I've always been puzzled by how gas stations set their prices. On one hand it seems to me they ought to have written policies and procedures on how this is done and on the other hand it seems they just set it at what they want.
The morning of the day after Katrina hit New Orleans, news stories began coming out that gas prices were going up because oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico (and other oil infrastructure) were damaged. That morning the gas price at the Wal-mart was $2.49.
That afternoon the the price rose to $2.62, and yesterday the price was $2.82.
How can they justify raising the price of the gasoline that they already have in their storage tanks by over 10% in the course of three days? I have the strong suspicion that they are gouging us, but no proof.
I know this has struck other people's nerves, because I've received three copies of the infamous "Stick it to the oil companies" E-mail stating that no one should buy gasoline on September 1st.
I get really annoyed when I receive these notes because the messages are forwarded from people who I know are smarter than to fall for this hooey.
Simply not buying gasoline on one day isn't going to make a scrap of difference. It just means that people buy gas on the day before or the day after. Big deal.
The only way to deal with this is to conserve gasoline in the long term, and that means driving less, driving a more fuel efficient vehicle, carpooling or what ever it takes to spend less on fuel, if you can't or don't want to pay the prices.
That's what is going tobe necessary until this country can increase our supply of gasoline or come up with another fuel system for vehicles.
Simply not buying gasoline on one day won't "stick it to anyone."
For an excellent article on this stupid E-mail, check out snopes.com
Posted by Bob at September 1, 2005 09:18 AM