Dan
Some businesses operate with the belief that good business is only based on how much profit they can make. They forget that good business also means dealing with customers in honest and moral ways.
As hurricane Ike approached our area, gas prices began to soar. The price of gas from the gas station down the street went from $3.47 to 3.79 on Thursday, and it has continued to rise to its current price of $4.09. Everywhere in town is $4.09 or above, including Walmart and Kroger. Everywhere, that is, except the Raceway. It remains at $3.55. I am going to fill up there whenever I can. There are some places that remain honest and will not use a natural disaster to artificially raise profits. Thank you, Raceway!
Do you know of a businesses that deserves praise for ‘good’ business practices? I would love to hear your stories.
Unfortunately, the wholesale price of gas has risen, so if a gas station got its delivery after the wholesale price went up in response to Ike, they have had no choice but to raise prices. The Raceway may have a different supplier or smartly “stocked up” for the impending storm. Or, the wholesale price remained the same and the stores raised their prices out of greed.
However, It’s very rare that the convenience stores that make a big profit from gas. They usually make between 10 and 15 cents per gallon if you pay cash. With everyone paying with a credit card now, as well, much of that profit is eaten up by the credit card charges (which can be as high as 3% per transaction plus a per transaction processing fee ($0.10-$0.25).
Quite right. There could be several factors that contributed to the Raceway maintaining its price. Whatever the reason, I hope they keep it up and teach other stations to emulate it. The convenient store owners are not all to blame. I wish I could send the big companies a message, but I don’t buy from them, at least not directly. Maybe my patronage to responsible stations will send the message for me. That’s my hope, anyway, and the only way I know how to send the big companies any sort of message. I will continue to patronize and tell my friends about businesses that are offering good value to the consumer.
There is definitely corruption higher up in the system. Gas/oil companies are no longer good citizens of our society. We are addicted to gas, and they are the dealers. They squeeze what they can, just up to the breaking point, but not enough for society to rise in open revolt. They have world record profits to show for it. We should be very concerned about how fast gas prices have risen in the past couple of years. I also think OPEC is a four letter word.