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Bill Mascott, president of Mascott Equipment Co., Portland, Oregon, became the 70th president of the Petroleum Equipment Institute Jan. 1. He succeeds Charlie Burns, president of Oscar W. Larson Co., Clarkston, Michigan. Steve Dixon, president of P.B Hoidale Co., Wichita, Kansas, is the 2020 PEI vice president. Ron Sledd, president of Beneficial Systems, Jetersville, Virginia, continues as PEI treasurer.

In his first action as president, Mascott appointed 226 individuals to serve on 25 PEI committees. As in recent years, the number of qualified PEI members who applied for committee positions this year exceeded the number of open slots. PEI appreciates all who offered their time and talent to the association.

If you are interested in serving on a PEI committee in 2021, email your committee preferences and a summary of your qualifications to PEI Executive Vice President Rick Long at rlong@pei.org.

You can find a complete list of 2020 PEI committee members here.

WAWA DATA BREACH AND VISA WARNING
Wawa announced Dec. 19 that customer information for credit and debit card transactions at in-store terminals and fuel dispensers throughout the chain’s 850 locations might have been compromised.

The data breach included cardholder names, card numbers and expiration dates for transactions from March 4 to Dec. 12, 2019. PINs, credit card security codes and driver’s license information used to verify age-restricted purchases were not affected.

Interestingly, a month before the Wawa announcement, a Visa security alert described new, sophisticated schemes by which criminal enterprises are infiltrating merchant networks to harvest data from fuel dispenser point-of-sale (POS) systems. The warning noted:

Wawa Data Breach

Cross-Industry Compensation Survey

UID Early Bird Registration Closes Soon

Former PEI President Bernie Cooper Dies

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“The targeting of fuel dispenser merchants is the result of the slower migration to chip technology on many terminals, which makes these merchants an attractive target for criminal threat actors attempting to compromise POS systems for magnetic stripe payment card data. … Card skimming at fuel pumps remains a pervasive and increasing threat for fuel dispenser merchants. However, these recent, more technically-advanced threat campaigns targeting fuel dispenser merchant POS systems mark a concerning trend that will likely continue. Many fuel dispenser merchants are currently updating their systems to accept and process more secure transactions, such as upgrading to devices that support chip. However, as long as the magnetic stripe readers are in place, fuel dispenser merchants are becoming an increasingly attractive target for advanced threat actors with an interest in compromising merchant networks to obtain this payment card data.”

2020 CROSS-INDUSTRY COMPENSATION SURVEY
PEI is partnering with 22 other distributor-based associations in the 2020 Cross-Industry Compensation Survey. The biennial survey provides real-life data to help PEI members make informed decisions about compensation and benefit programs.

Official representatives of U.S. and Canadian PEI distributor and service & construction members will receive an email link to the survey questionnaire from the independent research firm Industry Insights on Friday, Jan. 10.

Survey data will be housed on Industry Insight’s secure server to ensure confidentiality. PEI staff, officers and directors will not have access to the data. The Cross-Industry Compensation Survey will provide benefit and compensation statistics for common job positions including: executives; administrative, sales, operations and warehouse personnel; drivers/delivery staff; and freight managers.

Each survey participant will receive:

• A customized, confidential company-specific compensation report.
• A complete industry-specific summary report.
• Excel data tables with full cross-industry data aggregates.
• Access to an app that can be used to further filter and analyze the data.

PEI encourages all eligible members to complete the survey. The greater the participation, the more meaningful the results will be. If you have any questions, please email comp@industryinsights.com.

UTAH EV ROAD USE FEES
A new Utah program will allow the state’s 51,000 electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid owners to pay miles-traveled fees in exchange for lowered vehicle registration charges. The program is designed to raise road construction and repair funds from drivers who do not pay gasoline taxes.

An in-vehicle transponder will track the miles, and vehicle owners will pay applicable fees through automatic credit card drafts.

UID EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION CLOSES JAN. 12
Register for the 2020 University of Innovative Distribution (UID) by Jan. 12 to save $200. The concentrated program for distribution professionals will be March 8-11 at the J.W. Marriott in Indianapolis. You can select from more than 45 classes to plan an educational experience perfectly suited to your needs. CEOs, branch managers, sales and marketing professionals, operations managers, purchasing and inventory personnel, and manufacturers all can benefit from the program.

In addition to early-bird savings, PEI is offering $600 scholarships to the first 30 PEI members who register. PEI also will host a special “PEI Members Only” dinner during the conference, providing extra time to network with your petroleum equipment industry colleagues. To learn more, download the program flyer and register, click here.

