gas price sing out

[mbossman2]

well, it seems that gas prices are dropping...so what's your gas price?

I just came back from upstate NY to NC and the price in WNY was $2.79-$2.85 and in NC it is $2.37...big difference

[clroberts]

I filled up the Yesterday in Kansas City, MO and it was 2.27. We have close to the cheapest prices in the country.

[Windy City]

Indiana....2.45.....chicago....3.00

[bailey]

$2.08 in richmond, michigan

[Brad the best]

98.6 per liter . kamloops B.C Canada

[RJS2]

Columbus, Ind $2.34 been gradually falling for last week or so. Hope to see it under $2.00

Someone said at the pump today that prices will be around $2.00 by Thanksgiving. Will wait and see.

:rolleyes:

[Tin]

$2.53 for Sunoco 94

[Panama Red]

$2.31 unleaded regular in Grand Rapids, Mi area.

[blue60007]

$2.40...saw $2.20 or so in the Cincy area....

[Alaron]

Lowest around me in SW OH is $2.19 for regular.

[bailey]

Lowest around me in SW OH is $2.19 for regular.
well now its $2.05 in ravenna, ohio

[Markoman01027]

$2.47 in Chicopee, Massachusetts Mobil Station

[corksil]

That is severly not fair, and extremely un-cool. I live in Maui, Hawaii and gas right now is $3.70/gal for regular, and $3.90/gal for premium. You all are lucky in the sense of gas prices.

.:EDIT:.

I guess I can't complain. I live in Hawaii and hitch-hike most of the time. Still though. Grrrr

[catacon]

$2.19/gal is the lowest I've seen today. Lots of stations have $2.25/gal, though. It's been steadily dropping the past few weeks, so it might hit $2.00 soon.

[bailey]

That is severly not fair, and extremely un-cool. I live in Maui, Hawaii and gas right now is $3.70/gal for regular, and $3.90/gal for premium. You all are lucky in the sense of gas prices.

.:EDIT:.

I guess I can't complain. I live in Hawaii and hitch-hike most of the time. Still though. Grrrr
it cost more to ship it there
and there are no refiners there

[als814]

I guess it figures that by the time gas is at a price where I can actually afford it I'm at school and not buying it anyway.

[Kareeser]

Lowest price in Toronto today is 73.9 cents per liter, which is $2.80 per gallon.

Interestingly, the highest gas prices all come from independant gas companies: Horizon, Speedy Gas, Olco, Ultramar, etc... Lowest prices are from chains, Shells, Esso, etc.

Highest gas price in Toronto is 103.9 cents per litre, which is $3.93 per gallon :eek:

[Redo40]

$2.31 yesterday in central Arkansas

[HAL9000]

89.4 to 96.4 cents per litre here.... I don't feel like doing the math tonight.... you Americans gotta get converted to the metric system like the rest of the world.

[bailey]

89.4 to 96.4 cents per litre here.... I don't feel like doing the math tonight.... you Americans gotta get converted to the metric system like the rest of the world.
I agree with that, but ya gotta have good leadership for that to happen.

[Floppyman]

$2.13 in Des Moines, IA is what a friend told me tonight.

[glc]

Cheapest here right now is $2.69, but I found a gas war last Saturday and paid $2.13.

[juppy]

Ours around here is in the $2.15 to $2.25 range. I saw on the news tonight though that one place in OKC is selling it for $1.99. Doubt that will last long.

[Paintbait]

Usually hangs around $2.50 at the marathon and shell in Burnips (A one horse town with two gas-stations, go figure) it's almost always higher than GR.

[(51)]

$2.29 in Sarasota, FL

What gives? Why such a huge dropoff recently?

[Freakitchen]

Prices have dropped here in the UK, too, though with our heavy taxes, it's still pretty shocking.

I paid 89.9 pence a litre yesterday, £3.40 a US Gallon, $6.36!

FK

[mbossman2]

at gas prices and state tax (http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/statistics/gas_taxes_by_state_2002.html) rates...

[rspassey]

I agree with that, but ya gotta have good leadership for that to happen.

Do it like how we did in Canada - one night the switch happened; it wasn't some slow drawn out process, everything changed almost immediately.

[SonicVanguard]

Paid $2.21 at Costco here in Grand Rapids, MI. Price across the street was $2.30 - but they can never compete with Costco.

[mbossman2]

Paid $2.21 at Costco here in Grand Rapids, MI. Price across the street was $2.30 - but they can never compete with Costco.

it's funny, we have a Walmart gas station right across from a couple of "regular" gas stations and WalMart doesn't really kick anyone's butt, unless you use a Wally world "cash card" (no clue) or Wally world credit card and then it is a 3 cent difference.

One other thing: When are the gas stations going to STOP doing the $2.299 thing? just make it $2.30...

