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# ServoPro

## Sitemaps
- [XML Sitemap](https://servopro.com.au/sitemap_index.xml): Includes all crawlable and indexable pages.

## Posts
- [Coalition Ties a Fuel Excise Cut to the Oil Price, Paid for by Tobacco](https://servopro.com.au/coalition-ties-a-fuel-excise-cut-to-the-oil-price-paid-for-by-tobacco/): The Coalition has proposed an automatic halving of fuel excise whenever Brent crude averages above US$100 a barrel for two weeks, funded by its plan to cut tobacco excise by 80 per cent. Announced by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor in Canberra on 20 September, the "Fuel Price Shield" would take around 27 cents a litre off the pump price, about $15 on a typical tank, and would switch off again when the eight-week average falls back under US$100 or after three months, whichever comes first. Treasurer Jim Chalmers dismissed it the same day as "uncapped and unfunded", and said the government is not considering any further excise cut.
- [Armed Hold-Up: The 90 Seconds Your Staff Need to Have Rehearsed](https://servopro.com.au/armed-hold-up-the-90-seconds-your-staff-need-to-have-rehearsed/): Most armed robberies at a service station are over in under two minutes. What happens in that time is decided almost entirely by what the person behind the counter has been told beforehand, and at most independent sites the honest answer is nothing: no written procedure, no training, and a new casual working the night shift on their second week. The money is insured. The person is not. This is the procedure to have on paper and rehearsed before it is needed.
- [The Three Staff Policies to Put in Place Before You Need Them](https://servopro.com.au/the-three-staff-policies-to-put-in-place-before-you-need-them/): Nobody reads a workplace policy on a good day. Policies earn their keep on the bad days: the pay run that fails, the staff member who refuses a new system, the private matter that ends up discussed at the pub. By then, either the policy exists and the conversation is short, or it doesn't and you're negotiating from scratch with someone who's upset. Three policies cover most of the flashpoints we see at independent sites, and all three take less than an hour to put in place.
- [Costco Confirmed for Brisbane Airport, 34-Bowser Fuel Station Included](https://servopro.com.au/costco-confirmed-for-brisbane-airport-34-bowser-fuel-station-included/): Brisbane Airport has secured the city's first Costco warehouse, and the announcement matters to fuel retailers for one number buried in the detail: a fuel station with 34 bowsers. The store is set to open in late 2029 on a 6.7-hectare site directly opposite the International Terminal, roughly 12 kilometres from the CBD.
- [Viva Energy Joins the Refining Windfall with Record Half-Year Result](https://servopro.com.au/viva-energy-joins-the-refining-windfall-with-record-half-year-result/): A day after Ampol's record half, Viva Energy posted one of its own: statutory net profit of $452 million for the six months to 30 June, up 331 per cent, with underlying profit (on a replacement cost basis, which strips out oil price movements on inventories) rising almost five-fold to $371.1 million. Like Ampol's, the result was made at the refinery, not the driveway, and it came despite a major fire that took part of the Geelong plant offline in April.
- [Ampol Posts Record Half-Year Profit as Refining Margins Surge](https://servopro.com.au/ampol-posts-record-half-year-profit-as-refining-margins-surge/): Ampol has reported the strongest half-year result in its history, swinging to a statutory net profit of $1.36 billion for the six months to 30 June, against a $25.3 million loss in the same period last year. The driver was not the driveway: it was the Lytton refinery and global fuel trading, both supercharged by disruption across Middle East supply routes.
- [The Five-Minute Walk-Through That Catches What Familiarity Hides](https://servopro.com.au/the-five-minute-walk-through-that-catches-what-familiarity-hides/): The most dangerous thing on a service station site is familiarity. Walk past the same compressor room, the same LPG cage and the same fire extinguisher every day and you stop seeing them. Hazards don't appear overnight; they accumulate quietly while everyone's busy, which is why the sites that stay out of trouble aren't the ones with the most careful owners, they're the ones with a routine. Five minutes, once a week, same circuit every time. Here's the walk.
- [$92 Million Seized as Tobacco Enforcement Moves Offshore](https://servopro.com.au/92-million-seized-as-tobacco-enforcement-moves-offshore/): Australian and Chinese authorities have broken an international syndicate smuggling illegal tobacco into Australia, with more than 60 arrests in China and over $92 million in evaded duty seized at Australian ports. The significance is less the size of the haul than where the enforcement happened: increasingly, before the containers ever arrive.
