War, Fuel, and the Pool Guy’s Breaking Point

In this timely and globally relevant episode of Mondays Down Under, hosts Lee (Australia) and Shane (New Zealand) are joined by special guest Nick—a seasoned pool industry veteran with over two decades of experience managing a high-volume retail and service operation.

Against the backdrop of escalating geopolitical tensions involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran, the conversation pivots to a pressing issue hitting close to home for pool professionals: rising fuel costs and supply uncertainty. While geographically distant from the conflict, Australia and New Zealand are already feeling the ripple effects—especially at the pump.

This episode delivers a grounded, practical discussion on how service-based pool businesses can adapt, protect margins, and remain operational in the face of rising costs and potential shortages.

⛽ Key Topics & Takeaways

Fuel Prices Are Climbing—Fast
Fuel costs across Australia and New Zealand are rising sharply, with increases of 20–50 cents per liter already being reported. Some regions are even experiencing fuel shortages, creating urgency for service companies that rely on daily vehicle use.

Service Businesses Are on the Front Line
Unlike other industries, pool service companies can’t reduce fuel consumption easily. Trucks must roll, routes must be completed, and المياه doesn’t balance itself. This makes fuel one of the most immediate threats to profitability.

💡 Strategies to Protect Your Business

1. Implement a Fuel Levy (Transparent Pricing Wins)
Lee shares a proven strategy: introduce a clearly defined fuel levy instead of raising base service prices.

•  Tiered by service area (A, B, C zones) 
•  Adjustable as fuel prices fluctuate 
•  Removable when prices normalize 
•  Builds trust and transparency with customers

2. Tighten Route Density

•  Reduce travel distances between jobs 
•  Cluster service calls geographically 
•  Improve both fuel efficiency and labor productivity

3. Daily Fueling & запас Planning
Nick outlines a proactive approach:

•  Encourage technicians to top off regularly
•  Maintain a buffer of several days’ fuel supply
•  Avoid getting caught during local shortages 

4. Use Fuel Price Apps

•  Australia: Petrol Spy
•  New Zealand: Gaspy
  These tools help teams locate the cheapest fuel in real time—sometimes saving 10–20 cents per liter between suburbs. 

5. Leverage Discounts & Membership Perks

•  Grocery store fuel dockets 
•  Insurance or roadside memberships (NRMA, etc.) 
•  Small savings per liter compound significantly across fleets

BufferZone
BufferZone has been created by a frustrated pool maintenance company

The Pool Shop Coach
an online store offering industry-specific business mentoring, coaching, and training programs

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Important at this moment in time. Iran war. BufferZone systems are the pool and spa industry specialists with a complete range of software for pool shops, service companies, and commercial aquatic facilities. With more features and integrations than any other pool industry software, you really need to reach out for a one-on-one demonstration. Contact BufferZone today. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good whatever time of the day it is. It is time for Mondays Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. My name's Lee, and I'm in southern New South Wales in Australia. And today I actually have two co-hosts. I have my counterpart Shane in New Zealand, Auckland, I should say. Auckland, New Zealand. How are you, Shane?

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Fantastically, thank you as always. Hope you are as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

I am. I am. And we have a new co-host today. We decided we needed to go back to Three Amigos. And we have asked the lovely Nick to join us. Hey Nick, how are you?

SPEAKER_05 2:10

Uh great, Lee. Great to be here. Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Nick is a longtime listener, and you've probably heard me actually mention him's name a few times. And now his daughters think he's famous because I mentioned him on the podcast. Now they're really gonna think he's famous. So hey girls, shout out to you.

