on 3/18/04 9:05 AM, BARRY OLIVER at DHSPA58@dhs.state.il.us wrote:
> but how about Bloomington
> which is typically 8-12 cents higher than, say Peoria or
Springfield,
>>> blkwidow1@primary.net 03/18/04 05:56PM >>>
You could have three types of fuel in as many counties. Not saying that
is
the case, but it happens.
Again, I mentioned the "Yuppie factor"-charging what the market will
bear.
Prices in affluent neighborhoods here are higher than in less affluent
areas.
Illinois prices are higher than in MO, as our taxes are lower.
Read an article where oil is now 38.10 a barrel, yet demand is going
up.
Reserves are down. We still have no new refineries built in recent
history,
and some have closed due to EPA regs. It is becoming harder to meet
the
demand.
In 1970 cars got 10-15 mpg and gas was about 50 cents. Now cars get
30-40
mpg and gas here is 1.55. Looks like a wash to me. (free with fill up)
Priced eggs or milk lately?
Jon
STL MO
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
#1 As far as I am concerned the "yuppie factor" is profiteering/ price
gouging also, but I think yo uare missing my point. I agree that gas
prices have not "kept up" with inflation in the sense that Milk and eggs
have (I pay $2 a gal for milk, can't remember the last time I bought an
egg that wasn't part of a McMuffin).
The part that I have such a problem with is not the trends, not the
overall raising of the average price, it's the total line of BS that we
are being sold that the day to day fluctuations in the price of gas have
anything to do with the "market." If it were anything more than simple
greed then, by definition it would be more consistant. Oil from
Venezwherever that costs $1 more a barrel shouldnt cause the gas station
down the street to raise it's price $.20 a gallon but *NOT* affect the
station on the other side of town. Is EVERY gas station near you
$1.55? I doubt it. Oh, and as far as the "different formiulation"
excuse you proposed, I call BS on that too. That's just pure
mis-information. Sure, larger cities require "oxygenated fuels" and
different apparatus, but in the examples I gave [Peoria, Bloomington and
Springfield, ILLINOIS] There are no clean air regulaations and no
special vapor recovery equipment. The same fleet of trucks services all
of an individual companies' stations in a region, and all of the gas
comes from the same distribution points. There are 6 basic types here,
[87, 89, 91 -or 92, Summer and Winter diesel - which *IS* formulated
differently] It's not uncommon to see one brand of truck unloading gas
at a different brand's station.
It's the SAME gas. There's one station I know of that only gets
deliveries of 2 grades of gas, 87 and 91. The 89 is mixed in the tank
by dropping "x" amount of 87 and "x" amount of 91. I know this because
I worked there and I actually was instructed on how to do it, and was
responsible for doing the mixing for over a year. Our Station got gas
wherever it was cheapest. We had our own distribution network and our
own gas trucks, but at least once a month, we'd get one or two loads
from someone else. Our Gas price fluctuations never corresponded with
deliveries, we would usually get a phone call around 10 am during the
week telling us to go up 15-20 cents either before noon or before 4pm.
Then we would have to go do Gas surveys of all of the surrounding
stations and once they had all matched our price, we would drop a penny
- without ant input from corporate. The next day the rest of the
stations would follow suit, and the cycle would repeat. It's a scam,
plain and simple, but then if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes
true, right?
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