March 11, 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!
•Watching Your Step: The Court of Public Perception & Your Business

NEWS AROUND THE STATE
•Opinion: State pension system may crumble despite reforms
•State DEP seeks to waive burdensome rules, make NJ more business friendly
•Unemployment rate remains stable, even as more jobs shed in January
•Governor wants to grade teacher performance

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

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE
•Let us know what your education needs are today!

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! 

WATCHING YOUR STEP: THE COURT OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION & YOUR BUSINESS
MOTORISTS, LEGISLATORS, AND NEWS MEDIA ARE ANGRY AND WILL TAKE IT OUT ON YOU

It is natural that consumers will be angry any time a market condition changes for the worse regardless of the product that the consumer is experiencing difficulty with.  Gasoline prices evoke a much higher level of emotion, anger, and opinion.  It is easy for motorists to express anger, it is easy for the media to report on the anger, and it is easy for Legislators to patronize constituents by signing on to FEEL GOOD LEGISLATION that is aimed at you.

Our battles regarding Below Cost Selling, and Cash/Credit Pricing, are all legislative attempts to make voters believe that elected officials are taking action to protect consumers.

Gas prices are climbing and it is not your fault.  Oil companies and speculators are reaping huge profits and you get squeezed as a result.   Instead of focusing on the fact that there is no REAL reason for gasoline prices to rise, the media seems bent on making you the villains.  Nationwide inventories of Crude Oil, Gasoline, and Diesel, are higher today than they were a year ago, yet speculators and traders continue to bid the price of Crude Oil upwards.  The media and the legislature should be focusing on these facts and not you.

Here is my concern.  Do you remember the name Anne Migram?  Do you remember the witch hunt that was made against gasoline retailers by the NJ Attorney General and the NJ Department of Consumer Affairs back in 2008?  Well they are showing signs of doing it again!

They have to….it is a requirement for public officials to put on a show whenever the public gets angry.  Unfortunately, there are a few rotten apples that will get caught doing something stupid, and the media will seize on the sensational aspect of the story and create a situation that paints all of you as crooks.  The other day a gas station in Jersey City was found to be charging 13 cents more than his sign displayed.  Another location was found to be shortchanging customers.  The media has already begun to take these two incidents as an opportunity to warn the public to be cautious when buying gasoline from you.

In the summer of 2008, when the public and the media were crying about how high prices were climbing, Anne Milgram, the former state Attorney General, stoked the fury of an already angry public to use small business owners as a scapegoat.  She used the finding of a very few dishonest gas stations and made the media and the public believe that she caught 300 gas stations “Scamming” motorists.  It was a political move like any other and it was used to make the public believe ‘Trenton was doing something about high gas prices’ and the merchants who sell it.  Yet, while the attacks turned out to be utterly baseless, the image still lingers and hurts public’s view of our industry.

Well guess what?.....They are going to do it again.   IT IS UP TO YOU TO PROTECT YOURSELF BY MAKING CERTAIN THAT YOUR PUMPS ARE CALIBRATED PROPERLY AND YOUR SIGNS ARE PROPERLY DISPLAYED!

Officials will be looking hard to find violations simply because public pressure demands that they have to. Already public officials and legislators are talking about introducing new laws and stepping up legal proceedings to combat the ‘problems’ they see out there.  For example, Assemblyman Prieto has introduced an amendment to an existing signage bill which will require you to post cash and credit prices for ALL grades of motor fuel sold at your business.  If this bill goes through, and assuming your location has all three grades of gasoline plus diesel fuel, your street sign will need to be large enough to post EIGHT prices.  How much will you have to spend on new signs to comply with the law?  What other ideas are cooking out in the minds of legislators and government officials to ‘protect the public from bad, greedy’ retailers like you?  Can’t you see it coming to fruition if we’re not zealous in how we conduct ourselves and proactive in advocating for you?

That means that you MUST be overly vigilant and on your very best behavior; not only for your own establishment, but also for the rest of the industry. While we respect our friends at Weights & Measures enormously, and will continue to work closely with them on enforcing all regulations, they ultimately get their marching orders from state officials who may be looking for any excuse to fine your business or make an example out of you.  DO NOT GIVE THEM A REASON!