SPEAKER_05 2:27

I think I'm gonna be one step below a YouTube star, I think.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Well, Nick, now that you're here and joining us, you better tell our listeners out there a bit about you. Go for it.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

All right, so yeah, my name's Nick. I have been in the pool industry now going on 20 years, and something I suppose or 22 years now, something I suppose is a little bit unique about me is I walked into a pool shop 22 years ago and I never left. So I've been at the one pool shop for all of that time. Now I did walk in there. A lot of the boys think that I was left out the back in uh in in a cot, but I wasn't. I did start just out of school. I actually was working another job where one of the um only getting a couple of days a week, another guy who uh lived down the road from me offered me a job. Okay, come down and help us out over summer. I thought, oh, that might be an interesting sort of job. And that turned into a couple of days, into a week, into full time, and twenty two years later I'm got a little bit less hair.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Not grey yet.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

No, just falling out. But I don't know if that's because of my three girls or what, but hey, might be a little bit due to all the chlorine.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

The stress of it all. It's not easy. Tell us how big your team is.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

Uh so there's uh a group now of around six to seven technicians, some working part-time, some full-time. Yeah. Which uh keeps us on our toes. So I'm the manager there, overseeing all the day-to-day, all the organization, all the scheduling, and fixer of problems.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

That you are. And then you've got the retail team as well, and your admin staff. What is there? There's about 18, including the owners. Would that be correct?

SPEAKER_05 4:13

Yeah, that that would be correct. So yeah, as as you can attest to, a fairly busy shop.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

A busy shop, a very busy shop. We had five. This is I worked in this shop for a few weeks last year. We had five water link spins going at one point in the time. And this was like September, October. It wasn't even peak summer. And the boys said that ain't nothing yet. They get like they're lined up out the door and round the corner, and yeah, and it's a big shop. So I really take my hat off to them. They do a great job, a great team, and I really enjoyed my time there. So I'm really glad that. Really glad to have Nick join us because Nick does bring a lot to the tech to the table in joining us, obviously, extremely experienced. And I know just like Shane and I, you have an innate interest in everything pools, and you are constantly asking why. You're trying to find the real background information to understand, not only know things, but understand them. So I think that's that's really important. And and you're the only other one that knows what the Leonardo Cell is.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

Yeah. But were you the one made for some for the um the YouTube video?

SPEAKER_05 5:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember seeing uh I do like uh looking for a good YouTube video and finding something in the in the depths of YouTube, uh, because there are some interesting things on there and trying to delve into why. Um, but yeah, that one was a pretty out there idea.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Was it was indeed. But today we want to tackle a topic that's actually very well important at this moment in time. And with the uh it's all over the news, the US, Israel, Iran war.

SPEAKER_06 6:08

Drama and a brew and have an over two protein gold and have it a brew. And the street cat fitness yards, back yards, back to restore the gold mate. No drama. We'll tell you straight, no worries, just try.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

On behalf of the Talking Pools podcast hosts, I would like to welcome Nick to our team and to the Talking Pools podcast family that spans the globe. I hope they warned you of what you were getting yourself into.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

In an industry built not just on skill but on those willing to teach it, there's a call to recognize the people behind the professionals. The Talking Pools Podcast is now accepting nominations for its 2026 Mentor of the Year Award, honoring those who don't just have the answers, but teach others how to find them. If someone helped shape your path in this industry, now is the time to return the favor. Visit cpoclass.com. Click on the Talking Pools Podcast Mentor Award tab, and submit your mentor's name up until May 15th, 2026, because behind every great pool professional, there's someone who showed them how to think.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Important at this moment in time. I it's all over the news, the US, Israel, Iran war. Obviously, we're quite a bit removed from that. We're on the other side of the world, really, and for that we're we're grateful. But we're we're still feeling the effects of it, and probably will do for considerable time to come. But the first thing that we're all noticing is the price of fuel at the Bowser's. Well, I know we are in our local area, and my first thoughts were where majority of the businesses that are probably listening to us today have or are a service business or have a service division in their business. And fuel costs are going to become increasingly higher and going to eat into our margins. And how is that going to obviously affect our business? And what can we do to mitigate that? Are you guys noticing the fuel increase price? Has it hit New Zealand yet, Shane?

