OFN Gas Fumes

[dsn]

I don't dive but my brother does. He lives close to a gas station and has it in plan view. He said that the gas station where he lives close down and said they ran out of gas.

The next day the station open back up and the price was jacked higher.

 

His theory is that Some gas stations might be taking advantage of the gas refinery that was caught on fire and has nothing to do with any shortage.

 

Here's the reason why....

 

He saw the gas station close down and the station opened back up the next day with higher prices. I asked him if he had seen a refuelling truck at the station. He doesn't recall seeing one. So could it mean that the stations are closing down because they think they are charging too less compared to other stations and decides to close down.Claiming they ran out of gas. Then re-open later on with higher prices thus making people think that they were short on gas and ran out. When infact its all about miss leading people to think they got a supply and they can reopen and no one would notice the if they ran out of gas or not.

 

My question here is.. Would any OFNers' live close to a gas station keep an eye out and see if this above theory is true? I'm just curious. Only if you can see a gas station from where you live.

 

 

dsn

Edited March 2, 2007 by dsn

[Terry]

I GUESS.... the odd place might get away with something like that

but, in most cases the guys working there get minimum wage and checks the gas levels, so they would know if they were really out of gas

and I don't think they would want a day off without pay, so it would be hard for the owner to keep a lid on it

[dsn]

Thats another thing too. He said the boss would rather send the guy home who's getting minimum wage case hes costing the station money while the prices are not high as the the owner wants. And then re-open thus making more with new higher gas prices and having the gas attendant there won't hurt as much.

 

Just his theory

[aniceguy]

from my understanding most of the gas stations ( the big 4 ) are run by owner operators who are merely token owners, they dont set the price on gas and are paid a flat managment fee regardless of cost fluxuations. Some one here must be in that position or know someone that is.

 

Trust me this is just another example of the decision makers in the gas companies sticking it to you, ohhh and next time your filling up look at the pie chart from how I viewed it today the cost of gas in particular the governmental taxes which appear to be a percentage of sale. At the very least 6% on 80cents as opposed to 6% on a buck Im sure equates to millions of additional dollars for our beloved federal politicians to squander you think they have a gas shortage.....

 

Rant for the day

[lunkerbasshunter]

there is a gas shortage plan and simple. if they really wanted to stick it to us the prices would be 1.40 like it was not to long ago. i think we are lucky that the gas prices is hovering around $1. It sucks cause we have to pay more but it could have been alot worse. Imagine if this past fall brought hurricanes like 2005 and the gulf coast got hammered again, then this whole refinery fire. We would be looking at $2 not $1

 

Cheers!

[Rob]

The guy up the road here in Oro ran out and the other station further down the HWY jacked his price to $105.9. My wife went to get gas there on her lunch and the guy said he was going to be out of gas soon, my wife mentioned that the other station was out of gas, and the guy said that he knew that. I went by there that same morning, and gas was 99.9.hmmm what do you think? I think he is a rotten scammer.

 

 

Rob C

[John Bacon]

Unless yuor brother was watching the gas station non-stop for the entire time that it was closed, the fact that he doesn't recall seeing a refueling truck is pretty much irrellevant.

 

There are quite a few stations that have been closed down for a quite some time. Most of the Esso & Cdn Tire stations that I have driven by in the last week have been closed every time I have been by them. I don't see how that increase their profits.

[Guest Trophymuskie]

Stupid question here. last week they were saying Esso stations were going to be running low on gas and that some stations would have short 2 hour periods without gas.

 

Now seems like people are talking about all places running out of gas.

 

What is it?

 

I saw gas at 95 tonight, what a crock seems like the price of gas at the market has not gone up that much.

[John Bacon]

Stupid question here. last week they were saying Esso stations were going to be running low on gas and that some stations would have short 2 hour periods without gas.

 

Now seems like people are talking about all places running out of gas.

 

What is it?

 

I saw gas at 95 tonight, what a crock seems like the price of gas at the market has not gone up that much.

 

 

All the people that would have bough at Esso now have to buy from the other stations. Now some of the other stations are running out of gas as well... that's the official word anyways.

[Joey]

In regards to the first question, I think the guy would be losing more money by shutting down and not selling gas for the night only to reopen in the morning at higher prices. Why would he have to wait until the morning to jack the price up anyhow. He could jack it up any time he wanted.

 

Joey

[holdfast]

There is a huge problem and its called scamming... Heres my experience, There are three Gas Stations in Angus 1,2, and 3 on the opposite side of the road as you enter the base. Last year around noonish I heard on the Radio that gas had risen to 1.25 while driving to work Angus was at 95.9. So I Took off in line for gas at now 99.9. There was 2 of 3 Stations still pumping with huge line ups. Well the owner/operator decided to up the gas to 118 after me. When I asked him why he jacked the price when he never refueled his reply was that he got a phone call from the District manager to raise the price. Here is the honest truth here. I never seen him on the phone, actually he was pumping like there was no tomorrow. Now heres the Kicker, It was only a rumour that started on the radio, as a matter of fact TO never even raised it a cent. Between the Oil Companys, Owners and Operators they are scamming. What gets me, our yellow skinned Politicians would rather make a big thing at slapping around a bunch of Afghan Killers, Global Warming, Flag waving, than having the KaHONYS to control price gauging. Talk here that Saskatchewan is starting to raise prices. WHAT THE HECK FOR. A fire in TO. Were at 93 as it is

[joonmoon]

I gotta agree with aniceguy....I don't think its' up to the owner or the employees to close and raise the gas prices. They prolly close and reopen at peak times so as not to pay $ out to employees when they aren't really busy. As far ar raising their prices they might be able to do so if they are privately owned/independant but they still have to buy from their supplier. And with the shortage here they could take advantage of drivers if they so pleased.

