Patriot Industry News – How Will Trump’s Tax Cuts Impact You?

This blog post was reproduced from a Patriot Capital newsletter

Does Trump’s Tax Plan Mean Higher Costs for C-Stores?

President Trump has announced one of the largest tax cuts in history. The changes will impact most Patriot Capital newsletter image 1American businesses, including convenience stores.

The planned reduction of taxes proposed for “for corporations, small businesses and partnerships of all sizes” is the headline story. At the same time, the maximum personal income tax rate is proposed to be 35 percent and the number of personal tax rates would drop from seven tiers to three (35 percent, 25 percent, 10 percent).

Considerations for your business include:

  • lower tax rates mean higher after tax costs for equipment due to lower depreciation
  • if the Border Adjustment Tax comes into effect, higher prices for imported components and equipment
  • uncertainty around the fate of Section 179
  • acceleration of interest rate increase

For more on how the new tax proposal could affect your business, read the entire article here.

Three Factors to Consider When Purchasing Convenience Store Equipment

Chris Santy, President of Patriot Capital, shares some key points that need to be considered when deciding whether to invest in equipment upgrades in this article.

When making any investment decision, the first consideration always should be the return on your investment (ROI), Santy’s article discusses three important ROI concerns to consider:

  • What is the cost of the equipment or investment?
  • What will the equipment earn?
  • What could happen to make the return on investment different than expected?

Patriot Capital offers a variety of equipment financing options for C-stores, fuel marketers and jobbers. To get a quick quote, or find an advisor near you, visit the Patriot Capital website or call (877) 527-0383.

NACS Survey Reveals What Fuel Prices Would Trigger Driving Changes

Fuel customers will change their driving habits to decrease their fuel consumption once gas prices reach Patriot Capital newsletter image 2$3.37 per gallon, according to a new NACS Consumer Fuels Survey. The price would have to hit $4.43 before consumers will drastically decrease their driving.

The price of gas also affects how consumers think about broader economic issues. Other issues the survey explored include expectations on future fuel prices, generational differences in consumer attitudes, and consumer perceptions on the reasons for fuel price increases – the good news is they don’t tend to blame the fuel retailer.

Visit the NACS Fuel Resources Center to review a variety of 2017 C-store consumer opinion surveys.

Dirty Pumps, Restrooms Cited Among ‘Four Sins of Fuel Retail’

Filthy gas pumps, malfunctioning card readers, unwelcoming stores, and dirty restrooms are cited as the Patriot Capital newsletter image 3top “Four Sins of Fuel Retail” in a recent editorial by industry strategist Norman Turiano.

Cleanliness at the pumps tops the list. Turiano points out that female consumers are especially reluctant to touch a visibly dirty pump, and this can drive away business.

Dirty restrooms make customers question overall cleanliness, and particularly. wonder about the healthiness of on-site prepared food. Does your site have the right focus on the ‘Four Sins’?

Read the entire article in CSP Daily.

Consumer Optimism Remains High Despite Fuel Price Increases

Consumer optimism is at an all-time high despite rising gas prices, according to a NACS National Patriot Capital newsletter image 4Consumer Fuel Survey.  NACS reports that 61 percent of consumers feel optimistic about the economy, the highest number in the 4-year history of the monthly survey.

Drivers remain optimistic despite the fact that a majority of gasoline consumers expect prices to increase in the next month. Slightly more than half of all Americans report they expect prices to be “much higher” or “somewhat higher”, while only 9 percent expect prices to drop.

Traditionally, rising prices result in decreased consumer optimist. Four years ago, when 85 percent of Americans said that gas prices had increased, 41 percent were optimistic. However, gas prices were more than $1 per gallon higher in 2013 than they are today.

 

The John W. Kennedy Company appreciates your business and continued support!

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Phase Separation and What it Means for You

VeederRoot_logo

Detect_Phase_SeparationWith over 90% of U.S. gas stations blending gasoline with ethanol, an important thing to consider when maintaining fuel tanks at your station is Phase Separation.  Phase Separation occurs when ethanol absorbs water and separates from the gasoline , sinking to the bottom of the tank.  Due to its lighter density, it can remain undetected by a traditional water float and may end up being pumped directly into customers’ vehicles, which can lead to damages you will be held liable for.  If left unaddressed for too long, the costs and consequences of Phase Separation could lead to serious damage to your reputation and business.

The best way to prevent these issues from arising is constant, diligent tank monitoring which will allow for early detection.  Veeder-Root offers the Phase-Two Separation Float, which replaces a traditional gasoline float kit and detects both water and phase separation in your tanks.

For more information on Phase Separation, read this article on Veeder-Root’s Fueling Solutions blog here.

 

The John W. Kennedy Company appreciates your business and continued support!

