vision2020
RE: Fair Gas Prices?
Ken, you certainly aren't the first to ask this question. About 20 years
ago the very same question was asked and the same type of responses
received. Perhaps Moscow's city council members could start asking some of
the very same questions.
PC
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Medlin [SMTP:dev-plan@moscow.com]
Sent: December 31,1998 00:54
To: Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: Fair Gas Prices?
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
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