by John Keller | Jun 26, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
Congratulations to Murphy for completing their three year project of replacing older electronic gas price signs with new signs from Skyline Products at over 500 locations. This is a feather in the cap for both Murphy and Skyline Products as we continue to extend our 12 year partnership.
Electronic gas price signs are a key component to the overall fuel price management closed loop process. With PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software, the Skyline Products electronic gas price sign provides the feedback confirming that the price change is complete at the sign, and the right price is at the street. Pairing PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software with Skyline Products electronic gas price signs also allows headquarters to have access to critical sign health and status indicators, such as internal sign temperatures, and status of power supplies.
by John Keller | Jun 25, 2012 | Industry News
Lundberg Survey shows unleaded fuel price drop of $0.146 in two weeks
According to the Lundberg Survey reported today, regular unleaded gasoline fuel prices dropped $0.146 per gallon over the past two weeks. The average price for regular unleaded now stands at $3.478, according to Lundberg. That price is $0.15 per gallon lower than last year at this time, and the lowest average price since the January 20 survey this year.
This report is based on a survey of 2500 gasoline stations across the US.
The US Energy Information Administration fuel prices report releases later today.
by John Keller | Jun 25, 2012 | Industry News
US EIA reports a $0.096 fuel price drop from last week.
In today’s Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update report from the US Energy Information Administration, average retail regular unleaded fuel prices dropped to $3.437 per gallon, a whopping $0.096 per gallon decrease. That is the 12th consecutive weekly price drop, and the largest drop of the past 12 weeks by nearly double, bringing unleaded fuel prices back to January 30 levels of this year. Retail unleaded fuel prices for this week are now $0.137 per gallon below last year.
Fuel prices dropped $0.05 or more in every region of the country. The West Coast and the Midwest regions saw the largest fuel price drops, with a $0.141 and a $0.130 fuel price decrease from last week.
by John Keller | Jun 22, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
Tesla launches the $50k Model S Electric Vehicle
Tesla joins the mainstream Electric Vehicle market today with the launch of their $50,000 Model S sedan. Where the other EV’s currently on the market such as the Nissan Leaf have a single charge range of 75 to 100 miles, the Model S can travel 160 miles per charge, with optional packs that extend the range to 300 miles.
Tesla targets sales of the Model S at 5000 cars this year and 10,000 cars in 2013. Last year had sales of battery-electric vehicles at less than 25,000 cars, including plug-in hybrids that add a backup gasoline motor to extend range.
While interesting to keep an eye on, from a fuel price management perspective the electric vehicle is not yet poised to put a significant dent in the overall gas, diesel, and fuels market.
by John Keller | Jun 22, 2012 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News
OPIS suggests fuel prices may drop to $3 by Halloween
Tom Kloza, Chief Oil Analyst at OPIS says there are multiple indications that gas prices could hit $3 per gallon by Halloween “and certainly by Thanksgiving”. Slumping wholesale gasoline contracts for fall delivery, oil inventories at 21 year highs, and low consumer demand are the key indicators cited.
From a fuel price management perspective, this may be what the industry needs to recoup the poor margins seen throughout the early part of the calendar year.
by John Keller | Jun 21, 2012 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News
EPA allows model 2001 and newer vehicles to use E15
The Environmental Protection Agency announces final approval for 2001 and newer passenger vehicles can use E15.
Numerous agencies, including the consumer advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, has expressed concern about warranties being voided when consumers use this fuel in cars that are not suited to it. Consumer Reports also questions the fuel economy that this fuel will provide.
Fuel Pricing managers now need to track the pricing of this new fuels option and decide on a market by market basis whether or not to add E15 to their fuels portfolio.
by John Keller | Jun 19, 2012 | Industry News
Congratulations to Volta Oil for their recent implementation of PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software. Volta Oil is using the critical PriceAdvantage capabilities of automated PDI imports, real-time competitor survey information, and pushing prices to Gilbarco Passport POS and fuel pumps.
For Volta Oil, PriceAdvantage means no longer having to sift through a series of spreadsheets to figure out their next fuel pricing move.
Volta Oil has a total of 16 stores, proving that you don’t have to own a big chain of stores to benefit from the full blown fuel price management solution provided by PriceAdvantage.
by John Keller | Jun 18, 2012 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Yet another drop in US retail fuel prices this week according to the US Energy Information Administration, this time $0.039 per gallon. That makes it the 11th straight price drop since April 2, where prices for Regular All Formulations of retail fuel peaked this year at $3.941. The last time regular unleaded fuel prices were at this level was February 13, 2012.
Fuel prices dropped in every PADD region except for the Midwest PADD2 where retail fuel prices were up $0.02 per gallon.
The largest fuel price drop for the week was in the West Coast PADD region where fuel prices dropped $0.129 to $3.964 per gallon. This is the first time regular unleaded fuel has been under $4.00 per gallon since February 20 of this year.
by John Keller | Jun 18, 2012 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology
We’ve heard a lot about cloud computing lately. There’s even a Microsoft commercial on tv where at the end of the ad, the woman of the couple says “yay cloud”.
With the launch of PriceAdvantage Express, there is now a robust fuel price management solution in the cloud. The point of this new product is that c-stores can now rapidly have access to fuel pricing software without any software to install or servers to support. While PriceAdvantage Express does not integrate to POS systems, it does provide a quick way to improve the process of collecting store surveys, review the relationship of my price vs. competitor price in graphs and charts without sifting through a series of spreadsheets, and quickly send the optimized fuel price to each location.
PriceAdvantage customers have spoken highly of the fact that this new offering provides a simple, easy, and rapid way to get a fuel price management solution up and running. And since it can be accessed from mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone, or Droid, it is available from anywhere, freeing up the fuel manager to get the business of changing fuel prices done quickly so he can get back to other strategic, or more fun activities.
by John Keller | Jun 15, 2012 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News
According to a report by OPIS, fuel consumption is down 4.5% for the four week period ending June 8 compared to the same period last year.
In addition, OPIS reports the growth of ethanol fuel consumption has stalled, with the number of gallons in 2011 virtually unchanged from 2010.
From a fuel price management perspective, that means fuel volume comparisons should be expected to be less than last year, and ethanol fuel gallons are likely to be flat.
