Are some gas stations taking advantage and just plain greedy, or are their prices justified
In the 24 hours that followed this weekend’s Hurricane Ike, the price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline at at least one of Lang Oil’s gas stations in Oshkosh rose to $3.99.9. Meanwhile, Titan Shell, just one block away from them continued to offer a gallon of unleaded for $3.84.9 a gallon. At the same time, in the Fox Cities, many stations were offering unleaded for $3.76.9 a gallon. It is not at all unusual for stations a few miles up the road to offer gas for less than stations here in Oshkosh; it’s happened for years and, like others, has always left me scratching my head in bewilderment. But 23-cents a gallon less! Why? What is the explanation why we in Oshkosh almost always have to pay more than our neighbors to the north, and this time so much more?
What really got me with this latest price increase was why Lang Oil felt justified in jacking their prices up to nearly $4 a gallon when its competitors kept them where they had been (though they may go up eventually). Moreover, why did many stations across the country jack their prices to about $4 and nearly $5 a gallon in some places, according to this article. I know we’ve all heard prices may go up because of the hurricane, but it is unconscionable, and perhaps should be illegal, for a station to raise prices in advance of their actually paying higher prices. After all, the gasoline in their underground tanks, which is what they’re selling us, has already been bought and paid for at a lower rate. Why should the consumer pay more before the retailer does? Now, you might think the supplier passed along higher prices to Lang in the hours following the hurricane striking. But the oil rigs shut down just before the weekend and Ike hit on the weekend and I don’t believe Lang Oil or anyone else got a shipment of gas on Saturday or Sunday.
And how about those ridiculous stories from the major oil companies saying they have to make a profit?! Who are they kidding? They’ve been realizing record profits and their CEOs have been getting anywhere from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars a year in bonus money, for some time now, which leads me to the reasonable conclusion that it sure seems to be greed on the part of oil companies and an unwillingness on the part of our elected officials in Washington and elsewhere to band together and put a stop to it.
It may be time to start boycotting certain stations. Starting today we will no longer knowingly purchase gas from any Lang Oil station. And when I pointed out the huge price difference to others they said they won’t either. It’s not just us being driven away by Lang Oil’s high prices. While filling up two others were at Titan Shell talking about how they didn’t stop at Lang because they saw the two different prices on the stations’ signs. There is strength in numbers and if our elected officials don’t want to send a message to the gas stations, their suppliers and the oil producers, maybe we as a collective public need to.
What do you think about the price of gasoline? Let your voice be heard in our online poll.
What really got me with this latest price increase was why Lang Oil felt justified in jacking their prices up to nearly $4 a gallon when its competitors kept them where they had been (though they may go up eventually). Moreover, why did many stations across the country jack their prices to about $4 and nearly $5 a gallon in some places, according to this article. I know we’ve all heard prices may go up because of the hurricane, but it is unconscionable, and perhaps should be illegal, for a station to raise prices in advance of their actually paying higher prices. After all, the gasoline in their underground tanks, which is what they’re selling us, has already been bought and paid for at a lower rate. Why should the consumer pay more before the retailer does? Now, you might think the supplier passed along higher prices to Lang in the hours following the hurricane striking. But the oil rigs shut down just before the weekend and Ike hit on the weekend and I don’t believe Lang Oil or anyone else got a shipment of gas on Saturday or Sunday.
And how about those ridiculous stories from the major oil companies saying they have to make a profit?! Who are they kidding? They’ve been realizing record profits and their CEOs have been getting anywhere from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars a year in bonus money, for some time now, which leads me to the reasonable conclusion that it sure seems to be greed on the part of oil companies and an unwillingness on the part of our elected officials in Washington and elsewhere to band together and put a stop to it.
It may be time to start boycotting certain stations. Starting today we will no longer knowingly purchase gas from any Lang Oil station. And when I pointed out the huge price difference to others they said they won’t either. It’s not just us being driven away by Lang Oil’s high prices. While filling up two others were at Titan Shell talking about how they didn’t stop at Lang because they saw the two different prices on the stations’ signs. There is strength in numbers and if our elected officials don’t want to send a message to the gas stations, their suppliers and the oil producers, maybe we as a collective public need to.
What do you think about the price of gasoline? Let your voice be heard in our online poll.
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 8:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home