All Service Centre articles – Page 4
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News
Service Centre:Jac Roper looks at charges for cash deposits; the legality of staff; and allergy labelling
I don’t understand why the cost of banking cash has to be so high. In Kumar Selvakumar’s case, it was about to be astronomical. Barclays had written to him at his Black Horse Service Station in east London’s Walthamstow to tell him that, on August 23, his charges would be ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper looks at Post Office collection chaos plus new pension rules that will affect you
You pay for a service, you expect to get that service. Nailesh Gokani from Empire Garage, North London, has been experiencing great holes in the Post Office’s money collection service. In the second week in July he wrote them an email saying: "Once again we are having constant problems with ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper looks at pricing problems; a system glitch; and more on fuel cards
What a difference a day makes We know that petrol prices go up and down like the proverbial, but when it costs you £500 plus VAT overnight, that is really painful. Rachel King, who is the forecourt manager at John Stayte Services, got in touch, sending me her figures for ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper asks if a price fix is on the cards? And problems with filling the ATM
Is this price fixing? If you give everything away you’ll get plenty of footfall... but no profit, says Paul Ghuman who runs Pentagon Service Station in Derby. He says: "The major oil companies are getting very greedy and driving our fuel margins down to 1ppl. They are doing this by ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper writes about a terrifying fuel card story and a solution to Suresh’s lid problem
Really, really bad news This is a totally anonymous story, although the two protagonists will recognise themselves. A reader approached Forecourt Trader with a very real problem. The other party will know who they are because of the details to follow. I am simply not naming anyone in the hope ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper looks at licensing applications and an update on that pesky freezer problem
The rocky road to booze I expect most of you are licensed or want to be. Even now though it isn’t a straightforward process for forecourts. Here is a bit of a master class for you. Stewart Gibson, who runs licensing specialist GP Retail, says: "The biggest obstacle for forecourts ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper looks at how debit and credit charges are going down, but there’s a big ’but’
Large sums If I am notorious for anything it’s for not being good at sums: hence my word-mongering career. However, it looks like both debit and credit card charges are going to go down a bit! I didn’t find this out myself. I am indebted to Laurence Haring for the ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on a million pound knock-down rebuild plus the fall in fuel prices
Knock-down prices: Nothing like a makeover to start the year. And if you want your place to look like a million dollars or should I say pounds, then you might have to spend that much. In North London’s Enfield that’s about the amount Nailesh and Ajay Gokani spent on revamping ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on the latest scams; problem customers; and new technology
You’re not paranoid they ARE out to get you Happy New Year and all that. I wish you a bright, shiny start. But some things never change. This very minute someone will be trying to scam somebody in the forecourt world. The one doing the rounds just before Christmas was ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on Christmas opening; the rise of own brand; and analysing your sales
Deck the Halls with Boston Charlie... It was always my favourite, fractured yuletide ’carol’. I thought originally that it referred to some mafia ’event’ involving an unfortunate Boston-based bloke called Charlie, and his fate was to be plastered around the walls. But that turned out to be wrong as it’s ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on saving energy, money and rewarding your loyal customers
Save your energy Costs go up, profits go down. What to do? Look at operating overheads. Regular contact Stephen Vaughan, of Handbridge Services and Londis store in Chester, wants to pass on his experience with energy savings. It’s a big subject these days and rightly so. Five years ago he ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on new pumps needed and why the Scots’ rurals are better together
There’s no help in the pipeline The devil, as always, is in the detail. Or, in the case of contracts, in the fine print. A frustrated Khaliq Mian got in touch a couple of months ago wondering if I could send him a list of pump suppliers because of the ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on scratchcards in the Shetlands, off-spec fuel and a fiery tale
Scratching the surface I know I often write about Scott and Phoebe Preston’s various sagas on Shetland that’s because they’re always interesting and possibly because, rather than in spite of, Tagon Stores being so remote. And possibly because Scott keeps me informed of events (hint, hint, if you ever want ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on news about sick pay that might make you feel under the weather
They giveth with one hand... And taketh away with the other. No prizes for guessing my reference is to government and its budgets. Did you know you can no longer reclaim statutory sick pay if an employee is off ill? Not a lot of people know this. The new rule ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on choosing the right symbol group and more on the Scottish vote
Choices, choices If you have nine shops and you are in the Top 50 Indies you are already a success by anyone’s standards. But it never stops there you are always looking to improve. Intake Developments, an up-and-coming chain of forecourts, all Jet sites, has shops ranging in size from ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper talks to a retailer about the Scottish vote and what it could mean for business
Will it be ’aye’ or ’nay’? A column I wrote a couple of issues back in Forecourt Trader’s sister paper Convenience Store on the upcoming referendum prompted an email from forecourt operator Scott Preston. The piece in question attempted to debate the big issue (raised by an anonymous caller who ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on protection money; bank advice; and a driverless car
Buried letters will cost you money Ever heard of PCI DSS? Depressingly I have quite a few times now. You may have seen it buried between some lines you got on a statement from the bank or credit card company. Between the two helplines I run for Forecourt Trader and ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper on a comprehensive look for insurance; and major money trouble
Keeping safe Khaliq Mian rang from Knowle Garage in Braunton, north Devon, looking for some suggestions on commercial insurance. He uses a local broker but, like most things, the costs have been going up. He has quite a business to protect not just a garage but a Londis store and ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper looks at a ratings query; a misleading offer; and a weird fetish
When you are only just over the limit In Scotland businesses qualify for a rates discount if their rateable values (RVs) don’t exceed £25,000. This allows businesses with two or more properties with a cumulative RV of under £25,000 to qualify for relief at 25% on individual properties with a ...
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Service Centre: Jac Roper deals with an insurance query, a helping hand and a handy short cut
Is this really such a risky business? Where do you buy your insurance? Do you switch very often? Does it go up by much when you renew? How about when you make a claim? Have you got a good broker? I would really like to know if you think you ...