Doesn't make sense to me....

[Richard]

For the last year, gas prices have been going up. We each might/do have our own ideas as to why.

What I'm finding curious and brought up to my wife yesterday:

Just a week/two ago, gas was roughly, $4.55/gallon. All pumps were open and nobody waiting in line.
Yesterday I filled up and out of maybe 12 pumps at the station, only TWO didn't have their handles covered with a red ("don't use me") cover. Yet, what I found curious is, gas was $4.15.

So I told the wife it would seem to me that if they are literally running out, if they don't have enough gas to fill THEIR tanks, therefore for us to fill OUR tanks, then how is it they've lowered the price by .40/gallon? It would make more sense to me that while they have plenty of gas, the price might have been $4.15 but when they're down to two pumps, I would THEN expect the price to be $4.55 yet it's reversed.

Have I seen too many Columbo reruns or does that seem backward?

 

[Midniteoyl]

That's called price gouging and is illegal. The reason they were running out of gas is *because* the price was $4.15.

 

[Richard]

That price is pretty much everywhere that I've glanced (within pennies). I didn't however, look at any other station to see if they had baggies over the pump handles so I don't know if that is wide spread or not. Might be as simple as they had a (main) pump issue so had to shut down some pumps. I have no idea (nor do I really know the nuances of how the gas is moved from main tank to disbursement)

 

[oosik]

Gas prices may seem like black magic. But you can believe somewhere, somebody is getting rich.

 

[DieselBound]

Sometimes things break. If I were so curious I'd ask the folks there what's up: no certainty that you'd get the real scoop, but at least you'd get some kind of answer (rather than random comments off a web site like this).

oosik, it's kind of a feast or famine thing. Producers took a hit during the COVID "pandemic". Frackers in the US are pretty much non-viable unless oil is fetching a fairly high price (and even then it's very questionable).

 

[Streetcar]

At local stations the delivery truck is a day or two late and some tanks run low and are shut down. Station sets price to be competitive with adjacent stations

 

[Moxie 15]

Has anyone here ever worked at a gas station?
By some of the resposes I have to assume not. All of the pumps at a station are connected to the same tank. There is normally a tank of the low grade and one for the high grade and they are mixed at the pump for the mid grades. So if one pump is out of gas they all are.
It is far more likely that the pumps are out of calibration or in need of some repair.

 

[MossRoad]

We’ve got a local gas station that has about 16 pumps. On any given day, about 4-5 of them have plastic bags over the handles. The pumps are broken in some form or another, not because they are out of gas. Most likely the credit card reader is broken, the auto shutoff is broken and spews gas instead of shutting off, or the pump is out of calibration. So they bag it. My guess is that they get charged a service call for each time the pump tech has to come out, so they wait for several to break to make it worth their while.

Anyhow, that’s all my speculation, but I’m guessing it’s pretty close VS them being out of gas, because the other dozen pumps are still working.

 

[MossRoad]

Has anyone here ever worked at a gas station?
…

Yes. Six or seven years. But it was for airplanes.

 

[jfsawatzky]

Yes. Six or seven years. But it was for airplanes.

Sounds interesting. Where was that? What types of planes?

 

[Torvy]

Here is the overriding issue. The drop in prices is smoke and mirrors. Government released some strategic reserves. That type of thing is very temporary as it cannot continue indefinitely. When a price drop happens like that, people fill tanks rather than only putting in a few bucks. They know the prices will go back up. It is not price gouging in any way, shape, or form. This is straight forward supply and demand...albeit temporarily.

 

[Citydude]

The co-op where I buy my diesel had a few red bags on them. I thought they ran out of diesel but the grounds keeper said they were scheduled for maintenance. He chuckled and said this is Wyoming, we can make our own diesel from scratch. Lol

 

[MossRoad]

Sounds interesting. Where was that? What types of planes?

South Bend, IN.
Most airports have a Fixed Base Operation, or FBO. The FBO provides fuel, services, sometimes repair, tie downs, hanger storage for local and transient aircraft. Ours also provided avionics, major repairs, charter services, and flight instruction, as well as refueling the airlines that served the city.

As far as what types of planes, well.… all of them!