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Uh yeah, it has actually. I did I did search online for it, not locally where we are at this stage. We've got three, we've got four and five. We've got four different petrol stations, gas stations, um, all within a very close driving distance from us. Um, as I drove past the one on the way here today, there was an increase of two dollars, but that tends to just go up and down pretty much on a daily basis. But just looking at some parts of New Zealand, the Capite Coast, which is down south, their 95 octane is gone up to$3 now. Yeah, it's it's up there. Um, diesel is on the increase as well. That's up on average in in certain areas by 20 cents. So we have two vehicles on the road, they're both diesel. So I think we're going to start feeling the effects probably soon, if not by the end of this week.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Where do your fuel costs or where do your food fuel prices normally sit?

SPEAKER_04 9:48

95 is is one of your premium fuels. So on average, it was recorded uh three dollars nineteen. Um at a gas station, GS. Another place, Fucatani was 305 for 95. That is oh sorry, that's what it's gone up to. Apologies.$2.60. Around about 57 area living in. Um, and yet certain areas have gone up in diesel by about 20 cents. The majority, uh I think you'll find the majority of tradings, including our trades, that their vehicles will more than likely be diesel. I'm not sure if that's the same over in Australia.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

So um, just for our string listeners, and normally we're doing this in um US versus um versus gallons and all that sort of thing. We're gonna talk dollars today. So in the Australian market,$2.52 is$3 um New Zealand. So a little bit of a difference there. So your fuel is more expensive than ours, but ours is fast fast chase fast catching up.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

For our US listeners,$2.52 per liter is$1.77 per liter in US dollars. There are 3.78 liters in a gallon. So Australia is looking at roughly$6.96 USD per gallon.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

And what about you, Nick? What sort of price, what effects are you seeing in your market?

SPEAKER_05 11:31

Uh so yeah, fuel has jumped. It has jumped around uh 20 to 30 cents at the moment, but we've actually had some shortages over just the last two days. So I decided to jump in the car and put some fuel in yesterday on on um recommendation from the owners. And one of his diesel tanks was empty, and the other one was just about empty, and he wasn't too sure if he was going to get his delivery. So we found another local station um fuel station. He's run out of fuel today. He's a smaller independent, but yeah, we're starting to definitely feel the effects of it.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

Oh wow, yeah. Well, we we've noticed our fuel here's gone up nearly 50 cents a litre. So my husband has bulk purchased diesel and stored it. Um but yeah, it's all our sons all drive diesel vehicles, and so they're talking about fortunately, two of them actually work side by side. So they're actually talking about carpooling to work so that they can try and and reduce their petrol consumption and that and I think this is gonna be a sign of the times where we can, but of course, service businesses, we not so lucky, we can't really carpool the service technicians, can we? So obviously there's a few things we can do to reduce the costs or hopefully spend our fuel dollar wisely. Nick, I know you m had a team team meeting this morning, as you do every Monday morning, and this is something you spoke to them about. How did you handle it?

SPEAKER_05 13:04

Look, it's it's a really thing to uh difficult thing to navigate. We need fuel. We can't get away from it. So while everybody goes out and panic buys fuel and maybe not needed, we unfortunately have to join them because we we just need it to operate the business. So on our meeting this morning we sat down and discussed some strategies. Hey, where it is now, where it could potentially go, what we're gonna have to do just so we can keep everybody rolling on through the job. So we have asked them to fill up every day or every other day if they see fuel to just grab it just to keep us and give us at least a little bit of a buffer that if their fuel is difficult, we've got to, you know, three, four days until we can get it. And we've got a mix of diesel and petrol cars. So yeah, it's um spread across those two types. Um you know, we'll start looking at scheduling, we'll start looking at um where yeah, everything's on the on the table.

