Independent Gas Stations

February 2004
Garnet's Note: As I write this, gasoline in some areas of California has shot up from US$1.65 to US$2.29 a gallon, in less than 2 weeks.

My comments about the Gas Price Resistance Boycott email, and idea of how to keep the price of gasoline under $3 a gallon by not purchasing from one or two major oil producers and expecting them to spark a price war.

I wish this kind of thing were really possible. I used to often buy my gas from the gas station north of the dump, they usually would beat our county's gas prices by 10 cents or more a gallon. I think the last couple of times I went there, their prices were not that big of an advantage.

Often I buy my gas from the independent operators of the Via station. The fact that they are a dime cheaper a gallon than the Shell minimart across the street makes the decision easier. Both of those stations seem to be independent. But the reality is probably that they are getting their guess from one of those really big companies. They are all so interconnected.... I heard someone say that all the lightbulbs in the U.S. are made at only a couple of different factors, regardless of what brand might be on the side of the package. It is the same with recordable CD disks (CDRs), despite all the brands at the store, there are only about 5 real manufacturers, and even the big names like Maxell, are just buying from those manufacturers. Sometimes one 50 pack of disks can have some disks from one source, and some from another. There are geek utilities to tell the actual manufacturer of the disk, which is a sport for those who are hyper concerned about reliability, etc. So I just don't know about this idea. I seldom buy from a big name station anyhow, none of them ever wanted my business bad enough to risk giving me a gas credit card.....

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