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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In many cases it depends how much gas a station or group of stations owned by the same company can store. Sometimes a guy who lets say has 10 stations with with 10 underground spots is get a volume deal on supply, one that the guy across the street…doesn’t get because he only has 1 station with 5 underground tanks. So he can charge less and still make more profit AND take away the other guys customers.
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