Posted on 08/09/2011 9:04:29 PM PDT by djf
Oil is down almost $20 a barrel in the last two weeks.
Is the gas price falling for anyone here?
I filled up about ten days ago for $3.79 a gallon and just filled up again for $3.79 a gallon and I was a little fried about it...
SB, from my calculations, about $3.20 a gallon.
What say you, FReepers?
That question came up on our local morning talk show. A lady who runs a corner fuel station called in and said that if they get a tanker of fuel that costs $3.50 / gallon, it stays that price until the next tanker comes in to refill the tanks.
The station I use had gas at $3.48 last week and it jumped to $3.57 this week. Yesterday, it was $3.47 and a tanker was just pulling out of the parking lot. But you and I know that when the price of crude was going up, the price of gas went up on a daily basis.
They lose the use of that excuse when a one dollar upward move on the barrel cost results in a price change at the pump later that afternoon.
Always find it amusing that Americans, even supposedly Conservative Americans, get all pissed off about the $.08 a gallon the “oil companies” are making while not being the least bothered by the $1+ State and Fed Government are making on that same gallon of gas
Always find it amusing that Americans, even supposedly Conservative Americans, get all pissed off about the $.08 a gallon the “oil companies” are making while not being the least bothered by the $1+ State and Fed Government are making on that same gallon of gas
Down $0.10 to $0.12 per gallon from last week. Madison, WI.
Especially when for that $1.00 the government mainly gets in the way of efficient gas refining and distribution.
Yep - we took a driving trip from California through the upper midwest last month. Arizona was the least expensive for gasoline.
Had been $3.59 mid Missouri. Now $3.29 in spots.
There are two answers to this.
1. Who says we aren't bothered? The feds make the lion's share of profit on oil. Just like the lottery. The feds win every single lottery in the country.
2. It's the hypocrisy that pisses me off. When the prices go up you get the excuse "Well, it reflects the market price, that's why it goes up the same day". When the prices go down "Well, it's because we have to sell off days, weeks or even month's worth of fuel purchased at a higher price". Finally, while they may indeed be "only making 8 cents on the gallon", you're conveniently ignoring the extra 80 dollars they made when they sold the crude oil to the refiner.
If they made 8 cents a gallon and there are roughly 20 gallons of gasoline per barrel of crude, do you believe that the entire profit of pulling a barrel of oil from the ground and selling it as gasoline is $1.60?
They must raise the price immediately to pay for the next delivery.
Convienence stores must protect against downward risk of market swings.
If they ran it the way you want them to, they wouldn’t be in business.
See post 49. It must be done this way.
If they are selling gas for $3.10 (that they paid $3.00 for), and the price of gas of their next delivery goes down to $2.50. They cannot start selling their current gas for $2.75 (25 cent cheaper than what they paid for it), or they put themselves at massive risk of taking a huge loss.
Let’s say they bought 10,000 gallons for $3.00. $30,000.
They are selling it for $3.10. Before 1,000 gallons is gone, the learn the price of gas is now $2.75.
Okay, let’s do what you want them to do. Lower their gas price to $2.85 (on the gas they already bought for $3.00). Sure why not, they can sell it for $2.85, gas is now $2.75 right?
Okay, they sell the next 8,000 gallons at $2.85. They got 1,000 gallons left in their tanks.. OOOPS.. A crisis breaks out in the middle East. Gas shoots back up to $3.15.
They just sold 80% of their tank at a 15 cent loss.
If you’ve ever been in the gas station business, these joints have very tight budgets. They are not cash cows. They do not make much on gasoline. They have X amount of money they buy gas with, and those proceeds get rolled into the next order. This is why the price at the pumps goes up immediately if they are anticipating a rise in their next delivery. They need more liquidity to fill their tanks to 100% capacity the next time.
Basically, if they ran it the way you want them to run it, they wouldn’t be in business for too long.
BS.
You act as if they aren't on terms with their gas supplier or that they don't have any cash to pay for 1 tanker of gas.
They take profit when the price goes up and they take profit when the price goes down. I'm not against people making money but don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.
Prices go up fast to cover the anticipated cost of the next load of fuel, they drop slow in case the market is in a short term drop which will not be reflected in wholesale prices later.
Yes but I was referring to the immediate rise following the cost of oil and the reluctance to roll back regardless of oil price drops or other costs ...competition should drive retailers to roll back if their costs go down...just like technological competition drives prices down. Actually in my area the retailers virtually always raise or lower prices in unison...how does the retailer across town know exactly when another changes his prices to the minute and he matches the change exactly even if a competing major oil company? Suggests price fixing and collusion. Don't get me wrong I'm not against "big oil" just that there should be no monopolies and no price fixing and collusion...competition should control prices and that doesn't seem to be happening.
Exactly. If like some say it is tied to a tanker full the price would not go up until the next tanker arrives...not daily...
Bull. We own a body shop and can't just raise prices in anticipation of future projected costs. Rising oil costs drive the price of body shop supplies through the roof...and we'd love to raise prices as oil goes up too bud competition won't allow that. If we ran our business the way you say WE'D be out of business in short order...
There is only a 10c spread in prices at all the retailers in my heavily populated area. And they change prices in unison at virtually the same hour of every day each time they change. That my friends is NOT competition...
Oh you run a body shop. Not a GAS STATION. So you have no experience in what it takes to fill a tank and don’t know what you’re talking about. Got it.
Says you....and who the hell are you?
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