“Marathon/Speedway controls 70+% of the market here, ...”
How has that happened? Are Indiana politicians in the pocket of Marathon Oil? Here, there is robust competition at the pump between the majors and from the independents. At many stations, gasoline is almost a loss leader (technically illegal in the state), and they are tied to convenience stores where the profits are made. The few gas stations that don’t have an attached convenience store a run repair shop instead and their gas prices are always 10-15 cents higher.
Not conspiratorial, IMO. “Control of the market” relates more to the location of refineries and the concommittent cost of shipping refined product. If no new refineries can be built....then the most local guys have a pricing advantage. So the effort to kill refineries is as much at fault as evil oil co monopolists. /s
“Marathon/Speedway controls 70+% of the market here, ...”
How has that happened.
It’s taken a while.
Speedway (Owned by Marathon)has been buying out competitors for a decade, and they bought out the largest one, “Gas America” a family-owned chain based in Indiana, 3 years ago. They also had the “TA” branded Truckstops.
Most of the independents in Central Indiana are Marathon-Branded, as well.
They firmly control the cities, while CountryMark is making some inroads outside of the cities. (Owned by the Indiana Co-op) I’ll pay a couple of cents more and go to the Co-op stations.