OT: Re: katrina ...

[Mike Reinehr]

On Thursday 01 September 2005 09:55 pm, Ronnie Gauthier wrote:
> On Thu, 01 Sep 2005 17:00:39 -0500
>
> Alma J Wetzker <almaw at ieee.org> wrote:
> > Don't be so quick to judge the local petrol companies.  It is true that
> > profiteering is taking place.  The petrol market sets the price at
> > delivery, not at time of order.  We lost refinery capability, at least
> > in the short term, and that raises the prices.  We also lost about 25%
> > of U.S oil supply in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Robber Barons in Chicago
> > have raised the price accordingly, and the price is instantly charged
> > around the globe.
> >
> > Chances are that your local companies just got hit with the new prices
> > themselves.
> >
> >      -- Alma
>
> I live next door to a station. On the other side of me is a used car
> lot then another station, then a street and another station. None has had a
> tanker in the last four days yet their gas jumped from 2.48 to 3.19,
> who is doing who??? Stations take advantage of rising prices to gouge,
> plain and simple, nothing else.

	I don't discount the possibility of gouging. There are stations charging $5 & 
$6 per gallon, which is gouging, but it's not that simple. Put yourself in 
the shoes of an independent station owner for a minute before accusing 
him/her of gouging.

	I don't know the capacity of a tanker truck, but let's say it's 10,000 
gallons. The station owner knows that his _next_ truck is going to cost him 
$0.50 per gallon more than his previous one, because of increases in the 
wholesale cost of gasoline -- which is determined in a commodities trading 
pit in Chicago. That's an increase of $5,000. Unless he quickly raises the 
price of the gasoline that he still has in his tanks, that $5,000 is cash 
that's coming directly out of his pocket.

	Add to that, that the local gas station makes very little profit on gasoline. 
Because of local competition, he's (she's) making next to nothing on 
gasoline. Most of a local station's profit comes from the soda, milk, & other 
products that he (she) sells inside. That's why there are so many more 
convenience stores selling gas these days, rather than pure gas stations.

	I do not own or operate a gas station, but I am a small business owner, and 
I've been through times of inflation before. If your prices don't keep pace 
with inflation, you'll go bankrupt. It's ironic, because your income 
statement shows that you are making a profit, but it's cash that you run 
short of.

	The real problem in this county is that we want cheap gas & plenty of it, but 
no natural resource is without limits. If you are old enough to remember the 
gasoline shortages in the late 70's & early 80's you'll also remember that 
putting a cap on the price of gasoline didn't work. All we got was shortages 
and lines. I'd rather be able to buy gasoline at $4.00 a gallon, than be 
unable to buy it at all at $2.00 a gallon.

	Just my 2 cents worth.

cmr
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"More laws, less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Ciceroca, 42 BC