Bullshit! They're all losing money but stay in business just so we can have a place to fill up, right? They're making a killing. All the proof I need is seeing dozens of stations in my area during the last two years completely bulldozing their store and rebuilding. That costs millions to do and a business owner doesn't do that on a losing propostion.
im waiting for a flight, but i just googled this for you to look at. if i had more then 5 mintues i could probaly pull up 10x others like it. they are having a hard time th past couple years. its been on the news a bunch of times, and they take abuse from angry consumers. and Exxon of all companies is getting rid of there 1000 owned gas stations (the rest are fmaily and small business owned) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23904590/ NEW YORK - Gas prices may be sitting near record levels, but the owner of your local gas station quite likely is struggling. Profit margins on gasoline sales are razor thin. Indeed, some gas stations are losing money on credit card sales, once the fees are factored in. How do they stay in business? More and more a gas station's bread and butter is, well, bread and butter ¡ª and the coffee and candy bars it sells in its convenience store. Most of these items generate much higher profits than gas. Story continues below ¡ý -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Gasoline is a relatively low margin part of what we do," said Jay Ricker, president of Ricker Oil Co. in Anderson, Ind. Increasingly, a station owner's biggest challenge is convincing drivers to step inside the store after they gas up. "It's all about trying to sell other things," said Scott Hartman, president and chief executive of Rutter's Farm Stores, a York, Pa., company that owns and operates 51 gas stations. Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, estimates that gasoline accounts for 70 percent of a typical station's revenues, but only 30 percent of its profits. Paul Fiore, executive director of the Service Station Dealers of America, a trade association for auto repair shops, said the mix is about the same for service stations. Low profit margins are squeezing companies along the length of the gasoline supply chain, from the biggest refiners to the smallest corner stations. Contrary to popular belief, 95 percent of gas stations in the U.S. are independently owned: Their prices and procedures aren't dictated by a major oil company, even if the station licenses that company's name. With crude oil, gasoline's raw ingredient, soaring to records near $112 earlier this month, up from about $60 a year ago, gas prices are actually struggling to keep up. Crack spreads, the difference between what refiners pay for crude and get for the gasoline they make, have gone negative on some days in recent weeks. That means that in those cases, refiners were losing money making and selling gasoline. In comparison, at one point last spring, crack spreads reached as high as $37 a barrel.
What is clear is that prices are held in check by price fixing or oligopolistic price collusion outside of the US jurisdiction...... Also, what would be interesting to see is what is happening in terms of profit taking by the likes of Goldman, etc... Last time I checked....it is illegal to manipulate markets.... When Goldman screams out in the press $150 oil, $200 oil....just what is happening with their books? Seems like it is very clear that it is ok to cheat if you are big enough, and not ok if you are small enough..... The SEC is one worthless cesspool of police policing the police.....and should be totally replaced by a meaningful organization..... FO ..................................................... The bottom line is that the big corporate vs government relationship is acting in a more collusive manner than what was intended in a true market economy..... ........................................................ And no doubt the hedge fund styles that trend follow have been taking some off the table....just as they put it on the table..... ................................................... But the election is now.......oil went up 5 fold with the Repubs....and somebody wants back to the pig trough..... Somebody needs to slop the pigs.....