My state (South Dakota) is trying to pass a bill that requires a markup on gasoline (6%), so gas stations CAN'T be competitive, that's right you heard me right.

This article mainly targets Sam's club, which BTW is the only Sam's station in the whole state, period. This bill is also geared at the local Mom and Pop stores so that they have to sell at the same price as the Big owners, which will ultimately drive them out of the buisness!

http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles...cal/news02.txt

Anyone ever heard of a loss leader?

What the heck do you think it is when the local supermarket sells Soda for 2 bucks a 12 pack, or milk that is 50 cents off?


OOHH this really ticks me off!

Sorry for the rant.

 

I get mine right down the street from the house. I see it pointless to drive a few extra miles to save a dollor or two at a place that is a little cheaper. If it happened to be a family own station or not it doesn't matter to me. Unless it was a Holiday station. I never cared for the blue planet stuff they sell.

 

That would be GREAT for the consumer, until they all went belly up. Most stations that I am familiar with run between a 25% and 30% markup.

 

I would like to agree with this, but the part I don't like is, here we have the local goverment "Telling" what gas stations have to sell their gas at, and what quantity they can have on hand. The article doesn't mention that there would be a set onhand quantity that the is astronomically larger than most mom and pop shops can possibly hold, this alone would drive them out of buisness. Not to mention that the set markup would have to be at least 6%, not set at 6% as I think that's what you guys are thinking.

I already think the local gov't is big enough, let alone to tell someone what they can and can't sell their gas at.

IMO, you almost have to be from the Rapid City area to understand what this bill is really intended for.

Before last summer, there was not a Sam's gas station in town. Becuase of this there was one prominate owner of gas stations in Rapid City and the surrounding areas, with the exception of one or 2 mom and pop shops. Now you also need to know that there is only one substation in this area that feeds ALL stations, i.e all the gas in the area comes from the same spicket (same cost to the retailer).

Before Sam's gas came to town, the one prominate owner would jack the gas prices every summer and especially during the Sturgis Bike rally, to prices almost approaching 1.80 for plain regular (Btw i'm not talking 5-10 staitons, im talking 30-40 through out the Black Hills area), while the rest of the state would be around 1.10-1.20 for regular.

When Sam's Club built thier lone gas station in the state (Rapid City) last summer, this lone prominate owner was forced to actually be some what competitive, and resulted in some what reasonable gas prices for the first time in a long time.

Oh yeah, one last thing 95% of the towns in this state have one one small gas station that the local area has to depend on, imagine driving 50-60 miles one way just to get your tank filled if this bill passes.

thanks for hearing my rants.

 

superrangerman2002,

I'm with you 110% on this one. What business is it of the government's what someone want's to sell their gas for? What's next? Bread? A government set standard price for all goods isn't that far away. There's a term for this approach COMMUNISM.

If Sam's want's to sell their gas at a loss, have at it. That's how the FREE MARKET SYSTEM that the USA and Canada are built on works. Bill and politicians like this boggle my mind.

The people have the power to put an end to this, and believe me, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. This business man and his money are no match for a majority of voting taxpayers. Try bandying about the term communist and see how quickly they backtrack.

Waxy

 

Wal-mart has just opened one of thier monster-boxes nearby (complete with a manager named Clem) and they are selling trucked in milk at $1 below their cost. The fear is that they will put the local dairy out of business as well as the local dairy farmers.
Theres nothing wrong with an occasional sale to drum up business, but when pricing is designed to destroy the local marketplace and ultimately create a monopoly, then theres a problem and governments should step in.

 

I'm sorry but when it comes to gas i want it as cheep as possible. When you spending $60 bucks a week in gas it gets put into perspective. Put gas in truck or make truck paymeny? lets see 60 a week = 240 a month. truck payment is 250. The little mom and pop stations around here, the 1 or 2 ive seen, prices are higher than any or the others.

 

I saw some notices on the gas pumps at WalMart and Sams in Louisiana last year, indicating that the Louisiana legislature was considering the same thing; making it illegal to decrease gas prices unless the vendor could show that they actually had a lower cost to produce.

I agree with whoever said it, this is naked communism. There is no justification for that type of interference in private business, even if it is in the precious commodity market.

This is the kind of stuff that proves that individuals need to be constantly vigilant about what their government is doing, but even more diligent about digging to find the reasons for such actions.

 

Whats happened around here is that there have been several hard fought gasoline price wars over the years. Now most of the gasoline retailers have either gone out of the fuel business, or shut down completely. Only the largest still exist, gas prices are always raised before a holiday weekend, and price changes always happen in unison, and we have the highest prices in the region. Sure, its a free market, but sometimes the market is controlled by the deepest pocket.

 

The same thing was tried here in Kentucky a few year's back. At the top of this was a major dept. store chain. Luckly it voted down. I guess somebody greased their palm's to stop the action. Government is totally shameful.

