So There Is This Gas Station.......

[BigFish]

near my house, and Angie and I notice their price changes on a daily basis and the fact that they are consistently about .25 cents higher in price than any of the stations on either side of them. (There are stations about a mile on either side of them). Anyway......we go by there Sunday and notice that they are at $4.21 cents a gallon for regular! The stations close by are at $3.97. On Monday Angie calls me from work to tell me that they are now priced at $3.89 a gallon!!!!!! So naturally with an empty tank I run up there and fill my truck! That is a .32 cent a gallon savings from the stations close by!!! The sign on the pump claims "new management" and that the charge card system is down while they make the management change???? However the same 3 guys who own the station are still there working????? We always joked how there was never anyone in there buying gas......do you suppose they "woke up" and figured to drop their price, cash only payment and make their profit in volume??? I just found it a significant price drop?!?!?

[BigBo]

Larry. That t he one between your street and the Dunkins? They did that about 10 years ago too that I can remember when I worked nearby. That place is usually like a ghost town.

[BigFish]

No the one up past the Dunkin Donuts on the Rockland line.

[BigBo]

OK. The new one they just put in to replace Guiseppe's

[chief10]

you mean Lugi

[buckman]

I have a hunch the bank is taking over and they are collecting as much cash as they can.before they are evicted. Somebody is going to get stiffed

[BigBo]

Originally Posted by chief10

you mean Lugi

Yeah, yeah. That's the guy. with the real heavy Italian accent.

[FishermanTim]

If they haven't been moving their supply of fuel, who knows how long the gas has been sitting in their tanks? Doesn't gas start to "go bad" after a few months?
$3.89 for a gallon of bad gas, is that a good price?

I know from hearing news stories of small stations giving up selling gas that they can't afford to sell gas if their gas sales are all credit card sales, because they have to wait for the cash to be moved to their accounts instead of having cash to deposit to their accounts.
They end up "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" and put themselve in debt until they credit sales are credited to their accounts.

[Joe]

There's about 3% hit on credit card processing fees - higher for Amex.

[Clogston29]

Some stations are forced or encouraged to sell gas at no profit or even at a loss by the oil companies that they lease from. they are basically forced to make their money from other souces, such as convenience store sales or auto service. Some independent owners are not forced to do so and do not have the resources and/or additional profit streams to make up the difference and therefore will be significantly different in price. The guy may have eventually given up and sold the place, but the new owner kept the employees.

Also, the charge card company charges the retailer about 5%, so that could explain part of the price drop when credit cards are not being accepted. That's why some independent station owners offer different cash and credit costs. The larger companies do not allow their franchises to do that.

[The Iceman 6]

Originally Posted by Joe

There's about 3% hit on credit card processing fees - higher for Amex.

Yup, so true Joe. This may be a little off topic but I love the stores in NYC that I walk by everyday stating "Going out of Business, 50% off everything must go." The store has been going out of business for 7 years now....

[Rockport24]

I've also read that the "name brand" gas companies will dictate price to the stations based on location, etc. so they have very little say in how much of a profit they make.
Exxon has decided to sell all of it's gas stations, they will still lease to indepentdant owners, but apparently they own and operate a bunch as well and are getting out of that business.

[TheSpecialist]

My buddy owns a station , when he first started about 8 years ago, he explained how much he makes on gas. He was making like .02 on reg, .05 on plus, and .08 on super, this is per gallon. He has to pay for every delivery,or no next delivery, he sometimes gets 3 a week. Just 2 weeks ago he got a delivery with a bill for that one fill up of 45, 000 smackers. He pays more for his gas, than the same branded station in the next town because he is independant.

[tattoobob]

Anyone ever think????????? they lowered the price!!!!! to get rid of all the gas!!!!! and pocket the money!!!!!!!! before they pass papers on the sale???????????

[spence]

Originally Posted by TheSpecialist

My buddy owns a station , when he first started about 8 years ago, he explained how much he makes on gas. He was making like .02 on reg, .05 on plus, and .08 on super, this is per gallon. He has to pay for every delivery,or no next delivery, he sometimes gets 3 a week. Just 2 weeks ago he got a delivery with a bill for that one fill up of 45, 000 smackers. He pays more for his gas, than the same branded station in the next town because he is independant.

This is dead on. I've talked to some local station owners and even with the sky high prices they're nearly operating at a loss.

-spence