Civic that runs on natural gas will be available in car dealer showrooms next year. You should be aware that there is currently an Ethanol Tax credit of 4.5 cents of gallon. All the gas you buy is at least 10% ethanol, meaning you have been benefitting from this tax credit whether you knew it or not. However, that tax credit is scheduled to expire on December 31st. It is highly unlikely that Congress will vote to extend it into next year due to the severe debt problems facing this country. This means you can expect a small jump in your prices when the new year rolls around. We received notification this morning that several suppliers have begun notifying their dealers to expect this credit to disappear on January 1. It’s the end of the year, so as always the Legislature is in a mad dash to get things done so they can get out of Trenton. Because a new Legislature will be sworn in on January 10th, every piece of legislation that isn’t signed into law by that time will expire. That means they’re rushing to pass as much stuff as they can, since they didn’t bother doing much work during the summer or during the election season. Today the State Senate unanimously passed A-3133; the Rebate Bill NJGCA has been working on for over a year. It passed the Assembly in June and now only awaits the Governor’s signature to become law. When it does, you will be able to partner with supermarkets and others so that they can give away discounts for gas the same way they give away turkeys to people who use their loyalty cards. The best part about this legislation is that it specifically states that the gas retailer will not bear the cost of the legislation. However, the Big Banks have started complaining about the legislation and about that specific aspect of it. They are afraid (for no good reason if you ask me) that somehow stations will be able to use this legislation to avoid paying credit card fees. There are similar programs to what A-3133 proposes in nearly every other state in the nation, and the banks have had no problems. Bank of America, American Express, and Chase all had me on a conference call last week trying to convince us and our friends at the Fuel Merchants Association to amend bill with language they would feel comfortable with. I refused, FMA stood with us and the Food Council (who we negotiated the original compromise with) stood firm with as well. Although I don’t think they have a genuine concern, it wouldn’t surprise me if in next year’s Legislature they introduce a bill to amend what we worked hard to accomplish. If they do I’ve let them know we will mobilize against them. Besides the fact we oppose the language, trying to change it right now with only two voting sessions left would kill a compromise we spent a year working on. Of course, that may very well be their goal, to muddy the waters and let the bill die. The amendment they proposed would enable a retail dealer to waive their right to not bear the cost of any of the loyalty rewards. This is the specific phrase as it exists now: (2) the retail dealer shall not bear the cost of the rebate, allowance, concession, or benefit received by the motor fuel purchaser except for a processing fee assessed in the ordinary course of business And they want to change it to read: (2) the retail dealer shall not bear the cost of the rebate, allowance, concession, or benefit received by the motor fuel purchaser without written agreement by the retail dealer. Saying that retailers can waive their right to not pay the expenses for these rewards card programs means your supplier can force you to do this and pressure you to participate and bear the cost instead of them. Thankfully, the Legislature did not agree to this amendment and the bill passed. We will monitor any attempts to change the bill next year. You should also remember A-3862, the Signage Bill that we’ve been fighting for nearly a year now. This bill started out in the state Senate as S-847. That bill mandates that stations which engage in cash/credit pricing must advertise the different prices on their street signs. This is already an official regulation; the bill would make that regulation an official statute, something NJGCA has no problem with. It had sought to levy an additional $1,000 fine on top of the $1,500 fine on stations with the incorrect signage; however NJGCA and our allies the Fuel Merchants Association convinced the Senate Committee to delete this section from the final bill, which went on to pass the Senate almost unanimously. The current problems started when this bill came up in the Assembly. It was expected that the Assembly version of this bill, A-3862, would be identical to the Senate version and pass without opposition. However, Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) slipped in an amendment at the last second which added a disastrous proposal to force the cash/credit pricing for all grades to be shown on the station’s street sign. This would have forced you to post up to 8 different prices on your sign. This adds a significant, costly and onerous regulation that would force most retailers to spend thousands of dollars on a new sign or make the listed prices so small that motorists would be unable to see them from the road. For months NJGCA and our allies at Fuel Merchants have been fighting this legislation. I spent the summer visiting with legislators building opposition to this legislation, and now that work has paid off. Assemblyman Prieto has graciously decided to agree to drop his version of the legislation and instead pass the Senate version that we support. I thank Assemblyman Prieto for his willingness to compromise. The bill was passed by the Assembly today with overwhelming support and now joins the Rebate Bill on the Governor’s desk waiting for his signature to become law. It’s always nice to have a victory in Trenton, so you can imagine the thrill of experiencing two in a single day! It couldn’t have happened without your support and the support of our allies Eric DeGesero and Kat Madaras at the Fuel Merchants Association. THANK YOU!!! A quick note to close; OSHA officials have been in touch with me about renewing an effort to inspect gasoline service stations, especially those connected to repair shops. Apparently at least one member also received a call from a company that duped him in to believing that the caller was from OSHA and then sent him an OSHA manual. A few days later our member received a bill in the mail for $139 for the manual that he did not request. I will discuss this further next week as I learn more in my discussions with OSHA. Ok, this has been a lot of reading for you this week, so I am signing off. Thanks for listening - See you next week!
Regards,
NEWS AROUND THE STATE
12/15/2011:
12/14/2011:
12/9/2011:
12/8/2011: CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES IN OUR “NEWS AROUND THE STATE” ARCHIVE
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 |
|
 |
||