[glc]

Never - in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of electronic pumps adds a digit - so it will be $2.2999.

[HAL9000]

at gas prices and state tax (http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/statistics/gas_taxes_by_state_2002.html) rates...

I should find the nice little pie chart that Petro Canada has on their pumps breaking down gas prices into production/taxes/profit etc... they claim the profit is only 2%... I say bull... nobody is in business for 2% profit on anything.

[doctorgonzo]

It's at $2.29 by where I live, it seems like it has been dropping every single day. According to http://www.twincitiesgasprices.com/ it's as low as $2.19 in places.

Prices have dropped because supplies are higher than expected, it's the end of the summer driving season, and the Iran nuclear program deadline passed without conflict, leading to less concern about future oil supply from Iran.

For most gas stations, gasoline is next to no profit, sometimes less than 5%. Gas stations make their money inside on the crap they sell.

[mbossman2]

I should find the nice little pie chart that Petro Canada has on their pumps breaking down gas prices into production/taxes/profit etc... they claim the profit is only 2%... I say bull... nobody is in business for 2% profit on anything.

their net profit margin for all of Petro Canada for 2005 was 10.67% (net revenue/net earnings) (http://www.petro-canada.ca/annualreport2005/eng/HTML/108.htm).

Now that is for the overall company. Could their retail gasoline division be operating at that (2%)? possible, but highly unlikely.

[doctorgonzo]

Now that is for the overall company. Could their retail gasoline division be operating at that (2%)? possible, but highly unlikely.

Well, their overall retail gas division could have a higher profit than 2%; the 2% profit could just be on gasoline, with higher profits on the convenience-type sales inside.

Everything I have heard from gas station owners is that gas is sold at little or no profit to get customers in the door, and when you sell them candy, junk food, and other stuff you make your money.

[HAL9000]

I find that VERY hard to believe that it is only 2%.... when you take into consideration that there is currently a 7 cent per litre difference (or 7.3%) difference in pricing between the major gas stations and the place here that we call "the cabbie joint"..... and that difference is actually quite small... I've seen it as high as 20 cents per litre which at the time indicated a 16.7% variation. "the cabbie joint" sells just gas... nothing else, other than running their cabs which use thier gas... given a so called 2% profit, I guess the cabbie joint loses money right?

I wouldn't be so quick to believe publicly available numbers. I'm sure they are manipulated in their favor to justify the higher pricing.

[doctorgonzo]

It's not just the publicly available numbers, although they show that profits at the pump are low as well. And yes, some gas stations do sell gasoline below cost and lose money on every sale. In fact, Minnesota passed a law recently to prevent gas stations from selling below cost, in an attempt to prevent situations were large gas stations like Wal-Mart move into town, sell gas below cost and take the hit to drive the other locally-owned gas stations out of business, and then jack up prices once they have no competition. The fact that gas stations have been fined under the law for selling gas below cost shows that it does occur.

[mbossman2]

having worked in a quicky mart (many years ago), gas was a profit item but not a huge one as compared to the "people" fuel we had inside.

If I remember correctly (this was 20 years ago), the margin on the pop etc was targeted at 28-32%...not 100% sure on the gasoline, that pricing and profitability was handled entirely by corporate but looking at the overall store #'s, it was probably in the 3-5% range.

It's not just the publicly available numbers, although they show that profits at the pump are low as well. And yes, some gas stations do sell gasoline below cost and lose money on every sale. In fact, Minnesota passed a law recently to prevent gas stations from selling below cost, in an attempt to prevent situations were large gas stations like Wal-Mart move into town, sell gas below cost and take the hit to drive the other locally-owned gas stations out of business, and then jack up prices once they have no competition. The fact that gas stations have been fined under the law for selling gas below cost shows that it does occur.

intentionally selling below cost in an attempt to drive out competition is considered by the US federal government as anti-competitive behavior, but I doubt the FTC would rain on the quicki-mart with 2 locations...they have other folks to catch.

[glc]

There is little or no money made on regular 87 octane gas. There's a lot of money made on midgrade and premium. Most stations have about a 10 cent difference between grades but the cost difference is closer to 4 cents.

[David M]

Gas is hovering around 3 bucks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I have noticed how there is absolutely no relationship in price to how close a refinery is to the gas station. Here in the Bay Area we have 4 major oil refineries. The gas near the refineries is more expensive than the gas that is found 100 miles to east, north and south. Go figure.

[HAL9000]

It's not just the publicly available numbers, although they show that profits at the pump are low as well. And yes, some gas stations do sell gasoline below cost and lose money on every sale. In fact, Minnesota passed a law recently to prevent gas stations from selling below cost, in an attempt to prevent situations were large gas stations like Wal-Mart move into town, sell gas below cost and take the hit to drive the other locally-owned gas stations out of business, and then jack up prices once they have no competition. The fact that gas stations have been fined under the law for selling gas below cost shows that it does occur.

