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September 23, 2021
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 Inside this issue
  Executive Directors Message  
 

 

APPEAL TO OUR MEMBERS: HELP THE SELF-SERVE CAUSE

GAS TAX GOES DOWN OCT. 1ST

IS YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION UP TO DATE?

MORE NEWS OF TOWING UNPROFESSIONALISM

JOIN US AT SEMA/APPEX!

 

SELF-SERVE

I'm sure you are aware of our efforts to change the self-serve law in New Jersey. According to a survey conducted by our organization, over 80% of NJGCA members are anxious to see this change made in our state. I suspect that this number may be even higher now because of the crisis of trying to find employees. Several times this year, I have made an appeal to members to attend both a webinar presentation and an in-person presentation back in May to explain and describe the campaign we are undertaking to persuade the motoring public that a self-serve choice will be more convenient for them and help alleviate our employee crisis. Although many of you let me know how much you want to see this happen, not nearly enough of you have made contributions to the campaign to make sure we can keep the fight going. If there is one thing that has always bothered me, it's when we undertake an effort and only a small group of people help while others sit back and reap the benefit of our work. Let me be clear, the mathematical benefit to a business that can save only $200 a week once self-serve is implemented comes out to $10,000 a year. It seems to me that an investment of $1,000 for each of your locations creates a huge return on investment if we are successful. Many of your colleagues have already been generous enough and contributed over $215,000 to the campaign already. However, our campaign is going to require closer to $500,000 to see this issue through, and I know who has not made any contribution at all. Please take some time to think about this. I know that it's always difficult to make contributions, especially in these difficult times. But if your business and this issue are important to you and you can do the math, then you need to figure out how to begin contributing to the Fuel Your Way NJ (FWYNJ) campaign. You can either mail a check made out to Fuel Your Way NJ to our office, or you can use your credit card and go to www.fuelyourwaynj.com and make a donation directly through the website. Also, thank you to those of you who have already made contributions to our political action committee. Those funds can legally only be used for political contributions. The political contributions that NJGCA has made over the past six years to candidates campaigns have helped us make great progress in the fight to change the self-serve law, so we still need funds for our PAC as well. If you have any questions at all, feel free to call or email me sal@njgca.org and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. You can also email any of the committee members for information as well: 

 

Craig Copeland: craig135@aol.com 

Ebbie Ashabi: Ebbie@empnj.com 

Ed Kashouty: rfkashouty@gmail.com 

Joe Ocello: joe@njgca.org 

Kashmir Gill: kashmirgill@gillenergy.com 

Levent Sertbas: paramusotr@gmail.com 

Martin Gallagher: crexxon@aol.com 

Meer Fazaldin: meer.fazaldin@earthlink.net

Saad Abbasi: ssabbasi@hotmail.com

 

GAS TAX

I want to remind you all that the petroleum products gross receipts tax (gas tax) goes down 8.3ยข a gallon on October 1st. This applies to gas and diesel fuel at the same rate. This is collected at the rack so the drop will be passed on to retailers. While there is no direct action that needs to be taken, if you are able to put off any deliveries scheduled for Sept 30th until October 1st you should plan to do so in order to benefit from the savings.

 

VOTER REGISTRATION

There are only a few weeks to go until Election Day (November 2nd). This year is an important voting year in New Jersey with a gubernatorial election as well as elections on the State Senate and Assembly. It's a good time to ask yourself: Is your voter registration up to date? The voter registration deadline is October 12. If you or a family member needs to register to vote or to register with a new address because you've moved, visit this website to do so. 

