Gas station owners price gouging again.

[Driver72]

Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy that gas prices are back down to a reasonable and appropriate levels, however, I thought price gouging was illegal. Because I've noticed the gas stations around here have raised their prices .12-.18 a gallon (a 8-10% increase) in the last 2-3 days. Clearly in an attempt to make a bunch more money for the holiday season.
This despite the fact oil prices have continued to drop and not rise!
Also I recently read a poll that asked Americans if they plan on driving more now that oil/gas prices are back down to acceptable levels. That poll showed something like 60-70% of Americans said they were going to continue to drive LESS (as they started to do because of the gas prices rising huge amounts in 2007 to mid 2008.
On top of that, large truck and SUV sales have tanked and more and more people are buying more gas efficient cars.

So less driving overall, less gas guzzling vehicles on the road, dropping oil prices, yet 10% rise in gas prices in the last couple days. Hmm wonder when the government is going to look into price gouging and fining companies for doing so. Oh yeah, that's right probably never.

And for those who say "supply and demand" well again, people say they are driving less, and knowing that consumers are going to spend a bunch of money this time of year, other industries don't RAISE their prices to price gouge, they actually LOWER their prices to encourage even more spending and therefore more demand.
Also, gas prices have more than cut in half in 5 months.
Surely Americans aren't driving 1/2 the amount they were 5 months ago, so again surely that proves the oil companies DO price gouge and the "low supply" excuse they use and did use months ago was full of crap.

When are the oil companies going to be held to the same standard as every other business?

[Bimmer Nerd]

here in LA they are increasing gas prices too, not that its a HUGE increase but still i see increases from 5-15 cents depending on the location. studies predict that gas prices will go up back to 3-4$ a gallon within the next year or so, maybe less.

[darkphantom]

http://gasprices.mapquest.com/

dunno man 1.32 here is the lowest I've seen yet

[Spoolin335]

were paying .68c/L which is about $2.58/Gallon i think.
3.8L - 1 Gallon?
so $1.30/Gallon is awesome

when i was in Vegas, it was 1.70/Gallon and i was laughing at how cheap is was.

[Joonsup]

I was asking a coworker about this b/c the 75 station i go to increased the price of premium from $1.90-$2.09. He said something about them buying futures or some crap which made it sound like they purchased the gas ahead of time so it's reflecting those prices or something? I couldnt follow exactly, but it made sense at the time. But now i have no clue what he meant. lol

[samwoo2go]

Originally Posted by joonsup

I was asking a coworker about this b/c the 75 station i go to increased the price of premium from $1.90-$2.09. He said something about them buying futures or some crap which made it sound like they purchased the gas ahead of time so it's reflecting those prices or something? I couldnt follow exactly, but it made sense at the time. But now i have no clue what he meant. lol

they hedged their position on gas, which is kind of like buying insurance on gas betting that oil prices has hit rock bottom so they pay a little more than everyone else for them right now and if shit hits the fan later and next year when everyone else is paying 8 billion dollars a gallon, they can still get gas for the same amount they are paying right now but able to sell at market price thus reaping huge profits.

this is actually exactly how southwest were able to lower their airfare prices when all other airlines struggle to survive and cutting cost and raising prices on that huge gas price increase a little back. They hedged their gas.

Also European car makers such as our beloved BMW are and will be able to maintain about the same price on their cars in north America despite the falling dollar against the Euro is because most of them hedged the dollar against the euro.

[darkphantom]

Good info, thanks

[nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Originally Posted by Driver72

Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy that gas prices are back down to a reasonable and appropriate levels, however, I thought price gouging was illegal. Because I've noticed the gas stations around here have raised their prices .12-.18 a gallon (a 8-10% increase) in the last 2-3 days. Clearly in an attempt to make a bunch more money for the holiday season.
This despite the fact oil prices have continued to drop and not rise!
Also I recently read a poll that asked Americans if they plan on driving more now that oil/gas prices are back down to acceptable levels. That poll showed something like 60-70% of Americans said they were going to continue to drive LESS (as they started to do because of the gas prices rising huge amounts in 2007 to mid 2008.
On top of that, large truck and SUV sales have tanked and more and more people are buying more gas efficient cars.

So less driving overall, less gas guzzling vehicles on the road, dropping oil prices, yet 10% rise in gas prices in the last couple days. Hmm wonder when the government is going to look into price gouging and fining companies for doing so. Oh yeah, that's right probably never.

And for those who say "supply and demand" well again, people say they are driving less, and knowing that consumers are going to spend a bunch of money this time of year, other industries don't RAISE their prices to price gouge, they actually LOWER their prices to encourage even more spending and therefore more demand.
Also, gas prices have more than cut in half in 5 months.
Surely Americans aren't driving 1/2 the amount they were 5 months ago, so again surely that proves the oil companies DO price gouge and the "low supply" excuse they use and did use months ago was full of crap.

When are the oil companies going to be held to the same standard as every other business?

your post stinks of misinformation and lack of knowledge. All I'm going to say is, you are wrong.

[BOOSTFTW]

Originally Posted by ferrari355fi

your post stinks of misinformation and lack of knowledge. All I'm going to say is, you are wrong.

+1

[pmeloche]

Originally Posted by Spoolin335

were paying .68c/L which is about $2.58/Gallon i think.
3.8L - 1 Gallon?
so $1.30/Gallon is awesome

when i was in Vegas, it was 1.70/Gallon and i was laughing at how cheap is was.

You also have to factor in the exchange rate which is now CAD $1 = USD $0.82 so our gasoline at CAD $0.68/L does equal to USD $2.11/U.S. Gallon ($2.58 times 0.82). Still, we pay more than the americans.

[Spoolin335]

i dont think exchange rate plays a big role. even when our dollar was better then the american, we were still getting gouged. go to gasbuddy.com you can see trends. we have always payed more because we can.