Is it just me..

Is it just me.. (Full Version)

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suhlut -> Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:09:50 AM)
Or does it sure seem like the prices at the Gas pumps.. don't drop off as quickly ( price of oil is now $77.00 per barrel) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081010/bs_afp/commoditiesenergyoilprice_081010122709 As when they went UP..as the price per barrel increased several months back? Sheesh, i can remember seeing ladders left UP at the gas station signs here, because the employees were going up, so often, to change to the next and newest highest price per gallon.. But.. it sure doesnt seem to be any RUSH to give us a break now in the prices at the gas stations..now that per barrel goes DOWN.

pahunkboy -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:12:47 AM)
I think it varies by serving area. The local paper said price wars here, due to a new mall opening - which sells gas too.

sub4hire -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:18:16 AM)
I was in South Dakota yesterday. Filling up before leaving town. Gas is usually more expensive up there. Anyway it was 2.99 a gallon, when I got back to town in the afternoon it was 2.98 here. I filled up at 3.10 in the early am.

pahunkboy -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:22:01 AM)
Gas is $3.49 here. $3.29 is called a price war- which you have to buy $100 of groceries to get that price....

Termyn8or -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:24:01 AM)
First of all some stations still have the more expensive gas in their tanks. Some of them actually lost money for a time, especially in competitive areas. Also note that the price of gasoline does not go up exactly proportionately with the cost of crude because of refining costs etc. If it did it probably would've been twice as expensive at the peak. Don't get me wrong, I am not sticking up for these nasty thieves, but reality is reality. There is more to bringing a gallon of gas to your local station than just pumping it out of the ground. T

sub4hire -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:24:12 AM)
You can buy groceries here for anywhere from 3 cents to 15 off a gallon. Though the other day I noticed that even with the 15 cents off you're still paying more than at some stations in town. People inflate the cost of gas here. In California we used to make a penny a gallon. Here people have told me they mark it up 20 cents a gallon in some places.

PanthersMom -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:28:07 AM)
i've seen it as low as 2.95 here within the last couple days. funny how shortly before the election the prices start to fall. guess we had to expect as much. and of course, the american people, lemmings as so many are, will forget all the past wrongs and vote in the here and now with whomever seems to have the most plausible argument why they are the party responsible for such "prosperity". PM

suhlut -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 8:01:14 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or First of all some stations still have the more expensive gas in their tanks. Some of them actually lost money for a time, especially in competitive areas. Also note that the price of gasoline does not go up exactly proportionately with the cost of crude because of refining costs etc. If it did it probably would've been twice as expensive at the peak. Don't get me wrong, I am not sticking up for these nasty thieves, but reality is reality. There is more to bringing a gallon of gas to your local station than just pumping it out of the ground. T Ya know.. the fact that some gas stations may have the "older" and more pricer gas still inside thier holding tanks.. does sound good on the face of it, BUT.. i don't remember any gas station worrying over the fact that their holding tanks may have still held "older" cheaper gas, all those months back when they were all gleefully upping the prices at their pumps.. and running them employees up those ladders several times a day..to change the signs. And yes, i do realize, theres plenty still left to be done to the crude oil before it gets to the point where its ready to be pumped inside your car.. but..like i said.. i didnt see any gas station worrying that they were getting away with selling something at a higher price, when they were able to purchase it cheaper.

Termyn8or -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 8:39:14 AM)
suh, agreed. It is much more likely they will send someone up the pole with higher numbers than lower numbers. Business is business, and they are there to make money. However there are bigger fish to fry in this situation. In this area we have seen some stations give up their franchises and go independent. I have no idea how this could work to their advantage, being an affiliate must have been pretty bad. The gas station is actually the little guy, with the exception of company owned stations. Most are not. Having been screwed left and right so much, no doubt they have to do something to make money. That said, when they made a decent profit on the gas you hardly had any of the attachments, describable from anything like a beverage store to a grocery store. That is where they make most of their profits now. They didn't want to do it, they had to, and now you can get alot of things at a gas station. There are people who say it is ludicrous to sell beer at gas stations, but those voices were silenced by necessity. They don't want their checks bouncing. It started out with a few route vendors selling them on racks of snacks, but now they remodel the place, perhaps even rebuild it to accomode a mini type mart, but the repair services are gone and I have actually went looking for a windshield wiper at a gas station and was told that they simply don't sell them anymore. T

Steponme73 -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 9:21:57 AM)
I am in central Texas and the gas here this morning is $2.79. Now yesterday afternoon it was $2.99. The price of oil going down will never be reflected in the gas price like it is when the price of oil goes up. I am not sure why, just never happens.

