Gas station economics lesson

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006, Snow wrote:

> I have seen that a few times, were the station runs out (out= really low
> since the tank design prevents them from being pumped dry) of regular fuel
> and offers the mid grade fuel for the same price

No can do. Mid-test is made by mixing regular with premium. There is not a
separate storage tank for mid-test. If they're out of regular OR
high-test, they're out of mid-test, too.

Daniel J. Stern wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Jan 2006, Mike T. wrote:
>
> >> And yet the oil companies carry on bitching and moaning about their
> >> almost-nonexistent profit margins at the gas pump (even as they post
> >> record billion-dollar quarterly profits...) and the government carries
> >> on making periodic lackadaisical "investigations" into gas prices,
> >> never finding any evidence of funny business.
>
> > Ever notice how when the investigations start, prices drop like a rock
> > for a while. And then when the investigation is dropped, we are back to
> > (pre-investigation) prices within a week or two?
>
> ...and, the *instant* the price of a barrel of crude goes up by five
> cents, gas prices zoom skyward. "We have to cover our raw-material costs",
> is the explanation. When crude prices drop by four bucks a barrel, gas
> prices remain high. "We can't lower prices until we've sold off all the
> gasoline made with higher-priced raw materials", is the explanation.

Then there is their practice of raising prices the instant the
suppliers price rises no matter that they have full tanks of gas they
already paid for at the lower price. I can see some point to that. It
doesn't seem to work in a dropping price market tho. The prices seem
to stay at the higher rate until they get a new fill-up at the lower
price.

Harry K

>> Oil companies are publicly owned. Their profits are a matter of public record. None deny their profits and they shouldn't have to. As long as consumers create demand exceeding supply profits will remain exactly as you and I would like if we owned oil company stock. If you find the profits of petroleum comapnies objectionable don't buy, or reduce your consumption of, petroleum related products. That's capitalism at work, baby... <<

Oil company profits buy lobbyists and politicians who then pass laws
favorable to the oil companies. Politicians retire and get cushy
high-paid jobs in the oil industry. And so forth. It's not capitalism,
its corporate socialism.

YourAdHere wrote: <brevity snip>
>> If you find the profits of petroleum comapnies objectionable don't buy, or reduce your consumption of, petroleum related products. That's capitalism at work, baby... <<
>
> Oil company profits buy lobbyists and politicians who then pass laws
> favorable to the oil companies. Politicians retire and get cushy
> high-paid jobs in the oil industry. And so forth. It's not capitalism,
> its corporate socialism.
-----
I was referring to the laws of supply and demand. Sorry if that wasn't
clear.

Call it what you want... Americans get the govenment they deserve...
because the population as a whole is overwhelmingly too stupid and/or
intellectually lazy to demand better.
-----

- gpsman

Invest in oil and oil services stock and enjoy the ride too! (pun
intended). You too can benefit from profits of any public company...and
may already be in your retirement funds.

Daniel J. Stern, > was motivated to say this in
rec.autos.driving on Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:45:27 -0500:
> Truck needed fuel, so I waited for the witching hour (10pm) when gas
> prices drop for an hour around here.

Stupid question, but what is so magical about 22:00 that causes your gas
prices to drop for an hour?

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006, necromancer wrote:

> Daniel J. Stern, > was motivated to say this in
> rec.autos.driving on Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:45:27 -0500:
>> Truck needed fuel, so I waited for the witching hour (10pm) when gas
>> prices drop for an hour around here.
>
> Stupid question, but what is so magical about 22:00 that causes your gas
> prices to drop for an hour?

Beats me, but that's the way it works around here.

gpsman wrote:
> Daniel J. Stern wrote: <brevity snip>
> > That they could keep the station open, pay the power bill and pay the
> > employee with the unit price of high-test slashed 20? (an 18.4% price cut)
> > tells us something about the fat profit margins the oil companies swear up
> > and down don't exist.
> -----
> Oil companies are publicly owned. Their profits are a matter of public
> record.

You don't understand how the business world works. There are millions
of ways to hide profits. One of the favorite tactics is giving all the
execs a huge "bonus" whenever it looks like earnings are gonna come in
super high.

Scott en Aztlán, > was motivated to say
this in rec.autos.driving on Sun, 15 Jan 2006 18:15:16 -0800:
>
> I'm afraid to ask how you came to notice this little factoid...

Maybe he is generally out and about at 22:00? Not everyone keeps bankers
hours and goes to bed at 21:30, Scott...

"James C. Reeves" > wrote in message
...
>
> Invest in oil and oil services stock and enjoy the ride too! (pun
> intended).

Not a good idea. It's like investing in dodo bird processing plants. -Dave