I dont know if these exist outside of the Chicago area, but there is this chain of gas stores that sells gas really cheap (vis a vis amaco or shell). When other stations are asking 2.08 for regular unleaded, thortons asks only 1.72. How do they do that?
Dapy:
I’m in Louisville… we have Thornton’s and gas here is the same price as local competitors ------> about $1.78… I haven’t noticed that they are any cheaper in this market.
Okay, I jumped waaay ahead of this one and decided to look into the price gouging allegations from last year. Last summer, the House Commerce Committee held hearings investigating possible gasoline price gouging, particularly in the Chicago area.
Unfortunately, a full transcript of the hearing is not available. Here’s some of the details.
Carol Browner explaining that reformulated gasoline is not the cause of price hikes in Chicago.
Well, it might be collusion, says the FTC. They’ll look into it.
Nope. Whatever it was, it’s definitely not illegal. But to toss a bone to you conspiracy theorists out there, take a look at the date of the completed report.
My guess is if you want to find out why Thornton’s gas is so much cheaper, you will want to look at that last item, the list of possible causes for last year’s price hike. My first guess has to do with item III.B.1.iii, RFG II Manufacturing Problems. This appears to be a problem specific to the Chicago area. Any chance Thornton either controls the distribution of Re-Formulated Gasoline II or has a sweetheart deal with the distributor?
Hey dumbass, your last post was exactly the same and was locked. Did that tell you anything?
[Moderator watch ON]
First of all, hajario, do not ever, under any circumstances, call people names in this forum, or in any other forum on this message board other than the BBQ Pit. This is an official warning.
Secondly, if you’ll look a little closer, you’ll see that the OP of this thread and the closed one have the same timestamp on them. In other words, that thread was locked because it was a duplicate, not duplicated because it was locked. Aside from the needless ad hominem attack in the third reply, there’s no problem at all in this thread.
I apologize to all and stand corrected.
Haj
1.72 and 2.08 for regular unleaded?!? Good god man. We don’t even pay 1.72 for premium gasoline here in Muncie. It’s only 1.51 for regular. Times like that I’m glad I live in Muncie.
Here’s an article from about a year ago, with this cryptic statement:
'Despite the current gas situation, Thornton said, the company will continue to expand, likely entering new markets. He declined to be more specific except to say: “Two years from today, Thornton Oil will be a much different company than two years ago.” ’
Second guess: Thornton is temporarily losing their ass on gasoline in order to gain wider market share. Convenience store sales likely balance the loss.
Well, I’m not usually the conspiracy theorist, but in the case of Chicago Gas I will so this. You’ll have to convince me that there isn’t collusion going on here, as opposed to the other way around.
At the Thortons near my parents place, I agree they usually do have cheaper gas prices than the Amoco and Shells of the world, usually similar to Clark prices. Clark and Thorntons are both usually about 5-10 cents cheaper. Thorntons however does rather frequently go on stints where they’ll slash their prices for a day, and sometimes a matter of hours to drastically lower prices like you noted.
My theory on this is that in order to raise their market share Clark and Thorntons don’t screw you as much as the others do, and still make money. I also think that the rock bottom prices Thornton’s cuts to aren’t to the point where they’re losing money either, I really don’t see them operating at a loss in the hopes they’ll boost business. On the contrary it seems to me that they function on the exact opposite principle that customers have very very little brand loyalty in times like these when it comes to Gas. I’d say that those lower prices that Thorntons slashes to are what Gas probably should cost if you take away the corruption, its just that they tend to break ranks to get people spinning through their doors every so often.
Of course I can’t prove any of this.
. I’d say that those lower prices that Thorntons slashes to are what Gas probably should cost if you take away the corruption,
Cite, please!
My previous post may be misunderstood.
A $150,000 house in Akron, Ohio, probably costs about $250K in Chicagoland. Maybe only $100-125K in Muncie.
So, dirt costs more in big cities. And so does help. And so does advertising, etc, ad nauseam.
The basic cost per gallon of the same gasoline is approximately the same around the country, subject to vageries such as state tax. The cost of delivery/handling is the difference. That could vary between a few cents or even 10-15 cents.
I agree with Omniscient about the price slashing to gain market share. Let’s return to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Henry Ford/Captains of Industry ride again!
Conspiracy? NO. Excess profits? Yes.
/hijack/
I just paid $1.37/gal for regular 87 octane.
(Off I-90 at E.185th St in Cleveland, in case you’re interested.)
YEEHAW!
Filled my truck, GrizzWife’s car, told all the neighbors, and I’m having it on my cereal tomorrow morning 'cuz it’s cheaper than MILK!
/here endeth the hijack/