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Originally Posted by Rob Rockcrawler
I work at a gas station and during the days after katrina when the prices were going ape poo some state official stopped in to check our prices. He came back about a half hour later and was pretty pissed that the prices went up without a delivery, wanted to know how the gas in the ground suddenly became more expensive. He talked with the corporate office but i never heard what happened. Price gouging is a hard thing to prosecute. When you have three gas stations within a mile or two and they all raise prices they are not "gouging" because it still creates equal competition. If one of the three raises them big time it may seem that they are gouging but they will just lose business. There is a point when it does become gouging, but that would depend on the size of the increase, then its a judgement call on when it actually becomes gouging. I am by no means defending the price screwing we ae taking on a daily basis.
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Yeah, I've never quite understood price gouging when it comes to gas either, at least at the retail level. It's still a supply and demand situation and of course this is a free market.
Higher up the chain is where the gouging really takes place, I think.