While the storm rages on, NJGCA will fight tooth and nail to defend you. BUT LET ME BE VERY CLEAR……I expect NJGCA Members to set an example and give the media good cause to report that Gasoline Retailers are HONEST business people, and DO NOT CHEAT their customers!  ONE BAD APPLE SPOILS THE WHOLE BUSHEL.  I have said this before and I will say it again…..I WILL REPORT ANY CHEATERS TO THE AUTHORIES.  My job is to protect YOU.  ANY gas station that is cheating customers is also cheating you, and I will not allow that to happen. That is what we do and that is one of the reasons you are a member of this Association.

Although I have been fighting a serious health issues the last few months, I permitted one TV News crew to interview me at my home, and against the advice of doctors, visited another TV studio to take on a moron in the news media that was accusing you of price gouging!  This rectum calls himself a “Business Editor” but didn’t have a clue how competition and marketplaces dictate what the price on your pump is. I am determined to defend you against this tide of public perception.  You can see those videos HERE and HERE. 

What’s more, our Communications Director, Nick De Palma, went to bat for us last week while I continued to heal.  Nick talked about how speculators and geopolitics have played a role in rising gasoline costs.  You can watch the two segments HERE and HERE

In the end, if you continue to follow all laws in running your establishment, make sure you don’t cheat motorists, and conduct yourself as a fair business owner, you won’t have much to fear.  BUT, it will be very hard (and maybe even impossible) to defend you or any other retailer out there against outright dishonesty.  If you cheat anyone, it will be deemed inexcusable.  Even if you did something unintentionally that harmed a patron, it will be viewed through the same lens by the public and the press. 

Yes, it’s not fair.  The bar is set very high and you have to be near-perfect to fly above it, but this is the reality of the situation which we now find ourselves in.  YOU ARE NJGCA MEMBERS AND YOU ARE MORE INFORMED AND MORE PROFFESSIONAL THAN OTHERS.  I will continue to go on record stating that our Association will police ourselves, and that we too desire to protect motorists from the bad apples.  I’m very proud of that, and you should be too.  While there are MANY bad apples out there who will continue to cheat consumers and fellow business owners, I want to continue to associate these rotten apples (and they ARE rotten) with non-members.  I want to draw the line in the sand of public perception and say ‘They are the bad apples, and not a single bad apple is an NJGCA member – throw the book at them!’
 
So please, take precaution  …Make sure you’re cash/credit signage is correct; make sure you follow all the daily procedural tasks and record-keeping that is required to satisfy Weights & Measures, and make sure your pumps are calibrated properly. Go the extra step to guarantee your patrons don’t have any reason to sick the dogs on you.

Thanks for listening - See you next week!

Regards,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

NEWS AROUND THE STATE

3/10/2011:
Opinion: State pension system may crumble despite reforms
In an opinion piece, columnist Bob Ingle outlines why he feels that the state pension system may deteriorate further, even if meaningful reforms are implemented.  Despite plans to alleviate pension shortfalls in excess of $50 billion, resistance from public employee unions and legal proceedings may ultimately doom the reforms needed to make the system solvent. Click above to read the entire opinion.

3/10/2011:
State DEP seeks to waive burdensome rules, make NJ more business friendly
Bob Martin, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, unveiled plans earlier this week to remove regulatory requirements in certain circumstances that are overly oppressive and impede business growth.  The move, while criticized by environmental groups, is seen as a key measure in making the Garden State more attractive to the business community and spur economic development.

3/10/2011:
Unemployment rate remains stable, even as more jobs shed in January
The Department of Labor reported earlier this week that New Jersey lost 13,000 public and private sector jobs in January.  Despite the loss, the unemployment rate remained at 9.1% as Labor officials highlighted revised 2010 job numbers, illustrating an up-tick in private sector job growth.
 
3/4/2011:
Governor wants to grade teacher performance
A special task force report has proposed that all public school teachers should have a performance evaluation based on a combination of test scores, personal observation and school-wide performance.  The report states that such a move will help officials determine which teachers were the most successful, help determine salaries, and tenure retention.  In seeking a means of firing bad teachers and basing salaries on job performance rather than seniority, the Governor wants a single standard to be adopted by all school districts, rather than the current system which has varying standards from district to district.

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