A gas station owner vents

[jean]

My husband stopped at a Mobil station in an affluent part of town yesterday and filled the tank with $2.79/gal gas.

He paid in the store and mumbled something about gas going up to four bucks a gallon. The older man at the register, who turned out to be the station owner, let loose with expletive-laced comments about Bush, The Republicans, the economy, pricing, credit card companies and a little about Tenet. Here are some samplings:

"I'm a lifelong republican and I voted for that little (expletive) and all the republican (expletive) and I will NEVER in my life, EVER!!! vote republican again."

"The last time these (expletive) were in charge they (expletive) it up. This time the same thing happened. When republicans control the White House and the Congress they (expletive) IT UP!!! (he forgot about the Supremes...)

"And they've (expletive) up the economy so bad my business is suffering. There used to construction and landscaping crews coming in all the time to gas up and buy merchandise but they're not around anymore. People aren't having that work done around here - money is tight."

"I used to have a night shift but no more. As the price of gas goes up people stay home."

"Two bucks or four bucks a gallon - I make the same money regardless of the price."

"The (expletive) credit card companies make a killing on gas pricing. And Mobil, with 80 billion in profits, can't see fit to negotiate a better deal with Visa for their station owners??? Visa gets 13 cents plus 2% every time a customer fills their tank using a credit card. That's about $1.75 per fill on average."

"Did you see that (expletive) Tenet on 60 Minutes??? They should take the whole gang of crooks and put em in prison!!! It's all about the oil. All about them raking in the money."

Another customer entered the store and he piped down. My husband left, hoping the owner would repeat for the fresh set of ears.

[Little Wing]

1. uh huh

[meldroc]

2. Don't take your gas price rage out on the stations.

The gas stations on the street get a razor-thin profit margin on gasoline sales - there's so much competition between stations that they can't get more than a couple cents per gallon of profit - the vast majority of the money goes to the oil companies, who are raking in record profits.

[jean]

3. I usually pay with a bank card but no more. Cash only - keep those

(expletive) credit card moguls out of your pockets! No wonder there's record profits for Big Oil and Big Credit.

[NMDemDist2]

6. the Credit Card rates he quoted are about average for EVERY CC transaction

if we all paid with cash we'd see prices drop because the merchants wouldn't have to build in a 3% CC fee into every product

:shrug:

[Tesha]

18. Dream on!

> ...we'd see prices drop...

Dream on!

Tesha

[jean]

31. well, I'm going to pay by cash or check instead of bank card now just to

keep more the money from being siphoned off by Visa, Mastercard, etc. That's no dream - they won't get their cut if you don't use their damn card.

[raccoon]

34. In my neck of the woods, most places you have to prepay if you don't

pay with credit or debit card. Can't blame them, I'm sure there were lots of drive-offs so the gas stations started that policy.

Just a heads up.

[lildreamer316]

32. Is debit card the same way?

I didn't think so....but maybe I'm wrong.

[Rosemary2205]

44. My debit card purchases are processed by Visa

At the ATMs it's processed by Loomis Fargo (who contracts with my bank to handles all it's ATMs)

[dragonlady]

8. Stations can't even charge less if they wanted to

The owner of our regular (Citgo!) station explained it to dragongentleman. If he prices his gas much below the station across the street, he'll sell out quickly and won't get another delivery until the scheduled date, so he'd have to close until then. That's not good for business in the long run.

I remember back in my childhood when my dad owned a gas station and every so often the local stations would get into a gas war. (It was maybe 30 cents a gallon then.) Good for the consumers, bad for the small businessman trying to support a family on a very modest income.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. Why isn't that good for business?

Let's say he sells out early, and he closes. His operating costs go down too - less electricity, labor, etc. for the days he's closed. Am I missing something?

[bullwinkle428]

I'm guessing it's because he would lose out on the non-gasoline sales,

which is where the stations make the bulk of their profit.

