I had a talk with a local independent gas station owner .....

[Stinky The Clown]

He's feeling as squeezed as everyone else is. He sells Sunoco. He makes most of his money in the service bays. He sells gas as low as he can, and often lower than he can - literally losing money on every gallon pumped.

His is a small two-bay station built in the 60s and originally operated by his Dad. It was the only station for miles around back then ... and used to sell Texaco. He changed to Sunoco when he took over from his Dad because Sunoco had a sub-regular grade that he could sell as a loss leader and allow him to advertise lower prices than the big company-owned stations that popped up around him.

Now, it seems, those company-owned stations are hell-bent to put him out of business. They are either getting a better deal from the supplier or they're selling at a loss across the board. He is, quite simply, unable to both compete and make even a tenth of a cent profit per gallon.

I guess what I'm saying is ..... even some gas retailers are getting as fucked as the rest of us. The difference is, we just dig deeper. For him .... he has nowehere to even dig deeper. The more he digs, the closer he gets to being out of business.

I feel bad for this guy and have decided that instead of trying to get my gas at Costco for about 10 cents less than elsewhere, whenever I'm over that way (15 miles from me) I'll continue to support him with all my gas purchases. The guy's a Dem too, by the way.

[gordianot]

1. It is easy to forget stations are also getting the bad end.

[Wickerman]

2. Are you helping him by buying gas from him?

Seems you would help at the service bays and thru any convenience items he may sell. However, purchasing gas at which he takes a loss wouldn't seem to help.

He is in a helluva fix. I recall when all small business people I knew said you would be crazy to vote anything but Republican if you owned your own business. Now, surely those folks are coming to see that has come back to bite him. Not saying this guy has got what he deserved - not by any stretch as you didn't say how he voted. Just that the small business guy the Rethug party was supposed to champion has been swallowed whole by those who they trusted.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Couple of things ......

First, good point about helping him or not!

Next, as I said in the last line of my OP, he's a Dem and always has been. As was his Dad (who I also know).

As for small businesspeople being reliably Repub, that's probably true on a national basis. I am also a small business person and have been for (seems like) forever. That Repub line of shit stopped playing for the others I know long ago. Back in the Reagan years, actually. At least the ones I know in this area.

[Wickerman]

12. cool

lest I missed my point by attacking Repubs in a thread that had nothing to do with voting habits - my hat is off to this gentleman. I hope he can find some way to turn the corner.

I am so sick of corporate personhood taking all that was good about our country and turning it into more and more for the already have mores. Living in a small midwest town it kills me to see our small businesses going under due to Walmart and predatory practices by the large corps and yet on caucus night seeing those same businessmen going into the Republican caucus.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. Yup. The repubs are not the business party -

they are the big business monopoly party. It's during their times that small businesses and family farms go under.

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. The small time gas station owners almost always lose money on gas,

so I can imagine it's much worse now than in other times. They usually have to recoup their expenses by keeping merchandise prices (or repair prices, if they run a garage) high. It's really a no-win situation for them.

To add to what Wickerman said, if he sells convenience items, I'd support him that way, if I were you. Just the occasional quart of milk or Twinkie for the road. :)

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Don't **ever* say

'Twinkie' to a fat guy. I have no resistence! :)

[Beware the Beast Man]

7. Why do you think I thought of it?

:D

[physioex]

4. I sympathize with the retailers......

They have to make a living as well, and yes they do not make money on gasoline rather the items they sell at the store.

[MuseRider]

8. My guy just quit.

He could not keep it up. I am sad for him and this forces me to drive miles to find diesel fuel and the only other stations there are have a credit card limit that forces me to go to two of them to fill my tank.

This is all just nuts.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. It always is good policy to try to work with the small local retailers.

Sometime it is easy to forget that the local gas station owner can be one of them.

[Epiphany4z]

10. One of our local

stations stopped selling gas and went to repair only. This left the one other gas station free to really raise the price.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. That's been a trend around here for quite a while

In fact, this guy and one other station are the only two indies left in the area. All the others are company-owned. Quite a few of the indies went into the repair-only business and are generally better than the car dealerships.

Car dealerships are also, technically, small businesses. Not that anyone would notice, though. And to my own personal observation, are, indeed the small business that are also rleiably republican.

[slide to the left]

11. I buy local

Whenever I can. There is a great place that has a farmer's market in it by me. It might be 10c more per gallon, by even in my tahoe that is only $3s difference. IT was the jump from $1 when I bought the car to $3 that killed me. We are trading the Tahoe in this week.

[KansDem]

13. "some gas retailers are getting as fucked as the rest of us"

The fellow I go to sometimes runs a Sinclair station. Actually, he manages 3 bays for repair and sells gas for the owner. He told me a couple of months ago that he only gets around 3 cents per gallon sold. I found that hard to believe but this thread only corroborates that.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. Gas at retail has alwys been little more than a commodity

And the margins have always been razor-thin. The business is truly one where volume matters.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, in another life I worked for a big compoany that, among its many business areas, operated the concessions we all know and love in airports. Their motto was "Sell the hot dogs for fifty bucks. You only need to sell one a day."

[guidod]

14. I go to a Valero station about 6 blocks

from my house. It's usually the same price as Costco. There's a Shell station directly across the street from the Valero which is always 6 to 8 cents more per gallon.

[LuckyLib]

17. The drive offs in our area have really increased. And the poor

owners are screwed. As one said, "Don't think you're sticking it to the oil companies. They are not stupid. They get their money up front. It's the station owner you're stealing from." The oil companies have brought out the worst in all of us!

[jackster]

19. within the last couple of years...

several locally operated Mobil stations have gone out of business - the operators say they just couldn't compete with the prices they were required to charge by Mobil pricing

I buy Citgo when I can = or something that is locally owned and operated - I support the small businessman but not the MobilExxon CEO! I'll never buy gus again from those greedy sob's

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Is your Citgo station owner operated?

I don't know how Citgo runs their business. Some companies own all their retail outlets while others are a mixture of both.

[RB TexLa]

21. If by "lower than he can" he means below the state minimum he will face

civil fines. 23 states have a minimum mark up on retail gasoline, and trust me they will be watching for anyone breaking the law right now.



Edited to correct Most to 23 states have fair marketing laws regarding retail gasoline sales. I saw that you are in Maryland which does have a fair marketing law.

"Maryland strengthened its existing law by requiring the state comptroller to investigate allegations of below-cost gas sales within three days."

Apparently they don't have a required mark-up but do prohibit retail gasoline sells that are below cost. Your friend should be careful if he is violating the law.