January Newsletter

Shop: Plan ahead and be ready for the winter – the shop in Thief River Falls offers CompuStar and Remote Page auto starters for the winter season! Call 681-3512 and talk to the shop to schedule an appointment today. We remind you that we are still running our oil change special – receive 20¢ off per gallon of gas on your next purchase with any oil change. Call to get your car in to take advantage of this great deal. Another reminder – our shops in Thief River Falls and Goodridge have all of the latest scanning tools and computer equipment to work on any car, foreign or domestic. We believe we have the finest shops in the area and are very proud of it. Call our Thief River Falls shop at 681-3512 and talk to Mike Carlson, Mike Olson and Delwin Johnson, or call the Goodridge shop at 378-4146 and schedule an appointment today.

Stations: Stop by our 8^th Street Cenex location in Thief River Falls and take advantage of all our delicious food specials! We always offer breakfast and lunch specials – you’ll find a different special every day of the week. For a tasty and filling lunch, be sure to check out our homemade salads, new pizza flavors and hot subs. There is something for everyone in the deli section at our 8^th Street Cenex location. Also, remember to check out the food selection at the Goodridge station too! 3^rd Street Cenex in Thief River Falls offers a wide variety of clothing and apparel including coats, hats, t-shirts, hoodies, pants, coveralls, bibs, boots and wind clothing. You’ll be sure to find perfect cool-weather clothing or a last minute gift idea for every member of the family. We also offer a large selection of hockey skates including Bauer, Easton and Nike, and a large selection of hockey sticks as well. In addition to our already popular Rocky Boot line, we also now offer Rhino Boots at 3^rd Street too! Stop by and try a pair out for yourself today. Also, all three locations – both 3^rd and 8^th Street in Thief River Falls, and our Goodridge station – offer gift cards in any amount, perfect for the holiday season. Cenex gift cards make perfect stocking stuffers and will be sure to fit everyone on your list.

Fertilizer Plant: After a test run, we hope to have the Thief River Falls plant running full speed in 2012. Our plan right now is to have floaters and tender trucks stationed at both locations to help ease some of the pressure. This fall, we finished roofing and siding the east building in Thief River Falls. With the completion of this building, we are able to gain 1200 tons of storage space. We will be leasing a new floater and a new sprayer to take care of your application needs. This will give us four floaters and two sprayers to take care of all your needs. We are strongly considering adding bulk chemicals and bulk liquid fertilizer at our Goodridge location for next year. In addition, we are looking at turning some of our 1000 gallon NH3 tanks into 2000 gallon trailers. We have heard your wishes and look for this to happen. We have also added another 26-ton tender trailer to our fleet for next year. We continue to grow and add items to our operation. For more information regarding any of these exciting changes, call and talk to Mishawn at 378-4185.

Bulk: This will be the last month that we are offering oil gift cards in the form of the Hardworking Bonus. Call Tim or Rocky at 681-3512 for more information regarding the last month of this special. We remind you that any new oil customer will receive an extra 50¢ off per gallon they purchase now through June 2012. Make sure you take advantage of this great special and call Tim or Rocky today. I look for fuel to be in very tight supply again next year so I would strongly suggest that you have your tanks filled by spring time. If you have invested in new equipment I can’t encourage you enough to get on the total protection plan. If you use Cenex lubricants for a net cost of $99.00, you can get a ten year or 10,000 hour total warranty package, no questions asked. We may very well be adding a third tanker this year to keep up with the tremendous demand on our truckers. We are also looking at adding two 20,000 gallon storage tanks to our bulk plant to help ease the shortage. Our propane delivery has been going for a little over one year now and we have reached all of our goals. We hope to double in size in the next three to five years. This has been a great investment for the Coop.

No matter the season of the time of year, count on Farmers Union Oil Cenex of Thief River Falls and Goodridge to continue to offer you the best service and the most competitive prices around. We value your input and opinions and encourage you to share with us anything you would like to see added or changed to help us better serve you. As mentioned this summer, the board has discussed the possibility of changing the name of the Cooperative to reflect the fact that we are more than an oil company. We encourage your input on this matter. Also, plans are continually underway to celebrate our 75^th anniversary in 2012. Remember our goal is to give you the best price at delivery time. We do not want to overcharge you and then give you a big dividend at year’s end. Most people we have talked to like the savings up front. If you would like to see this philosophy changed don’t hesitate to talk with us.

As we approach the end of 2011, we at Farmers Union Oil of Thief River Falls and Goodridge would like to take this time to give all of our valued friends and customers a big thank you. You helped make 2011 a successful year, and we continually appreciate your business. We look forward to serving you in 2012 and for many years to come.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year – Scott Bergland