- [Fifty Years on One Forecourt: How Dover Fueling Solutions Helped Kingston Garage Grow Fuel Volumes](https://servopro.com.au/fifty-years-on-one-forecourt-how-dover-fueling-solutions-helped-kingston-garage-grow-fuel-volumes/): Ross Hallett started working at Kingston Garage in Heatherton when he was 12 years old. Now 62, he owns both the business and the property and still runs the site five and a half days a week. Over that time he has seen almost every type of forecourt technology come and go, and tested most of it himself. So when he says his Wayne® dispensers from Dover Fueling Solutions® (DFS) have changed his business, it is worth listening.
- [One Nation Moves to Cut Tobacco Excise by 75 Percent](https://servopro.com.au/one-nation-moves-to-cut-tobacco-excise-by-75-percent/): One Nation has escalated its tobacco tax position, proposing a 75 percent cut to the excise and a pause on indexation. Pauline Hanson told news.com.au the policy would take a pack of cigarettes from around $46.50 to about $22, a price last seen in Australia around 2015.
- [Fuel by Ship, Food by Legend: How Lisa Roach Runs One of Australia’s Most Remote Servos with Beacon](https://servopro.com.au/fuel-by-ship-food-by-legend-how-lisa-roach-runs-one-of-australias-most-remote-servos-with-beacon/): Nhulunbuy sits on the Gove Peninsula in East Arnhem Land, about as remote as fuel retailing gets in Australia. Petrol arrives by ship from Darwin on a rotating schedule. Shop stock ordered on a Monday lands the following Monday. And every August, the Garma Festival multiplies the town's population overnight.
- [One Cost a Month: The Review Calendar That Pays for Itself](https://servopro.com.au/one-cost-a-month-the-review-calendar-that-pays-for-itself/): Ask a service station operator their fuel margin and they'll answer to the decimal point. Ask when they last market-tested their electricity contract and the room goes quiet. Costs don't announce that they've changed. The bill arrives, it gets paid, and the years pass. The fix isn't willpower, it's a calendar: a standing date for each major cost, checked on schedule the same way you'd service a car.
- [One Servo, One ACCC Review: The New Merger Rules Reach the Forecourt](https://servopro.com.au/one-servo-one-accc-review-the-new-merger-rules-reach-the-forecourt/): The ACCC is formally reviewing BP Australia's purchase of a single service station, the bp Gateway site at Port Macquarie, in one of the first tests of how Australia's new merger regime treats forecourt-level deals.
- [Sacked Over a Roller Door: Fair Work Orders Reinstatement](https://servopro.com.au/sacked-over-a-roller-door-fair-work-orders-reinstatement/): The Fair Work Commission has ordered Endeavour Group to reinstate a 67-year-old Tasmanian retail worker dismissed over her response to a store theft, in a decision with direct lessons for any fuel and convenience operator whose staff face the same split-second situations.
- [Full Excise Returns With the ACCC Watching](https://servopro.com.au/full-excise-returns-with-the-accc-watching/): Fuel excise is back at full strength. The 16 cents a litre of remaining relief expired at midnight on 2 August, and with indexation added the rate now stands at 53.7 cents a litre, up from the discounted settings that had been in place since 1 April. The ACCC's own framing puts the impact of the relief ending at up to 17.6 cents a litre including GST, and the regulator will be reporting weekly on how it flows through until at least the end of September.
- [The Free Marketing Most Servos Ignore](https://servopro.com.au/the-free-marketing-most-servos-ignore/): When a traveller searches "petrol station near me", Google decides which three sites appear on the map, and the listing decides which one gets the turn-in. Most operators have never opened theirs. It was auto-created years ago, the hours are wrong, the photos show the previous branding, and the one review visible is a two-star complaint nobody answered. That listing is talking to more potential customers every day than your front sign, and it is saying the wrong things. Fixing it costs nothing but an evening.
- [Record $1.1m Fine Caps a Week of Tobacco Enforcement](https://servopro.com.au/record-1-1m-fine-caps-a-week-of-tobacco-enforcement/): Illicit tobacco enforcement escalated on three fronts inside a week: a record fine of more than $1.1 million against a Sydney tobacconist, new Tasmanian laws in force, and a national ban on nicotine pouch access routes that took effect today.
