Jurricane Ike - Out of Gas - Price Gouging

[Sportymonk]

Friday morning reg gas was running about $3.699 in Rocky Mount and Raleigh. Sometime late Thursday one of the corporate owners of various chains of gas stations posted notices asking people to limit their purchases to 10 gallons. Naturally the run started and Friday people started filling up. I had read about it but didn't worry. Had a medical appointment in Raleigh at 1:30 so I left at 12:30. Left with half a tank so I would have to fill up there to get back home.

Near the doctor's office, I saw gas was $3.999!!! Right down the street was a BP for $3.699 so I filled up. then I started hearing the reports that Fayetteville and other places had gas going to $5 + !!

My wife and I had dinner with my son who goes to UNC Chapel Hill (just outside Raleigh) Friday night. He had picked up his car as he parks it off campus. We asked if he had gas. He said no he was starting to hit the red zone at 1/8 of a tank in a Dodge Neon (2 Civics and a Pilot in the family and then his Neon. I tried folks I really tried to raise him right)

So after dinner I cranked up the Garmin and we went to go get gas. The first station was out of gas!! Of all kinds!! We headed back toward campus in case he ran out of gas or got there but couldn't get any. At the second station they were out of Reg at $404.9!!! but they had Mid-grade (anybody call it ethyl anymore??) at $4149 and premium at $429.9. We filled up (8.5 gallons) and he went on his way.

As the wife and I returned back to the bright lights of big Rocky Mount/Nashville (sarcasm in case it doesn't show) we got off and rode through Nashville on to Rocky Mount. EVERY gas station was $3.999. NOT $3.989. NOT $4.019 but EVERY one at $3.999. Friday morning the price had hovered around $3..699 but prices varied a few pennies. Not anymore.

Governor Easley of NC has declared this a time of "Unusual price disruption" which gives him the authority fo go after price gougers.

The news this morning says some of those $5+ stations are returning to $3.999. One station manager said though that he would have to pay $5.32 for his next shipment!!!

I know that the rush of everybody filling up used more gas supply than normal but still we have Labor Day and Memorial Day and we don't run out. My wife wonders if some owners aren't saying they are running out of gas and sitting on supplies until next Tuesday or Wednesday when prices are up more and then they will have gas.

My daughter asked how long this would last. I told her that if Ike doesn't damage the refineries, it should go back to normal in a few days to a week. If Ike damages the refineries, no telling. Wife is on the phone with her father in south Georgia. Gas tends to be cheaper there but they are having a similar situation. Gas down there jumped to $4.199 by evening.

And the price of gas in the storage tanks hasn't changed.

What are you folks elsewhere experiencing? Is this happening up north or out west?

[ctobio]

I filled up for 3.65 on regular unleaded this morning on my beater truck- I've been filling up all the family cars, just in case something screwy does happen to pricing over the next few days.

Price hasn't changed here in CT since the beginning of the week.

[andyschneider]

Up here in NH - there's one gas station in town that jumped their price from $3.53 yesterday to $3.73 today - while all the others have remained pretty much the same. Maybe it's because we get our gas from somewhere else, but the "panic" in terms of pricing and people "stocking up" doesn't seem to be happening here - yet..... I filled up yesterday for $3.57, and the price was the same just now as I drove by the station...

andy

[N_Jay]

Not this "Goulging" crap again.

You want to talk Gouging,
try $1.59 a bottle for water at Portland airport,
$2 a bottle on the plane,
AND $2.69 at Phoenix airport

Back to gas. If some stations have run out, then how can any reasonable person say a higher price is "gouging"?

What is stupid is the intense attention put on this by the Media (Who never took Econ 101 or slept through it), and then the reaction from the politicians (That most could not pass Econ 101 if they tried.)

No station owner in their right mind would fake being out of gas because of the loss of sales on the products that actually make them money (Milk, Cigs, and Lottery tickets).

As the recent price increases have shown us, it takes quite a change to reduce sales, so why would you NOT expect a very significant increase when you have;
1) Increased demand (Lines)
2) Decreased supply
3) High supply risk
4) panic like buying.

As for teh price in teh tank, it is immaterial.
Prices are set by demand and value, not cost!

[colorider]

Moved to "Off-Topic"

[robrecht]

$3.25 at one of the lower cost Hess stations here in NJ on Friday, went up to $3.49 but it was already on its way back down at $3.39 earlier today.

Our gas taxes are low in NJ so, even 'though there's no self-serve allowed, prices are rather low here.

[Nathan_P]

Cheapest I saw out today was $3.899...most expensive was $4.099

[krygny]

I was a bit surprised, Saturday morning, when I filled up at my local BP station for the typical 3.69. Although, I don't expect that to hold. A moderate short-term price increase as a result of spot shortages is understandable. But I've heard reports around the country of $8-9. If true, it's obvious gouging somewhere in the supply chain, and should be investigated.

[Nathan_P]

Originally posted by Nathan_P
Cheapest I saw out today was $3.899...most expensive was $4.099

One day later...cheapest I see is $4.299.

[macphanatic]

And oil dropped below $100/barrel today. No gouging going on here.

[N_Jay]

So what do you define as "gouging"?

[macphanatic]

Main Entry:
2gouge
Function:
transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):
gouged; goug·ing
Date:
1570

1: to scoop out with or as if with a gouge
2 a: to force out (an eye) with the thumb b: to thrust the thumb into the eye of
3: to subject to extortion or undue exaction : overcharge

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by macphanatic
3: to subject to extortion or undue exaction : overcharge

Or;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/sho...px?ct=974&h=53

[macphanatic]

From your link:

Price gouging is a pejorative term for a seller pricing much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.

This is exactly what they did. This would be like insurance companies raising your rate for your current policy just before the storm hits.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by macphanatic
Price gouging is a pejorative term for a seller pricing much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.

Considered by who?

That is the whole issue. Are retailers free to set prices and customers are free to shop elsewhere.

Originally posted by macphanatic
This is exactly what they did. This would be like insurance companies raising your rate for your current policy just before the storm hits.

No, because with insurance you have a contract with a fixed price for the term.

It would be more like you going to sell a piece of land, and the buyer only wanting to pay what you paid plus the CPI since you bought it.

Then after negotiating a higher price, the government tries to step in and punish you.