AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 5/13/22

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $4.761; Month Ago: $4.204; Year Ago: $3.042. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $5.581; Month Ago: $5.370; Year Ago: $3.186.

The first ever coupon is believed to have been distributed in 1888 by Coca-Cola — a ticket for a “free cup of Coke” to help promote the drink. It's estimated that by 1913, one in nine Americans had redeemed at least one of the 8.5 million tickets distributed through mail, magazine inserts, sales representatives and company employees. Historically, coupons were viewed simply as a mass promotion vehicle to drive more sales of a particular product. In the digital age, customer information provides retailers the opportunity to join forces with suppliers to personalize and optimize coupon distribution in a way that serves a multitude of objectives. For example, personalized coupons can support introduction to categories and products, retention of customer revenue, cross-sell strategies, improvement of brand and private-label recognition, and more.

American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council and Decisiv Inc. said combined parts and labor expenses fell 1.4% during the fourth quarter of 2023. In the latest Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark Report, TMC and Decisiv found that 25 key VMRS systems dipped in the final quarter of 2023, reversing a 2.1% increase the previous quarter. The decrease was driven largely by parts costs, which dropped 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023 while labor costs fell 0.2%. While quarter-over-quarter parts and labor costs both declined in the last three months of the year, the parts-to-labor ratio held steady at about 1.5 for the past year. On a year-over-year basis, combined parts and labor costs in final quarter of 2023 were 0.2% higher than the same quarter in 2022. However, in the annual comparison, a 2.2% drop in parts prices was offset by a 4.0% rise in labor costs.