Fishman
May 13, 2010, 10:05 PM
First, gas is around $2.89 here in the southern Indiana/Louisville, KY area.
My family SOLD fuel, reatail and wholesale, for close to 50 years. I can tell you this, no fuel station makes any real profit at the pump. It's pennies.
Now, wholesale is a little different, but not by much. It's enough to make a good living but not a fortune. That is unless your one of the "big dogs" like Key Oil Company. They are the fourth largest distributor in the nation.
They and those like them make there money on volume. MASS VOLUME. But even then they don't make anywhere near what the big companies make that are extracting it out of the ground. OR, what the savvy commodity traders up in Chicago make.
And that brings me to TW's earlier post.
The price of oil is always changing based on the buying and selling at the "market level" (the CME in Chicago). Now, maybe that fuel under the ground was bought just yesterday at a different price.
BUT, what about the guy selling fuel down the road? Maybe he just ran out of his last delivery. So he has to raise his price because he just made a large fuel purchase. But, then again, maybe he can't raise it just yet unless the "Market Maker" has raised his. Like Swifty in my area.
The problem with selling fuel is that there is a fuel stop on every corner. Fuel is easy to get for the consumer. So gas stations are always in a price war at the pump. Where I live Swifty's fuel is alway the cheapest.
Why? Because they have a deal to buy farther south out of Tenn. Why is it cheaper down there. No clue. Other than they're getting it from another cheap place at a different price point. So because of Swifty selling at the lowest price, everyone else in town has to follow their lead OR nobody will come in to their store to also buy the candy and soda's and whatever else.
Ok, last thing, some of you probably know this, some not, but in the Louisville ky, southern Indiana area ALL THE FUEL in the area is MARATHON fuel.
Doesn't matter if its at a Shell, BP, Thorton's, SuperAmerica, Chevron. It's ALL Marathon fuel. Marathon controls the river ports in this area. And I suspect it's the same deal in other areas. Maybe not Marathon but another BRAND. It's just like at the supermarket, vitamins and other products that are "private labeled". Same deal. But, fuel is usually cheaper where I live (20 minutes away from louisville on the Indiana side) because in Louisville they have to have their fuel "reformulated" with an additive for so-called emissions laws. (sounds like a way for Louisvile to make an extra buck to me, but what do I know)
My prediction, IF "THEY" can find a "reason" to raise it, "THEY" will.
And right now, it looks like "THEY" have a "reason". But we'll see.
Fred
My family SOLD fuel, reatail and wholesale, for close to 50 years. I can tell you this, no fuel station makes any real profit at the pump. It's pennies.
Now, wholesale is a little different, but not by much. It's enough to make a good living but not a fortune. That is unless your one of the "big dogs" like Key Oil Company. They are the fourth largest distributor in the nation.
They and those like them make there money on volume. MASS VOLUME. But even then they don't make anywhere near what the big companies make that are extracting it out of the ground. OR, what the savvy commodity traders up in Chicago make.
And that brings me to TW's earlier post.
The price of oil is always changing based on the buying and selling at the "market level" (the CME in Chicago). Now, maybe that fuel under the ground was bought just yesterday at a different price.
BUT, what about the guy selling fuel down the road? Maybe he just ran out of his last delivery. So he has to raise his price because he just made a large fuel purchase. But, then again, maybe he can't raise it just yet unless the "Market Maker" has raised his. Like Swifty in my area.
The problem with selling fuel is that there is a fuel stop on every corner. Fuel is easy to get for the consumer. So gas stations are always in a price war at the pump. Where I live Swifty's fuel is alway the cheapest.
Why? Because they have a deal to buy farther south out of Tenn. Why is it cheaper down there. No clue. Other than they're getting it from another cheap place at a different price point. So because of Swifty selling at the lowest price, everyone else in town has to follow their lead OR nobody will come in to their store to also buy the candy and soda's and whatever else.
Ok, last thing, some of you probably know this, some not, but in the Louisville ky, southern Indiana area ALL THE FUEL in the area is MARATHON fuel.
Doesn't matter if its at a Shell, BP, Thorton's, SuperAmerica, Chevron. It's ALL Marathon fuel. Marathon controls the river ports in this area. And I suspect it's the same deal in other areas. Maybe not Marathon but another BRAND. It's just like at the supermarket, vitamins and other products that are "private labeled". Same deal. But, fuel is usually cheaper where I live (20 minutes away from louisville on the Indiana side) because in Louisville they have to have their fuel "reformulated" with an additive for so-called emissions laws. (sounds like a way for Louisvile to make an extra buck to me, but what do I know)
My prediction, IF "THEY" can find a "reason" to raise it, "THEY" will.
And right now, it looks like "THEY" have a "reason". But we'll see.
Fred