Musicmystery -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 9:34:59 AM)
Hey all, Years ago, I was a manager for a string of gas station/convenience stores. You need to distinguish between gasoline manufacturers and the retail outlets selling their product. Retail gasoline is sold at very low margins---typically ten cents a gallon. Compare that to margins of 30% for the rest of the store, even higher ones on candy, 50% on (labor intensive) food prep, and 70% on coffee and soda. When gas prices rise, the station owners get squeezed too, because they're competing, and customers are pissed. Further, when a new delivery of more expensive gas arrives, they've no choice but to raise the price. Margins shrink. When gas drops, people want to compete, but they also realize that the moment they lower prices, their competitors will match it. Thus, when gas falls, owners try to recoup some of their losses as best they can, while still remaining competitive. Frankly, it's a reasonable approach. Then owners aren't gouging you (as a rule). What IS blatantly unfair is gasoline sold on Indian reservations. They don't pay any of the state or federal taxes on gasoline, the same taxes that help support necessary infrastructure on roads, bridges, maintenance, etc. But do they give you the savings? No. They undercut the legitimate business by a few cents, and march off with 50 cents a gallon profit, while you bend over and take it.

kdsub -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 9:52:54 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or First of all some stations still have the more expensive gas in their tanks. Some of them actually lost money for a time, especially in competitive areas. Also note that the price of gasoline does not go up exactly proportionately with the cost of crude because of refining costs etc. If it did it probably would've been twice as expensive at the peak. Don't get me wrong, I am not sticking up for these nasty thieves, but reality is reality. There is more to bringing a gallon of gas to your local station than just pumping it out of the ground. T Hi T...I just don't buy that excuse. Think I told this story before...but I like repeating myself...lol. There was a reporter In St. Louis interviewing a station some months ago asking why the cost per gallon of fuel had not gone down when the price per barrel had dropped and been dropping for a month. He said the same as you..." I purchased the gas at a higher price and I must sell it off before I can afford to drop prices". He said he determines his prices strictly on what he has to pay. I thought this sounded reasonable...It just so happened I use that station myself. THEN...A few days later there was a forecast for Ike to hit in the Gulf somewhere. I drove by my station on the way to my daughters..... Two hours later I drove back by and the price per gallon had increased almost 50 cents. Now I wonder ..did he just get a new delivery?...Yea right...he just wanted to rake in profit with the hysteria...His price of gas did not go up in 2 hours...Strictly raping us. Seems to me if you are going to use the wholesale price he should have sold his gas at the same percentage of profit...THEN when the more expensive wholesale gas came in raise the price appropriately. They are no better than the producers...or refiners...greedy as hell PS...After reading Musicmystery's post above I think I need to moderate my post somewhat...BUT not completely...I still feel they are taking advantage of these types of situations. Butch

Musicmystery -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 1:34:09 PM)
See, here's how logic works.... to raise a point, you need reasons beyond "this is what I believe" A running problem for you, I know--but it doesn't alter reality.

kdsub -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 4:25:50 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Musicmystery See, here's how logic works.... to raise a point, you need reasons beyond "this is what I believe" A running problem for you, I know--but it doesn't alter reality. Not sure..were you addressing my post?...I can't see how you could be but you never know...If so my reality is in the obvious.

TNstepsout -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 5:11:16 PM)
No it's not just you. If the prices had gone down by roughly the same percentage that oil did, we should be at aprx. $2.00 gal right now. grumble

sub4hire -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:01:08 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Termyn8or First of all some stations still have the more expensive gas in their tanks. Some of them actually lost money for a time, especially in competitive areas. There are only a few gas companies in the US. I want to say 2-3 total. Everyone buys the same gas. I was once a DM for 7-11. A thankless job considering how many corporation stores I had to run at one time. Anyway, many of them were gas stations. We'd get a call, didn't matter what time of the day it was...from National Gas. They'd tell us the new price. We had to make the change right then to reflect the new price. Of course, we were not out make a bunch of money on gas. Like I stated earlier...we marked it up one penny a gallon. Which usually netted us about 20 dollars a day profit. National gas sells the gas to places like Chevron and Shell where they then add whatever they want to it, then sell it to you. Doesn't matter if you have old gas you paid more money for or not in your tanks. You change the price to reflect it. Though each station has its own set rules.

pahunkboy -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:20:24 PM)
I worked at a gas station as well. mark ups were 8 to 10 cents a gallon. this was in the 90s. there are so many regulations with the tanks and whatnot that you really have to sell high volumne for it to make any sense. even if you had just 3 pumps - the amount of misc expenses would surprise you.

MasterG2kTR -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 7:41:47 PM)
I said this in another thread tonight and I will say it here too..... Up until sometime earlier this year, the price of gas in relation to the price of oil was right around $1.00 per gallon of gas for every $40 per barrel of oil. Thus as the current price of oil (currently at $78/bbl) we should be paying $2.00 (or slightly under) per gallon. So needless to say....we're being hosed BIG TIME!!

subtex -> RE: Is it just me.. (10/10/2008 9:04:49 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: suhlut Or does it sure seem like the prices at the Gas pumps.. don't drop off as quickly ( price of oil is now $77.00 per barrel) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081010/bs_afp/commoditiesenergyoilprice_081010122709 I read a story last week that blamed it on hurricane Ike. Seems like we should be caught up now. You're right though you can compare these two charts: http://www.dallasgasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx http://www.wtrg.com/daily/crudeoilprice.html The first chart is from gasbuddy.com where you can also find local stations with the lowest price.

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