O.T. Gas shenanigans

Yesterday in Louisville, gas was hovering around $2.65. In a few hours, many stations went to $2.89. When others did not follow suit, they went back down. Then today, they are all going up to $3.00.

All because some poor sap in Nigeria got himself shot:(

Mark

Gas is dropping down here in SC... it's $2.56 at Walmart. Good thing I filled up yesterday, now I'm set for at least two weeks.

Lee

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Okay, so you tell me how the f*ck it can drop in one area of the country, and rise in another. It makes absolutely no sense other than they're jacking with the prices. Someone gets shot in Nigeria, crude goes up a dollar a barrel and you see a 20-30 cent increase at the pumps?

Mark

A little pun, there, Bob: Opening day of fishing and the station owners are trolling?

Bought gas here (Fayetteville, NC) for $2,73 yesterday, but it does range in town from that up to 2.86. Don't ask me why, but that kind of range is not unusual around here. Strange thing is that it is usually between five and ten cents cheaper at my daughter's near Pawleys Island, SC, but since it is nearly bike week at Myrtle Beach the prices most places are higher than I pay for it here. This true in almost all the areas of South Carlolina that I drove through yesterdayt to get there except for two small stations in Loris. Joe Roberts

Bought gas here (Fayetteville, NC) for $2,73 yesterday, but it does range in town from that up to 2.86. Don't ask me why, but that kind of range is not unusual around here. Strange thing is that it is usually between five and ten cents cheaper at my daughter's near Pawleys Island, SC, but since it is nearly bike week at Myrtle Beach the prices most places are higher than I pay for it here. This true in almost all the areas of South Carlolina that I drove through yesterdayt to get there except for two small stations in Loris. Joe Roberts

The products you buy at a gas station are not bought from the major refining companies. They are sold through distributors, which are not very big companies at all. The managers of distributors and stations make their best estimate of where the market price will settle before their next order cycle, and set a price that will keep them ahead of that without driving away customers. Once in a while, they sell gas for less than they pay for it. If they do that very often, they go broke.

Price has a lot more to do with local demand than it does with well-head crude oil, or the murder rate in Nigeria. If you have a thousand or so seasonal customers about to drive by, and you keep your price at the off-season rate, you will sell out by noon, and the other fellow will make all the money that weekend. You'll get to go fishing--but nobody will say "There's that great guy who sold us the cheap gas."

I have some snow-removal equipment. Right after a 6-inch snowfall, I can drive around the block and (literally) have people throw money at me. This week, I will plow snow just about for free.

If it starts snowing a million units in China or India or the Upper Peninsula, I may just raise my rate, since there's only so much snow-plowing I can do, and my shareholder says she wants to retire early too. I have a John Deere, and they only pump so many barrels of snow-plow no matter the price; I charge extra for the IH, because that kind of snow-plow is pretty rare, and some folks get a kick out of watching it run. If they start making IH's out of Alberta tar, I'll be in deep crude, so I'm going to keep charging my high IH plow rate until the market dries up. Parts are expensive, and the government says it's obsolete and could be a health hazard. And the new ones are in Turkey.

In our next session, we'll discuss how I rip you off for fresh Ohio November organic lettuce. If diesel goes high enough to squeeze the Peruvian salad importers, I might make a profit on it--but it'll be cheaper in California. Maybe Congress should look into this.

That's pretty much how the f*ck that happens.

Cheapest here is $3.36 for regular.

girlfriend left here wednesday morning to go see her brother in Ohio.. she has been enjoying low gas prices, compared to what they are here..... she has been paying $2.559-$2.659, compared to $2.70 some odd its been here

I just get gas once a month, I have only gone 45 miles since May 1.

Myrthe Beach is a resort area..... tourists have deep pockets..... or so goes the theory.

It's those dang "speculators" all worried about the US maybe taking on Iran now since they are thumbing their noses at the US and UN who want them to stop working on their nuclear capabilities. I say shoot the speculators and the prices would probably come down.

I used to buy into that, until gas prices started swinging 20 cents per day. It has nothing to do with their next order cycle. If that's the case, how come they'll raise the price 20 cents a gallon, but you'll never see it fall more than a penny or so in a few days. Some stations around here went from around $2.65 per gallon, to $2.89, then back to $2.65 (when nobody else followed suit). Splain that.

Mark

I sort of use the Chevron stations as a reference point (generally being the highest priced)

One station near the interstate is a constant 10-15¢ higher than the lowest priced stations around town. ALL of these stations are provided gas by the sole distributor in Austin.

I'll letcha figure out the rest... (Rotsa ruck!)

JT

(Thinking of drilling in the backyard..)

Mark Anders>

Whar' do I sign up?

JT

"D.J." wrote: