Two SCL Fueling Stations Offer Fully Functioning Backups to Maintain Reliability After nearly 800,000 California businesses and residents experienced up to five days without power due to a voluntary shutdown by Pacific Gas & Electric, utilities have now been almost completely restored throughout the state’s northernmost reaches to the Silicon... Read More +
Leer en EspañolGeolocating App Provides Digital Payment, Receipt Options In response to an increasing number of skimmer fraud instances reported by the California Independent Oil Marketers Association, a new CardlessSwipe option has emerged as an alternative for cardlock fueling stations. The new technology, which uses a geolocating CardlessSwipe app, allows drivers to bypass swiping... Read More +
Leer en EspañolWhat You Need to Know to Stay Prepared in the Face of Unpredictibility While questions surrounding weekend drone attacks on a Saudi Arabian oil facility and a nearby oil field continue to arise, there’s one fact that remains relatively unquestioned: the destruction of one of the world’s largest processors of... Read More +
Leer en EspañolWhy Simply Relaying Information Should No Longer be Status Quo When it comes to dealer or factory recommended maintenance or even necessary repairs, many customers are often resistant to accept advice from automotive service providers. They either don’t have the time to wait, they didn’t budget for the expense, they believe... Read More +
Leer en EspañolEducating Customers About Oil Choices Can Build Trust and Loyalty According to a 2018 survey by a leading tire manufacturer, about 1 in 3 customers is not confident enough to select the right oil for their vehicle. A significantly lower percentage than that feel equipped to perform basic car maintenance,... Read More +
Leer en EspañolCalifornia Fuel Tax Set to Increase July 1st A tax increase on motor vehicle and diesel fuels is coming to the state of California, effective July 1st, 2019. According to a special notice issued by the state of California’s Department of Tax and Fee Administration, “The prepayment rate for each... Read More +
Rising Costs of Raw Materials Spur Second Price Increase Last week we published a notification alerting our customers to a pending 6% increase in price based on the rising cost of raw materials. Over the past week, however, most major oil suppliers announced an unexpected additional price increase from 6%... Read More +
Price Increase Scheduled for Finished Lubricants – May 6, 2019 With increases in the cost of raw materials, rising freight costs and overall market fluctuations that affect manufactures, and the processing and delivery of finished products, a 6% finished lubricants price increase will go into effect on May 6th. In... Read More +
Leer en EspañolHow Will Gavin Newsom Manage CA’s Energy Sector - On January 7th, 2019, Jerry Brown stepped aside to hand over the reigns to a new governor elect for the state of California – Gavin Newsom. Newsom, a member of the Democratic party, previously served as the lieutenant governor of California under Brown...
Leer en EspañolLiquid Urea vs Prill Form and the Cost of DEF When it comes to the manufacture of diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF, whether the urea content begins in liquid solution or solid prill form can impact the cost of manufacture and ultimately the price of the finished product. DEF is... Read More +
Leer en EspañolJanuary 2020 Deadline Looms – Maritime Industry Prepares Less than one year from now, the soft rollout of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) January 2020 sulphur cap regulation will go into full effect. The IMO is responsible for the safe management and environmental stewardship of the shipping industry, and the... Read More +
Leer en EspañolHoliday Trucking and the Holidays It has been said that the trucking industry is the life blood of the U.S. economy, moving more goods and services across the north American continent than one can even imagine. There are times throughout the year when demand for transport via trucking dramatically spikes... Read More +
Leer en EspañolWith Midterm Elections Over, Where Do We Go From Here? On November 6th, Californians voted against Proposition 6, a constitutional amendment that would have eliminated a fuel-related tax designated for road repair and transportation infrastructure. Prop 6 aimed to repeal the gas tax that went into effect November 2017, which... Read More +
Leer en EspañolHow to Protect Yourself at the Pump This Holiday Season According to Crime Prevention Security Systems, “Police reports indicate theft and property crime rates increase during the holiday season – particularly between Thanksgiving and the new year. Consumers generally walk around with more cash, credit cards, and gift cards in... Read More +
Leer en EspañolThe Craft Brew Industry is Changing Rapidly, One Can at a Time Gone are the days where you might have associated canned beer with tried and true classics like Coors, Budweiser and Miller Genuine Draft. In today’s brewing landscape, draught beer, according to the Brewer’s Association, represents roughly 41.4% of... Read More +
