Increase in C-Store Car Crashes: How You Can Prevent It At Your Business
Kidnapping Victim Saved At Gas Station
Price Easy Webinar: Listen Now!
MBP Networking Event Success
Litter Control Fee Reminder
Turkey/Syria Earthquake Relief Donation
Cars Crashing Into C-Stores
We recently came across this article that we had to share with you all. Who would think that on average every single day a 7-Eleven specifically is crashed into somewhere in the US? In c-stores alone, crashes happen as often as 20 times every day according to the Storefront Safety Council. Especially at older convenience store locations, as most new convenience stores have bollards installed in front of parking spots by the storefront. If you don’t have these around your store, they can be relatively cheap to purchase. At the end of the day, to purchase and install the bollards is likely far less expensive than the lawsuit that could result if you don’t, since data shows these incidents happen every day and the lawsuits can range into the tens of millions. In fact, the argument one set of lawyers used against 7-Eleven was that these incidents happen so often they shouldn’t be able to claim ignorance of the problem. If you’re interested in having some installed, try calling our MBP contractors to install the bollards, check them out under the tank installers and pump replacement categories in our MBP brochure listed HERE.
Kidnapping Victim Saved at NJ Gas Station
Another crazy story you may have read about this week, a woman who had been abducted for a year who managed to escape her kidnapper found sanctuary in a gas station after plotting and executing her escape. The owner of the gas station and his employee called the police and hid the woman from the criminal (who surveilled the business in the meantime) until police arrived. You all know more than anyone the crazy situations that can happen at our stores. Her original abduction a year ago occurred at a gas station as well. If you haven’t, take a few minutes to train your employees that they oftentimes may be the person able to identify and stop these situations. Keep your eyes and ears alert to things that don’t seem right. If you see something, say something.
PriceEasy Webinar
We had a successful webinar on Tuesday with PriceEasy, our newest MBP that have a great program that can help gas station operators determine the best price to set and make it easier than ever to implement that price. And unlike most competing software programs, it’s designed to be helpful even for single site operators. Their gas price tool makes determining your price and your takeaway easy, it even offers analysis based on nearby competitors. You can find a live demo of the tool by watching our webinar at your convenience, and you can reach out to Sam from PriceEasy for more information at samon.xiong@zdaly.com. NJGCA members get a free trial!
MBP Networking Event
This week we hosted a networking event for our Member Benefit Partners to chat with each other and strategize how we can better help our members succeed and save money in a challenging business climate. The event was a huge success, we had partners from all over the state (and even out of state!) join us for great food and conversation. You can expect to read about some fantastic new programs and opportunities in the coming weeks in our newsletters, and we will be sending an updated brochure around very soon as well.
Litter Control Fee
We wanted to repeat this message as we have heard from a few more members who have received a notification from the Division of Taxation saying because of the Litter Control Fee, they may owe money and potentially years of back fees. The state is doing more enforcement of this than the last 20 years. This fee was created back in 2002 and applies to retailers who sell certain products, though they seem to be especially focusing on businesses that sell cigarettes. However, the fee is only owed if the retailer sells more than $500,000 of these products each year. Some members were told they should have been paying this fee they didn’t even know existed, but it looks like the reason they didn’t know it existed is because they never actually hit that $500K level. But that didn’t stop the State from sending them a warning letter anyway, perhaps hoping they would quickly pay and the Treasury could pick up a few hundred dollars a year more.
The forms are due March 15th, and the State is saying that the form must be filed even if no money is owed. So even if you fall below that threshold, they want you to file the form with the box checked saying you are exempt.
Turkey Earthquake Donations
In the wake of yet another devastating earthquake in the Turkey/Syria region, we thought to repost the information to donate to help. We were horrified to read the death toll is now looking like upwards of 50,000 people, an absolutely tragic number.
One of our members, Levent Sertbas, has brought to our attention a reputable organization, the Turkish Philanthropy Fund, that is raising relief money. If you can, please consider donating to help provide relief to the people affected by the earthquake. TPF will post reports about how funds have been used and will email these reports to donors.:
All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 615 Hope Road, Building 2, 1st Floor, Eatontown, NJ 07724
ASE Training Course - Reach Out Today!
Are you (or an employee) getting ready to take your A6, A8, or L1 in preparation to recertifying your Emission Repair Technician (ERT) credentials through the State's Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP)?
We can help --- but we need to hear from you, first! NJGCA wants to hear from students interested in our ASE-prep training program, so we can gauge demand and schedule our next session series.
As you know, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has always maintained a "dual-track" system to allow technicians to earn their Emission Repair Technician (ERT) credentials through New Jersey's Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP). In doing so, technicians were allowed to certify as ERTs through either an ASE-test track or an ETEP-educational class track. Starting on January 1, 2020, NJDEP amended the ETEP criteria, and the ETEP-educational class track was abolished.
