I am a critical thinking
person. I have a math/science
background. I believe in logic, - cause
and effect. I even understand (to some
extent) Chaos Theory. But there is one
thing in my everyday life that I am totally confused by: Gas Prices.
With a business model – a
commodity – a grocery store buys a case of peas at wholesale price then figures
out the percentage of markup necessary in order to guarantee their retail
profit. The can of peas is then placed
on a shelf and sold at that price.
At a gas station the owner
buys gas at a wholesale price. He then
figures the percent of markup in order to make a retail profit. He then sets the price on the pump to resale
the gas and extract his profit margin.
Then the next day he raises the price; and that evening he raises the
price again; the next day he jumps the price a nickel higher; then the next day
he lowers the price a penny: What the
hell is going on here?
If asked about this he may
tell you that the next time he has to buy gas the product will cost more. This doesn’t wash. The grocery store does not change the price
of peas daily in order to adjust to a possible icrease in wholesale pea prices
at their next purchase.
We are told that the oil
supply is plentiful. We know that here
in the US
All that aside, what the hell
is going on at the gas pump?
I’m just asking.
The Ol'Buzzard
I hope you're not expecting an honest answer Buzz.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with YDG, we're fucked when it comes to gas prices. There is a chain of Citgo stations here UP on the Tundra that has a habit of raising prices for things like snow is in the forecast and snowmobilers may be coming, so let's gouge them and all the locals too!! Or the students are returning to the University up the road for another semester so let's jack up the price for them. There's three gas stations in a row on the highway in town and when one raises its price, they all follow suit!! It's a rare day when they don't all have the same price, coincidence????
ReplyDeleteI get my gas at a station that's been consistently the lowest in the area. I drive another 5-6 miles to a station on the other side of the next town, but sometimes the price is 20 cents cheaper and when you fill up that adds up.(Besides, why reward the greedy bastards????) This station has changed things around since it opened a number of years ago. Our area used to have the highest gas prices UP on the Tundra and I would try to gas up when I was in one of the larger towns(40 miles one way, 70 miles in the other direction) where gas was usually 10-20 cents cheaper. Since that station opened the reverse is true, now it's cheaper here than in the larger towns. One of the things that used to get me was the excuse that the price was high because they had to haul it so far, yet the town 40 miles farther up the road had cheaper gas back in the days before this station opened!!
A funny thing we noticed in Nova Scotia is the gas prices are the same everywhere - something above $5/gal last time I noticed. The only difference at the stations is whether they offer air miles or a coupon for a super-size Coke.
ReplyDelete