 

TOWING UNPROFESSIONALISM 

Several weeks ago we wrote about an example of unprofessionalism in the towing industry and how one bad egg serves as a bad reflection on our entire industry. We have reports that following Hurricane Ida, there has been a big problem with towers gouging motorists. The issue is problematic enough that the Attorney General is looking for a public crackdown. There are reports of towing companies charging much higher fees for storage, deliberately not returning calls so that vehicles can be stored for an extra day or two, and even at least one company billing $25 for taking a phone call. I know many of you do not do towing directly anymore and contract out with towing companies, however this is still a bad reflection on our entire industry. My fear is as soon as this hits the newspapers it will just become another black eye for those of us in the industry, particularly for those of you who own your tow trucks. My position on this is the same as it is for those who operate unscrupulously and disregard weights and measures regulations, cheat on MV inspections, and circumvent environmental regulations: Zero tolerance. I will not have unscrupulous members blacken the eyes of all of our good members. I'm sure details on this will be emerging in the news shortly and we will be sure to keep an eye out. 

 

SHOP OWNERS JOIN US AT SEMA/APPEX

We are six weeks away from industry week and hoping to gather NJGCA shop owners by inviting our auto repair members to SEMA/APPEX in November. This conference is vital in order to build on the professionalism that is required to run a shop today. It is beneficial for colleagues to be together, learn together, and have fun together. We are building all of those things into what is known as industry week in Las Vegas or the SEMA/APPEX shows. I'm sure many of you not only have heard of these two shows but may have already attended in previous years. We want NJGCA members to attend together and even bring your spouse! We recently included details for a group trip we are organizing to Red Rock Canyon, 7 Magic Mountains, Boulder City & Hoover Dam a day before the conference officially kicks off in order to build collegiality amongst our members. If you are interested in more information on the conference and any other events we are organizing that week, please contact Joe Ocello at joe@njgca.org. See the announcement we emailed to members yesterday and register HERE.

 

Be Well -  

Sal Risalvato
Executive Director
 


 

 

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  Training Class Schedule  
 

All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 4900 Route 33 West, Wall Township, NJ 07753


Contact Nick De Palma at Nick@njgca.org to inquire about potential trainings and class dates

 

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  News Around The State  
 

 

9/21/21

ATM Stolen From Jersey City Gas Station, Wheeled Across Highway And Smashed Open: Police

An ATM inside a gas station at Danforth Avenue and Route 440 was stolen early Tuesday morning by a man who wheeled it out with a shopping cart, police said in radio transmissions. The gas station is on the northbound side of the highway, while the ATM was found two blocks away, on the other side of Route 440. According to police radio transmissions, the burglary, which was reported at 3:52 a.m., was caught on surveillance camera. Jersey City police did not say how much money was stolen.

 

9/22/21

Royal Farms Store Almost Ready in Brick, But Staffing Could Delay Opening

The new Royal Farms store in Brick Township - a first in Ocean County and the Shore area - is about ready to open, however the company is waiting to hire its full staff before opening. . ."They will not open until they have at least 50 employees," Mayor John Ducey said. "The issue is that they can't share employees." Indeed, a nationwide labor shortage has led to staffing issues at businesses large and small in recent months. Some companies, such as Wawa, have still been able to open new stores by shifting employees between locations, however Royal Farms is so new to the region that there are no experienced employees close by.

 

9/21/21

Why Are People Stealing Catalytic Converters? How Do You Stop Them? Here's What To Know

Thieves are motivated to steal catalytic converters because they contain precious metals, such as platinum and rhodium. Then, the thieves often sell the car parts for money on the black market. "What they're doing is stealing the platinum out of them and the rhodium," exhaust shop owner Aaron Harker said. "You can turn around and turn it into the junkyard and sell it and get money off of it." Harker added that a would-be thief can steal a catalytic converter from the underbelly of a car within 5-to-10 minutes. Because the process is so quiet and fast, most people do not know if their catalytic converters have been stolen until they start their engines and hear a loud rattle. The parts are also expensive to replace, ranging between $2,000 to $2,500 for each catalytic converter.


 

 

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  Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices  
 

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.
 

 

 

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  Member Benefit Partner Message Board  
 

    

 

 

 

 

 

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  Classifieds: For Sale and Help Wanted Ads  
 


Parts For Sale: Incon TS-1000 tank monitor works well just taken out of service. Printer is aprox 2 months old. Also, Incon 8, tank probes. System replaced because on an Exxon upgrade. Call John Twin Towers Exxon (201) 224-8444

 



 

 

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