Profit per gallon for the station is typically under $0.05/gal, so you’re likely seeing a difference in feedstock and refinery costs. Taxes factor in too, but the delta is only $0.03/gal for those two states, unless something has changed since this summer.
Or way more people buying lottery tickets and cigarettes in one place.
O.K., it’s possible that the 1.29 is not a gimmick in certain parts of Virginia, but the .47 is a gimmick in Michigan. In any case, Wesley Clark claims that gas went up from $1.27 to $1.90 at the same gas station. I can only see that as the first price being a marketing gimmick.
Again, I bough gas here in Akron Ohio 3 weeks ago for $1.45/gal. The same stations a week later all went to $1.99/gal. Part of it was the wholesale price of gasoline to Ohio jumped 0.30/gal that week.
So why did the prices jump .30 a gallon in Ohio when they jumped an average of .05 in the U.S.?
Looking at the gas buddy website, gas where I live was about 45 cents below the national average last month at its low of $1.27, now it is almost exactly matched to the national average despite the national average only going up 15 cents. So something about where I live caused the gas prices to be far below national averages, then to rapidly catch up in the last month.
Spring maintenance shutdowns in midwest refineries.
That, and evil.
Don’t forget evil.