I am exposing the gas station mafia
I am really annoyed with the current price of gasoline.
There is a gas station right around the corner from my apartment. The price on the sign changes about $0.20 every few days. This is not a joke. On Thursday the cheapest gas was $3.19. On Sunday it was $2.96 for the cheapest gas. Today it is back up to $3.09.
And of course the price you see in the morning is rarely the same one you see in the afternoon.
I don’t get the rate increases though, and here’s why. Unless the gas station is filling up their little underground tanks today, they shouldn’t need to change the price. Why?
Because what they have already paid for the gas in the ground has not changed between last night and this morning. Gas stations seem to change their prices every day – sometimes more than once a day. Yet, they do not seem to get their underground tanks filled up daily.
What gives here?
September 10th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
I always wondered about that, too, until I figured out that the price isn’t what they paid to fill their big tank last time but how much it they expect it will cost to fill it *next* time. (Adding in, of course, their expected profit per gallon, taxes, franchise fees, etc.)
September 10th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Ah, okay. Well, that might make some sense. But I still feel like I’m being robbed when I have to fill up my car