Edited March 2, 2007 by joonmoon

[gone_fishin]

they're all bandits...plain and simple...so this Esso refinery goes up in flames...that's their loss, they'll have to pay to get things back to normal...now every other gas company jacks up their prices...they are just exploiting another companies misfortune and making an even bigger profit than they already were. they are all thieves...just pure robbery!

[GbayGiant]

If there's such a shortage of gas why do we ship most of it out of country ? The US (corporate, I'm not talking about the hard working American citizens) have raped their own natural resources so now they want ours and all our lumber too.

[bigfish1965]

SO if it is so expensive, why y'all still driving big trucks? Don't buy it..plain and simple. It isn't a scam, it is supply and demand. Everyone got stupid and panic bought and the price went up. If everyone went out and bought ten heads of lettuce today, what would be the price of lettuce tomorrow?

Gasoline and lettuce onlycost what someone is willing to pay. If you want someone to blame, have a look in the mirror. YOU SET THE GAS PRICES.

The supply will come back.

And we ship most of it out cause we drill and refine more than we can use. But if you ship it here from Alberta, how much would it cost then?

You guys are funny sometimes. There are towns up north that only have Esso stations and since they have no alternative, they must buy from Esso. Esso must, in turn, take gas from around here and send it there.

[aplumma]

It does all boil down to the economics of supply and demand. Look at the price of gas at the marina it is alot more than at the gas station even though(here in the states) the 28% road tax is not applied. That means if the price was the same as the gas at the stations their is a 28% built in profit plus the 50 to 75 cents a gallon added on. Yea I know their is more insurance and special handling and containment but it does not cost that much more. It is just a matter their is less places to buy gas or you can haul it to the boat but that is a pain in the butt. As long as the pack mentality is to get gas now and get as much as you can then we make it scarce. The answer is to use the gas as you need to and fill up when you need to and the pressure will lessen and so will the price. If you like to drive the big truck and the boat that sucks gas then you need to see that you have an expense that other chose not to have. It's like smoking or drinking no one has to do it however it is something we enjoy so we do do it. I am guilty of having a big truck and a boat and now a really big boat however I have decided that I will be able to afford to buy the gas to play with these toys that I enjoy. So make the choice either get a smaller car, consolidate trips, stop using the boat or car pool we all have options that we chose to exercise or not.

 

 

Art

[huey graphite]

No conspiracy.....just supply and demand and the demand is high.

[crusty]

You would all be happy to know while watching my RRSP's dwindle in real time yesterday, The banner on the bottom of the screen read "TORONTO REFINERY NOW PRODUCING AT 50%". This fiasco should not last much longer!

 

On another note, while in Mexico last week our tour guide for the day pointed out that all the gas stations were the exact same company. Mexicans buy gas off government run gas bars. In fact, they do not even post the price you are paying! He said there price was around $2.80 a gallon.

 

Could you emagine the buying power of all of canada, or all of the US, if we took on the Sieks as one mabye they would bargain more fairly!

 

Wasn't ESSO or PETRO owned by the government just a few years ago, "the free market sytem will encourage lower prices for the consumer" MY ASS

[fishindevil]

the big oil companies are all in bed together and are all crooks plain and simple....its a very complicated issue with no resolve in sight i curse them everyday

[Puckhead]

SO if it is so expensive, why y'all still driving big trucks? Don't buy it..plain and simple. It isn't a scam, it is supply and demand. Everyone got stupid and panic bought and the price went up. If everyone went out and bought ten heads of lettuce today, what would be the price of lettuce tomorrow?

Gasoline and lettuce onlycost what someone is willing to pay. If you want someone to blame, have a look in the mirror. YOU SET THE GAS PRICES.

The supply will come back.

 

Exactly

[Blake]

Supply and demand. We need the supply and they demand payment. Hopefully it won't be like the road warrior movies any time soon.

[holdfast]

Bull Bull and more of it. Ontario gas prices are bouncing like a yo, yo, in the last 2 years. Totally out of Control. Dont tell me there is not greed, Lack of Control, and purposely using any excuse to raise prices. Only recently, long weeknds, storms, (a fire) has bounced prices beyond any reason. The supply and demand theory is lame. Government must control this, but they are afraid. Lets hear more excuses. You really believe this is all legit. Remember the ice storm, some companys, including Canadian Tires in Quebec Upped their Naptha prices spongeing on a dire situation for their own pockets. You dont think the oil companys to the gas station manager will sell theyre mother to fill their pockets. Here in the oil Patch, Cops, Politicians, you name it, leave the companys alone. They reek of money and power. Biggest blizzard in Sk for this generation did not stop the ploughs from cleaning oil leases and roads getting to them.

[GbayGiant]

I agree it's supply and demand that's obvious, but I look at them the same as crack dealers except the gas companies make a slightly larger profit.

 

And yes I will be getting my gas fix as usual.

[Roy]

We had a Shell refinery close down here recently. They're using that as the reason for tight supplies. Yeah....right...I like my Jeep and my cars but I could still manage quite well without them. Shut'em down...Let's see who lasts the longest.

[Deano]

As I syayed in the other post last week, I drove a fuel tanker for the last year and a half. We were running low many times and had to travel to whatever load rack that had fuel to fill our trucks, we ran low all summer long and was always trying to catch up. You would be surprised the amount of fuel which is being used at even some of the smaller gas stations. One small town station I delivered to had about 6 days where they went through 50000 litres in a day. That's almost one tanker full, and this is in a small town. I did some calculating and we were (around the clock, 4 drivers, 7 days) delivering 2,000,000 litres to the sudbury area, and that was only forone company.

There is no consriracy, the demand is so huge, no new refineries have been built, and as I stated before, it's gonna get worse before it gets better.