# You want $1.30 a gallon??? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 27, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433 "2006-04-27T11:12:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/101 "2006-04-28T04:22:47Z")
Funny, I don’t remember anyone worrying about oil companies not making enough money when oil prices were $10 a barrel. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/102 "2006-04-28T04:38:11Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Taken as a whole, that profit percentage takes a drastic drop when factoring in world wide use. But in an election year, it’s easier to get a guy filling up at $3/gallon to forget the fact he’s paying a higher mortgage payment because his house is twice as big (and costs twice as much to heat and cool). He forgets that the oil is used in prducing the energy to heat in cool it in many cases, thus reducing the available oil to make the gas so he can drive 60 miles each way to the office. The data was in response to the multiple statements in this thread which claim that individual owners don’t make much, if any, profit on gasoline. The data proved them wrong. > [@kanicbird](#): > > Did you consider that the profit margin for gas is much lower then items sold in the quick-y mart? > [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I agree with everything you’ve said but this. Gas stations don’t make a profit on the actual gas. > [@Ludovic](#): > > I think the pittance the stations get from gas is better than the nothing they get from customer like me who won’t even patronize a store without pay at the pump. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/103 "2006-04-28T04:49:51Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > The data was in response to the multiple statements in this thread which claim that individual owners don’t make much, if any, profit on gasoline. The data proved them wrong. I know. But the overall feeling in general, and especially around here, is Big Oil is the demon. And that every penny in profit is somehow ending up in Bush’s wallet. It was nothing personal. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/104 "2006-04-28T04:53:11Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > …And that every penny in profit is somehow ending up in Bush’s wallet. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/105 "2006-04-28T04:54:06Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Funny, I don’t remember anyone worrying about oil companies not making enough money when oil prices were $10 a barrel. I never thought of that. How much was Big Oil losing back then and how did Halliburton finance it? (Just playing off the quoted part, nothing directed at **Shalmanese**.) Anyone care to show a percentage of oil consumption in the US and a link to how the prices are in other countries? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/106 "2006-04-28T05:05:22Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > Cite? Give a cite that Bush is profiting from current oil prices? I could cite NY Times editorials, DNC press releases and Senate and House member press releases. But since I rely on more credible sources than partisan shit, nothing to offer here. I could cite a few Pit threads that Bush is pocketing the money, but those are also as reliable as a '76 Fiat. It’s not my job to prove they’re full of shit. Much like my liberal brethren here railing on Bush, the onus is on the accuser. I’m waiting to read in the _NYT_ editorial page how the gas is not Bush’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/107 "2006-04-28T05:07:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I wonder what the markup is and profit gained from a gallon of gas sold in Beijing, L.A., Chicago, Fargo, Seoul, London and Oslo to Big Oil. Anyone have that data? Strictly speaking, countries like China control domestic gas prices through state ownership of oil companies both up and downstream. Gas in China right now is far, far (think 50%+) below market price, and Sinopec, the state downstream company, is eating the cost. Obviously this situation cannot last forever and prices are going up eventually, but the goverment retains a tight control on the rate of increase to insulate the domestic economy. Crude oil, on the other hand, is a fungible commodity and prices should be more or less the same around the world. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/108 "2006-04-28T05:23:10Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Give a cite that Bush is profiting from current oil prices? That’s not what you said. He has been rewarded for policies that are generous to oil companies, in the form of campaign contributions, but again, that’s not what you claimed. So again, cite? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/109 "2006-04-28T05:52:37Z")
Hey, I’m all ready to blame Bush for the oil prices. I just need a little smooch before taking off my pants. And a little reasoning on why he or Cheney is to blame. I seem to recall Big Oil making a profit in each of the last umpteen years. Worldwide. Do you understand that part? Worldwide? Meaning people other than American’s? Maybe I’m somehow defective in your mind in thinking that non-Americans are using the oil, it’s a conspiracy I can’t let go. In my daily phone consultation with Bush and Cheney this afternoon I again complained about the price I was paying at the pump. I mean I was really pissed! I really laid into them. You would have been proud of me. I pointed out what I was paying for this oil we purchased to make the gas, and why we should be paying less. They mumbled something about the price they were paying, but I punked them with a quote from the SDMB. Surprisingly, they didn’t cave. They mentioned some kind of nonsense about other countries and the demand they had, and I just gave up and had a beer. I realized that the US isn’t the sole proprieter of oil. Oh, wait, yes we are. We determine the price of a gallon of gas on our own. Or no, wait we don’t. Oil is used in other countries. But yeah, we do. The US is the only country buying oil. But we really aren’t, other countries are buying the oil. But wait, we’re the US and need votes, so oil is all ours if we can get a vote. Know what makes me absolutely sick in this whole thing? It’s the fact that Cheney and Bush haven’t been prosecuted and sentenced to death for making me pay $2.75 a gallon. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/110 "2006-04-28T09:09:02Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Your friend has obviously never been to _Sugarsmackrabia_! It’s **Dooku** -approved! Rent one of the private booths and ask for “Karl.” If that _is_ his real name…\* [sub]\* props for who get the reference / cadence there…think Peter Sellers[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/111 "2006-04-28T11:41:57Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Taken as a whole, that profit percentage takes a drastic drop when factoring in world wide use. But in an election year, it’s easier to get a guy filling up at $3/gallon to forget the fact he’s paying a higher mortgage payment because his house is twice as big (and costs twice as much to heat and cool). **He forgets that the oil is used in prducing the energy to heat in cool it in many cases** … Jesus Fucking Christ. After all the times I have posted to kill this myth on this Board, people are still saying this? Do a search. One little search on my name and electricity and oil or something. Ask someone else if you can’t figure it out. Oil in the US produces at most about 2-3% of our electrical output, and home heating oil is absolutely not a major source of heat in the winter overall, on a nationwide basis, _especially_ in the case of new homes! This is aside from the fact that a house twice the size does not necessarily take near twice the energy to heat and cool. Do the math, or look at the residential energy use stats from the EIA before dropping this turd into the Pit punchbowl again. Arrrrrrrgh! ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/112 "2006-04-28T12:56:11Z")
