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Consumers Reveal Driving, Gas-Buying Behaviors

A new NACS study called "Consumer Behavior at the Pump" shows: Consumers who drive more are doing so because of jobs or longer commutes. Price dominates where consumers purchase fuel: 59 percent of those surveyed in 2019 cited lower prices as the reason they prefer a specific store or chain. Food quality and employees influence where consumers shop. Forty-four percent of gas customers also go inside the stores. Click for report  

How Norway Will Achieve 100 Percent EV Sales by 2025

Compared with countries such as the U.S., where 2 percent of vehicle sales are plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), Norway’s EV adoption would seem implausible if not for its significant government support for the technology, writes Raquel Soat for Navigant Research. According to the article: Norway levies an import tax on cars that can reach €10,000 ($11,338) or more depending on the vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions. Battery electric vehciles (BEVs) are exempt from this tax, and plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) owners pay a reduced rate. The annual road tax for non-BEV drivers is some €365 (about $414), but BEV owners pay only about €50 ($57). BEV owners are exempt from paying the VAT of 25 percent on the purchase or lease of the vehicle. Click for article  

REPORT PREDICTS UP TO 2 BILLION EVS ON ROADS IN 2050 

"Uptake of EVs accelerates in all road segments as cost parity of EVs is reached by the early to mid-2020s," according to the McKinsey & Co. "Global Energy Perspective 2019: Reference Case." The report includes a graph that shows the timing of cost parity of EVs with traditionally fueled vehicles in the EU. According to the report, total cost of ownership parity timing in China and the U.S. is similar to that of the EU, with China slightly earlier and the U.S. slightly later. The report predicts EV costs will decrease rapidly, attributed largely to lower battery costs. Click for report

Millennials Mix Business Trips, Vacations ... Don't Tell Bosses

National Car Rental’s "2019 State of Business Travel Survey," which found millennials use “bleisure” to save on vacation costs, also showed that adding vacation time to a business trip is a major incentive. The survey found that half of millennials book vacations around business trips, and 76 percent said they’re significantly more inclined to take a business trip if an added vacation is an option. Click for article

How to Win at Everything: Clarity, Clarity, Clarity

Karen Martin, president of the global consulting firm TKMG Inc. and a leading authority on business performance and Lean management, writes that she often hears business people throw around the term "VUCA" as though they can't control their situations. Rather that accepting ambiguity as the norm, Martin writes, leaders and their organizations need to develop intolerance for ambiguity. Clarity around an organization's purpose, priorities, processes, performance and problem-solving reverses organizational drag, and everyone wins. Click for article

2019 SAFETY ISSUES: EXPECT SOME CHANGES

The most significant rule the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to complete in 2019 is changing which injury and illness records employers must provide the agency (RIN:1218-AD17), according to a recent Bloomberg article. OSHA expects the final rule will be released in June. The rule would overturn several Obama-era requirements. The changes would affect many PEI companies. If the final rule reflects OSHA proposals, small companies in hazardous industries and all large employers would be required to submit only an annual summary of the total number of injuries and illnesses and the percentage of workers injured or made sick. Employers wouldn’t have to provide information on individual cases as the current rule requires. Click for article

Quiz: How to Stretch Your Life Span

A CNN quiz analyzes individual habits such as exercise, smoking frequency and alcohol consumption in conjunction with gender, proximity to parks and transportation methods to generate personalized tips to live longer. The quiz also provides life expectancy rates among age groups and genders in countries. Women in the U.S., for example, on average live longer than women in Mexico and China but have shorter life spans than women in Cuba and the U.K. Men in the U.S. on average outlive men in Barbados and the United Arab Emirates but fall short of life spans in Slovenia and Greece. Click for quiz

30 WAYS TO BE UNSTOPPABLE IN 2019

From getting up earlier and drinking more water to making 90-day sprints instead of New Year’s resolutions, these success tips are backed by science, psychology and the successful people who practice them.  Here’s a snippet of the first 10 tips: Wake up earlier. Drink more water. Write your goals down, every single morning. Put your phone on airplane mode more often. Go on walks as much as possible. Clearly prioritize your life. Eliminate all nonpriorities (your life is a product of your standards). Become more playful and imaginative. Create more peak experiences. Deepen your relationship with your parents. Click for article

5 Trends That Will Disrupt US Logistics Companies  

As logistics goes digital, changes are coming to industry structure, operations and profits. In the first of a series, Aisha Chottani, Greg Hastings, John Murnane and Florian Neuhaus, of McKinsey & Co., examine the impact of autonomous trucks. “What is happening is fairly well understood, if initially underestimated,” the authors write. “Digitization and other technological advances are exposing the vulnerabilities in every industry, particularly retail. And now, logistics companies are starting to feel the heat. Our new research has turned up five trends that offer startling indicators of impending change for the trucking, rail, warehousing, and logistics companies that move America’s merchandise.” The five trends are: Autonomous trucks E-commerce Automation Asset sharing Data analytics Click for article

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