BRIEFLY NOTED
“In 1972 there were nearly 290,000 public gasoline stations serving 106 million vehicles nationwide. The number of public gasoline stations declined throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By 1990 there were 174,000 public gasoline stations serving 179 million vehicles nationwide. In 2019 there are only 142,000 stations serving more than 276 million vehicles. — DOE Vehicle Technologies Office, Dec. 30
“Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501) is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) most frequently cited standard for fiscal year 2019. This marks the ninth consecutive year it has stood atop the agency’s top 10 list. The data collected by OSHA covers both serious and willful violations cited between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019.”—  PEI SafePractices, January 2020
“In the latest NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, 67.6% of manufacturing respondents reported a positive outlook for their company. Manufacturing confidence has remained largely steady since the third quarter, yet optimism continues to be well below the 89.5% positive reading in March. Large businesses felt notably less upbeat in their outlook relative to other firm sizes.” — Monday Economic Forecast, Dec. 23, 2019
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is throwing cold water on predictions that battery-electric vehicles will soon reach purchase cost parity with their internal-combustion counterparts. In a new report, the MIT Energy Initiative predicts that in 2030 EV purchase prices will still command a $5,000 cost premium over ICE vehicles due to the cost of manufacturing batteries. While overall cost of EV ownership could reach parity with ICE ownership within five years in places with high gasoline taxes and within 10 years in the United States, the higher initial cost of EVs could serve as a drag on their acceptance, the report says.” — Oil Express Alert, Dec. 30, 2019

DEATHS
Bernie Cooper, PEI’s 1987 president, died Dec. 29 at age 77. Cooper founded Marion, Iowa-based P.E.S., Inc. (the predecessor to Acterra Group Inc.), where he served as president for more than 45 years until his 2004 retirement. He also owned and operated Affiliated Leasing Corp., American Soils Processing, Advanced Environmental Services, Associated Electric, B&H Tank Corp., BBAK Investments, Bar-Ber Consulting, Cooper Asset Management, Cooper Properties, Design Builders Construction, Foresee Enterprises and Heritage Bank.  

Cooper’s decades of community involvement included service as board chairman of the Marion United Way and co-founder of the Marion Economic Development Company (MEDCO).  

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Barbara; a daughter Tammy (Randy) Danover; sons, Terry (Terri Lyn), Tad (Suzi) and Tony (Donna); sisters, Sherill (Ronald) Bowers, Bonnie (Steve) Stolte, and Charlotte Elam; sister-in-law Nancy Cooper; and 12 grandchildren. Memorial donations may be given to the Shriners Crippled Children’s Hospital or the Cottage Grove Foundation.

Editor’s Note: My wife Patti and I enjoyed sitting by Bernie and Barb at the 2019 PEI President’s Priority Dinner in Atlanta. Although Bernie told lots of fun industry “war stories” that night, his biggest smiles came when he talked about his family. 

Larry Kovarik died Jan. 1. Kovarik and Steve Sulland co-founded Grand Forks, North Dakota-based Valley Petroleum Equipment in 1984. Kovarik remained active in the business until his 2005 retirement.

Survivors include: children, Shelly (Jerry) Yohe, Sheri (Eric) Anderson and Jared Kovarik; siblings, Dennis (Marlene) Kovarik, Kathy (Jim) Drevecky, Marge Bina, Stan Kovarik and JoAnn Bylin; and five grandchildren.

PEI MEMBER NEWS
Tank Installers of Pennsylvania (TIP) made the following 2020 appointments: Greg Dubas of Pine Run Construction, executive director and treasurer; Eddie Ware of Francis Smith & Sons, president; Brian Dubas of Pine Run Construction, vice president.

Tuthill Corp. appointed Steven Westfall CEO and president. Westfall began his Tuthill career in 2013 and had been president of Tuthill Transfer Systems since February 2018. He has an MBA and bachelor’s degrees in finance and business management from Pittsburg State University.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS
South Dakota testing company. PDQ Service LLC, P.O. Box 9461, Rapid City, SD 57709, applied for service and construction division membership. Gregory Harberts is the owner of the firm, which was established in 2018. PDQ Service LLC specializes in petroleum equipment testing. Sponsored for PEI membership by Danny Brevard, Accent Environmental Services Inc., Lufkin, Texas.

ADMITTED TO PEI

• Maestranza e Ingenieria lo Espejo, Santiago, Chile (affiliate)
• Palmetto Environmental Group LLC, Denver, Colorado (affiliate)
• Cribbs & Associates Inc., Delmont, Pennsylvania (service & construction)

© 2020
Petroleum Equipment Institute
P. O. Box 2380
Tulsa, OK 74101-2380

The TulsaLetter (ISSN 0193-9467) is published two or three times each month by the Petroleum Equipment Institute. Richard C. Long, Editor. Opinions expressed are the opinions of the Editor. Basic circulation confined to PEI members.