Gas Prices???

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Filled up my gas truck yesterday for $2.64/gal. Road diesel is around $2.79/gal. Here's a pic I took a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen diesel cheaper than gas in a long time, but that didn't last long...
20250430_103842[1].jpg
 
Gas prices here have not moved a penny. Barrel of oil running ~$61. What gives!
 
Gas prices here have not moved a penny. Barrel of oil running ~$61. What gives!

This is one flaw in all markets, not just gasoline. Prices fall slower than they rise.

As for gasoline, its all on the retailers. They have no incentive to voluntarily lower their price until they begin to see a drop in sales.

And the blame goes to consumers who mostly don't price shop. They just go to the same station to get gas that they always do and don't pay a lot of attention to prices.

Price shopping would reward stations who are first to lower their price with higher sales and provide incentive for other stations to follow.

This happens in everything.
 
This is one flaw in all markets, not just gasoline. Prices fall slower than they rise.

As for gasoline, its all on the retailers. They have no incentive to voluntarily lower their price until they begin to see a drop in sales.

And the blame goes to consumers who mostly don't price shop. They just go to the same station to get gas that they always do and don't pay a lot of attention to prices.

Price shopping would reward stations who are first to lower their price with higher sales and provide incentive for other stations to follow.

This happens in everything.
I've seen this before. When crude prices are high, they jack up gas prices instantly, and say it's Supply & Demand.
When crude prices are low, they say the cheaper gas hasn't made it's way to them yet, and still keep the prices high.
 
Years ago when I worked off the farm, I stopped at my normal gas station to get gas, had to wait in line for what seemed like forever... when I asked the cashier what gives for all the cars she said all the other gas stations had raised their gas prices 1 cent and the station I was at wasn't gonna raise it till the next day. For the less than 20 cents savings I should have gone to a different station with no lines.

Ryan
 
I've seen this before. When crude prices are high, they jack up gas prices instantly, and say it's Supply & Demand.
When crude prices are low, they say the cheaper gas hasn't made it's way to them yet, and still keep the prices high.

Not really. When prices rise, the wholesale price goes up, and the retailer has to mark up his price. They have to pass the price increase immediately, or lose money.

No one in the process " jacks up " the price.

The refiner sits in the middle between two free markets, one for oil and the other for refined products, and the price in markets on both ends is established by supply/demand.

As I said, when the price of the refined product falls, it gets passed to the retailer but he has no incentive to lower his price. As long as the sales volume remains the same, he's not gonna move his price down.

Each retailer will react to a competitor dropping their price, or else they lose sales a volume.

And the consumer has to price shop. Use an app like Gas Buddy and drive out of their way to get the lowest price.
 
I noticed that the other day and just didn't get involved. Until now.
No idea what fuel costs around here... I buy most of my fuel 7 miles away at a cardtrol station. Keep forgetting to look at prices when I drive through that town. But I do know E doesn't stand for enough! When ya need fuel you need it.

Ryan
 
I saw this thread was really old and don't remember what brought it up.
I saw this was a very old thread. Don't recall what resurrected it.

I'm chuckling because local prices dropped before the long weekend, when many complain about the prices going up for the holiday gouge.
Run a couple tanks of ethanol free racing gas through it...you'll be surprised how much better it runs but you'll also be broke!

Adding Sta-Bil 360 to each fill up isn't a bad idea and a lot cheaper than buying racing gas.
I can get ethanol free at a couple of stations in town. No need to go racing or to the airport. Still very pricey, but less than race or airport
I use Star-Tron which does a great job on ethanol based fuels.
I read there I usually a 2-3 month lag on oil vs gas prices. Not sure though
It really depends on your retailer.
Here (NW MN) they hold prices based on last tanker fill. If prices go up they lag behind a few days until the next tanker. My brother (Idaho) used to complain that local stations jumped price immediately when they increased, but waited until the tanker arrived with lower priced fuel to drop the price
 
Here (NW MN) they hold prices based on last tanker fill. If prices go up they lag behind a few days until the next tanker.
Right . If they still have gas / fuel in the ground that cost them more than the new price drop , they still need to sell that load for the original profit based on price paid .
I worked at a Texaco station way back when , and he had to write that check before the load was dumped .

Ran up yesterday for gas for the lawnmower . Ended up with 3.0 gallons in a 2 1/2 gallon can .
Time to call weights and measure .
 
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