This is a privately owned cab company... they sell cab service and gas, nothing else... I HIGHLY doubt they are losing money on the gas sales.... and cab driving in Regina is NOT a very lucrative business to be in.

[rjfvillarosa]

At the Esso station in the middle of town today it was 69.9 cents a litre for regular and 79.9 cents a litre for premium thats $2.796 and $3.196 per US gallon respectively.

[Josh1964]

Around 2.39 in Vincennes In. Huzzah for record breaking oil company profits!

[bailey]

its interesting to see the news report that all companies must report there profits and earnning each quater and it is announced on the nightly news broadcast.
it has been pointed out that it is in fact a true fact that the oil companies are making over ONE BILLION DOLLARS A DAY PROFIT ON GASOLINE SALES. so how does that fiqure into 2 % profit as you stated, it looks like its a bit more than that to reach the profit as they reported to the news.

[doctorgonzo]

Oil companies, maybe. But they are the wholesalers, remember. Their markup isn't going to be the same as the markup at the pump, just like M$'s profit on a copy of Windows may be different than the profit that Best Buy receives for actually selling it.

[mbossman2]

profits are a function of margin (markup) and revenue.

at 2% margins and $1billion in profit per day, that works out to $50 billion a day is spent on gasoline (revenue to the oil companies) which works out to be 31 billion gallons of gasoline (at recent gas wholesale prices) which would require approximately 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil (each barrel produces 20 gallons of gas) per day and world consumption is approx 84 million barrels a day, either the the billion dollars in profit a day or profit margin figure doesn't hold much water.

the 10% margin number and using the USA's consumption rate of 20 billion barrels brings us much closer to the $1 billion a day number (and factoring in oil companies other, non-gasoline, ventures probably account for the rest).


Oh yeah, gasoline wholesale price as of this afternoon was between $1.56 and $1.64 (USD) per gallon.

I think someone who deals with commodities and futures would be better suited to explain how that market works with 30, 60, 90 delivery dates and "spot" prices. it makes my head hurt.

David M, you want to take a run at that?

[HAL9000]

I will agree with you doc that oil companies are making way more than the stations, but will never believe the 2% figure. THere are too many stations out there that are without "the extras" and gas sales are the major income.... you can't survive on 2% unless you do a ridiculously huge volume.... for example.. when I worked in a gas station as one of my first jobs... we sold approx 40k litres every 4 days (just gas, no munchies, drinks, etc).... this is when gas was less than half of what they are today... but lets say 50 cents per litre, so profit is 1 cent... ((40000 * 0.01)/4) * 31 = $3100 per month profit... today's standard, $6200... now this is a 24h establishment and you have costs of maintaining the building, heat, power, water, insurance, paying employees, etc.. all on $3100 in 1987 or $6200 today... I don't see how a place like that can survive on that little.. wages alone at minimum wage for a 24 hour station would equate to $4400, $5200 by today's standards .... it just doesn't add up.

[mbossman2]

you can survive with one line of products at 2% if you do this neat thing called blended margins:

you sell $30 at 2% and $5 at 20% (please note these #'s are examples only), the margin ends up 4.5%.

if you take the wholesale number $1.56/gallon add in the MN tax rate ($0.38) and look at Dr gonzo's $2.29, you see $0.35 per gallon (15%) to be split amongst (wholesale price is from the refinery to the next step in the chain):

regional storage depot/distributor
local storage depot/distributor
retailer

not a lot of $$ to spread around

[HAL9000]

Then really, it's not 2% and still a load of puhtooey

[juppy]

I have to agree with those that said there's little to no money being made on 87 octane gas. When I worked at a convenience store, that's the same thing my boss told me, because I told him that people were complaining all the time about our gas prices. He showed me receipts and everything from where he bought the gas from our supplier and how much he was making from it. By the time it was all said and done, we made roughly 5 cents for every gallon of gas (which at the time was selling for about $1.80 or so). He said the same thing about selling the other stuff inside too; the gas gets them in the door and then your store layout and sale signs get them to want to buy something inside the store that you can make more money off of.

[telegramsam]

Spokane Washington--still about $3.00.

Let's see, 6 years of a "compassionate conservative" who's friendly to business, and gas prices have DOUBLED. But hey, rich people got the tax cuts to cover their increased gas bills!

[kstatefan40]

Derby Kansas - $2.25

[bailey]

just got a fill up in Saginaw Mich
at $2.27.

