Gas stations in my town found guilty of price fixing. Do you think it's common?

[gone-ot]

...two ways of making BIG money:

1) PRINT it -- gobberments

2) STEAL it -- corporations.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by cfg83

I think the distinction is evidence of collusion

Agreed. And it is the same standard at the national level. But at the international level, the standard of collusion collapses. Thus, OPEC colludes on capacity in order to set a price and it is not illegal. OPEC is the lead player in a global oligopoly.

[rmay635703]

In my hometown Weston, WI. The station owners used to set down each day bright and early and decide on price at a local restaurant, I got to sit nearby as they discussed the fuel price for the day when I was up early to go to a craft show.

I have no doubt that they still do that, it is worth noting that my hometown is almost always 5 cents to as much as 20 cents per gallon more than other nearby areas. I can't remember them ever being cheaper.

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Agreed. And it is the same standard at the national level. But at the international level, the standard of collusion collapses. Thus, OPEC colludes on capacity in order to set a price and it is not illegal. OPEC is the lead player in a global oligopoly.

This isn't exactly true, of coarse I am talking a national level still but Opec has many times wanted to lower prices in recent years but was not able due to the market price not being dictated by the price out of the ground but instead the price the middlemen in the commodities market set, which is run like a stock market and has much less to do with any real price stimulous and everything to do with feelings and manipulation.

Cut out the middleman and the prices might stablize around the real market price. Right now there is huge anti-market activity going on within the commdities trade making it so demand and price no longer coorelate.

You can thank Reagan for the oil commodities market having no real controls set on it.

[Frank Lee]

I've noticed in my town that when "all" the stations raise their *matching* prices, I have until 10pm that evening to fill up at one station that always lags behind a bit and then matches those higher prices first thing the next morning. When the jump is over 10 cents/gallon (and it often is these days) it can be worth it to make a special trip to fill up, but only because for me, the station is only a mile away.

[trooper Tdiesel]

wilcoxandflegel

i call them wilcoxandfleez-yea


has a major fix in my area, they run or sell fuel to most every fuel site in the area.

only the AM/PM stores and a few others, are getting there's from else where.
i personally think AM\PM is guilty of running more then the 10% ethanol.
cause i get extra crappy mpg on there gas....and its not worth the 10/15 cents per gal savings. when you look at it in cost per mile....

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

In my hometown Weston, WI. The station owners used to set down each day bright and early and decide on price at a local restaurant, I got to sit nearby as they discussed the fuel price for the day when I was up early to go to a craft show.

I have no doubt that they still do that, it is worth noting that my hometown is almost always 5 cents to as much as 20 cents per gallon more than other nearby areas. I can't remember them ever being cheaper.



This isn't exactly true, of coarse I am talking a national level still but Opec has many times wanted to lower prices in recent years but was not able due to the market price not being dictated by the price out of the ground but instead the price the middlemen in the commodities market set, which is run like a stock market and has much less to do with any real price stimulous and everything to do with feelings and manipulation.

Cut out the middleman and the prices might stablize around the real market price. Right now there is huge anti-market activity going on within the commdities trade making it so demand and price no longer coorelate.

You can thank Reagan for the oil commodities market having no real controls set on it.

Good point about the futures speculators. But though it suggests the limits of OPEC power on the final price, it does not disprove the presence of an oligopoly. I also don't think it follows that removing the middlemen would create a "real market" because removing speculators would only increase the oligopoly's relative pricing power. Prices would move differently, but not freely. Efforts by OPEC to artificially lower prices such as you cite are often either geopolitical or market manipulative in nature, not responses to competition or demand. One reason they have wanted to keep prices down is to dampen the relative appeal of alternative fuel development. IIRC, in the recent past OPEC announced they were pricing into oil the cost to their revenues of ethanol/gasoline mixtures. Such efforts are consistent with a market structured as an oligopoly. If speculators step in and run the price up that's a separate problem. But I agree the speculators are a complicating element and an important one.

[ps2fixer]

It seems my area has a similar setup. Most if not all the gas stations will jump/drop together at about the same time. I have been buying gas at a station closer to my house which is more of a smaller station and for what ever reasion, I get better MPG out of their 5-10 cents / gal higher prices which makes it a savings for me. They confirmed there is ethanol in the gas, so i'm guessing either they are the correct 10% mix, or lower than the others in the area. The worker didn't know what the mix was, he just knew there was ethanol in the gas.

Would love to see a ethanol free gas station in the area....

[slowmover]

You guys are worried about a few retail outlets selling a few thousand gallons per week. I live in a city with several of the worlds' largest refineries. This is not Houston the sixth largest city in North America, but a "city" smaller than some of the suburbs of that city. We're just a few hundred thousand people several hundred miles away from any other metro areas, large or small.

Do you think our fuel prices are the lowest in the State? In the nation? After all, there is no transportation "cost" worthy of the name to distribute fuel locally.

Ha!

And I wouldn't drive a half mile out of my way to "save" on fuel unless the difference was 10% not 10-cents per gallon.

.

[ps2fixer]

I would dive a half mile to save 10 cents / gal! I normally get 9-10 gals so that is $1 saved with an extra cost of 9 cents + ~2 mins of my time extra... that is ~$15.30 per hour which isn't the greatest, but is better than nothing. I guess it would come down to do you have more time than money, or more money than time.

[Frank Lee]

I fill when I see the price jump AND I can buy enough i.e. I've been vaguely aware that the thirsty pickup is getting near empty so might as well fill it- and some gas cans too- before the jump and save $4-5.00 or more. No, if the car has half a tank, that isn't enough to prompt a special trip.