 

Did anyone else go through the "summer gas/winter gas" legislation? Apparently there is a slight difference in the formulation, so during certain times of the year stations can only sell one or the other. The price varies depending on what supplier is producing the mix.

 

I couldn't disagree with you more.

Is milk the only thing you buy? Here's an idea, go to Walmart, get your milk (that they are puposely losing money on) then go acorss the street to your favourite mom and pop and buy everything else you need. Walmart will not continually lose money for no reason.

An even better idea, DON"T BUY YOUR MILK AT WALMART. Support your local dairy and ecourage others to do so.

Quite being fatalistic and take matters into your own hands. I have a lot of experience with this type of marketing. My cousin owns a small lumberyard and has recently had to learn to compete with the Home Depot that just opened. At first it hit him really hard, nut then he learned their game. Their strategy is simple, pick to or three major items and sell them at a loss, then raise the price of the rest of your stuff to cover that loss.

Example, Home Depot sells drywall for $2 less a sheet than my cousin can even buy it for from his suppliers, but they COUNT on you buying everything else you need at the same time, mud, tape, studs, maybe a trowel, etc, all of which is way more money than if you bought it at a local lumber yard. His solution was to drive his lumber truck over and buy his drywall from them and resell it at a profit, while advertising package prices on everything required at prices lower than Home Depot's total, and still profitable for him.

He would actually encourage people that called on a price for drywall to go and buy it at Home Depot and then come and see him for everything else they needed, and give them a good deal on it. He was not only making money, but hurting Home Depot while he was at it.

The other major irreplaceable factor is SERVICE. There is simply no replacement for it and no price you can put on it. You come to his lumberyard you get personal, knowledgeable service, good luck finding that at the Home Depot.

My point is the business man and the consumer rule, NOT the government. The last thing we need in Canada is MORE government.

Waxy

 

I have to add my .02 here, sorry, can't help it. I'm with Waxy's line of thought and my take on it is this; this gov't issue, problem starts with the day you cash your paycheck. You're taxed then and re-taxed and re-taxed and re-taxed and the gov't gets fatter and fatter while you and I get poorer. We're led in directions of buying and spending designed by the rich and the gov't. Let's face it this country is run by a gov't made up of the rich, by the rich and for the rich, without question, from the top down or the bottom up, no matter how you cut it and there is nothing that you or I will do about it. The country is so corrupt that Joe Q Public doesn't stand a chance. We either live with it and pay like the sheep that we are or leave. For those that would say your vote makes a difference, I say BULL****! This country is motivated by one thing people......MONEY. Money means power, power over everything. It was that way in the days of slavery and it's that way now. The votes will go to the direction of money and the power of persuasion, as they always have. Sad to say but tell me I'm wrong. And that's my .02

 

very true Waxy!

Or in marketing terms, that discounted milk, lumber, Basically any thing in a sales ad, is called a "Loss Leader", which is designed to bring customers in to buy other higher margin items.

 

Quote by S.R.M
Before last summer, there was not a Sam's gas station in town.

Oh yeah, one last thing 95% of the towns in this state have one one small gas station that the local area has to depend on, imagine driving 50-60 miles one way just to get your tank filled if this bill passes.

thanks for hearing my rants. [/B][/QUOTE]

First off, I am glad that the voted down the bill. I don't want the government into anymore than they are already, and they need out of a lot of that. Everybody talks about the oil companies price fixing, that's what that would have done except it would be State mandated. Oh yeah, just have to throw in that in S.D. there is at least 40 cents tax between state and federal fuel tax. I know it's at least 22 cents and 18 cents, maybe 22.5 and 18.5, don't remember for sure off hand. There have been more and more stations starting to post the tax at the pump so people now where the money is going. As to there only be one supply to the Blackhills, that is not accurate. There is a lot of fuel come in from across the State if it can be bought and hauled in cheaper, or some of it comes from Nebraska, North Platte I believe. This last summer they could not get diesel out of the terminal in Rapid City and had to haul it in from Nebraska, even though there was plenty of fuel in the tanks. The Air base has first pull on the pipeline and when they want fuel, they get it.

Also, who is the company who owns all the stations in the Black HIlls? Is it Big D or MG Oil or who? I do know these outfits have a lot of stations, but don't own all of them. They do deliever to a lot of the area stations though. There are still a lot of "mom & pop" type of stations around here. The way I understood that bill is that it was meant to help the small stations, but I'll admit I didn't read it, just the article, I will have to look into it when I get the time.

Now, as far as wal-mart and Sam's club goes, I don't like them at all. I do buy certain things there, only if I can't find them at a locally owned business first. I don't seem to have very good luck with Wal-mart merchandise, even if it is name brand it doesn't last like if I buy it somewhere else. I've also read an article about Wal-mart and their business practices that turned me off to them. The average annual salary for all their employees is under $20,000, that includes the managers and tellers and everybody averaged together. They don't hire but a minimum number of people for full time so they don't have to offer health insurance to the others. There are other things but don't want to rant anymore. Thank you for letting me express my thoughts.