Gas Prices.

[Bsuds]

They make their profit in the store and the gas barely covers the bills.

[Sparki55]

They make their profit in the store and the gas barely covers the bills.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/203402/another-kick-in-the-gas-tank
This guy makes between 12 to 14 cents a litre, this isn't barely covering the bills, it's making a nice profit.
If a station can have 15 customers an hour during normal daylight hours, thats 15 X 12 hours or 180 customers a day. On average say a customer buys 40L of fuel so they sell 180 X 40 = 7200L a day. Multiply by 14 cents thats $1000 a day. So $30,000 a month or $360,000 a year. Seems like some good coin to me. Sure there are operation costs on top of that but i'd say those costs are covered by all the stuff they sell in store.

[spooker]

After living and driving in Europe for 5 years at the beginning of this century I view our prices as cheap as hell (though still not as cheap as the southerners below the border) ...

Doesn't mean I go out there and drive drive drive ... if we can't afford it then we need to find another option ... if we have to afford it then that's just a problem to solve (i.e. price of produce going up due to transportation costs) ...

People make profit where they can ... that's the whole point of this "capitalism" thing we've got going on ... don't complain about the scorpion stinging the frog in the middle of the river since that's its nature ...

[Sparki55]

People make profit where they can ... that's the whole point of this "capitalism" thing we've got going on ... don't complain about the scorpion stinging the frog in the middle of the river since that's its nature ...

There are rules with capitalism, one of them is price collusion is illegal.

[Dizzy1]

After living and driving in Europe for 5 years at the beginning of this century I view our prices as cheap as hell (though still not as cheap as the southerners below the border) ...

Doesn't mean I go out there and drive drive drive ... if we can't afford it then we need to find another option ... if we have to afford it then that's just a problem to solve (i.e. price of produce going up due to transportation costs) ...

People make profit where they can ... that's the whole point of this "capitalism" thing we've got going on ... don't complain about the scorpion stinging the frog in the middle of the river since that's its nature ...

Big difference between Europe and here is in Europe they have a much more integrated public transportation system then we do, people there have much more reasonable and convenient options.

[Dizzy1]

I wonder how much milk price variance there would be if grocery stores advertised the price on giant streetside billboards..

Yes, its the billboards signs the reason why station x won't drop their price lower than the station across the street

[Always Sunny]

I wonder how much milk price variance there would be if grocery stores advertised the price on giant streetside billboards..

Yes, its the billboards signs the reason why station x won't drop their price lower than the station across the street

I was filling up in Merritt a month or two ago and the attendant followed me out with a pair of binoculars in hand. She peered down the way and exclaimed "damned power lines!" as she tried to scope out the competitions prices. I mean, I guess it works, but there's also Gas Buddy.

I keep my costs down daily by driving a diesel. Better fuel economy and cheaper by the litre. I paid $1.099 at Canadian Tire before I went to the coast last week and was shocked by $1.369 for regular. The lowest I think I'd seen in the Langley/Surrey area was maybe $1.229, but diesel never hit $1.10.

[LANDM]

They make their profit in the store and the gas barely covers the bills.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/203402/another-kick-in-the-gas-tank
This guy makes between 12 to 14 cents a litre, this isn't barely covering the bills, it's making a nice profit.
If a station can have 15 customers an hour during normal daylight hours, thats 15 X 12 hours or 180 customers a day. On average say a customer buys 40L of fuel so they sell 180 X 40 = 7200L a day. Multiply by 14 cents thats $1000 a day. So $30,000 a month or $360,000 a year. Seems like some good coin to me. Sure there are operation costs on top of that but i'd say those costs are covered by all the stuff they sell in store.

Never owned a business, have you?

[Sparki55]

Never owned a business, have you?

The owner admits they are doing well in the article I provided a link to. Did you read the article? It states gas stations in Kelowna enjoy a healthy margin. To me that translates to; if gas stations in other areas are viable businesses as they still exist with a 3 to 4 cent margin, or in some areas break even on gas, then the stations making 4x higher on margins must be doing very well.

[Dizzy1]

Anyone who thinks that a gas station makes their profit off a bag of chips and not their core business (fuel) is delusional.

[GordonH]

Anyone who thinks that a gas station makes their profit off a bag of chips and not their core business (fuel) is delusional.

The amount each station manager/owner gets can be figured out:
One just needs to know what Rack price add the taxes on fuel in Kelowna (which is .3117 + GST) minus that amount from the pump price.
That's what the station manager/owner gets, usually the station pays for transportation of fuel from Kamloops to station. Out of the amount also comes all the employee wages, utilities & lease etc... etc

So unless that station can sell very large daily litre totals..... one is not going to become millionaire any time soon.

[Dizzy1]

Anyone who thinks that a gas station makes their profit off a bag of chips and not their core business (fuel) is delusional.

The amount each station manager/owner gets can be figured out:
One just needs to know what Rack price add the taxes on fuel in Kelowna (which is .3117 + GST) minus that amount from the pump price.
That's what the station manager/owner gets, usually the station pays for transportation of fuel from Kamloops to station. Out of the amount also comes all the employee wages, utilities & lease etc... etc

So unless that station can sell very large daily litre totals..... one is not going to become millionaire any time soon.

Profit is based on a percent of the consumers fuel cost. Price goes up - profit goes up. How many times have we seen where the pump price goes up but the price to the dealer doesn't?

[GordonH]

^^^ I just gave everyone the way figure out how much of each litre sold goes to station manager/owner.
In many of the other threads about fuel prices, I provided links to get the Rack price from Kamloops terminal.
just do the math

[Jonrox]

You're right! Why didn't I think to stop buying it! Duh! I'll just walk 5 hours to work everyday to earn my living. Maybe I'll dump my cheap rental (which is cheap because it's 30 min out of town) that's half what renting in the city is and get gouged that way.

Thankfully this is no longer my case as I've moved on a bought a place and don't have a massive gas bill, but some cannot afford it. I could barely afford it while saving for a down payment.

Exactly my point... you won't stop buying and you'd likely pay a lot more. Therefore the current prices are a good deal. People love to whine about gas prices but their buying behaviour suggests they're actually quite content and happy with prices.

[Sparki55]

You're right! Why didn't I think to stop buying it! Duh! I'll just walk 5 hours to work everyday to earn my living. Maybe I'll dump my cheap rental (which is cheap because it's 30 min out of town) that's half what renting in the city is and get gouged that way.

Thankfully this is no longer my case as I've moved on a bought a place and don't have a massive gas bill, but some cannot afford it. I could barely afford it while saving for a down payment.

Exactly my point... you won't stop buying and you'd likely pay a lot more. Therefore the current prices are a good deal. People love to whine about gas prices but their buying behaviour suggests they're actually quite content and happy with prices.

I bought gas because I had to; it was either pay a high rental bill or a high gas bill. People fortunate enough to have an above average wage can eventually get out and buy something close to work and have a mortgage lower than a rental.

I could not have paid a lot more, as you suggest. If the price went up substantially, close to 40 cents a litre I would have been forced into selling everything and living in a van or campsite close to work.