- [Excise Relief Ends as Oil Tops $100](https://servopro.com.au/excise-relief-ends-as-oil-tops-100/): Australian fuel retail is a fortnight away from two price shocks landing at once. On 2 August the remaining 16 cents a litre of fuel excise relief expires, returning the full tax rate to every litre sold, and on the same day OPEC+ meets to decide whether another paper increase in output targets can do anything about a Brent price that broke US$100 a barrel last week.
- [The Eight Margin Leaks Draining Your Servo Right Now](https://servopro.com.au/the-eight-margin-leaks-draining-your-servo-right-now/): Most operators can quote yesterday's fuel volume to the litre. Far fewer could say whether their site margin moved up or down this quarter. Revenue is the number you watch; profit is the number that pays you, and the gap between them is where money quietly leaks away. Most sites are leaking in three or four of the eight places below right now, and not one of them requires selling a single extra litre to fix.
- [Getting It Right the First Time: New Shell Site’s Fuel Dispenser Choice](https://servopro.com.au/getting-it-right-the-first-time-new-shell-sites-fuel-dispenser-choice/): When the team behind a new Shell site in Dandenong went looking for dispensers, the safe advice was to go with the name their builder always used. They did their own homework instead, chose Wayne® dispensers from Dover Fueling Solutions® (DFS), and since the site opened in late 2024, both the developer and the operator say it was the right call.
- [Tobacco Enforcement Escalates Nationally as Landlord Penalties Take Effect](https://servopro.com.au/tobacco-enforcement-escalates-nationally-as-landlord-penalties-take-effect/): Australia's illicit tobacco crackdown has entered a new phase, with enforcement now running hard in three states and, as of 1 July, extending beyond retailers to the owners of the buildings they trade from.
- [Ampol Completes EG Australia Acquisition, Network Reaches 1,100 Sites](https://servopro.com.au/ampol-completes-eg-australia-acquisition-network-reaches-1100-sites/): Ampol has completed its acquisition of EG Australia, finalising the deal on 30 June for gross consideration of $1.165 billion and creating a company-operated network of approximately 1,100 sites, the largest in Australian fuel and convenience retail.
- [NT Deploys AI to Watch Fuel Prices](https://servopro.com.au/nt-deploys-ai-to-watch-fuel-prices/): The Northern Territory has put an artificial intelligence model to work watching fuel prices, the first government in Australia to do it. The way the model decides a price rise is suspicious is the part that should interest every operator, not just those north of the border.
- [AI Pricing Lands US Fuel Retailers in Court](https://servopro.com.au/ai-pricing-lands-us-fuel-retailers-in-court/): A group of California drivers has put fuel pricing software on trial, and the question behind the case does not stop at the US border.
- [Fuel Excise Relief Extended Into July, at Half the Saving](https://servopro.com.au/fuel-excise-relief-extended-into-july-at-half-the-saving/): The fuel excise relief that has held since April is not ending on 1 July as planned. It is being extended, but at a smaller discount, which means pump prices will drift up even while the government keeps the word "relief" on the policy.
- [Keeping Good Staff in a High-Turnover Industry](https://servopro.com.au/keeping-good-staff-in-a-high-turnover-industry/): Most service station operators do not have a hiring problem. They have a keeping problem. Casual hours, night shifts and tight margins make the forecourt one of the harder places to hold onto good people, and every time someone walks out the door, the cost lands back on you. The good news is that retention is one of the few things on a site you can actually influence, and it costs less than most operators think.
- [Working On Your Business, Not Just Behind the Counter](https://servopro.com.au/working-on-your-business-not-just-behind-the-counter/): Ask most independent operators why they bought a service station and the answer usually comes back to freedom and a better life for the family. Then the reality sets in: you are on the console at 6am, doing the orders at lunch, fixing the roster at night, and the business that was meant to give you time has quietly taken it all. Getting some of that time back is not about working harder. It is about building a site that can run without you standing in the middle of it.
- [Viva Energy Weighs Up Service Station Sale](https://servopro.com.au/viva-energy-weighs-up-service-station-sale/): Viva Energy is understood to be weighing the sale of a portfolio of its petrol stations, most likely as a sale and leaseback, where the company sells the freehold and signs long leases to keep operating the sites. The operating brand would not change. The owner of the underlying property would.
- [One Nation Pushes to Halve Tobacco Excise](https://servopro.com.au/one-nation-pushes-to-halve-tobacco-excise/): Legal tobacco has gone from a dependable convenience category to a problem one, as years of excise rises pushed customers towards a booming illicit market. One Nation now wants to reverse that with a sharp cut to the tax.
