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Stay ahead of the pump with RetailCents from Dow Jones Energy
When fuel prices climb, where do your customers go? Our Education Partner, Dow Jones Energy, tracks exactly that. Its RetailCents newsletter gives fuel retailers clear, data-driven analysis of pricing trends and consumer behavior. A recent...
When to replace your tanker fleet: the real TCO math
A paid-off tanker can still be one of the most expensive trucks in your fleet once you add up downtime, repairs, and missed deliveries. Here’s how to calculate a tanker’s real total cost of ownership...
Knowing Your Numbers Isn’t Enough
Many Study Group members know their numbers well. They review financial statements every month, watch their margins closely, and can tell you how this year compares with last. Knowing your own numbers is valuable, but...
Your Debt Schedule Was Never a Plan
Most operators can list every loan on their books without being able to describe an actual capital structure, because the loans arrived one at a time, the same way the stores did. Jason Noll, who...
Your Best Recruiters Already Work for You: Hiring and Referrals for Busy Season
Every fall, frontline teams go through the same whiplash. The summer crew heads back to school right as the calendar turns toward the busiest stretch of the year. Here’s the uncomfortable part: the more you’ve...
When the Bot Breaks Something, Will Your Insurance Pay?
Artificial intelligence has moved quickly from pilot project to everyday tool across almost every industry, including downstream energy. Fuel retailers use AI to adjust street pricing, distributors use it to optimize routing and inventory, and...
Credit Strategies for Managing Fuel Price Volatility
Credit departments today are managing customers whose fuel costs have jumped 50% or more, often without any change in gallons delivered. That means credit limits are stretched, aging buckets are swelling, and pastdue balances are...
AI Is One of the Most Talked-About Topics in Study Groups. Now It’s About Implementation.
Everyone in Study Groups Is Talking About AI. The Harder Question Is How to Use It. AI comes up in almost every Study Groups meeting now. Nobody is asking whether it matters anymore; they are...
The Hidden Risk and Inefficiency in Informal Secondary Market Transactions
Across the downstream petroleum sector, surplus inventory and used equipment change hands every day through informal channels: a phone call to a familiar contact, a word-of-mouth referral, a handshake agreement finalized over email. These transactions...
Wholesale Fuel/Lubricants Back Office and ERP Sunsets: What Operators Need to Know Now
If you’re running legacy wholesale fuel/lubricants software or your current platform has been acquired, you may already be within an active end-of-life planning window. Here’s what that means for your invoicing, dispatch, and financial controls...
“Fragile resilience”: The Conflict in Today’s Economic Signals and What it Means for Fuel
Depending on where you look, you can find proof of economic strength or stress. We explore this two-faced nature and why it matters. Pringles are the most interesting snack at the convenience store. And it’s...
What’s Happened to EV Sales in the United States Over the Past Four Years (2022–2026)?
By Dr. David Nelson Four years ago, electric vehicles seemed an unstoppable force in the American car market. California and the U.S. government announced a timetable to ban the sale of gas-powered cars. EV sales...