Today, only the ASE-test track remains, and all ERTs must certify or re-certify their credentials though ASE to remain in the Program.
NJGCA has recently offered an ASE-prep class to help you get ready for the A6, A8, and L1. In doing so, students were welcome to participate in a ten-session preparatory class that covered material for all three ASE exams. We also had a handful of students who joined us only for the A8 or L1 sections.
Once completed, students took their ASE exams with a local ASE-approved test proctor (NJGCA can train you to prepare for the ASE exams, but are not permitted to offer the actual exam - students must make these arrangements individually themselves).
Building on that success, we are now seeking student participation in our next training series session. To make arrangements and organize a session, we need to hear from you!
As Trenton considers proposals to modify the state’s ban on disposable bags at grocery stores, residents are deeply divided, with 40 percent saying that the ban should be kept as is, and smaller numbers calling for it to be modified, or overturned entirely. According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, partisanship dominates how people feel about the issue, with Democrats wanting to keep the ban as is, and most Republicans wanting to see it overturned. “When the ban passed last year, it was contentious, but politicians figured that people would get used to it,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the director of the poll. “Nine months later, people are still arguing about it.” The ban on large grocery stores dispensing single-use shopping bags went into effect last May and is considered one of the strictest rules of its type in the country.
The once-a-day crashes at 7-Eleven is in fact dwarfed by the total number of crashes that take place at storefronts across the US, however. According to the Storefront Safety Council, more than 100 vehicles collide with buildings each day, with more than half of those occurring at retail shops, restaurants, or convenience stores. Each year, the council estimates as many as 16,000 people are injured and as many as 2,600 people are killed. More than 40% of the crashes are caused by a 'pedal error' or other operator error, according to the council, but in one out of 10 cases, the crash is considered intentional, as thieves use a vehicle to smash into a building in order to steal merchandise, cash, or entire ATMs. "Sometimes, they crash into a store and cause thousands of dollars in damage for a banana. No really — a banana," the researchers write. The best protection for people and property alike comes in the shape of a big metal cylinder – or, in the case of Target, a giant red sphere – in front of the store. "If you install bollards, you pretty much solve that problem," Storefront Safety Council co-founder Rob Reiter told CBS Chicago. "This accident doesn't happen if somebody had spent about $800," he added.
Tesla will recall nearly 363,000 vehicles equipped with the company’s controversial Full Self-Driving (FSD) software after the top federal safety agency identified the driver-assist program as a “crash risk.” Tesla issued a recall notice for the following vehicles equipped with FSD beta based on a directive by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): 2016-2023 Model S and Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y. The recall means that Tesla will push out an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge, to address the issues identified by NHTSA.
Outlawing the sale of gas vehicles in New Jersey? That’s not only unfair, it’s “unjust,” an industry trade group argues. The New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store, Automotive Association (NJGCA) issued a scathing statement in the wake of Gov. Phil Murphy’s bombshell clean energy announcement on Wednesday, where he said that new cars sold in the state will have to be “zero-emission” within 12 years. . . But when it comes to electric vehicles, New Jersey residents should be asking several questions right now, according to the NJGCA. “We have had no objection over the years to efforts by the government to incentivize the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) or to install charging stations,” the group said. “We have, and will continue to work on, ways to make it simpler and cheaper for our members to install EV fast charging stations.” “However, it is fundamentally unfair and unjust for the government to completely outlaw the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles,” the group continued. “More than 95% of consumers continue to choose gas-powered cars for a wide variety of reasons, and that option should not be stolen from them by government fiat.”
A woman who had been abducted nearly a year ago while traveling across the country made a dramatic escape from her kidnapper after she concocted a getaway plan to a New Jersey gas station, authorities said Friday. James W. Parrillo Jr., 57, was charged with kidnapping a woman he met in New Mexico last year, traveling to New Jersey with her and assaulting her in a Burlington County home where they rented a room, according to a statement from New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. The owner of the gas station, Bobby Madaan, told CNN the woman rushed into his business on February 7, and he heard screaming and yelling from his office. She ran inside the store and locked the door behind her. Madaan said he saw a man running behind the woman but when he wasn't able to make it into the locked gas station he turned and left. "She was shaken up -- she was crying," Madaan said. "She told us she'd been kidnapped for around a year."
Consumers will soon be able to charge their electric vehicles while they eat a Spicy Italian. Subway on Tuesday said it plans to add electric-vehicle chargers at select locations this year as part of a multi-year project to create larger Subway Oasis EV charging parks across the country. The fast-food sandwich chain said the Oasis would feature charging canopies with multiple ports, picnic tables, Wi-Fi, restrooms, green space and playgrounds. The Milford, Connecticut-based company will begin rolling out smaller-format EV charging stations at select remodeled locations as a pilot project this year.
Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.