[EstimatedProphet]

23. Good point

[jmowreader]

45. The BULK of their profit?

After paying for the gas, the pump, the electricity to run the pump, the occasional inspections to prove the pump is accurate to the state's satisfaction, insurance, rent...these guys basically sell gas at a loss.

The money's in cigarettes and beer.

[bullwinkle428]

19. I'm guessing it's because he would lose out on the non-gasoline sales,

which is where the stations make the bulk of their profit.

[LisaM]

20. Well most stations sell more than just gas - ours all sell food, pop

and have services, too.

Not to mention the workers - how is it good for anyone with a job to have to take a few unpaid days off? Would you work under those conditions?

[EstimatedProphet]

24. Also a good point

[dragonlady]

21. Customers can't count on him

Sometimes he'll be open, sometimes not, when they want to fill up. Eventually those who want a reliable station to have a relationship with will go elsewhere.

[EstimatedProphet]

25. Also a good point

[Solon]

27. To tell a story, as a former gas station attendent...

I worked for CFM, Convenient Food Mart, who, with Shell, sells gas. Anyways, I was working at one of their stores off of a major road in St. Peters, Missouri, Mexico Road, I was still in training, my second week or so in employment with them. OK, so, I was working an afternoon 10 hour shift, and the store manager worked the morning, and just left. All of the sudden I was slammed with people buying a shitload of gas, I'm talking about a LINE of cars, on Mexico road, that stretched a good mile. Anyways, I barely had time to turn on the damned outdoor lights when it got dark, had to go in the back to turn on the switches.

Anyways, I noticed that our gas prices were a whole DIME lower than our competitor across the street, Phillips-66. This was in 2000, gas prices, on average, were less than 2 dollars a gallon. Anyways, I was able to get in touch with the store manager, and told her what was happening, it was a weekday, for crying out loud, and I worked over 6 hours trying to keep up with everybody trying to get gas. She apologized and said she FORGOT to change the gas prices, she got a printout from the gas inventory machine to up the price a dime that day, and forgot to change it. So she came in and changed the prices for me, and then told me to take off, she took over my shift.

What I did notice is that we sold almost HALF our inventory in gas that day. By the way, yes, I was alone for the entire shift, till she came back in. To say that I was overworked was putting it lightly. I quit soon afterwards.

[CabalPowered]

4. Scarborough was quoting Buckley last night

I guess he said earlier in the week that the Republican party might not survive Junior. Lets hope he's right!

:bounce:

[Rydz777]

9. Buckley

wrote an article titled "The Waning of the Republican Party." He also said some time ago that the war was a mistake and he should never have supported it. I honestly think that Bush has brought his party to the same situation the Whigs were in just before they went out of business.

[Selatius]

16. Now you just need a major wedge issue like slavery was back then to drive them out of power

Back then, the Whigs lost power because the party as a whole wouldn't take a stand on the issue of slavery. As a result, the party broke down along regional lines. The Republicans were born in the north as a result, and many southern Whigs became Democrats, and others who wanted reconciliation joined the Constitutional Union Party.

[Virginia Dare]

29. Immigration?..n/t

[roamer65]

40. * is starting to remind me of former PM Brian Mulroney of Canada.

He led the Progressive Conservative party straight into the crapper. In 1988, they won a majority of seats in Parliament. Next election they only won 2 seats. Mulroney is a laughing stock to this day.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Money Quote:

"I used to have a night shift but no more. As the price of gas goes up people stay home."

I have a police scanner. I stay up late a lot and I have it on. Over the last 4 years, I have noticed a very large dropoff in police activity after around 8:00 to 9:00 PM. Why? There just aren't any cars on the road. People are staying home.

This has to be affecting the economy in ways that just don't get measured by the government. Also, I really doubt that this isn't part of a grander plan. Something along the lines of tightening the screws on the American people any and every way they can. Especially when it comes to recreation and spare time.

