I have never, ever understood this. Gas is for the most part is a simple commodity. Sure, some prefer a premium brand (like Shell) to a cheaper one (like ARCO), but I can’t for the life of me figure out why there is such a wide variance even within a single mile or two of a city (and amongst the same brand!) I would think that supply and demand would reign supreme here. It’s the same stuff.
You get that one gas station that charges $0.10 less than all the others in the area and the lines are out to the street.
So where are supply and demand?
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I think one big thing that makes gas different to eg groceries is that the prices changes so rapidly. In the span of one day the price of gas changes 10 times or more (at least here in Germany). In a supermarket you might have some reduced thibgs for a week but other than that the prices almost dont change.
What this does is that you cannot plan as well. At some point you need gas and most of the time dont want to go out of your way too much so you just go where it fits best. While the trip to the supermarket is more planned.
Now why the gas prices change so rapidly compared to most other things is something I do not understand myself.
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