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NEW FLEX-ING™ Hose Fittings Now Shipping!

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FLEX-ING Hose Fittings

Franklin Fueling is pleased to announce the release of their new swivel and fixed fittings for their popular Flex-Ing™ brand fueling hose.  These completely re-designed fittings come standard on all Hardwall, Softwall, Marina, and Cold-Weather hoses.

FFS_FlexIngFtgs2New Swivel Fitting Construction

  1. Insert (Nickel plated steel with chrome flash finish)
  2. Nut & fixed fitting (AL chrome conversion coated)
  3. Front bushing (injection modeled Acetal)
  4. Rear bushing (injection molded Acetal)
  5. Conductive spring (302 tempered stainless steel)
  6. O-rings (Viton™)

 

The new nickel-plated steel fittings now include a chrome flash finish. This additional layer of provides further protection against rust and accelerated wear.

 

Added AssuranceFkex-Ing Fittings: Added Assurance

With the new design, the swivel fitting insert (1)  features a lip (2) that sits outside of the swivel nut (3). This keeps the fitting body (4) securely in place, resisting pull-out from the hose ferrule (5).

These new fittings have already begun shipping on new Hardwall, Softwall, Marina, and Cold-Weather hoses. Please note there are no changes in pricing with these enhanced new standard fittings.

Read and download the Tech Bulletin here.

Read and download the updated Installation Guide here.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!

The John W. Kennedy Company appreciates your business and continued support!

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Universal Spill Containers: Now in Carbon and Stainless Steel

Universal logo

Universal has announced that a number of their spill containers will now be available in 70C Universal Manholeboth stainless and E-coated carbon steel.  This new feature will be available for the 70C and 72 Series spill containers and the 71SC below grade containers.  In addition, the 70CD container (with drain valve) will be available in stainless steel.  Proven to last longer than buckets made of poly material, the steel buckets are also repairable without removing the spill container.

See the following links for more information:

 

 

The John W. Kennedy Company appreciates your business and continued support!

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THANK YOU To All Our Friends…

THANK YOU To All Our Friends For Making Our…

Trade Show 1

2017 Make Your Station Safe Again Trade Show
A GREAT SUCCESS!!

Trade Show 2And when we say “OUR SHOW”, we do mean YOURS and ours because we wouldn’t have it without you, PERIOD!

YOU are THE reason it is not only successful but why we have more vendors than space that want to be part of our show. Vendor after vendor stated there is no other show they go to where they have the opportunity to speak with not just owners, administrators and end users but the volume of installers and technicians who actually work hands-on with their products!

We also realize that many of you attend the show for the certification seminars. An email has gone out to all those who registered through the website with a list of all those from your organization we scanned as they entered the seminars. It is very important you double check this and report any discrepancies immediately to registrations@jwkemail.com as the vendors use the list we provide them to issue the certifications. (If your organization had people attend as “walk-ins”, they may not have been properly associated back to your customer account in our system).

While our scanning efforts at the show have greatly improved from previous shows (and this has been our best scanning effort to date), we do miss people for a variety of reasons. We apologize for this and Trade Show 3will continue to make the process better and easier.

We welcome any feedback you would like to provide about all aspects of the show. Again, you can send any feedback to registrations@jwkemail.com.

This show has already provided us with some insight to improvements we can make for the next show. We saw a complete turnover in the personnel manning our registration booth at this show as well as those scanning at the seminars. While we had fears that our people would be overwhelmed having never worked these areas of the show previously, they did a great job keeping lines and wait times down. This is a testament to customers, vendors and Kennedy personnel all offering input to make improvements over the years that allowed a whole new JWK team to staff 2017 registrations at the show without creating more problems or work for anyone!

Trade Show 4We mailed out more than twice as many pre-registered badges for the 2017 show than we did in 2015, had nearly as many people register online as attended the 2015 show and only a handful who had badges mailed to them came to the booth for their duplicate. We can’t stress enough how thankful we are that you have worked with us over the years to make the show better as we have tweaked the process where not only have we both come to expect it but you have expressed gratitude that we have taken these steps to make attending the Kennedy show a welcomed break to your daily grind, giving you the opportunity to speak with hundreds of others in our industry, gain more knowledge, become (re)certified in systems and enjoy the day!

Don’t forget, if you had people attending seminars for certifications, and you registered through the website, you will be receiving an email with a list of all those who registered through the site along with their seminar attendance records.  Again, be sure to double-check this list and report any discrepancies immediately to registrations@jwkemail.com as the vendors use the list we provide them to issue the certifications.  (If your organization had people attend as “walk-ins”, they may not have been properly associated back to your customer account in our system).

WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR ANOTHER GREAT SHOW!!

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Trade Show Collage