[marions ghost]

22. a lot of people don't have money

and others are afraid of not having any money. There is so much uncertainty. It's gotta be bad for bizness. I have noticed less people shopping but I'm not sure about other forms of recreation, since I don't recreate much. I know I try to do several stops when I go out to do errands. Have cut down on side trips. Less gasoline, less electricity, less consumption.

When I asked the power company recently why we were paying a large fee called an "energy surcharge" for the last year, the customer rep said point blank, "well, y'know we've all gotta pay for Katrina and Iraq." That's an exact quote. I didn't say it to her, but nothing she could have said would make me more determined to cut down than that!

[Sammy Pepys]

7. Was your husband taking notes or something? n/t

....

[jean]

10. haha, no, he was just amazed at the rant and talked it about when he got home

And we both hoped the guy would continue with every customer.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

11. ...yet he still charges every penny he can for the gas,,,

WAY too little. WAY too late. :shrug:

[deadmessengers]

13. WTF do you expect a small businessman to do

These guys aren't big oil - they're just as beholden to the oil cartels as we are, and in some ways, even more so. They're franchisees - most of the time, gas stations are owned by someone who put his life savings into a business, and are just trying to make it work. The wholesale price of gas isn't something he can control - all he can do is try to make a small profit to keep his head above water.

[Solon]

28. The prices aren't set by the gas stations themselves...

They either buy the gas, on the condition that they cannot raise or lower the prices set by the gas company that provides it, or they are shipped the gas and are covered for the cost of providing it by the gas company, but can't profit from the gas itself.

[seabeyond]

35. ya, business owners should work for free. that will fix things.

:shrug:

[MOD]

14. So the owner is connecting Bush

and VISA in some plot? I'm sure Mobil would try and get better rates from VISA if they could but there are not many other competitors for credit card companies, (Mastercard Discover and AMEX)

[jean]

17. not sure about that, but he was an irate republican who will never vote

republican again, or so he says.

[bullwinkle428]

15. Dude filling up next to my car yesterday wanted Bush impeached as well!

He sure went on a rant with regards to fuel prices and Bush's views on immigrants/guest workers as well...I told him I've felt that way since he decided to invade Iraq.

[Hardrada]

26. It works this way in all countries. When the price of fuel goes up

the people become worried and easily led to wanting to depose the government. This happned to Jimmy Carter and will happen to others also.

[cooolandrew]

30. The only problem is they don't care till it hits home. Hopefully it's hit hard enough..

... to keep the boogers out of power a long time.

[bleedingheart]

33. I have been working from home and driving my car less as a result of gas prices

my husband uses our Prius...and I take the mini-van to pick the kids up from school and to run the errands after work.

We have managed to cut about $100 a month from our gas bill by adjusting our lifestyle.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

36. But the Repubs COUNT THE VOTES

and I will NEVER in my life, EVER!!! vote republican again."

IT DOESN'T MATTER ANY MORE.

[bigwillq]

37. 2.79! That's a bargain.

I paid 3.19 for reg here in CT.

[jean]

38. That WAS cheap compared to today's price of $2.99! Yikes - 3.19 is a killer. It seems

like we're being conditioned to accept these high and higher prices. The number just keeps going up, up , up.

[roamer65]

39. Good, let's see what $4 to $4.50 a gallon does to this owner.

As painful as it is, I hope we go much higher to open more eyes.

[Dorian Gray]

41. Wow...

Back out of the gas station slowly....

As much as I might agree, I think it's a sign of kookdom to let a stream unleash like that. I've had a couple of taxi drivers who've done such rants in the past, and I always can't wait to get the hell out of there.

[firefox_fan]

42. So... If the last time THEy were in charge the same happened...

Why the F did he vote for them again!?

[Ron Green]

43. It's still too cheap.

And had it been the right price 30 years ago (maybe $3.00 a gallon then), we might have found the political and cultural will to make better plans for transportation.

[A Simple Game]

46. 30 years or so ago Jimmy Carter did do something about it!

Then came Ronald Rayguns, undid everything Carter put in place, and here we are.