Small Jow Forums

So last time I made a small Jow Forums thread and it didn't get much traction. If you are tired of crypto shilling or own your own small business feel free to jump on in.

I am 28 years old and I own 2 gas stations on Long Island NY.

Running the gas stations is not my full time job. I work as a software developer and these are my side income projects. I am probably one of the last white gas station owners in my area.

I got started in this business when I was younger working at a Italian-American body shop to help pay for school. I had a lot of exposure to the business and in this thread I will discuss my finances.

Attached: wheatfield-xl.jpg (770x510, 99K)

Gas stations are a great way to make a huge side income without doing much work. I have 2 relatively crappy stations.

One sells about 3,000 gallons a day on average and the other sells about 2,300.

Both stations are now self service. They used to be full service with 2 attendants each however the rising minimum wage has made payroll a huge issue and like many stations I have switched to self service.

Both stations are in small towns and are un-branded. An unbranded stations makes a lot more cash. You see when you brand a gas stations you pay huge licensing fees and you have to buy gas only from the local brand affiliated supplier. These guys charge you a lot more because they have a captive market. You are only making maximum 5 to 6 cents on the gallon.

My two unbranded gas stations have Indian attendants. Now I actually don't have to show up and worry about them stealing or the quality of work. I switched my entire convience store to a computerized system.

My supplier for candy, cigs and soda gives me a cash register that is hooked up to an online database that also keeps track of my inventory. This way I know how much money I am loosing from theft(if there is theft what days it happened) also I don't have to keep track of ordering more or less stuff because once my inventory is depleted the system will automatically order more.

I also have a deal with a local merchant processing company. I keep my cash and credit prices the same even though I take a hit of 7-10 cents on the gallon if you pay with credit cards. American Express and Discover are the worst they charge me up the ass.(10 cents a gallon) to process those payments.

My profit on the gas depends on when I order gas. A lot running a gas station is just watching the markets. My gas stations have 12,000 gallon tanks each. This means that I have to time my gas orders to buy gas when its cheaper and sell when its higher.

I average about 10 cents a gallon on gas but there have been times where I ordered a 12,000 gallon load and all of a sudden the price shot up I was making 30 cents on the gallon. Other times I have lost money because I order gas right before it fell.

Its very much like a futures market.

However my main source of income is the convience store. If you buy a gas station to make money only selling gas you are a fool. Its almost impossible to do it right.

The gas stations only exist to attract customers to the store. Why do you think when you pay cash you have to walk inside the store?

You don't think there could be automated tellers outside that can take cash like supermarket stores?

The goal with a gas station should be to get the customer inside the store at all times.

Do you sell beer/liquor in the shop?

Interesting.

Thanks for the insight OP.

What sort of items have the best margins inside the store? cigs I assume?

I make about $130,000 a year on my job as a software dev at a large bank. The problem is the fucking taxes. I take home less then 90,000 because of the gigantic NYC tax.

On the flip side my side income from the gas stations is taxed way less. The first station I clear about 120,000 a year and out of that I pay about 30,000 in taxes. Now remember this is after the payroll of my Indian employee at 13 bucks an hour and after all my expenses like rent utilities and such.

The second gas station makes about 80,000 and out of that I pay about 10,000 in taxes.

I have a LOT of deductions. My biggest advice to people is if you get into any business find a good accountant. It could be the difference between life and death. I joined the local retailers association in my area and asked around to get my current accountant through word of mouth.

I fucking deduct everything. It is criminal how much a business can deduct on taxable income.

I also should talk about the cost of running my stations. I lease all the property on lease deals that are about 4 years long. I pay 2,500 a month rent on the first station and 3,000 on the second. I also have electricity bills on the first for about 2,000 a month and 1,350 on the second.

You can do different types of deals based on how much you trust yourself and your business acumen. I always get the first 3 months rent free so I can charge low prices on opening and secure a good customer base.

I also never pay more then 3,000 a rent on the first year or the second year. It is important to have opt out clauses in the lease agreements so you can terminate the lease hassle free on the first or second year.

I have been doing this for the past 3 years its about to be my 4th year in a couple of months.

If you guys have any questions feel free to reply.

Pretty interesting

I didn't for the last 2 years but this year I got a liquor license. Honestly its a lot more trouble then its worth but it increased foot traffic by a considerable margin.

Cigs have the highest profit margin but use of them is going down. I now sell electronic cigs and their refill packs. The most popular is jul.

I don't really have anything to contribute or ask, but this thread was a breath of fresh air from all the crypto bullshit that shits up this board 24/7. Thanks OP.

It does seem like a lot of work though - working a full time job AND running 2 gas stations? Do you have someone to help run the gas stations?

Did you buy these stores as existing gas stations? Was the infrastructure (pumps, store, etc) already there?

I'm also a 28 year old on Long Island. Have never seen a white gas station before. What town are they in ? I'll come fill up my tank

The work load has gone down considerably with the advent of computer assisted inventory control.

Although you are right its like working 2 full time software dev jobs. I try to only visit the properties when I have to pick up the cash. But other times there are problems for example one of my workers calls out sick without giving me time to get a back up.

I also work Sundays because the Indians want at least one day a week off. Previously I had a different guy come in to just work the weekends but he dropped out. So I pay the Indians 17 bucks an hour to work on Saturday and I come in on Sunday.

Its stressful yeah.

Yes all this stuff was already there. It costs a ton of money to get pumps and all the other shit installed. One of the gas stations was vacant for some time so I had the owner install some pumps but all the other infrastructure was there.

Based

Great thread op
Dont have a business of my own but appreciate your spirit. Best of luck

Where are the gas stations? I'm out in Suffolk. Used to have a station here by the airport that would bring in tobacco from other states and make a killing. I would go there often and they never charged me tax on anything.

Hey thanks man I would rather not dox myself but one is on the north shore near glen cove and the other one is in sayville.

That is a very risky and stupid move. The bottom of the cigarettes has a tax stamp that is marked by the state. If a officer buys cigs off you that are missing that you can bring the whole IRS down on your head. Incredibly risky move.

Where on long island? I just moved to westbury

Yeah, they ended up getting audited and shut down. The turks who ran it were super nice people so no one would have reported them. They got caught not keeping up with their QC. I walked in one day and the guy was trying to pencil whip months of QC by just putting checks and X's in boxes. I tried to help him out a bit (was doing qc at the airport for jet fuels and leaded fuels amongst other things) but it was just too much shit to even fudge.