>Let's estimate what pump price that implies. Take $2.45, add the state gas tax ($0.075), the Federal gas tax ($0.184), mark it up 10% for transportation, credit card charges, and profit, add the state sales tax (6%), and this morning's pump price should be (drum roll)....
No less than $3.16 per gallon.....<
Actually this is a formula for going broke if you are a retailer.With a 10% markup rather than the cost plus 10% you used the price would be $3.20. A fair markup would be closer to 20% for the retailer.One drive off of 20 gallons wipes out all the margin on 200 gallons.
Over here in New Jersey we have one idiot (moron/imbecile) of a state legislator who wants to cap gasoline prices. If I ever saw a formula for guaranteeing gas lines that's IT! I also remember the gas lines in 1974 and "Carter's Little Oil Crisis" in 1979 and I doubt I saved anything even close to minimum wage with the price controls considering the amount of time I wasted in the gas lines. I'll trust the free market a bazillion times farther than a New Jersey Democrat politician.