Just filled up both my cars - wholesale gas prices going thru roof down south

[sas0611]

Don't know if this is going to be just a regional thing but wholesale gas prices are over $5.00 in texas, louisiana areas and climbing. Yes that is wholesale gasoline prices - not retail. I filled both priuses up this evening when I heard this. Got my clothes and got out of bed and filled them both up at $3.44/gallon. They were both near empty.

[brick]

We are well over $4.00 here...$4.30 when I drove home yesterday. I thought I smelled something in the air on Tuesday so I filled at $3.45. At the time I was irritated that the gas pump was broken and crammed at least an extra 2 gallons in, but now it seems like a bit of good luck. Only a bit, though.

[HomeandRanch]

Gas prices are only a tad higher here and I am getting hit by IKE right now. If people in Texas were at $ 4 or 5 bucks then they were gouging. But I would expect prices to be near $4 at least next week!

[9G-man]

Atlanta area gas stations began to run out, and close down last night.
Ive seen prices as high as $5.00, but the average is $4.69.
Long lines last night too, at the stations still open.

[okiebutnotfrommuskogee]

Filled up both cars here in Tulsa yesterday at $3.45 per gal. That has been the going price for regular here for the last two or three weeks. Haven't been out to look at the prices yet this morning. Don't know if they will go up or not, but we are set for two or three weeks anyway.

edit:
The price at the station I filled up at yesterday was up by fifteen cents per gallon this morning. Not bad considering.

[galaxee]

prices went from $3.59 to $4.09 from thursday afternoon to yesterday afternoon. unfortunately, i needed gas and paid $3.99. after 5pm, some gas station lots were so full there were cars parked on roadways while waiting for a turn at the gas pump.

i'm heading out here shortly, i'm curious to see what it's up to now.

[CBarr31]

Here in the Lake Norman area, just north of Charlotte, prices have gone from around $3.59 on Thursday to as high as $4.59 or $4.69 here last night and today.

I filled up earlier in the week at $3.55 but there is definitly gouging going on. Ridiculous.

[viking31]

Originally Posted by CBarr31

Here in the Lake Norman area, just north of Charlotte, prices have gone from around $3.59 on Thursday to as high as $4.59 or $4.69 here last night and today.

I filled up earlier in the week at $3.55 but there is definitly gouging going on. Ridiculous.

Here we go again. Common folks with no clue of ECO 101 who are not business persons or owners complaining about "price gouging". Can you tell me what "gouging" is? Is it a 10% profit? A 20% profit? A 30% profit??? Are lawyers price gougers at $275/hr? Or should they all charge $50/hr? Are thoracic surgeons with 25 years of experience and with over a dozen years of high level education price gougers when they charge $8,000 or more for a life saving heart operation?? Maybe we should have a law dictating exactly how much profit anyone is allowed to earn on any given product or service they sell to the public.

Well, here in the great state of FL, we actually have laws that dictate (in a very vague sense I might add which gives the FL State AG great latitude to prosecute) that business are not allowed to raise prices during an emergency. So the end result is mass hoarding which deprives many of needed services and supplies such as generators and fuel during emergencies. We used to have roadside vendors come from up north and sell generators from rental trucks. Sure the price was high but no one was forcing you to buy a generator. They, not you, assumed all the risk of selling their generators. The great government of FL put a stop to that. Now when Home Depot and Lowes run out of stock on generators (and they always do when a hurricane strikes FL) you are simply SOL.

I have always been amazed how government can dictate to a private business how much they must charge for a product they have bought and stock for resale with their own cash. Zimbabwe has instituted such policies which has resulted in untold human suffering and a collapse of private enterprises.

The solution is simple. If you are dissatisfied with the prices vendors are charging for supplies, then I suggest you start your own business (an auto dealership, a home supply store, a gas station, or even your own oil company) or become a thoracic surgeon (it's real easy...) and charge at cost so everyone will praise you as a good person who does not gouge.

Oh, I almost forgot, don't forget to save a little for your building rent, building maintenance, workers comp, security, insurance (fire, theft, liability, weather, etc), electricity, water, sewer, taxes (there are LOTS of taxes and forms), inventory costs, employee payroll, raw material increases, long hours, daycare for your children, internal employee strife, embezzlement by employees, few or no vacations, competition, and a few hundred other items to place in the monetary and emotional debit column. Imagine, a greedy business owner still wants a profit...

Perhaps we could turn over all the stores and businesses over to the government to ensure everyone pays a "fair" price... I'm sure they could do a much better job at managing a business than those greedy evil business owners and corporations who have the nerve to make a profit.

You're a big boy/girl now. If you don't like the price, then go somewhere else or don't purchase the item. Grow up and don't complain as a third grader would about the high prices of things you want...

Rick
#4 2006

[wchardin]

Prices here were around $3.49 on Tuesday, yesterday they went up around $4.09, some stations were as high as $4.79. The governor has already started an investigation in which stations were price gouging.

[Unlimited_MPG]

I guess they have been price gouging here in the Seattle area for months..price here just went down to $3.79 -3.89 a gallon.