We had little T-hangers with small private aircraft, antique aircraft, little WWI aircraft, WWII aircraft, Vietnam era as well. Medium size hangers for larger twin engine passenger and freight aircraft. Several companies kept their corporate turbo prop and jet aircraft there. Large hangers too. Private companies would fly in small to large business jets and turbo props. Notre Dame is located here, so football weekends would see as many as 200 planes arrive for the day of all shapes and sizes. Music personalities for concerts. Lots of air freight for the automotive industry. Overnight photo processing was a big deal back then. Fox Photo and Photo Hut had a huge facility here, so planes would drop in overnight with film from all over the Midwest. Military aircraft. Heck, Air Force One a few times, although we didn’t have to fuel it, we provided another service… trash removal.

Most impressive thing I saw was one day a little Cessna Citation business jet pulls in, all white with green trim. A guy gets out and a limo takes him away. A few minutes later, a Learjet with same markings pulls in, guy gets out and a limo takes him away. Then a larger jet, same trim, same deal. And an even larger jet.… 6-7 of them, one after another, each progressively larger, until a 727 pulls in. Same trim. Back stairs drop down, and a man and woman get out. Just 2. A 727.

Turns out they all belonged to the same company, decided to have a business meeting here in town. The couple were old family from a large corporation that I won’t mention, and were on the boards at Notre Dame and St. Mary’s. In total, they took many thousands of gallons of fuel, catering, lavatory services, and cleaning of the interiors. Paid for all of it with one credit card transaction. Then all were gone after dinner.

Today, a ZOOM meeting would have sufficed.

 

[sea2summit]

At local stations the delivery truck is a day or two late and some tanks run low and are shut down. Station sets price to be competitive with adjacent stations

This around here as well, big shortage of folks with CDLs and the proper endorsements for fuel.

 

[sea2summit]

Has anyone here ever worked at a gas station?
By some of the resposes I have to assume not. All of the pumps at a station are connected to the same tank. There is normally a tank of the low grade and one for the high grade and they are mixed at the pump for the mid grades. So if one pump is out of gas they all are.
It is far more likely that the pumps are out of calibration or in need of some repair.

You can also have multiple tanks so half or a portion of the pumps come off one tank and the rest another. I don’t get worked up about broken pumps when there’s a chip shortage nearly everywhere.

 

[sea2summit]

We’ve got a local gas station that has about 16 pumps. On any given day, about 4-5 of them have plastic bags over the handles. The pumps are broken in some form or another, not because they are out of gas. Most likely the credit card reader is broken, the auto shutoff is broken and spews gas instead of shutting off, or the pump is out of calibration. So they bag it. My guess is that they get charged a service call for each time the pump tech has to come out, so they wait for several to break to make it worth their while.

Anyhow, that’s all my speculation, but I’m guessing it’s pretty close VS them being out of gas, because the other dozen pumps are still working.

Are the pumps smart enough to know they’re out of calibration? Serious question, it would seem like a sensible technology even if they’d need to get it certified again to pump.

 

[sea2summit]

Yes. Six or seven years. But it was for airplanes.

Did that for about 8 months but new guys were in the trucks not at the pumps…it was fun but didn’t pay enough where I was.

 

[MossRoad]

Did that for about 8 months but new guys were in the trucks not at the pumps…it was fun but didn’t pay enough where I was.

Mine paid enough, but new owners didn’t follow through with promises of benefits and didn’t hit timelines as promised. I got married, gave them another year, then moved along after graduating electronics school. I would have stayed there forever had they given retirement. Great job. In and outdoors all day. Get to see really interesting aircraft.

 

[2manyrocks]

Turns out they all belonged to the same company, decided to have a business meeting here in town. The couple were old family from a large corporation that I won’t mention, and were on the boards at Notre Dame and St. Mary’s. In total, they took many thousands of gallons of fuel, catering, lavatory services, and cleaning of the interiors. Paid for all of it with one credit card transaction. Then all were gone after dinner.

Today, a ZOOM meeting would have sufficed.

Richard should have called a ZOOM meeting for TBN members to discuss his stuck cannonball.

 

[Midniteoyl]

It is not price gouging in any way, shape, or form. This is straight forward supply and demand...albeit temporarily.

This is what I was replying to:

It would make more sense to me that while they have plenty of gas, the price might have been $4.15 but when they're down to two pumps, I would THEN expect the price to be $4.55 yet it's reversed.