Why haven't gas prices gone down?

ProbeGT said:
ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and others also operate their own gas stations. If they're so honorable, why aren't we seeing gas at their stations being sold with "reasonable" markups on top of wholesale prices? In the retail space, competition seems plentiful. Are you suggesting there is a cartel agreement among the dozens of companies who sell fuel to consumers? This is a genuine question, perhaps there is one, IDK - I often see all gas stations in my area mysteriously move prices up and down in perfect unison - something that's unlikely to happen spontaneously in a free market environment.

That said, with crude oil being this cheap, it seems to me that even the wholesale price is still way too high - falling back to my thesis about refinineries dictating high prices due to capacity constraints.
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Want to tell us the percentage they own? (Hint, it’s but a few) …
 
Getting hit hard here on the west coast. 4.39 here in Portland Oregon. Heard Washington state is worse. California also ridiculous. Why? Don’t know. Rest of the country gas is down but here. 18c fed tax and 40c state tax.
 
demarpaint said:
Greed and price fixing, imo.
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The retailers like to claim "little guy", but some of the countries largest private companies are gas station chains - Pilot, QT, Wawa, etc - are all on the list of largest privately held companies in the USA. There worth billions. Do you think they would be building ever more gas stations making thin margins? Not what billionaires do.
 
Lowest i've seen in my area in the past couple months was 2.27 and now it's 2.39. Should be lower but it's not the worst. What's the price in your area.
 
SC Maintenance said:
The retailers like to claim "little guy", but some of the countries largest private companies are gas station chains - Pilot, QT, Wawa, etc - are all on the list of largest privately held companies in the USA. There worth billions. Do you think they would be building ever more gas stations making thin margins? Not what billionaires do.
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Exactly. They pretend like they have it hard but it's plain to see they don't. Same with casinos, they wouldn't be these ultra extravagant crapshoots if people were winning, they're that nice because people lose. The nicer the casino the faster the fool will get flushed of every last penny he has.
 
In small towns with three or four gas stations fuel is always the same price and they all change at the exact same time even though they all have different owners. Imagine if all your local contractors or retail stores coordinated like that.
 
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