Middleman
Defender of the month
Heck they even used to check your oil and wash your windshield for free while THEY were filling your car.
And check the tire pressure on your car!
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Heck they even used to check your oil and wash your windshield for free while THEY were filling your car.
Must be an old law. There is certainly no need for it today. I have a friend that works in a gas station. He says the prices are fixed by the company based on the price paid. It doesn't matter what the other station prices are.They're officially illegal in Wisconsin.Remember Gas Wars?
The horribly misguided "protect the mom-n-pop shop" law means that prices are mandated by law to be artificially high, to the point that those very mom-n-pop shops cannot give senior discounts to draw business.
Seems the only externanlities that do-gooder politicians care not about, are those brought about by their myopic policies.
They were battery-powered thoughRemember Robot Wars?
That was a good show.
Oil speculators do push the price of oil up but they also push it down.I'm not smart enough to know whether it's true or not(if I was, I'd be a rich man), but I keep hearing that when it jumped up to $5 a gallon a couple years ago, the futures speculators were to blame. Can anyone shed some light on that for me?
Buying oil futures is only one way of buying oil. Oil is also bought and sold on the open market at what is called the spot price, or cash price. Futures are traded just like stocks and bonds. The difference being that futures have a limited life span. Someone wanting to buy oil and take possession immediately may opt to buy oil futures that are coming due in a few days. Speculators are not normally a large part of the market, but if some event occurs that is likely to create additional supply or demand, then a lot of people in the oil business may become speculators driving the price temporary up or down.Thanks Flopper, I appreciate the answer, but I still don't get it, probably never will. My understanding was in futures you lock in a set price, then when the time comes if the going price is higher, you make a profit. Lower you lose money. I seriously doubt that is right, but that is always what I thought. I don't understand how futures affects the going price? I know there has to be more to it, but am I on the right track?
When is the last time you saw a sign that said GAS War? Probably not for a long long time. Supplies of oil are not what they use to be, but neither is the makeup of the industry. This year we will loose up to 5000 small gas stations as they are replaced by mega-stations operated by the big oil companies.
When I was a kid, there were 4 gas stations in our neighborhood, Texaco, Gulf, Exxon, and an independent, all located at one busy intersection. Today there is one station, a giant Shell station with 24 pumps. There is only one other station in the area and its also a Shell station. The nearest other station is about 8 miles away. Shell can charge just about whatever they want. There is no competition. Remember Mobil Oil, Gulf Oil, and Texaco. Exxon or Standard of California has bought them out as well as hundreds of small independent chains.
You mean when they used to give free glasses and green stamps?
I'm not smart enough to know whether it's true or not(if I was, I'd be a rich man), but I keep hearing that when it jumped up to $5 a gallon a couple years ago, the futures speculators were to blame. Can anyone shed some light on that for me?
Buying oil futures is only one way of buying oil. Oil is also bought and sold on the open market at what is called the spot price, or cash price. Futures are traded just like stocks and bonds. The difference being that futures have a limited life span. Someone wanting to buy oil and take possession immediately may opt to buy oil futures that are coming due in a few days. Speculators are not normally a large part of the market, but if some event occurs that is likely to create additional supply or demand, then a lot of people in the oil business may become speculators driving the price temporary up or down.Thanks Flopper, I appreciate the answer, but I still don't get it, probably never will. My understanding was in futures you lock in a set price, then when the time comes if the going price is higher, you make a profit. Lower you lose money. I seriously doubt that is right, but that is always what I thought. I don't understand how futures affects the going price? I know there has to be more to it, but am I on the right track?
You mean when they used to give free glasses and green stamps?