Octane - May 2011

Volume 5

May 2011

To protect the public health and the environment, owners and/or operators of UST's or UST systems or the owners and/or operators of the facilities where they are located must ensure that the tanks or tank systems meet the regulatory requirements and comply with UST regulations.

The State Water Resources Control Board recently published a local guidance letter clarifying the main elements covered in an annual compliance inspection. To view the local guidance, click on the link provided below:

UST Local Guidance UST Handbook

In addition to the local guidance link, you will also find a handbook link which provides supplemental information on conducting a thorough compliance inspection along with model inspection checklists that include violation classifications to assist with significant operational compliance reporting.

It all started on

Cinco de Mayo

May 5th, 1889, construction began on a 235-acre refinery complex seventeen miles east of downtown Chicago; at which time, it would be the world's largest.

The refinery processed sulfurous "sour crude" from the Lima, Ohio, oil fields. It mainly produced high-quality kerosene to meet the growing demand for use in home lamps and gasoline was merely a minor by-product.

Today, the refinery ranks as the 5th largest in the United States, and processes over 405,000 barrels of crude per day, with gasoline as it main product producing 7.5 million gallons per day. Oh how times have changed.

A Supreme Employee

Bob has been in the Petroleum Industry for

the better part of 35 years. He started working with his dad and helped build Fetterley Oil Company into a formidable competitor in the 1970's and 80's. In 1987, his dad sold the business to another oil company, and Bob landed a new career with them that lasted over 15 years. He served the company well, and was a General Manager/Sales Manager for 4 of their divisions achieving record profits and sales along the way. One of his greatest personal goals was getting his degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix, graduating in 1997.

Bob landed a Sales Position with Supreme Oil Co. in September of 2009 and has had to learn a whole new part of the business. Retail sales was all new and it took a few months for him to adapt, but once he did the rest is history. The fast pace of the retail gas business is extremely challenging to him and he is learning on the go every day. In addition, he continues to work on the commercial side of the business, which given his previous experience, has been a smooth transition. He looks forward to many successful years with Supreme as he helps to build their customer base at a record pace.

RETAIL ROUND UP - Smart Phone Payment Systems

smartphone

Are you ready for the neW generation

of high tech consumers?

With the massive boom in smart phones, companies like cell phone carriers, Silicon Valley start-ups and handset manufacturers are looking for new and creative ways to capitalize on their usage. A common goal among many of these companies is one that will dramatically change the payment platform forever. The goal; Smart phone payment systems. A smart phone payment system allows the consumer to simply swipe their cell phone instead of a credit card to pay for merchandise.

One company already in operation has a program that works something like this: a small chip is attached to the consumer's cell phone device. To pay for merchandise, the consumer swipes their phone/chip at a special payment device near the cash register, similar to a credit card machine, that in turn processes the consumers payment with funds coming directly out of their bank or PayPal account. This transaction is comparable to a debit payment, but the major advantage for the retailer is the reduction in fees, which run about half of the usual credit card fee!

Taking it one step further, the payment device also calculates the number of transactions made by the consumer, and at the discretion of the merchant, will automatically award them with discounts, bonus points and coupons.

So far, reviews from both the consumer and the merchants are favorable. Several merchants in San Francisco, Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and New York are already accepting this form of payment, so get ready, get set...