Bill Putney wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:
Two things: profit margin is net profit divided by revenue, not costs. Also Exxon's revenue stream is roughly $45 million per hour. That makes the denominator huge. So adding 0.0005% to the numerator and denominator changes the ratio little although that 0.0005% may represent 45B dollars.
Even if one could use that as a basis to figure their gross profit it is still less than the amount the feds and the states made in taxes, if one uses those same figures. ;)
In message news:Xns9AA763FDC972Ddewey3kNOSPAMgmailco@130.133.1.4, theBZA burned some brain cells writing:
Equity. Not that you'd understand.
In message news:Xns9AA763173334Adewey3kNOSPAMgmailco@130.133.1.4, theBZA burned some brain cells writing:
Which is less than the average tax per gallon. As I said.
Any more of my points you wish to prove for me, little monkey?
In message news:Xns9AA763712AEEdewey3kNOSPAMgmailco@130.133.1.4, theBZA burned some brain cells writing:
A problem you will never have.
In message news:QhpZj.38963$%g.34395@trnddc08, "Don't Taze Me, Bro!" burned some brain cells writing:
You mean like your butt-buddy BZA proving that gas taxes are higher than oil company profits?
No it doesn't. In the past when gas taxes went down, the retail price of the gasoline stayed the same as the wholesale price was increased. Conversely, when gas taxes went up, the retail price increased briefly, but soon the wholesale price fell and the retail price was back where it was before.
Does anyone believe that the gas tax holiday is anything more than political pandering? If McCain and Hillary said that they'd sell gasoline at 33 cents per gallon, would anyone believe that too?
My relative owns an Arco station. The mark-up on gasoline is 10 cents per gallon, but that's not his profit of course. Arco doesn't let franchisees set their own prices, they enforce about a 10 cent mark-up, by "adjusting" the wholesale price to stations that try to mark it up more. Arco's main interest is selling massive amounts of gasoline, because the big money is in the refining, where they can make 50 to 80 cents a gallon.
What keeps his station profitable is the snack shop, where margins are huge, and repairs. The gasoline revenue alone would not be sufficient.
So you're half right, in that taxes are more than the gas station mark-up, but the refineries and oil producers are making more per gallon than is charged in taxes. It didn't use to be this way, but it is now.
In message news:2yDZj.258$ snipped-for-privacy@flpi146.ffdc.sbc.com, SMS burned some brain cells writing:
If you enjoy paying the gas tax so much, why don't you pay mine? Just send me a check for $8 (20 gallons x average tax of ~ .50/gallon) every week. Or you can send one check for $416 and be done for the year.
In message news:9NDZj.1451$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com, SMS burned some brain cells writing:
Well you need to get your story straight with the other taxaholic chimp who claims the gas profits subsidize the snacks.
"Mike hunt" wrote in news:6PydnbrrurBoR6vVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:
1) my figure is an underestimte because I only used profit figures from 2 companies and divided that by total consumption. 2) State taxes vary. Federal tax is 18.4 cents which is far less than 42 cents.3) The average state tax is 28.6 cents per gallon. Add that to federal tax and you get 47 cents per gallon. Figure in all the oil companies' profits and it's a wash.
4) Meanwhile, the refiners are making a reported 59 cents per gallon profit.Klark Kent wrote in news:Xns9AA77C83FF80KlarkKent@66.250.146.128:
Equity. Damn that's funny. Are you implying that Exxon is using its profits to buy back shares? Otherwise, there is no direct connection. Not that' you'd understand.
10 cents? He is lucky, from what I read the average nationwide is more like five to seven cents. 5C is what the owner made when gas was selling for .249 a gallon and I worked for 25C an hour at a Sunoco station while in college in the early fifties. LOL
No mater how you spin it one could save .184 a gallon for three months if the feds would stop collecting a tax that simply goes unused in the NHTF
"Mike hunt" wrote in news:A_ydnaHDMI6-iqrVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:
According to whom? Oil companies? The gas station on my corner gets gas delivered twice a week. They raise their prices every other day. When they get a delivery on wednesday and raise their prices 4 cents, OK, maybe the shipment cost more that the last. But then to raise prices 4 cents again on friday? And again on Sunday?
There are two gas stations down the street from me. The guy whose station has no minimart and no repair shop - all they do is sell gas - is also the richest guy in town. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but still - hard to believe there is no "profit" in selling gasoline. I mentioned my daughter's friend whose parent own a Getty station. They get kickbacks from the distributor just like car dealers do. Don't fool yourself.
To which kickbacks "like car dealers" are you referring?
"theBZA" wrote in . They
In message news:Xns9AA79A5A363A0dewey3kNOSPAMgmailco@130.133.1.4, theBZA burned some brain cells writing:
No, to improve its balance sheet, which is why its market cap has tripled. You profess to own the stock and you don't know any of this? Why am I not surprised?
The owners pay a price per delivery and that price fluctuates. That includes the wholesale gas cost and a delivery and distribution charge. I was talking to a station owner near Visalia, CA and he said that the higher costs are killing him. Now I doubt he is actually *losing* money, but he doesn't make as much money as he used to. He said that it costs him $30K for a delivery of gas (9000 gallons) which is $3.33/gallon. Add in the taxes ($0.18 state, $0.18 federal, and $0.25 cents local) and you are at $3.94/gallon. I cannot remember exactly what he was selling the gas for, but he was a Shell station and currently Shell stations in that area charge $4.15/gallon. So he is making $0.21/gallon before he pays his employees and other expenses. This is much less than the $0.61/gallon being paid in tax and amounts to about $2000 per delivery (6.6% profit BEFORE expenses).
Now, gas stations are very profitable, but they make most of their money on other items like snacks and very little on the actual gasoline itself. Of course a station in a busy area might sell a lot of gas and make up for low margins with lots of revenue.
From the California DOE:
Why do the gasoline stations raise their prices almost daily, and it seems like they sometimes do it hourly?
Prices are set by what the station owner will have to pay for the NEXT delivery of gasoline. If prices are going up on the wholesale level, the station operator has to pay for what the next shipment will cost when it's delivered. If the delivery is going to cost more than what the dealer is charging at the pump now, they are going to lose money on the higher-priced new gasoline. So, the dealer has to increase his price whenever there is an increase in the wholesale price of the fuel to pay for that more expensive gasoline in the future.
But sometimes, station owners will hold down their price increases in order to remain more competitive with other stations, temporarily costing them money. This can be especially true for independent service station owners during period of rapid wholesale price increases.
Dimitri
30K ??? Any idea how far it has to travel from the refinery?
There's no story to keep straight.
It's quite possible that this is the case for some stations. Arco is kind of unique in their pricing strategy. No credit cards, very low mark-up, extra charge for debit cards, and high volume. The stations near my relatives Arco station, even the independents, are routinely
15-30 cents per gallon more expensive. They sell less, but at higher margins. One radio station here has a segment each day on "the lowest gas prices in town." His station is almost always the lowest in the city, and is mentioned. The radio station installed remote cameras to monitor his price sign. He gets all the taxi drivers from the airport at his station, which he said is his indicator that his price is the lowest because these guys know where the cheapest gas is.When gas was $2 a gallon, the refineries were making a lot less per gallon, but they really jacked up the difference between the crude oil and the wholesale gasoline price as refining capacity has come down due to the closing of refineries (which was the whole idea behind closing refineries).
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