SPEAKER_07 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

So we had a situation a couple of years ago where our prices rise quite unexpectedly and definitely started to look like it wasn't going to reduce anytime soon. And I thought, okay, I've got to be proactive here. I can't sit here and watch my margin get squeezed. And I think everybody understands the pinch when something as obvious as this is hitting and affecting our market. But we have to pass those costs on as businesses. That's what businesses do. We pass the costs on to protect our margins and keep our doors open and our stuff employed, quite frankly. And so we put in place a fuel levy. And I found that that was a really good way of going. So some people might go, oh, I'll just increase my prices. So what you'll take your service from$90 to$95? Will that be enough? And then when fuel prices go back, do you then reduce your prices? Customers know that you're probably not going to. You're gonna leave it at$95. And we don't like that when that happens to us at the supermarket or anywhere else for that matter. So I that wasn't something I wanted to do. I wanted to do something that was quite transparent. A implemented a fuel levy, I rationed it to depending on your location, depended on which fuel levy you were on. We had A, B, and C. So A was like our our nearby locale, then B was the next area out, and C was the outer areas. And uh the further out you got, the higher the fuel levy became. And it was purely to cover our fuel costs. Then that gave me a few benefits. One, it was easy for the customers to see we hadn't increased our prices, we were adding on a fuel levy. So that was very transparent. And two, we could then increase that as we needed to, or if we needed to. And lastly, we could actually remove it when that fuel came back to a normal level. So that sort of gave us a bit of transparency with the customers. We put it out there, we let all of our customers know this is what we're doing. Unfortunately, given current circumstances, this is unavoidable. We don't want to increase our cost to you. So we thought the most transparent way of going about this was by applying a fuel levy, which we will in turn remove once fuel prices go back to normal. We did not have anybody question. And it was a really good way of doing it. So that's probably my advice to everyone out there. You could certainly look at doing that. It makes it very clear-cut for the clients. They can see that you're not trying to profit from them. You're merely just covering an increase that we're all having to experience. The other thing is, like you what you touched on, Nick, is looking at logistics and just tightening the routes and looking at how far apart are things, tightening those routes for the service technicians so that we're using our petrol, our fuel as efficiently as possible. And let's face it, every good service company should be doing that automatically because that means less time lost between service jobs too. Less time lost, less fuel loss when win.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

So there's Could you in a uh situation like yours, Nick, could you currently I'm assuming you have one one person per van?

SPEAKER_07 17:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

You know, their schedule for that day. Could you potentially have two people and one van and then combine their schedules together if they are around the same area?

SPEAKER_05 17:50

Yeah, it definitely would be something that we would look at. Anytime we put two technicians together, they don't generally get two times the amount of work done. It's usually like one and a half, one point something. So yeah, there would be a little bit of a drop there, but yeah, uh with with the current situation, not everything would be, you know, looked at. Do you have have a lot of tools? Do you travel a lot for your um business?

SPEAKER_04 18:19

Yeah, yeah, we're just looking at um the radius that we cover, so it's probably up to a 20k radius maximum that we go to, probably for our furthest client. We don't uh I'm not sure if you're familiar with Auckland. We're based in the south of Auckland, and we have have the harbour bridge, the harbour crossing going into the north shore. We avoid that area just for traffic because it's an absolute nightmare. Uh, and I think now with everything that's that's happening, a lot of the other companies as well are going to be fine-tuning that. It's easier just for those guys that are on the other side of the bridge. They just take care of the clients on that side, and the other companies just take care of clients on on this side of the bridge.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

I don't think you'd be going north of the bridge either.

SPEAKER_05 19:11

No, no, no, definitely don't want to go that side. Anytime anyone wants it has to be really impressive job to go over that over that bridge.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Nick's on the south side of Brisbane.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

Yeah. But yeah, that means a 20k radius for us. That's probably our limit. Maybe it would take 25 minutes to get from point A to point B. If there wasn't any traffic, I wouldn't like to travel any further than that. We do charge a call-out fee for all invoice clients, not our regulars, but anything that's out of our regular schedule. We do charge a call-out fee, and we've got three different price barriers for that. But I guess nobody's questioned that. I guess maybe it would be a good thing just to uh maybe change that namely to uh you know your your fuel tax levy, or just so yeah. Because everybody's going to be starting to feel the pinch. I mean, everybody in New Zealand's feeling the pinch for the last couple of years, and everything's slowly starting getting getting better over the last six months. And then with this starting, it's it's almost like everything's back to square one again.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Yeah. I think New Zealand have been a lot tighter financially than we have in Australia. So while yes, we still are cost of living situation in a in our country, without a doubt. It doesn't seem to have been as impacted as the New Zealand market, I would say. What would you say? Would you agree, Nick?

SPEAKER_05 20:42

Yeah, well we've just obviously in Australia had the recent interest rate rise. So I think we have felt maybe the the slight tightening by customers with that. And then, yeah, coupled with this, because our customers will be hurting as well. There'll be a lot of people that will um struggle to justify the pool man or the pool chemicals or things like that. Another thing we touched on is making sure that we're still providing that good service, but value for money for the customer that they think, hey, we really need that pool guy to come around because sometimes when it's really tight, uh, we might be the first one to go.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Well, you know, it's a bit like COVID all over again. Because instead of buying toilet paper, everyone's buying fuel. But no, seriously, people won't be traveling. Those cat those great grey nomads, and I'll put my hand up and say, I'm a not yet gray nomad. Um not quite. Anyway, they won't be traveling as much as they used to, maybe delaying their plans. People won't be going overseas as frequently as there were. One air travel, we can't fly through Dubai and Doha like we used to. Everything will go through Singapore. Flights are gonna get more expensive.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

So because of the mid early, I'm gonna have to put my splash ticket very very vast then.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Yes, do that. So I'd love to book mine, but I don't know when my training deliveries are. But um it's it it's something that's going to affect lots of things. So but people might actually be staying at home more and holidaying in their own backyard more. Yeah, they might not have well, some people during COVID had uh extra money probably because of the COVID handouts. But yeah, it they're gonna be holidaying at home. They won't be spending that money overseas, they won't be flying, they won't be driving their caravan around the countryside. So maybe more backyard pools are actually going to be used. So it's just gonna look different, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

It definitely has that feeling, you know, walking around the shops and everything like that, that yeah, things are things are um whispers of COVID era again. It definitely has a feeling like that.

SPEAKER_07 22:53

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:54

But COVID was okay. Like we had a lot of people that didn't mind investing money into their house, into their pool during that time. So we can hope for similar times ahead.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

I wasn't actually quite surprised that um when I just searched online because I thought Australia had a lot of well, they have a lot of natural resources, but they still import 85 to 90% of their fuel, which I've I did not realize that. I thought you guys had a lot of fuel over there.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

They actually said after the after the war started that Australia only had 35 days of fuel resources in the country. And I think that actually includes what was in ships almost here.

SPEAKER_05 23:40

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

And so this leads on to Nick, you did a bit of research last night. Do you want to share that with our listeners?

SPEAKER_05 23:47

Yeah, so I did a bit of research into the national response plan, a federal response plan for fuel, and what their plan would be to implement and the if there was a shortage was to occur. So the first thing would be is they would just let the market dictate the price and hopefully that would reduce consumption. So you know, who knows how far that runs away, too, but that will stop those people that want to go to the holidays this week or go driving or take that holiday. So that would reduce demand slightly. Then from there they would look at different restrictions in place for emergency services and then rationing.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

A growing geopolitical crisis in the Middle East is now sending shockwaves far beyond the region, reaching all the way to Australia and New Zealand, where rising fuel prices, localized shortages, and supply concerns are beginning to impact everyday life and essential industries. While officials in both countries insist there is no nationwide fuel shortage, the situation on the ground is becoming increasingly strained. In Australia, fuel prices have surged sharply in recent days, with some areas reporting increases of up to 50 cents per liter. Independent service stations, particularly in regional communities, are among the hardest hit, with some already running out of fuel or struggling to secure new deliveries. Government leaders are urging calm, emphasizing that national fuel reserves remain stable for now. However, those reserves are limited, and Australia's heavy reliance on imported fuel, estimated at nearly ninety percent, has left the country exposed to global supply disruptions. The situation is already affecting key industries. Farmers and mining operations are reporting diesel supply challenges, with some facing restrictions on how much fuel they can purchase. Across the Tasman, New Zealand is not yet experiencing widespread shortages, but warning signs are emerging. Fuel prices are climbing, and the country's near total dependence on imported refined fuel has raised concerns about how quickly conditions could deteriorate if global supply tightens further. At the center of the issue is the disruption of oil transport routes tied to escalating tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage for a significant portion of the world's oil supply, has become a focal point of concern. Any sustained disruption there has immediate consequences for global fuel availability and pricing. Experts warn that what we are seeing now may only be the beginning. Panic buying is already contributing to localized shortages as consumers and businesses rush to secure fuel amid uncertainty. Governments are monitoring the situation closely and have begun implementing contingency measures, including releasing fuel reserves and reviewing potential rationing plans if conditions worsen. For service-based industries, particularly those reliant on transportation, the impact is immediate and unavoidable. Rising fuel costs are expected to squeeze margins, disrupt logistics, and drive price increases across a wide range of goods and services in the coming weeks. Despite reassurances, the message from officials and industry experts is clear. There is fuel for now, but the system is under pressure. And if global tensions continue to escalate, the effects being felt today in Australia and New Zealand could intensify rapidly. We will continue to monitor this developing story. Stay with us.

