Fair Gas Prices?

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Dear Neighbors:   For years this area of some 50,000 people has been 
charged higher prices for gasoline than have communities around us, 
regardless of wholesale prices. We know that crude oil prices have 
dropped over 20% since August, yet only one gas station has dropped the 
pump price more than a cent or two. "Why?", I ask. So I called five 
different retail outlets asking simply, "What do you pay for gas 
delivered to you by the wholesaler-jobber?" The anwers I got were:  "We 
don't know", "It's none of your business", "We don't give that 
information out," "Who arae you to ask for such information?", and "I'm 
not going to give you any information".  When I pointed out that in 
Lewiston prices are l5-20% lower than in Moscow, only 28 miles from 
Sharpe Oil Co. no one offered any explanation or rationale. Is it the 
drive up the hill than costs 15 to l8 cents more to deliver? Give me a 
break! How about Spokane, or Walla Walla, or the tri-cities area, where 
it's between 98 cents to $1.04 a gallon? Why?
     So, I called four different gas distributors for better 
"information".  What did I get? One Mosocw owner refuses to return my 
calls. Another in Kendrick said, "I'm not going to tell you what I pay or 
charge for my gas." A third told me that "You're not authorized to make 
such a survey." And the fourth, in Boise, said that prices are determined 
"entirely by market conditions!"  Perhaps our market conditions here are 
such that we are "trapped",  captive customers who have no options. But 
why does Lewiston have an option?  It appears that some kind of 
price-setting cartel-like group is milking us of anywhere from $300,000 
to $500,000 per year, money which we could use for other things, than 
putting our money into the cash boxes of the gasoline marketers. Is this 
fair competitive behavior in a private enterprise and free market 
economy? Or is it arbitrary control, price-fixing by the jobbers and 
dealers? If you have two vehicles in your household, and drive about 
10,000 miles per year, you aare paying about $100 over real market 
prices.  If the suppliers-retailers refuse to be fair, consumers can 
patronize only the lowest-price station, which at present is on Mountain 
View at White Streets, for $1.14 for unleaded gas. One week of patronage 
would bring the others in line.  
   What are your thoughts? Are we for monopoly, or competition, fairness 
or selfishness?

------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com