Fuel Follies
I believe in the capitol enterprise and actually teach it as part of business profitability classes but even I have a limit to what I consider is a fair and reasonable profit!
The oil industry has made record profits the last few years at the backs of the consumers even during one of the worse recessions in the last 80 years and the common excuse is “we need the money to reinvest in exploration and technology.” While there may be some validity to this statement I still see clear evidence that distributors are gouging us at the pumps when they can.
Last week I had to travel about 80 miles across the State of Florida for business and was flabbergasted at fuel price disparity on this trip. My research on the web tells me that distribution is a small cost of fuel resale costs so why does fuel cost vary 8 cents across 30 miles and 25 cents across 80 miles in the same state?
Since the fuel delivery is several thousand gallons at a time if the charge to consumers is 25 cents per gallon more some one is raking in an additional $50,000 on 2,000 gallons of gas just because you are in a different city. There is NO reasonable explanation any one could give me that could substantiate that fuel delivery costs over 80 miles to just one location varies by $50,000!
What this looks like to me is nothing more than pure corporate greed! These fuel follies are a way for companies to pad their pockets where consumers have no choice but to pay the going rate because of price setting. I live in a rural area with the nearest town population of 1500 yet I pay 8 cents less than a nearby college town that is on the major interstate that dissects our State North to South. So whats the deal? Greed, just pure greed!