[Underhanded]

I agree with that, but ya gotta have good leadership for that to happen.
Do you know how much it would cost to replace EVERY single speed limit sign, in the country? You know how much work that would be? Good god.
Edit: 3.67 for regular here in Maui

[Freakitchen]

We have metric here in the UK (though I still prefer imperial for height and weight). Road speed limits, however, are still measured in MPH, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

FK

[HAL9000]

Do you know how much it would cost to replace EVERY single speed limit sign, in the country? You know how much work that would be? Good god.
Edit: 3.67 for regular here in Maui

It was done here and everywhere else that converted... and actually, Saskatchewan just changed thier signs on double highways again to increase from 100Kmph to 110Kmph (62Mph to 68Mph).

[mbossman2]

Do you know how much it would cost to replace EVERY single speed limit sign, in the country? You know how much work that would be? Good god.
Edit: 3.67 for regular here in Maui


do what they did in Canada when they switched over: put stickers over the numbers

[bailey]

recently I have made several trips to kansas city missouri from here, port hope michigan, and it is about 1000 miles one way.
I have wrote down the mileage and gallons of gas used at every fill up.
some days the trip would have a lot of traffic and the speed would vary from 65 - 70.
other days there would be hardly any traffic and the average speed would run from 75 to 85 for most of the run, each trip was normally non stop except for gas.

so far I have not seen any change in the gas millage as computed on each trip, it always was close to 24 mpg no matter what speed I was driving, any differences would be in maybe tenth .
so my view is that for me, the speed driven has no effect on the amount of fuel used per 1000 miles,
the route is interstate highways all the way.
the car used is a 2006 dodge carivan.
I leave here with a full tank, fill up in indianspolis, and again just before reaching KC

[rspassey]

do what they did in Canada when they switched over: put stickers over the numbers

Yup; we debated it for a while in Physics a couple days ago - the general consensus of the class is against it; though being Canadian, and having worked in metric units for ever, I'd much prefer it.

[MaxRat]

northern Indiana... $2.12 a gallon...

[TimPoet]

I was elated top find Premium at $2.88/gl yesterday

[bailey]

$1.99 in Houton lake Mich today.

[mbossman2]

http://www.gasbuddy.com/

great source

[DMD]

Get the gov off their behinds and tap The green river formation where there is estamated 400 yr supply of oil?

http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/oilshale/index.cfm

[glc]

Saturday in Grandville, MI - $2.18 for Speedway 87 octane. Today in Batavia, IL - $2.72 for Citgo 93 octane ($2.58 for 87 octane at the same station).

[catacon]

We're down to $2.07 for regular.

[Redfallon]

I've heard a couple of reports of gas at $1.89 at the Costco on Kemper Rd. here in Cincy, and it appears confirmed on Cincygasprices.com (http://www.cincygasprices.com), but I am not sure if that's with any kind of shopper discount card or anything. I assume not since I've heard no mention of it.

[doctorgonzo]

do what they did in Canada when they switched over: put stickers over the numbers

That's what this state did when the national 55 MPH limit was repealed. They just put stickers over the old 55 signs until they were replaced as part of their normal maintenance.

It's down to $2.19 around here now.

[glc]

Red, that's probably a members-only price.

[flanzig1]

$2.13 at a Holiday station

[mbossman2]

gas prices should stabilize shortly. OPEC is going to cut back production to keep prices up.

My guess is that for the winter, gas prices will hover between $2.10 and $2.40 or so (with variations depending upon your prevailing tax situation)

[Redfallon]

gas prices should stabilize shortly. OPEC is going to cut back production to keep prices up.

My guess is that for the winter, gas prices will hover between $2.10 and $2.40 or so (with variations depending upon your prevailing tax situation)

Heard the OPEC news as well. Actually the prevailing price around our area jumped up a few cents when the news came out.

[HAL9000]

gas prices should stabilize shortly. OPEC is going to cut back production to keep prices up.



No price fixing there :rolleyes:

[Parangles]

$2.55 in Plantation, subcity of Ft.Lauderdale.
Things used to be cheaper than the rest of the US
down here in shuffleboard country.
Not any more.

[bailey]

filled up today in Marlette, Michigan, for $2.15

[maximus2688]

Orange County, California - $2.85

[chuck4456]

It's political manipulation. Bush's buddies want to stay in control. As soon as the November elections are over, the prices will shoot back up.

[glc]

Chuck, do NOT turn this into a political discussion.

[doctorgonzo]

Just for the heck of it, here is a chart of how much the price of gas was for me per gallon going back over seven years (I keep track of my mileage in a spreadsheet whenever I fill up).

It's been on a long climb since late 2001, with only a recent drop.

[HAL9000]

For comparison, here is for my area and the site even nicely converts to a US dollar for you.

[doubledragon5]

Here it Lewisvile TX it is down to $2.03 at 7 eleven Citgo.. There are some places here that are still high.. At a local Chevron it is $2.30 just across the street at a Chell it is $2.29.. Prices here are crazy and most stations are withing a 1/2 mile of each other...