- [Lowes Petroleum Acquires Engineering Firm EMP](https://servopro.com.au/lowes-petroleum-acquires-engineering-firm-emp/): The companies that dig up and replace service station tanks are consolidating, and the latest deal puts more of that work under one regional player. Lowes Petroleum has acquired Tamworth-based Engineering Mining and Petroleum, known as EMP.
- [Get Your POS Ready for EOFY (Part 2)](https://servopro.com.au/get-your-pos-ready-for-eofy-part-2/): In Part 1, we covered what every operator should have sorted before 30 June: stocktakes, reporting, hardware decisions and customer account cleanup. If you haven't read it yet, start there.
- [Three OTR Freeholds Head to Auction with $1.56m Combined Income](https://servopro.com.au/three-otr-freeholds-head-to-auction-with-1-56m-combined-income/): Three OTR convenience retail freeholds, one in Adelaide and two in NSW, go under the hammer at the Sydney Opera House on 23 June, offering investors a combined net income of approximately $1.56 million a year. The properties themselves are worth a look, but the lease terms behind them are the real lesson for anyone who owns the land under a service station.
- [Illicit Tobacco Crackdown Moves from Fines to Closures](https://servopro.com.au/illicit-tobacco-crackdown-moves-from-fines-to-closures/): Four out of five cigarettes smoked in Australia are now illegal, and the states have stopped relying on fines to deal with it. The new enforcement weapon is the closure order, and in the past month it has been used from the Tweed Coast to suburban Adelaide.
- [Make School Holidays Pay](https://servopro.com.au/make-school-holidays-pay/): School holidays change the rhythm of a service station in ways that many operators do not fully capitalise on. Traffic patterns shift. Families are on the road. Kids are in the car. Lunchtime and afternoon trade picks up as parents look for quick, easy stops. For operators who plan ahead, school holidays represent a genuine opportunity to increase shop revenue and attract customers who might not normally stop at your site.
- [The Science Behind the Impulse Buy](https://servopro.com.au/the-science-behind-the-impulse-buy/): Most customers who walk into a service station shop already know what they came in for. Fuel, a drink, a snack, maybe a coffee. But the difference between a $5 transaction and a $12 transaction often comes down to what catches their eye between the door and the counter. Impulse buying is not random. It follows predictable patterns, and operators who understand those patterns can increase basket size without spending a cent on advertising.
- [Ampol to Triple Its Unstaffed Network After EG Approval](https://servopro.com.au/ampol-to-triple-its-unstaffed-network-after-eg-approval/): Ampol is preparing to more than triple its network of unstaffed U-GO service stations, following the ACCC's approval of its $1.1 billion acquisition of EG Australia. The company plans to convert about 125 of the newly acquired EG sites into the low-cost U-GO format, taking its unstaffed network from 46 sites to more than 170 nationwide.
- [Chevron Chairman Flags Rising Fuel Prices](https://servopro.com.au/chevron-chairman-flags-rising-fuel-prices/): The chairman of Chevron has warned that global fuel prices are likely to climb through June and July, as the temporary factors holding them down wear off. For operators planning pricing and stock through the back half of the year, the forecast is the part of his comments worth paying attention to.
- [Ampol Cleared to Acquire EG Australia in $1.1 Billion Deal](https://servopro.com.au/ampol-cleared-to-acquire-eg-australia-in-1-1-billion-deal/): The ACCC has approved Ampol's acquisition of EG Australia, clearing the largest consolidation in the Australian fuel retail market in years. The approval, announced on 3 June, is conditional on Ampol divesting 41 sites, which it has agreed to sell to Metro Petroleum under a binding agreement. Ampol expects to complete the acquisition on 30 June.
- [Why Community Beats Corporate](https://servopro.com.au/why-community-beats-corporate/): Independent service stations have something the major chains will never be able to replicate: a genuine connection to the local area. The operator lives nearby, the staff are from the community, and the customers are neighbours. Yet many independents do not make the most of this advantage. In a market where the majors are investing millions in loyalty apps, unmanned sites and slick convenience offers, the strongest card an independent operator holds is being a real part of the community they serve.
- [Turn Regulars into Recruiters](https://servopro.com.au/turn-regulars-into-recruiters/): Every service station has them. The customer who fills up every Tuesday morning. The tradie who grabs a coffee and a pie on the way to site. The parent who stops in after school drop off. These regulars are already choosing your site over the alternatives, and that loyalty is worth more than most operators realise. The question is whether you are doing anything to turn that quiet loyalty into active advocacy, where customers are not just coming back, but telling other people to do the same.
