Gas and oil prices affect every aspect of business, from powering your delivery vehicles, to buying goods from vendors and heating and cooling your offices. You can follow the natural gas price history and try to get a handle on projections to deal with United States gas prices, but the industry can prove to be very volatile and can leave you in dire straights if you don’t have procedures in place to deal with changing domestic gas prices.

Just when national gas prices seem to be stabilizing, something happens to upset the projections. You should include policies and programs within your company to make a regular gasoline price comparison when making decisions and find ways to compensate for changing gas prices worldwide that will affect your profits. Look for a variety of ways to deal with the ever-changing wholesale gasoline prices.

1. Use gas price software to calculate profits and losses

2. Utilize a program to follow gas prices by state

3. Bring in outside help to manage volatile gas and oil prices

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look for ways to mitigate changing natural gas prices

Gas prices will change. That is a certainty. And while you can't change your prices or where you get your inventory from every day, you can certainly monitor the market and stay informed so that you can make educated decisions that affect your company's profits.

I recommend: Nimsoft can create a software program to monitor your gas usage and how the price fluctuations affect your business so that you can make informed marketing decisions. Access Commerce can provide software that logically helps you adjust your pricing based on outside factors such as national gas prices.

Change your patterns based on gas prices by state

While it can be a challenge to keep up with rapidly fluctuating market changes such as local gas prices, it may be worth your while to have someone in your firm monitor gas prices on a regular basis so that you can take advantage of markets that offer better deals. You may be able to change your routes or gauge a geographical natural gas price history to guide your strategic planning.

I recommend: Keep your finger on changes with hourly updates at Gas Price Watch. Gas Buddy is a service provided by Google that can pinpoint pricing on maps for easy use.

Hire gasoline price comparison experts

If you are finding that you're spending too much time away form your core business trying to manage and keep up with fluctuating gas prices, you may need to consider bringing in outside help. A gas consultancy can study your business and make recommendations for streamlining your processes and making your decisions more effective.

I recommend: IHL Services understands that every extra penny spent on fuel adds up to enormous losses if not managed correctly. They have international expertise in helping business solve energy problems. Consulting Central is a company that tracks and predicts the movement of the energy markets and how they can affect your business through in-depth studies of your business model.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Try to avoid reactionary decisions that could negatively affect your business in response to volatile gas markets. Instead, take a steady approach considering long-term solutions to changing gas prices worldwide.

National gas prices are on the rise, with record highs becoming common. Between paying to fuel your company vehicles, rising natural gas prices to heat the office and the increased cost of propane, small business owners are hit from several directions. The cost of overhead goes up along with the gas price per gallon. Keep up with trends in gas prices, so that you can wisely plan your budget and save money along the way.

Finding ways to reduce what you pay per gallon is the trick to avoid falling victim to local gas prices. It's important to do a gasoline price comparison to find out exactly where to fill up company vehicles. By keeping up with price trends and forecasts in the natural gas and propane markets, you can plan more cost-efficient use of those resources. All of these actions add up to be a decent savings. Consider a few gas-saving tips:

1. Cut the price per gallon at the gas pump with shopping club discounts.

2. Analyze your company use of natural gas and implement money-saving changes.

3. Reduce costs on propane gas prices by positioning your business strategically when prices soar.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Consider joining the club to get wholesale gasoline prices

Shopping clubs tend to have lower local gas prices than you'll find down the street at the gas station. You must be a member to shop at wholesale clubs, but the small membership fee ends up saving your business a lot of money. Some stores team up with gas stations to offer you a deal as well. Make a point to buy paper goods and more at participating shopping clubs. Then, watch as the savings at the pump rack up.

I recommend: BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. not only offers discount gas prices, but also propane gas prices for your company's heating and cooking needs. After you're done picking up the goods you need for your business inside the store, fill up company vehicles, taking advantage of wholesale gasoline prices. Price Chopper's AdvantEdge card saves you money at Sunoco gas stations. Grocery Coupon Guide links you to various grocery stores offering gas discounts such as BJs, Sam's Club, Krogers and Safeway.

Follow the trends and forecasts of natural gas prices and budget accordingly

By reviewing natural gas price history, watching the predictions and past trends of the natural gas market, you can plan your budget accordingly. Knowing that the coming winter is going to be an expensive one, allows you to make cuts in your gas usage or other expenses so that you can protect your bottom line.

I recommend: Energy Information Administration (EIA) offers current market data on United States gas prices for natural gas including forecasts and trends. Subscribe to short and long-term natural gas forecast information at the Financial Forecast Center.

Opt to buy rather than lease storage tanks to save on propane gas prices

Propane, unlike natural gas, fluctuates with the oil market and therefore, when oil prices are high, generally so is propane. However, there are ways to control and monitor propane costs and budget accordingly to avoid a substantial impact to the bottom line when prices soar. Owning your own propane tank for petrochemical or other commercial use gives you the freedom to choose distributors, whereas, leasing ties you to one distributor, locking you in when prices get high as well as monthly leasing costs.

I recommend: Total Energy distributes used and reconditioned ASME storage tanks ranging from 10,000 gallons to 120,000 gallons in capacity, with a working pressure up to 300 psi. Trinity Containers manufactures above and below ground storage tanks holding anywhere from 2,000 to 120,000 gallons of propane.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Cut costs and take advantage of lower propane gas prices by storing up in the spring and summer when prices tend to fall because of lower demand.
• •  If you run a business that depends on extensive vehicle use, consider converting your vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG). Not only are you helping to green the environment, natural gas is much cheaper, making fueling your vehicles less costly to the pocketbook.