Posted on 08/30/2007 5:54:18 AM PDT by Sax
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Some outraged motorists have scrawled warning messages and curse words on gas pumps after paying up to $4.50 for a gallon for gasoline at a station near Orlando International Airport.
Residents and tourists said they were shocked to see the gas prices at the Landing Strip gas station located on Semoran Boulevard, just north of the airport.
"I didn't even look until I pulled up and I went, 'Holy cow,' " driver Julie Melser said.
There are no signs advertising the high prices at the station.
Some people improvise after noticing the gas prices.
"I've already swiped my card so I'm getting $1 and I'm out of here," driver Dave Emerick said. "I'll try to make it to the next (gas station). This is ridiculous."
WKMG asked station manager Bob Barnes how he can get away with charging the prices when other gas stations are charging $2.60 or $2.70 a gallon.
"Well, mainly it is volume," Barnes said. "As you can see, the pumps are practically full. Everybody knows what the price is because they have to hit the little lever and they see the price above the lever. And that is how you get away with it."
The Landing Strip is the closest gas station to Hertz and Thrifty car rental returns and the last pumps before the airport.
"It seems like corporate greed," motorist Mark Ferguson said. "Wow, this is just a classic rip-off."
The high prices are not illegal since the state says businesses can charge whatever the market bears for gasoline, unless the governor has declared an emergency
It works beacause he's not reliant on repeat business. Not the way I'd chose to run a business, but it's the owners choice to make. You can't and shouldn't legislate morality.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Note to the whiners: Belt up.
Our society has been so wussified!
Of course, the gas stations near the car returns at airports are going to have high prices! Don’t want to pay the high price? Fill up three miles away at the other stations!
What morons!
4.50 at the pump or 5.50 to the car rental company... As long as his price stays under the rip off price the car rental places are charging per gallone, he’ll have business.
I rent little cars when I travel.
Since I go out and come back the same route I always make a note of the last gas station with easy highway access and cheap prices so I can return the car with a “nearly” topped off tank.
Even the self-employed write it off as a business expense.
However, as a self-employed individual who travels and uses rental cars and motels, I never buy anything or stay anywhere within 10 miles of an airport.
Sounds a lot like buying gas in Baker, CA.
I think Florida has dropped the ball if it doesn't require posted prices. I'll grant you lawyers and surgeons don't post prices. Maybe they should.
It said the price is posted right there at the point of sale. How many things do you buy where you can read the price from 100 feet away?
Location, location, location
Car rental agencies have been charging double or triple the local price for years for gas refills. Locally, gas stations are around $2.45 now.
YEP...He can charge whatever he wants. People have a choice of whether to buy it or not.
I have to say...I would probably inadvertantly buy it. I have a bad habit of just pulling up and start pumping.
This is designed to gig the people returning rental cars to the airport. Seen it many, many times in my travels. There used to be a gas station just outside Dulles Airport in Washington that was a good $1.50 higher than others in the area, and this was when gas was about $1.50/gallon.
Thats right...its location.
Why do you think a Snickers bar and a 12oz drink costs $4 at the movie theater?
I bought a 6pack of Michelob beer through room service at a hotel once......$14! I could have walked down the street to the grocery and got it for $6.
Tell me about it. I just paid $27 dollars for a pitcher of beer at restaurant that catered to business travelers.
Whoops, $17, not $27.
Every screen I've seen at fuel stations, have a CANCEL button. I've used that more than once, when I selected the wrong grade.
This is the type of behavior that give capitalism a bad name.
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