Note:
In my math, I use a rough conversion of 3.8 to multiply the price per liter to equate price per gallon (alternately, of course, to divide price per gallon to equate price per liter.) (the exact conversion is 3.7854118)
Yesterday, March 13, I drove approximately 150 miles through three counties (Cook, DuPage, and Lake), which include and surround Chicago. I saw gas prices for regular unleaded gasoline range from a low of $1.699/gallon to $2.139/gallon. There were some lower prices, but they were part of a required purchase of car wash or cigarettes or some other thing.
There was no apparent consistency in price for brand or community location. In one town, I saw Mobil brand with a $0.15 spread between two stations a mile apart. In Chicago proper, which has the highest combination of special and sales taxes on gasoline in the area, I saw a Shell and a British Petroleum with prices of $1.749/gallon and three hours later in rural Lake County (where the sales and other tax is $0.15 Less per gallon) saw the same brands for $1.799 and $1.849.
Gouging? Maybe it was just a function of the amount of gasoline volume the stations sold. Or the fact that some stations were 24/7 operations while others closed by 8 or 9 pm. I can understand the overhead of maintaining a large multipump station with MiniMart open 24 hours versus overhead of a small 4 pump station which runs only 1-1/2 shifts per day. I further understand that overhead being offset by the high profit from the MiniMart which sells cigarettes by the case and lottery tickets by the bushel.
MILK?!
4 supermarkets within 5 miles of my home have minimum of two brands of milk each; one carries four brands. The store with four brands ranged from $1.69/gallon to $3.29/gallon for whole milk ($3.29 is in glass bottle with additional deposit required.) One gas station MiniMart in town consistently sells whole milk (one brand only) for $2.09/gallon. (Its unleaded regular gas is $1.709/gallon.)
In my math, I use a rough conversion of 3.8 to multiply the price per liter to equate price per gallon (alternately, of course, to divide price per gallon to equate price per liter.) (the exact conversion is 3.7854118)
Yesterday, March 13, I drove approximately 150 miles through three counties (Cook, DuPage, and Lake), which include and surround Chicago. I saw gas prices for regular unleaded gasoline range from a low of $1.699/gallon to $2.139/gallon. There were some lower prices, but they were part of a required purchase of car wash or cigarettes or some other thing.
There was no apparent consistency in price for brand or community location. In one town, I saw Mobil brand with a $0.15 spread between two stations a mile apart. In Chicago proper, which has the highest combination of special and sales taxes on gasoline in the area, I saw a Shell and a British Petroleum with prices of $1.749/gallon and three hours later in rural Lake County (where the sales and other tax is $0.15 Less per gallon) saw the same brands for $1.799 and $1.849.
Gouging? Maybe it was just a function of the amount of gasoline volume the stations sold. Or the fact that some stations were 24/7 operations while others closed by 8 or 9 pm. I can understand the overhead of maintaining a large multipump station with MiniMart open 24 hours versus overhead of a small 4 pump station which runs only 1-1/2 shifts per day. I further understand that overhead being offset by the high profit from the MiniMart which sells cigarettes by the case and lottery tickets by the bushel.
MILK?!
4 supermarkets within 5 miles of my home have minimum of two brands of milk each; one carries four brands. The store with four brands ranged from $1.69/gallon to $3.29/gallon for whole milk ($3.29 is in glass bottle with additional deposit required.) One gas station MiniMart in town consistently sells whole milk (one brand only) for $2.09/gallon. (Its unleaded regular gas is $1.709/gallon.)