- [Cut-Price Fuel Heads West: What the LMCT+ Expansion Reveals](https://servopro.com.au/cut-price-fuel-heads-west-what-the-lmct-expansion-reveals/): Adrian Portelli has signalled Tarneit as the next location for his LMCT+ Petrol cut-price fuel model, with southeast Melbourne flagged to follow. The expansion comes after his Preston site drew sustained queues earlier this year by selling fuel as low as 49.99c a litre, generating police attention and questions in state parliament.
- [Costco’s New 32-Bowser Pakenham Site](https://servopro.com.au/costcos-new-32-bowser-pakenham-site/): Costco has cleared planning approval for a $74 million warehouse and service station in Pakenham, southeast Melbourne. The site will include a 14,268 square metre store, a 32-bowser petrol station, and 836 car parks. It will be Costco's 16th Australian location and its fifth in Victoria. Cardinia Shire Council approved the planning permit at its 18 May meeting.
- [How to Reduce Energy Costs at Your Service Station](https://servopro.com.au/how-to-reduce-energy-costs-at-your-service-station/): Energy is one of the largest overhead costs for a service station, and it is one that many operators accept without questioning whether they are paying more than they need to. Between lighting, refrigeration, air conditioning, fuel pump systems, compressors, signage and POS equipment, most sites are running a significant electrical load around the clock. Even modest reductions in energy consumption or smarter purchasing of electricity can deliver meaningful savings over the course of a year.
- [Understanding Your Obligations When Hiring Staff Under 18](https://servopro.com.au/understanding-your-obligations-when-hiring-staff-under-18/): Hiring younger workers can be a practical solution for service station operators, particularly for after school shifts, weekends and school holiday periods. Many operators rely on employees under 18 to fill gaps in the roster, and for many young people a job at a local servo is their first experience of the workforce. But hiring minors comes with specific legal obligations that operators need to understand and comply with.
- [Five Weeks to Decide: The Fuel Excise Cut and What Happens on 1 July](https://servopro.com.au/five-weeks-to-decide-the-fuel-excise-cut-and-what-happens-on-1-july/): The Prime Minister was asked again on Saturday whether the halved fuel excise will be extended beyond 30 June. The answer, for the second time in a week, was that the decision will be made "in the lead up to July 1." The window for that decision is now five weeks.
- [Queensland Invests US$17.8M in Renewable Diesel](https://servopro.com.au/queensland-invests-us17-8m-in-renewable-diesel/): The Queensland government is investing US$17.8 million in developing renewable diesel production at Ampol's Lytton refinery, the first project to receive funding under the state's new US$128 million Sovereign Industry Development Fund.
- [The 7-Eleven EV Rollout and What It Signals for Independents](https://servopro.com.au/the-7-eleven-ev-rollout-and-what-it-signals-for-independents/): Energy Australia has begun installing ultra-fast EV chargers at 7-Eleven service stations across Victoria, with another seven sites planned across New South Wales and Queensland by the end of 2026. The first 200kW charger is already operational at a Melbourne site.
- [Get Your POS Ready for EOFY (Part 1)](https://servopro.com.au/get-your-pos-ready-for-eofy-part-1/): June 30 will be here before you know it. For most independent operators, that means stocktakes, accountant meetings and the usual scramble to get the books in order. But your POS system plays a bigger role in EOFY than most people give it credit for, and a bit of preparation now can save you hours of headaches in July.
- [How to Handle a Staff Member Who Is Consistently Late](https://servopro.com.au/how-to-handle-a-staff-member-who-is-consistently-late/): A staff member who is five minutes late once is not a problem. A staff member who is consistently late is. In a service station environment, where shift handovers are time sensitive and the site may be running on minimal staffing, repeated lateness creates a ripple effect. The previous shift cannot leave, customer service drops, and the rest of the team starts to feel like the rules do not apply equally. Left unaddressed, it becomes a culture issue, not just an individual one.
- [How to Plan for and Manage a Major Equipment Failure](https://servopro.com.au/how-to-plan-for-and-manage-a-major-equipment-failure/): A fuel dispenser stops working during the morning rush. The POS system goes down on a Saturday afternoon. A refrigeration unit fails overnight and you arrive to a shop full of spoiled stock. Major equipment failures at a service station are not a matter of if, but when. The operators who handle these situations best are the ones who have thought about them before they happen.