When Gas Stations Run Out of Gas (priced out of market)

[phantom power]

Don't panic! It's not a shortage, you see. :rofl:

Don't be surprised to see more filling stations with empty pumps. But don't panic either. There isn't a gasoline shortage like there was in the 1970s.

What's happening is that filling stations have had their margins squeezed. Credit-card companies charge by the dollar, pushing up costs per gallon that filling stations pay to work with banks. And forget about sneaking in a few pennies' worth of profit. Consumers are bargain-shopping like never before. The upshot: Some filling stations either can't stay in business or are just barely hanging on.

Plenty of filling stations have already gone under. Last year, 3,184 of the nation's 164,292 gasoline stations closed their doors and went out of business, the biggest drop in five years, according to National Petroleum News. In the mid-1990s, there were more than 200,000 stations in the U.S. Experts think there are more closures to come.

Even ExxonMobil (XOM), the world's largest integrated oil company, is getting out of the retail business. On June 12, the Irving (Texas) company announced it would be selling all of its 2,225 U.S. filling stations and convenience stores.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jun2008/bw20080616_634598.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_lifestyle

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. "National Petroleum News"

:rofl:

[damntexdem]

2. Right, there will still be PLENTY of gas.

We just won't happen to have access to it.

No big deal, I guess.

After all, isn't it the journey that's important, not getting there? If so, what does it matter that a journey takes days that used to take hours and minutes?

;-)