Has competition finally come to gas pricing in Canada? Probably not, but it sure looks odd lately. Over the course of the week, gas prices have oscillated between $0.68/litre to $0.84/litre. That represents a difference in a V8 Mustang of around $8.00 per tank! One day over the last five days, i've seen pricing of $0.84 in one place, and $0.70 in another, on the same day. Normally, they operate lock-step with each other, prices being relatively uniform. One day they are all around $0.73 the next, $0.83. But recently, i've seen huge divergences between stations. It's almost like mini price wars are developing. Too bad we haven't seen $0.56/litre like we had around 3 years ago...
Toronto's beserker gas pricing of late
Jul 14, 2004
4 Replies
I find that this tends to happen anytime oil prices are increasing rapidly. It's a combination of when the stations bought the fuel and how they are gouging their customers.
I see pump prices rise almost immediately with the price of oil. But when the price of oil falls, the stations say they are still buying gasoline made from the expensive oil bought a week ago and can't lower the price.
Some stations do not follow this, and thusly the huge swings from station to station result. Throw in oil company 'regional' pricing tax rates, etc and it can get even more complicated. Various city/town/county borders and a different market areas really make finding the lowest price around where I go interesting.
Can anyone tell me why a $0.10 increase is "modest" while a $0.02 decrease is called "significant"?????
For the same reason a 60F day is "warm" in the winter and "cool" in the summer?
Or why world oil price increase immediately jack up pump prices and oil price decreases take weeks (or months) to work their way through the system?
-Rich
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