I think the fastest way to create market pressure that reduces gas prices is a non-profit/philantropist charity that sells gasoline at or below cost but in limited amounts per day/per person. This will have the twofold effect of driving competitors prices down as well as making people drive less if they want cheap gas. Quite an expensive undertaking however. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/113 "2006-04-28T14:42:51Z")
While I’m fascinated by the economic discussion of oil (and I certainly don’t want you to stop), I’m wondering if we can come to some sort of consensus about the original boycott idea: 1. A small regional boycott of gas in one county isn’t going to accomplish anything. 2. Boycotting one company (and one company only) is stupid, since the one company alone is not responsible for high gasoline prices. 3. Boycotting a single company until they lower the price of gas to $1.30, which is well below the cost of the raw crude itself - even without the cost of refining and delivery - is especially stupid. Can we all agree on that? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/114 "2006-04-28T15:28:40Z")
Yup. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/115 "2006-04-28T19:23:03Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > Gas stations make a killing on gasoline, no matter what they’d like for you to believe. Looking at [this chart](http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec5_55.pdf) (warning:small PDF), you can see that profits usually exceed 10%. That’s over 5 dollars profit from me when I fill my tank. That’s a hell of a lot of candy bars. The chart shows you nothing regarding the _costs_ accumulated by the owner for the storage and dispersion of the gas: … It doesn’t mention anything about the insurance costs needed to cover for having thousand gallon tanks of explosive fuel beneath your grocery store. … It doesn’t account for the percentage of sales that gets rebated back to VISA/AMEX, etc. … It doesn’t account for the costs of the labor needed to maintain the pumps, or the costs of the electricity needed to keep the pumps running 24/7, or _anything_. The chart just represents COGS (i.e., the price it took to get the gasoline on the lot) and sales price. Without overhead, ITDA, etc, the chart is useless in proving profit margins. If you’re interested in finding out the margins, you’re going to have to look at the balance sheet of an actual gas station, not some government statistics about value-added services. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/116 "2006-04-28T19:30:50Z")
Here’s a quote from a business plan from somebody who wanted to open a Canadian gas station in 1999: > [@](#): > > components of the pump price of gasoline.This is an excerpt from the multi-stakeholder reviewed Understanding GasolinePricing in Canada brochure by the Petroleum Communication Foundation.The price of gasoline reflects the cost of: > > • taxes (40% - 50%); > • crude oil (35% - 45%); > • refining (10% - 15%); and > • retailing (5% - 10%). > > Taxes are usually the largest single component of gasoline prices, averaging 40 to 50per cent of the pump price. The taxes collected include:• Federal excise tax of 10 cents per litre.• Provincial consumption tax• GST (Goods and Services Tax) of seven per cent• PST (provincial sales tax) Crude oil is the raw material from which gasoline is distilled. Crude oil makes up more than 99 per cent of the volume of most gasolines and it contributes a significant portion of the final price. Canada, like most other oil producing countries, does not regulate the price of crude oil, allowing Canadian-produced crude oil to sell at the prevailing world price. [http://www.firstbusiness.ca/guides/GasStation.pdf](http://www.firstbusiness.ca/guides/GasStation.pdf) (PDF) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/117 "2006-04-28T19:38:29Z")
FWIW, I heard a representative of some gas station owner association on the radio the other day, and he said the average profit the average owner makes on a gallon of gas was “less than ten cents.” ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/118 "2006-04-28T23:19:50Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > FWIW, I heard a representative of some gas station owner association on the radio the other day, and he said the average profit the average owner makes on a gallon of gas was “less than ten cents.” [Link](http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12519975/). > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - Thursday, Exxon Mobil announced it had earned $8 billion in profits in the first three months of this year. For outraged consumers, the staggering profit numbers boil down to this: Exxon earned 9.5 cents on every $1 of gasoline and oil sold, cashing in on skyrocketing prices at every stage of the process. So even if we somehow force Big Oil to abandon all profit, gas drops about 10 cents a gallon. That would sure help out. The problem (if you think it is one) of the huge profits is not that Big Oil gets a dime of every gallon you buy. The problem is how many dimes they’re collecting from us buying the gas. Don’t want them to make so much money? Don’t drive. BTW, I saw something on the news today that there was a bad feeling among investors about Microsoft’s earning “only” being 18% or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/119 "2006-04-28T23:56:48Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > The data was in response to the multiple statements in this thread which claim that individual owners don’t make much, if any, profit on gasoline. The data proved them wrong. Those figures don’t make a distinction between fuel bought by individual consumers and fuel bought by bulk consumers. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433/120 "2006-04-29T00:23:58Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > So even if we somehow force Big Oil to abandon all profit, gas drops about 10 cents a gallon. That would sure help out. Shit. 27 cents. Not 10 cents a gallon. Still doesn’t sound like enough to ease whatever crisis we’re supposedly in right now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-want-1-30-a-gallon/354433.md?page=7)