Leer en EspañolWhy Certain Foreign Cars Are Only Available Overseas If you like to travel internationally, then you have most likely encountered some interesting foreign cars in other countries. In Mexico there’s the Chevy Tornado (pictured above) and the Nissan Micra. In the UK there’s the Ford Escort Cosworth, the Holden HSV... Read More +
Leer en EspañolHow Drought Impacts the Golden State’s Economy Besides the devastating effects of fire, which is also largely affected by drought, California’s economy is impacted by lack of water in a myriad of ways. According to a Brookings University article, “Water supply, including surface water found in streams, rivers, lakes, or reservoirs,... Read More +
A Price Increase on Antifreeze and Coolant is on the Horizon With increases in the cost of raw materials such as ethylene glycol, rising freight costs and overall market fluctuations that affect the manufacture, processing and delivery of antifreeze and coolant, a 5% price increase for these products will go into... Read More +
How Will Californians Vote on Prop 6 November 6 In November of 2017 the Road Repair and Accountability Act was passed, otherwise know as Senate Bill 1, or SB-1 – created as a means by which the state of California could offset transportation costs for repairs to highway infrastructure and the... Read More +
Leer en EspañolA Myriad of Factors Affect the End Cost of DEF In 2010, the EPA created a mandate that all medium and heavy duty vehicles were required to reduce emissions (most notably NOx) by incorporating diesel exhaust fluid, or DEF. DEF is a non-hazardous solution consisting of a 32.5% urea and... Read More +
Leer en EspañolHow OPEC Impacts the Cost of US Goods and Services American mathematician, meteorologist and the pioneer of chaos theory, Edward Lorenz coined the phrase the “butterfly effect” in 1969, which suggests that small perturbations, changes and causes in one location may have large effects and impacts in an entirely different... Read More +
Leer en EspañolWhen California Is On Fire the Economy Feels the Burn The origin of the name California can be traced back to a handful of theories, including a Spanish translation, caliente horno, meaning “hot furnace;” an indigenous word meaning “high hill;” and most commonly recognized, from the 16th century novel Las Sergas... Read More +
Leer en EspañolExtremely Long DMV Lines in California Have Driver’s Frustrated Have you been to the DMV lately? If not, consider yourself lucky, and also consider yourself forewarned. Lines are longer than ever, reinforcing the Department of Motor Vehicle’s reputation as a black hole where operations move at a glacial pace. The... Read More +
President Trump’s Historic Weakening of Fuel Economy Standards This summer, the Trump administration began taking steps to roll out what is being referred to as a “historic” weakening of fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles and the trucking industry. Besides the national implications of such an effort, the President also... Read More +
Leer en EspañolChina Recently Placed 25% Oil Tariffs on U.S. Oil Products In response the the $16 billion in tariffs that President Donald Trump placed on Chinese imports, the People’s Republic is responding with a 25% tariff to be placed on U.S. goods – most notably, oil tariffs. Despite talks between U.S.... Read More +
Massive Driver Shortages in the Trucking Industry According to a report by Axios, there are many industries in the United States that are having a tough time filling critical employment roles, such as construction workers, farmers, truck drivers and first responders. Despite good pay and benefits, there is a giant... Read More +
Leer en EspañolUber Self-Driving Trucks Division is No Longer In March of this year we wrote an Expert Insight piece on the rise of Uber Freight and their desire to expand the cutting edge use of autonomous vehicle technology. It was believed that this would drastically disrupt the trucking industry, and was... Read More +
Leer en EspañolThe New API SN PLUS Formulation and Why You Should Care When it comes to turbocharged engines, it’s all about performance, which is why automakers are spearheading the newest supplemental motor oil specification – API SN PLUS – to protect against Low-Speed-Pre-Ignition (LSPI) – a condition found within Turbocharged Gasoline... Read More +
Food Grade Lubrication – Not All Products Are Created Equal When dealing with manufacturing or packaging products that require food grade lubrication, it is essential to be conscious of what greases, degreasers, cleaners, seamers, etc that you may be using in your warehouse or facility because public health and safety... Read More +
Leer en EspañolInnovative and Sustainable Fluid Solutions For some of the world’s most reputable names and brands – Rolls Royce, NASA, and Boeing – only the best will do, which is why they choose Houghton International fluid technology to meet their industrial needs. Based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Houghton is involved with the... Read More +
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