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Well, we might have to put the pressure on Sparza. Maybe they can come to our rescue like they did during COVID.

unknown 27:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

Lindsay and Spiros, Spiros in particular, were absolutely instrumental in getting us recognized as an essential trade, um, essential service. So hopefully the same could be done this time. So, Sparza, the pressure is on. You're under new management now. You've got to show us what you're worth. Um yeah, being able to still continue to run our business. And maybe this is things that will come out. Like there might be a government rebate for ABN holders that you'll be able to apply back for some tax relief from fuel costs. Because let's face it, the government are making with every dollar, every cent increase, the government are making more money because of the tax on fuels. So therefore, the government are actually making more money. We know our government always wants more money. It goes without saying. But in times like this, they're profiting from the misfortune of others, and that's something that doesn't sit comfortably with me at any point in time. So I would like to think that somewhere, somebody in that very expensive House of Parliament would actually go, hey, let's give ABN holders a bit of a rebate here. And we might be able to, even if it just means like we all had to put our wages in during COVID and get a rebate with that. Maybe this time we actually have to put in our fuel vouchers, our doppets, and then get claim a rebate back with that. It's not undoable. So maybe, hopefully, let's pray. But one thing I would love or I would suggest to our listeners is I have a great app on my phone and I do use this when I'm caravanning, and it's called Petrol Spy. Have you seen that, Nick? No, I haven't. I haven't so it's it's called Petrol Spy, it's free. It's a free app, and it actually tells you where the cheapest fuel is. So you can actually zoom into where you are, and it will tell you the petrol stations with the cheapest fuel, and it'll tell you when that price was actually current. So, for example, one of my sons this morning had to drive to Melbourne. Now, Melbourne's a hell of a drive from here. He's got like an eight-hour drive in front of him. So that's a lot of fuel he's going to burn through. It's probably going to take him a tank and a half of fuel to get there. And I actually jumped on the app, zoomed in along the highway, and could tell him the towns that actually had the lowest fuel costs. So, yeah, so that's something maybe everyone could download for their staff onto their smartphones or their devices and get them to use that app to make sure that they're purchasing the cheapest fuel available in the area in which they're they're in. Um and share that information with the other team members, especially in a team as big as Nick's.

SPEAKER_05 31:02

Even some of the uh same branded fuel stations locally, it can it can vary uh vary at between 10, 15 cents sometimes between suburbs.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

Yes, yeah, absolutely absolutely it can. And we are like my locale is a lot bigger. The nearest or the next town to us or next decent town to us is about 30 minutes away. And and I should say 30 minutes away, because 30 minutes away in the city could be like 15 kilometers, but it's actually 38 kilometers away. It's 38 Ks to the to the next town, and that's we did a lot of servicing up that way, hence why we had A, B, and C with our um fuel levy zones. But the fuel up there was 20 cents a litre cheaper than it was down here. And so shopping around can really pay dividends. The other thing is to look for fuel discounts. So we've all got the woolies or the coal shopper dockets that we get four cents a litre off. So utilizing those, utilizing actually memberships. If you've got an NRMA NRMA membership, so um for our New Zealand listeners and our overseas listeners, NRMA are an insurance and a roadside assist company, so vehicle insurance, house insurance, and that as well. But if you have a membership with them, you can get four cents a litre off at some service stations. There's lots of different, even I think there's Booper or other ones that you can get discounts at as well. So look into all your memberships that you've you've been paying um or that you're got free cards with, you're gonna find probably a few of them are gonna have four cents a litre off. And utilizing those can help too.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

