Comments on: Today’s fuel price musings - looks like Bob Trojan’s not the only one walking

By: Thomas V. Bona

Thomas V. Bona — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:04:37 +0000

Ben,

Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.

Overcharging how? Gas prices are dropping everywhere, not going up:

The Chicago metro area is down 2.4 percent in the past week; Rockford is down 6.5 percent; The state as a whole is down 3.2 percent. The nation is down 2.1 percent.

Now, you could say, “But oil prices have dropped faster!” True, but gas prices never rose as fast as oil prices, so retailers were effectively undercharging … cutting their profits so as not to scare off motorists.

Don’t believe me? Even with the oil drop, crude prices are still 66.7 percent ahead of this time last year. Gas prices are 36.7 percent up. That’s clear indication that retailers have sacrificed profits as they’ve watched their product costs go up.

If you think retailers are profiteering, then you must have been really upset when gas was below $3 … or even $2. Then, gas stations were really making money on gas.

No, you weren’t? So why now? Is gas retail the only sector that shouldn’t be allowed to make a reasonable profit?

Again, I understand everyone’s frustration about gas prices. It sucks. But the cause is back up the chain a lot farther…

By: ben

ben — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:27:26 +0000

The problem is over charging even though the price/barrel is dropping. In Chicago is $4.49/gal. and the further away you are from other the city people seem to take advantage of the situation and raise the price even more. Its just a really bad issue all together.

By: Thomas V. Bona

Thomas V. Bona — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:18:02 +0000

Bob,

You start driving less.

U.S. demand drops 2.4 percent.

The question for me is, how much were you driving before??

By: Bob Trojan

Bob Trojan — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:14:18 +0000

Hey, it’s working!
Gas Prices dropped to $3.89 on Riverside this a.m.

By: diesel additive

diesel additive — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:03:17 +0000

I wonder if this is mainly due to people taking less or shorter distance vacations, carpooling, walking, or what exactly. That would be an interesting study to see what is really causing the drop.