I saw that article. I sent a message per request of the owner of the gas station I manage to the writer of that article. Yes the gas is still much higher in Utah but there is not the huge profiteering the article leads people to believe. We challenged the writer of that story to come look at our records...look at our books. Look how little we make. In one day our profit from fuel is averaging about $400 a day. Take into consideration that we are charged about $275 a day in credit card fees that leaves us a profit balance of $125 a day. We also offer cash discounts of 5 cents per gallon. Take that away and we make about $90 a day on fuel.
Not sure where they get the average of $4.16 a gallon when every gas station within a 5 mile radius of us is around 4.07 to 4.09. We check the prices of about 20 competitors on a daily basis.
It takes time to bring gas prices down. There are many factors that go into play. Let me try and explain one of them. You buy a truckload of gas...they charge you $4.00 per gallon for that load. The very next day they send you the daily update of fuel prices and you see it went down 10 cents. Now that lower rate is for any delivery made to you after the update. Well you can't immediately lower the price because the load you have in the ground was still at the higher price. If you lower it immediately you are charging less than what you paid for it.
So people are ready to blame the station owners for profiteering..but unless you've been in the business the majority of people don't understand the logic and concept behind the prices.
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Last edited by pam; 08-08-2008 at 12:18 AM.
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