Just going back to your uh petrol spy link because that one isn't actually in New Zealand. New Zealand equivalent is Gaspy, G-A-S-P-Y. So that will be something I'm gonna download myself now. Um yeah, yeah, it is gaspy, yeah. Well, tomato tomato, you know, like it just depends on how you split the word, doesn't it recommend uh our New Zealand listeners at least look into that one? Um you were saying that your you were traveling or your team was traveling up to about K radius. Was that was that your maximum, or would you go?

SPEAKER_03 33:28

We actually did go we actually did go further than that, but when we went further than that, they did they always paid a levy. So even before we put the fuel levy on, they paid what we call an out-of-service area levy. And so there was a group of people that lived out of that zone, and we we said we'll service your pool, but this is the cost. And they were happy to pay it because there wasn't anybody else to do it.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

Yeah. So that's that's roughly twenty-free miles.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

Yep. And so that's but that's not only north, we do that south as well.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

So yeah, so it's yeah, a full radius of oh, except one side is out to the ocean, so we don't go there. But but inland up and and uh north and south and west, we would do about a 30 kilometer radius, 30, 30 to 40 kilometer radius.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

Yeah. So in the in the in the past, Nick, just want to ask, in the past where situations like this have come up and you've had a big team or you know, a big portfolio of clients, have you tried to reduce your area, so to speak, and then either sell off those clients to another company or just say we do we just can't cover this area?

SPEAKER_05 34:49

Yeah, look, we we do have we have done it. Um kicking and screaming. Um, I didn't want to. We we sort of had various discussions with it, but uh it's logistics-wise, it just didn't make sense to go over there and you know we had to uh unfortunately send those customers to a few other different companies, but they're all being well looked after there now. So yeah, we we reduced and those pools that we were spending, let's say a day a week, um, and they were probably over that 20, 25 Ks away, we we just said we couldn't we couldn't service them anymore. Even if we were to put up the price, it's just the travel time to and from just didn't make enough sense for us to do it.

SPEAKER_04 35:27

I mean, that's such a good thing as well, networking with other pool companies, you know, ones that you can trust in situations like this. You know, if for whatever reason the fuel is too high and you can't service that area, at least you've got a reliable source that you can actually pass that client over to. We uh for ourselves, there's we started a group, I think there's nine of us now in in our little pool professional group, and we cover pretty much the entire Auckland region. So if jobs come through where clients have um approached them for a green pool, for instance, and it's outside of their service area, they would put it onto a WhatsApp message for all of us to look at, and it's almost like first come, first serve.

SPEAKER_07 36:12

And it works pretty well.

SPEAKER_05 36:14

Yeah, yeah, no, there's uh plenty of work for everybody, and we don't need to make any b enemies with anyone out there. So yeah, yeah, we've I've got um a few people now that we can yeah, share that that load with. And I know they're gonna be w well looked after.

SPEAKER_03 36:28

Yeah, that's great. We're stronger united.

SPEAKER_07 36:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

Rudy was only talking about this the other week, so it's good, definitely worth doing. But the bigger picture, I think, w is where we're going to really start to see this affect the pricing of our products. Pricing of the actual products and pricing of delivery and freight charges. Because road transport, look, let's face it, everything gets free, everything gets imported into Australia. Yes, we've got Australian products, and and wherever possible, I am always a big advocate of supporting Australian-made products, but there's a lot of their products that they bring in from overseas, so it affects their prices. And there's a lot of product products that Point Blanc are brought in from overseas. Chemicals, all our chemicals come from overseas, except salt and liquid chlorine. It's we're gonna start to see it affect the pricing of our goods. And Australia is a bloody big country. Everything has to be freighted around, everything is going to be affected. And I think come August, September, but probably more so when we all get those normal first of July price rises, um, we're gonna really start to see some hurt. And we've already seen hurt this year with the price of cells, like um chlorinator electrodes have gone up hugely, haven't they, Nick?

