Gas Prices...

[nfitz]

The solution is forcing them to compete, if 5 grocery stores can sell the identical can of beans at 5 different prices the oil companies excuses look comically artificial.

Surely though, if the grocery store sold no product except 3 different types of beans, and had a big sign on the front of the store, on what the price of the cheapest can of beans was right now, then we'd expect that all 5 nearby grocery stores would, on any given day, would have the same price.

Surely we are forcing gasoline stations to compete - more so than we force Loblaws not to overprice a 500 mL tin of navy beans.

 

[InfinitiGuy]

Lately I've been filling up at Costco. The car I drive requires premium so I save about 12-13 cents per liter. Depending on the time of day there could be a wait so I try to go on off hours.

 

[PinkLucy]

There are off hours at Costco? Who knew?

 

[lvteos234]

I wish all costco had gas stations associated with them. The ones that do are not very close to where I love so it wouldnt make sense to drive there to fill up

 

[W. K. Lis]

just wondering if any1 knows when the gas prices are coming down,

The price will go down when we all do not line up at the gas station to buy gasoline. In other words, don't use your car and try alternative means of transportation other than the car. Continue to use your car, or cars, the price will continue to go up from the demand from all over the world (especially as India and China buy more cars) and will rise up even more as the supply of oil is used up.

 

[GenerationW]

The price will go up or down based on supply and demand in the long run, and certain regional conflicts heating up or cooling down in the short run.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The price will go up or down based on supply and demand in the long run, and certain regional conflicts heating up or cooling down in the short run.

Demand is the other side of oil and gasoline prices. Demand will go up with the increase of world population. From this link, the population of the world in 2000 was approximately 6,115,000,000. By 2010, it was estimated to be 6,909,000,000. In 10 years, it went up 794,000,000±. All that becomes demand for crude oil and crude oil products, like gasoline. Increase the demand, and a limited supply, prices will go up.

They are guesstimating the population of the world in 2015 will be 7,302,000,000 and 7,675,000,000 by 2020.

Will the supply of oil and gasoline be able to match the demand by then? Hope they will not all want cars when they grow up,

 

[Tuscani01]

Surely though, if the grocery store sold no product except 3 different types of beans, and had a big sign on the front of the store, on what the price of the cheapest can of beans was right now, then we'd expect that all 5 nearby grocery stores would, on any given day, would have the same price.

Surely we are forcing gasoline stations to compete - more so than we force Loblaws not to overprice a 500 mL tin of navy beans.

All 5 grocery stores already monitor prices of product at the other stores. Each grocery store has a department dedicated to pricing, that makes sure prices are in line with competitors prices.

Shoppers find the best deals and base their shopping decisions on where they can come home with more for less. Any retailer that doesn't recognize this is going to fail. The only difference in this is where a store prides itself on service and quality, but even those stores match their prices to other stores that maintain higher standards.

 

[GenerationW]

Demand is the other side of oil and gasoline prices. Demand will go up with the increase of world population. From this link, the population of the world in 2000 was approximately 6,115,000,000. By 2010, it was estimated to be 6,909,000,000. In 10 years, it went up 794,000,000±. All that becomes demand for crude oil and crude oil products, like gasoline. Increase the demand, and a limited supply, prices will go up.

They are guesstimating the population of the world in 2015 will be 7,302,000,000 and 7,675,000,000 by 2020.

Will the supply of oil and gasoline be able to match the demand by then? Hope they will not all want cars when they grow up,

You should write a book. Call it The Population Bomb.

 

[W. K. Lis]

When people watch television news, they usually see the price of crude oil quoted. That price is usually West Texas Intermediate (WTI), which is priced at the storage tanks in Cushing Oklahoma. (From this link.) That is considered the benchmark price, though it is almost the lowest price in the world.

Another price sometimes quoted is the Brent Oil price. That oil is from the North Sea. At one time the Brent Oil and WTI were almost equal, now Brent Oil is more expensive.

In fact, there are other prices for oil from around the world. For that list click on this link.

OPEC oil is higher than the WTI prices. Even the average United States crude oil price is higher than the WTI price. Canadian oil is almost the same or cheaper. The prices quoted on the television for WTI crude oil is getting to be less reliable as a source for oil prices. You can see that by asking yourself why the gasoline prices are high when last year's crude oil (WTI) were almost the same. It is because the pumps are getting oil from somewhere else other than Western Texas.

 

[Jim12]

We are lucky with 1.24l, i just came back from Europe and they pay up to 2.5CND per L.

 

[FionaTO]

We should boycott 1 large oil company chain for a few days - it has to make it more competitive and hopefully they will drop their price to get business back - shouldn't be a hardship for people to do.

 

[supegui]

We should boycott 1 large oil company chain for a few days - it has to make it more competitive and hopefully they will drop their price to get business back - shouldn't be a hardship for people to do.

Unfortunately this will never work. Drivers will just continue to drive and go to the gas station to pump up.

 

[lvteos234]

We should boycott 1 large oil company chain for a few days - it has to make it more competitive and hopefully they will drop their price to get business back - shouldn't be a hardship for people to do.

That is probably the one one of the many fight back methodologies that has any chance of working. I remember I used to receive all these 'dont buy gas on so and so day', but these never work because it does not dent demand. Even if people mobilize and manage to do it, people will just fill up the next day or the day before so it has no overall effect on gas companies. Boycotting only one however would make sense because granted demand is the same, but now one company will be feeling the pinch because ITS demand has gone down significantly. They will then be FORCED to reduce their prices compared to others in order to get people to use them again. This in effect would break the price-lock that oil companies have on this city.

The only hard part is implementation. How can you get so many motorists to boycott one oil company. There are millions of cars, vans, trucks, limousines and buses on the road. It is a challeneg to co-ordinate them all. But I think it would work and I would welcome any counter arguments

 

[nfitz]

The only hard part is implementation. How can you get so many motorists to boycott one oil company. There are millions of cars, vans, trucks, limousines and buses on the road. It is a challeneg to co-ordinate them all. But I think it would work and I would welcome any counter arguments

People have tried it in the past. But personally I'll still get gas there, if the line-up is shorter.

How COULD this make any difference to the price of gas though. It's not like the gas companies keep it artificially high. They compete with each other, and market forces work.

My Petro-Can shares would be doing a lot better if there was the kind of racket that the tin-foil-hat crowd think there is.