Thought I’d close the old thread, since it was getting a bit long, and start a new one for 2010.

Prices here my favorite place jumped today from $2.47 to $2.55.

Gas was $2.59 here yesterday and still holding at that price this morning.

Went down tonight to $2.49. Wasn’t really counting on a drop anytime soon.

Gas had dropped to $2.51 by the end of the day yesterday.  The clerks in the convenience store ought to be happy that most have gone to electronic price signs.  Now they don’t have to manually change prices outside each time the price changes (somethings 2-3 times a day).

Gas jumped almost 20 cents yesterday in Winchester to 2.69. I did not fill my tank.

Glenn Miller - 09 January 2010 08:30 AM

The clerks in the convenience store ought to be happy that most have gone to electronic price signs.  Now they don’t have to manually change prices outside each time the price changes (somethings 2-3 times a day).

My place is still manual, and they DO bitch about it.

Slightly off topic, but Albertson’s (grocery stores) used to sell gas at a convenience store in front of the grocery store under their own name.  About 2 years ago they sold their two gasoline concessions here to Valero Oil.  Valero ran the stores until about 8 months ago when they closed both locations.  7-Eleven reopened both about a month ago, adding two more locations to the existing 5-6 in town.  7-Eleven’s gas prices have never been competitive with the other convenience stores, but the new locations have been undercutting the competition since they opened.  I’m guessing it’s part of their “grand opening” act and, eventually, they’ll fall in line with the other 7-Elevens and run 5-8 cents higher than everyone else.

Jumped back up this morning to $2.52 here.

The local Kroger’s is building a gas station in their parking lot right now. Shame, too, because their parking lot is already too small, and it’ll just make the traffic nightmare in that area all the more worse. But that’s business for you.

And down again today to $2.49.

Put in half a tank at $2.54. That was the cheapest within 5 miles.

Speaking of electric signs, when I stopped by my store today, one was being installed. Yes, the manager and clerks were pleased.

While chatting with the manager, the conversation turned to prices. Get this: They were about to go up on prices (to $2.58) as soon as the sign was working. But not because of any silly international supply and demand thing. They were going up because corporate office didn’t want them running out of gas before the next scheduled delivery. By raising prices, they drive away some customers and insure they don’t run out.

The rationale? If they run out, they must place a special order and have a load delivered early, which costs more, apparently. So we, the customers, pay more because they’re ... what? Lazy? Cheap? Not sure what the proper description should be. Good businessmen, I’m sure some would think. It certainly has nothing to do with the price of gas and oil.

The manager hopes the price drops again sometime tomorrow when the regular gas delivery is made.

She also accused a couple of big chains here in town of gouging. They went up 10 cents on Christmas Eve, she said, and didn’t come back down for a week. No one else did, apparently. And she agreed that pricing on a store-by-store basis is utter BS.

So there you have it. All in all, a nice conversation we had!

Ha.  Perhaps waiting for the gas delivery was the reason the price went up from $2.49 to $2.57 between 7:30 and noon today.

It didn’t go down here today, even with the delivery. Holding at $2.58, sort of in line with other places, though.

Finally got some action going here. Dropped 2 cents to $2.56.

They got that new sign, then nothing changed for a week.

It dropped to $2.47 here in the past day or two.  I gassed up at Sam’s Club on Monday at $2.46.

Down another 2 cents to $2.54 today.