SPEAKER_05 37:53

Yeah. Massively, massively. And trying to overcome those objections from the customer that, hey, I bought this for three years ago or four years ago, and now this is the new price. Yeah. It's very difficult conversation sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Yeah. Could be a really good way to get people across the line to actually do any equipment upgrades and everything before we get the next price rise. So if you're trying to think of ways to maximize your winter income, this is definitely one of those flags you can fly and be very truthful and honest about. Prices will go up by how much we have no idea. But the price of fuel is indicating that everything is going to go up exponentially. So we need to be smart. You need to be smart and upgrade your equipment now before your price rise.

SPEAKER_04 38:43

Even your vehicle is well, Lee, if you can afford it. I don't know how popular electric vehicles are in Australia, but they're they're becoming a very popular choice in New Zealand and even hybrid. So there are quite a lot of um car manufacturers which are selling vehicles fit for purpose for our industry, which are fully electric. And it looks like they've come a quite a long way in the last few years as well. It's something that we'll probably look into in the next couple of years, not at this stage, but we had a fuel crisis a couple of years ago, and now we're having another one now. When's the next one coming? You know? Yes, doesn't look like it's getting any better.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

So I would just say to our listeners, keep that in mind when you're looking at your stock levels with the coming season. We might see some real stock shortages. Transport routes are changing, the freight routes are changing with shipping routes and airplane flights. They're all changing and they're all being affected directly by what's going on overseas. So it can't help, but it's going to affect our prices. It's going to affect our product availability and what next season looks like, God only knows.

SPEAKER_07 39:56

We don't know.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

I hope it looks great. Look, I don't want to be a doomsdayer. It's about being proactive and thinking in advance.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Will your area make a year 365 days a year, pretty much?

SPEAKER_05 40:10

Yeah. Look, being being Queensland and the introduction of more full heaters being more popular, yeah, we are seeing definitely less and less of that typical winter time. And those shoulder periods are dragging on. Yeah. Uh we definitely busier for longer. But as Lee can see, she saw at in spring, and it was still busy then. And we we don't have a big downtime, a big winter once we start our holiday roster, and yeah, it's eaten up by that. Chain pushes.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

Yeah. So Queen Queensland for our overseas listeners, for our US listeners, Queensland is probably typical, like Florida, I suppose. Florida is is most of the year round. Um except they they got hit with that really cold spurt this year and got snow. Brisbane does not get snow. So um, yeah, it's it it it's a great long swimming season. And if there is a short season, it's it's much shorter. So yeah. Well, guys, thank you. I think we've had a really interesting chat today about how we can manage and mitigate the situation with the fuel price rises, cost price rises. And hopefully we've given the listeners a few ideas on how they can manage it. So just to recap on that, we've got consider putting in a fuel levy on to your service charges. Look at your logistics, tighten them up, make the services closer together, the travel distances less if they can be avoided. Look at your fuel discount dockets, try and encourage the staff to use those. And as Nick said, filling up frequently so that your tanks never too low, so that you could potentially run out if your local service station runs out. And jump onto apps like Petrol Spy or Gas Spy over in New Zealand to get um your cheapest fuel in your area. So there's some tips. I hope they're helpful. Thank you, Shane.

SPEAKER_07 42:27

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 42:33

I had all this material, all these jokes, but I didn't get to it, so maybe next time.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Absolutely. We look forward to them. So thank you everyone for listening. We hope you've got some um well, not some bad news out of this week episode, but hopefully some things to think about, some proactive actions that you can take that can help your business mitigate this situation. So until next week, have a great week. Remember, if you have any topic suggestions, any questions, reach out at talkingpools at gmail.com and Rudy will serve those out to the most applicable Pocho. I always get that wrong. Podcast show host. That is a tongue twister.

SPEAKER_05 43:15

Made up a new word, then.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

Thank you very much for listening, and we hope to see you again or have you listen to us again Monday next week on Mondays Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_05 43:30

See you guys.

SPEAKER_03 43:31

Thanks, Mike.