the con-job on gasoline

[luckyleftyme2]

here is a mis-informed answer to a gouging problem!

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Joined: 03/11/2009
pmrmsm ..... at $3.75 per gallon for regular in Bridgton I can tell you that your math is off .... the current margin is less than $.16 per gallon. if you multiply that time say 3000 gallons a day that's $480
Then if you take a trip way out in the weeds about all of the associated costs of running , maintaining , insuring, meeting regulations, meeting PCI compliance upgrades,not to mention that the cost of a new installation for a simple one island two pump and canopy setup is in the $300,000 range. Those spiffy MPD pumps run about $23,000 apiece.....and if you are branded the majors have a tendency to require image up grades and that's not free...
Small mom and pop stores will eventually become a thing of the past in most towns.... but even large operations close stores that cannot do the volume to meet overhead and make a return on investment......... BUT the bottom ,line is not the retailers...... it's what you pay in taxes and what the product costs at the terminal.....Oh yeah I forgot at 1.8% to process a credit card ,that's $.0675 per gallon plus a transaction fee....... that really cuts into that $.16....
NOW THE TRUTH: If you follow the money from the well to the consumer you will find that the same investor has a piece of most of the trans-actions. you see each entity (the transporters(several)the refiner,the pipeline,the storage facility,the dealer and the outlet are often owned or partially owned by the extractor(diff companies same investor)
I worked in an irving sta. several years ago that had a sub-way and a dunking doughnut shop (3 diff businesses in one bldg) these 3 companies grossed over 2 mil. a year.
their is big big money in the oil industry! And they are sharp investors!

you need to realize the profit for these large companies have been record breaking for over 5 years! and it is no accident!!

[Arctic Dave]

1. Which part is misinformed?

The post is pretty accurate.

[luckyleftyme2]

2. bull shit

the post tries to smooth over that the oil companies only are making 16 cents a gallon when the fact is that many oil companies are owners or part owners in the operation from the well to the consumer! also isn't there a law about price fixing?
The truth is oil is a high profit product and the reason the oil companies are making record profits!
It is also true that if you sell a coffee for $1.75 at a convenience store which sells gas you make aprox. $1.50 profit but if you lease that sta. (many oil companies own the facility) part of that coffee profit goes to pay the lease! you the lesser may only make
.16 a gal. but the oil company is getting most of that if not all for their lease fee!
like the contractor who lets a piece of equipment set on a construction job and writes it off;I would imagine a sta. that is vacant is being written off !
How ever as you well know filling Sta's. and small stores have been selling like hot cakes to some of the larger oil companies in the past few years! Do you think they are bad investments? I doubt it!
No I don't hate oil companies but I do think gas prices are out of line! And I'm to old to
ride a horse or bike to get where I need to go.
50cent difference in gas anywhere in the state is unacceptable!!!!

[Arctic Dave]

3. The fact that gas station are a high volume, low margin business is true.

That has zero to do with oil companies.

As for how the oil companies game the system, I am quite aware, I worked for the industry for nineteen years.