independant gas station owners are always paying for the NEXT tank of gas, not the one they have.
lets say a gas station buys 1000gals of gas today for $1.00gal, and is selling it at $1.10
and then tomorrow, the NYSE gas-futures quote comes out and says the next tank of gas he buys is going to cost him $1.25gal.
question:how can he buy the next tank of gas if he's charging less than it will cost to buy???
answer:he has to charge today what tomorrows gas will cost or go out of business.
now when the futures price goes down, and he's already paid the high price for the gas, is he supposed to sell it for less than he paid for it cause the next tank will be cheaper?
no... he has to charge what it cost him to buy till HE pays the lower price per tank and then passes the lower price on to us.
What about the killing they made when gas prices jump 30 to 40 cent a gallon with the cheaper gas in the ground. Shouldn't that make up for it?