# So how much profit are the gas stations making per gallon?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 1, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146 "2004-06-01T21:48:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146/21 "2004-06-02T18:53:42Z")
The Pacific Pride statement begins with 63.32 gallons, the next column being Ex-Tax (am I paying more because I got divorced?) shows the cost of that fuel as $87.05 or ~ $1.37 per gallon. Add Federal tax .18, State Tax 1 .12, and State Tax 2 .14 (I live in one state at a time, OK?) and the total becomes $1.819 and that was when I posted. It’s up a nickel since then.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146/22 "2004-06-02T21:27:47Z")
> [@P\_T\_](#):
>
> I realize most of the places are making the profit off the 1.29 sodas and the 2.00 bag of chips, but I wonder how the little gas station in town is still doing it. All he does is sell gas, full service at that and is only 1 to 2 cents higher than everyone else in town.
Does he also fix cars, do oil changes, sell tires, etc.? Then that’s where his profit is.
If there ever comes a time when he has to do significant maintenance on his gas tank or pumps, he’ll probably get out of the business of selling gas entirely.
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### Author:  [@jsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsmith)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146/23 "2004-06-02T22:29:42Z")
Sorry no cite…
I asked the same question of someone I know that owns several gas stations in town of a major chain and he responded by saying sales actually went up in non-gasoline product when pay at pump was implemented because the line was shorter inside. People hate lines and will avoid stations were the wait is long.
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#):
>
> If gas stations make most of their profits on the sale of soda pop, candy bars, etc. next to the cash register, what will be the effect of the pay-at-the-pump machines?
>
> Whenever I use one of them, I never go inside, and so am not tempted to buy something from the store. Won’t these machines eventually cut into their profits big-time?
>
> I do see that these machines cut their costs down to almost nothing. All the work is done by the customer, and even the credit card payment is confirmed before they pump the gas. I’ve even seen some gas stations where they had nobody working at night, but the pumps are still on (but only for pay-at-the-pump). That eliminates the employee cost completely!
>
> And I can’t see that pay-at-the-pump would attract many more customers – I look for the cheapest price when I’m buying gas.
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### Author:  [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146/24 "2004-06-03T00:03:02Z")
> [@Hey you!](#):
>
> So the gasoline _station_ makes between $0.01 and $0.08 profit on the gasoline…what about the gasoline _company_?
>
> Or to put it another way, what entity does the individual station buy the gasoline from? Their parent owning corporation, or a third party? And what are they making per gallon?
Vertically integrated oil companies tend, over the long term, to average about 5% profit of the wholesale price. Now that gas prices are higher, it may be pushing 7-8%.
In the case of an independent refiner buying oil from a Saudi company … harder to say. I heard on the radio that gasoline prices are 50% crude and 20% refining. That will vary a lot on refining capacity and inventory, but doing it roughly and taking those fractions against the 5% profit level, 2.5 % of the wholesale cost goes to the crude supplier as profit and 1% as profit for the refiner.
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### Author:  [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-much-profit-are-the-gas-stations-making-per-gallon/248146/25 "2004-06-03T00:07:23Z")
Just because you’re paying at the pump doesn’t mean you won’t go inside. Maybe you want to pay cash for your coffee but charge your gas for some reason, or maybe while the driver is filling up the tank, the passenger has to use the bathroom and picks up sodas on the way out or something.
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