I have never in my life seen gas vary more than 5 cents from one side of town to the other. If one dealer charged 30 cents more than another in my town, he would soon be out of business, as no one would buy gas from him. Drivers are extremely price sensitive.
I know a guy who was running a small independent grocery with gas. Prices went up, but the big stations were getting a better wholesale price on gas, so they could sell gas for less than he could get his from the wholesaler. So he just shut down his pumps for a few months. He did not go out of business, as most of his income came from the groceries, beer, drinks, cigarettes, and snacks. There is a huge markup on that stuff. I used to work in a store. When Lance crackers were selling for 25 cents a pack, we were buying them from the Lance guy for 12 cents.
Gas stations only make a penny or two per gallon. They cannot possibly cut their price on some idiot president's order. Now the distributors' profits are a different matter.
Gas in my town is $3.22 at most stations, with a few charging $3.24. And then there's the India guy who takes cash only who's charging $3.20.
I've seen such variations in my town in the last few months--never, ever saw that before. Have seen $.20-$.40 difference and yet, I didn't notice people flocking to those stations with lower the lower cost.
Do you live in a big city? Around here, if a place drops their price a penny or two below the others, people are lined up there, and fewer people are at the other places. Then the other places drop theirs to match. In the town I grew up in, gas was the same price at all the convenience stores. The full-service gas stations were always higher.
I live in an assho leftist town in western Mass. I totally get what you're saying and agree with it but what I see here goes against what I expect and have seen at other times.
I have never in my life seen gas vary more than 5 cents from one side of town to the other. If one dealer charged 30 cents more than another in my town, he would soon be out of business, as no one would buy gas from him. Drivers are extremely price sensitive.
I know a guy who was running a small independent grocery with gas. Prices went up, but the big stations were getting a better wholesale price on gas, so they could sell gas for less than he could get his from the wholesaler. So he just shut down his pumps for a few months. He did not go out of business, as most of his income came from the groceries, beer, drinks, cigarettes, and snacks. There is a huge markup on that stuff. I used to work in a store. When Lance crackers were selling for 25 cents a pack, we were buying them from the Lance guy for 12 cents.
Gas stations only make a penny or two per gallon. They cannot possibly cut their price on some idiot president's order. Now the distributors' profits are a different matter.
Gas in my town is $3.22 at most stations, with a few charging $3.24. And then there's the India guy who takes cash only who's charging $3.20.
I've seen such variations in my town in the last few months--never, ever saw that before. Have seen $.20-$.40 difference and yet, I didn't notice people flocking to those stations with lower the lower cost.
Do you live in a big city? Around here, if a place drops their price a penny or two below the others, people are lined up there, and fewer people are at the other places. Then the other places drop theirs to match. In the town I grew up in, gas was the same price at all the convenience stores. The full-service gas stations were always higher.
I live in an assho leftist town in western Mass. I totally get what you're saying and agree with it but what I see here goes against what I expect and have seen at other times.