That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday, - Page 60

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Correct. But they can report the situation without ramping up the panic with words like "monster," "certain death," and "catastrophic," or like Mayor Nagin in NOLA dubbing Gustav "the mother of all storms."

If they use those terms to describe storms like Gustav and Ike, how will they be able to communicate the danger of a really big, powerful, Cat 4-5 storm when it's on the horizon?

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Malcolm,
I don't believe it was the forecasters that used the phrase "Certain Death".
"Monster" may not have been hyperbole for a storm that was the same size as Tejas.
"Catastrophic"? Well, there is a mess in Southeast Texas right now. Highways torn up, trees down, historic buildings lost. Hundreds of thousands of folks displaced for an unknown amount of time.
Rather we called it a "Major Bummer"?

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Here is a quote from a MSNBC story where they are interviewing a gas station owner: Baines said 12 cents of every gallon sold goes to the credit card companies for transaction fees. That means Baines is losing money on each gallon he sells. "I'm actually co-funding someone to get gas at my store about 12 cents out of my pocket, but to the consumer we look like we're crying foul and exaggerating," said Baines. He said in a perfect world he'd make about 5 cents profit off each gallon of gas sold.

While I understand that there is aa cost for a credit transaction, how does it change by how many gallons I buy? Or maybe that is the average. The other thing I am noticing is $0.10 - $0.15 discount for using the gas station credit card. I would think that electronic money transfers should be easier and thus less of a cost than dealing with cash.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

"I would think that electronic money transfers should be easier and thus less of a cost than dealing with cash."

No, with a credit card purchase they have to give a slice to the CC companies. This is why some stations offer a lower price for gas if you pay cash.

The stations operate on very slim margins, making their profit from selling snacks, drinks, etc. It should come as no surprise that the oil companies have been selling off their gas station chains...

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Because most credit cards charge the store owner a percentage-of-sale fee (usually about 3%) rather than a flat fee. So the more you buy, the higher the transaction fee charged to the store.

It's better for the store if you use your card as "debit" (enter your PIN) rather than "credit." Debit fees are generally a flat fee of 35-50 cents per transaction, versus the percentage fee described above for "credit."

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

$2.98 today. In Central Texas.

This is nice, but only a mild distraction from watching my 401K, tied to the S&P Index, melt away like the North Pole.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Yeah, It's nice to see oil prices decline, not so nice when it is the result of a complete financial collapse.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Still it shows that there was no reason for the higher prices except greed. I believe that the high gas prices last may was the gentile breeze that caused the financial house of cards to start falling. Once the price went over $4.00 per gallon, people stopped buying.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Still paying $4.60 down here...

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Must be the "demand destruction." On the other hand, the dollar has strengthened a bit, so it may be currency fluctuations, combined with a seasonal price decline.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

$3.29 here in Albany, NY today (at BJs Warehouse Club)! The "non-member" price is $3.37.

One place further north this weekend dropped from $3.51 on Friday night to $3.41 on Sunday afternoon!

Gotta admit, though, most places are still in the $3.49 to $3.69 range.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Still more than $4.00 in Atlanta, but mostly due to the hurricane. Hopefully that will be coming down.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

$2.99 and lower here.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Here? Where?

Not here... But, hopefully soon.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Down to $3.03 in Columbus, OH.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

The lowest price I saw today was $3.44. Down 55 cents from the peak.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Ooops. Sorry. Western Ohio.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

3.07 here on the south shore

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Tanked up for $2.94 a gal in Tulsa. Damn shame that i get all giddy about gas under 3 bucks!
See $4 again next summer i bet.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Rick: I'm getting giddy and it hasn't even dunked under $3 here yet...

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

$3.32 here in West Michigan... seems like it's lowered by 3 or 4 cents everytime I drive by the gas station. A good trend!

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

$2.77 OKC

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Ah ha! Their plan is working. Crank up the price nice and high so that when it is lowered some everyone will be happy. The new (lower) high price will now set the bar.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Ugh, if you guys want to talk about headaches; try driving a car that needs at least 91 octane. The price differences between the low and the high are enough to make you want to strangle someone.

I mean, there are two gas stations within less than 2 miles of each other in my town (actually, they're both on the same main road). and here's their price structure:

Station A:
87 octane = $3.39
93 octane = $3.69

Station B:
87 octane = $3.38
93 octane = $3.99

There's only a 1 cent difference between their 87's, but a $0.30 difference between their 93's. WTF? There's a 60 cent difference between Station B's 87 and 93!!! That makes it hard for me to price shop because the stations only display the 87 price on the big sign. So I can't just drive by these places without having to look more closely to the prices on the pumps. If I went by the price on the big sign, I'd probably go to Station B because they were cheaper, but would end up paying 30 cents more/gallon than if I went to Station A.

Isn't Station B gouging??? And before someone says "Well, maybe Station B doesn't sell a lot of 93 octane, so they have to price it higher", I submit that this was the pricing strutctre of the the exact same stations, about a month ago.

Station A:
87 octane = $3.69
93 octane = $4.03

Station B:
87 octane = $3.89
93 octane = $4.01

So again, if I went by the price on the big sign, I would have gone to Sation A because they were SO much cheaper, but I would have ended up paying 2 cents more/gallon than if I went to Station B.

Before gas went over $2, the prices were ALWAYS $0.10 more (over the 87) for 89 and $0.20 more (over the 87) for 93.

Is it legal for one station to have their 93 octane $0.60 more than their 87? Not many of the other stations do that. Why isn't there any consistency with these prices??

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Mark,
Gouging is only present when prices are raised to abnormal levels in the face of increased demand due to limited supply or limited retailers, often caused by unforeseen disasters. You are not experiencing abnormal price levels nor limited supply/retailers, so the term does not apply.

The reason there is no consistency with the prices is because the market is free to choose their own prices. Some choose cheaper regular and make it up on the premium, some balance it out.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

Something from the past that the stations have brought back - different prices for cash and credit.

Haven't seen that in many years.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

The most common reason for price inconsistency is that gas stations take delivery of their gasoline at different times during price fluctuations.

If a station owner takes delivery of premium gas just before the price drops, then he's got 40,000 gallons of expensive premium gasolone that he has to sell at above average prices just to break even.

But if his competitor two miles down the road takes delivery just after the price drops, then he can sell it at a below average price and still make a profit.

And once you have 40,000 gallons of expensive gasoline priced at above average market prices, you're going to be stuck with it for a while.

Add to that the fact that independent station owners make next to nothing on gasoline sales, and you've removed the margin or incentive the station owner needs to adjust prices according to the market. The prices will be dictated by what they paid for it when it was delivered, and that's the only determining factor.

And to make things even worse, this is premium gasoline we're talking about, which doesn't sell nearly as much as regular gasoline, which magnifies its "price point hysteresis" even further.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

A little higher here ($3.49) but same downward trend. Maybe I'll start filling half a tank at a time, until the price starts rising again.

Re: That's it, I'm walking. gas up 33 cents since Monday,

While I understand what you're saying, Station B (in my previous post) is a Citgo and Station A is independant. And not only that, but Station B gets a lot more business than A, that's why, while I understand your analogy, I really can't imagine that it applies with this station. I think he just wants to make more money off the higher price octane because no one seems to complain about the higher test octanes, so these guys can price it however they want.