by Phil Baratz HEDGE, HEDGE, HEDGE. There is an aphorism in the academic world that says, “publish or perish” in reference to advancing a career. Our aphorism is Hedge or Perish. Customers want and need some price certainty. Capped prices cost more to hedge (generally in the form of an option premium cost)…
by Phil Baratz Are you a marketing company? A financial services company? An employee benefits company? Or are you a delivery company that spends more than half of your overhead on a fleet of vehicles and on wages for drivers, dispatchers, and mechanics? Picture yourself back in the 1980’s and let’s say that you were…
by Phil Baratz If your drivers are making the right number of deliveries (20-30) per day and they are working the right number of hours (8-10) per day, AND you are dispatching the right way to optimize the deliveries based on the data you have (i.e., how many gallons are in your customers’ tanks),…
by Rashaan Baskerville – Angus Finance As we approach the end of 2022, we have done some reflection on the top issues that dealers have faced this year. Above all, cash flow has been the issue that we have heard the most often, among the many challenges that dealers faced this year. In this article,…
by Phil Baratz A year ago, as we were exiting 2021, there was a lot of relief to be finally leaving perhaps the darkest times we have seen in our lives. Leaving that in the rearview mirror was exactly what we needed. We ended 2021 with a sense of relief and a sense of excitement. …
October 25, 2022 By Jeff Simpson, Angus Energy Weather hedging. It’s a concept that many fuel dealers have heard over the years but relatively few have fully explored. In short, weather hedging for fuel dealers can best be described as a method to recoup some level of the lost fuel delivery and service…
by Phil Baratz There is a scene that is attributed to Law School professors dating back to the 1930’s, telling students to “look to your left and then look to your right. By the end of this year, one of the two will no longer be in Law School”. In other words, if…
Imagine if you had a job opening for a position with the following requirements: • Pulling data from BOS, budget, etc. • Creating automated custom reports for management on customer gain/losses, budget variances, delivery history, and performance, service data. • Analyzing your customer data for outliers • Working with the dispatch team and the…
By Jeff Simpson Fuel dealers have been facing some unprecedented conditions this summer which have a real potential to strain cash availability during the 2022-23 heating season should they persist. The primary factors impacting the industry of late include: Historically high commodity costs Basis blowout Rising tank & equipment costs Supply chain issues (difficulty building…
by Phil Baratz There are several situations occurring now that we haven’t seen in a long time (maybe not ever), and they are leading to some questions that need to be addressed – now! Russia/Ukraine Iran/Venezuela Supply shortages Basis Blowouts Empty storage tanks Rising interest rates High Inflation Confusing messages from political leadership Severe backwardation…
