suburban prices for gas (Sherman, Thornton: sales, real estate, mortgage)

[oakparkdude]

No one is putting a gun to consumers heads and forcing them to buy gas as far I'm aware of. I still fail to see how increasing prices in the face of high demand is immoral or illegal. In no other industry would people feel entitled to dictate the prices that retailers offer. If you don't like it, drive down the street to the next gas station. Its not like there are only two places to buy gas in the metro area. If you think that gas prices are too high everywhere, get a smaller car or move closer to your job.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

No one is putting a gun to consumers heads and forcing them to buy gas as far I'm aware of. I still fail to see how increasing prices in the face of high demand is immoral or illegal. In no other industry would people feel entitled to dictate the prices that retailers offer. If you don't like it, drive down the street to the next gas station. Its not like there are only two places to buy gas in the metro area. If you think that gas prices are too high everywhere, get a smaller car or move closer to your job.

Its not immoral, its ILLEGAL. Gas station owners have laws and rules to follow just like everyone else, and one of the rules states in IL that the only time a station is allowed to adjust it's prices is when that station buys gas from some vendor meaning a truck pulls into the station, pulls out it's hoses and pours the fuel into the ground to fill the station's tanks. Then the station receives a bill from the vendor and is at that point allowed to adjust it's prices. Not, geee the station across the street raised it's prices so I'll just go out now and raise mine. Thats called price fixing (highly illegal)

There are rules in business set forth by governing agencies that we all must follow when in business, and if gas station owners are not going to play by the rules, then they should face severe penalties.

And as for moving or driving less... Some of us don't have that luxury as we are barely making ends meet as it is, and the last time I checked the economy is absolutely awful and nobody is buying anything now, so good luck selling your house to move closer to your job and also for those of us that NEED a larger vehicle for things like you know; kids, dogs, hauling stuff... A Prius is not going to suffice and apparently this is what most of America is facing now causing hard working Americans to be spending their $$$ on gas instead of things like vacations and shopping sprees to the mall, thus only fueling this downward spiral our economy is currently in causing more layoffs, higher prices, weaker dollar on the market, etc.

[oakparkdude]

I realize the economy sucks. There's a lot of pain to go around. I totally sympathize with those coping with high gas prices, but the fact remains that we're going to have to make structural changes to our economy to cope with a future of high energy prices. This means that people will have to move, downsize, change cars, walk more, take public transit, etc. Of course since much of the infrastructure is geared toward driving and low fuel prices, its going to be extremely painful and difficult to change our land-use/development patterns. But the alternative of doing nothing is going to be even more painful in the long-run.

I wasn't aware of the legal issues involving pricing of gasoline, so I'll concede that point. I still don't undestand why its illegal. If the product I sell suddenly becomes more valuable, why can't I charge more?

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

I realize the economy sucks. There's a lot of pain to go around. I totally sympathize with those coping with high gas prices, but the fact remains that we're going to have to make structural changes to our economy to cope with a future of high energy prices. This means that people will have to move, downsize, change cars, walk more, take public transit, etc. Of course since much of the infrastructure is geared toward driving and low fuel prices, its going to be extremely painful and difficult to change our land-use/development patterns. But the alternative of doing nothing is going to be even more painful in the long-run.

I wasn't aware of the legal issues involving pricing of gasoline, so I'll concede that point. I still don't undestand why its illegal. If the product I sell suddenly becomes more valuable, why can't I charge more?

The reason the gov made that illegal is because if station owners were able to do this, they would create a monopoly instead of a competitive market because we would have going on, EXACTLY what the Citgo is doing with the Thorntons. There is no difference in price really. The Citgo guy just runs out and matches the price of Thorntons because he feels he can get away with it. That causes a situation known as price fixing which means that no matter where you go, it will be the same price for a good or service and the vendors then can all raise their prices at the same time thus crushing the entire economy. If there was no competition and station owners could get away with this, gas would be over $6 a gal now simply because no matter where you went it would be $6 a gal instead of having the option to drive down the street for cheaper gas like you are supposed to be able to do now.

[tcs1366]

Originally Posted by NYrules

and also for those of us that NEED a larger vehicle for things like you know; kids, dogs, hauling stuff... A Prius is not going to suffice and apparently this is what most of America is facing now causing hard working Americans to be spending their $$$ on gas instead of things like vacations and shopping sprees to the mall, thus only fueling this downward spiral our economy is currently in causing more layoffs, higher prices, weaker dollar on the market, etc.

How true.... and I guess i'm one of the lucky ones as my kids are driving their own [4cyl cars] and i was able to down-grade to a V6 and really only haul my pooch around. But -- i swear, some day I too will be driving a Prius-like vehicle. Or something with hamster cages under the hood.

It just seems so ironic that my gas tank is half the size, i get double the gas mileage and the cost to fill it is still about the same as it was 3 yrs ago.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by NYrules

The reason the gov made that illegal is because if station owners were able to do this, they would create a monopoly instead of a competitive market because we would have going on, EXACTLY what the Citgo is doing with the Thorntons. There is no difference in price really. The Citgo guy just runs out and matches the price of Thorntons because he feels he can get away with it. That causes a situation known as price fixing which means that no matter where you go, it will be the same price for a good or service and the vendors then can all raise their prices at the same time thus crushing the entire economy. If there was no competition and station owners could get away with this, gas would be over $6 a gal now simply because no matter where you went it would be $6 a gal instead of having the option to drive down the street for cheaper gas like you are supposed to be able to do now.

Isn't the whole idea of having a market economy that we let the, you know, market set prices. When you have multiple suppliers, its really very, very difficult to get true collusion to fix prices. Why is gasoline different from any other commodity (corn, wheat, copper, steel)? Other than the obvious difference which is that consumers complain to the politicians about the price of gas and not of the others.

[sgresident]

sukwoo,
i guess you can say that people should walk more or take public transit, but there is NO Public transit here in sugar Grove. and the closest grocery store is about 5 miles from my house. How do you propose that I get my food? The school that my son attends is about 15 miles from here. my husband's job is about 25 miles. again, the only bus is a school bus!

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by sgresident

sukwoo,
i guess you can say that people should walk more or take public transit, but there is NO Public transit here in sugar Grove. and the closest grocery store is about 5 miles from my house. How do you propose that I get my food? The school that my son attends is about 15 miles from here. my husband's job is about 25 miles. again, the only bus is a school bus!

I do sympathize. Really. Really.

But did I say anywhere that fixing the problems was going to be easy and painless?

In my opinion (and you're free to disagree with me), we are in an untenable position. We built our society based on cheap energy. That's why we have sprawl and no public transit. That's fine as long as energy remains cheap.

The problem is that energy is no longer cheap. It will never again be cheap. There are two ways to respond to this fact. Ignore it and hope energy will soon become cheap again. Accept that the era of cheap energy is gone, and make adjustments.

Will the adjustments be easy? No. Will the adjustments be painful? Yes.

Its kinda like having a beach house near the ocean where the waves keep washing away the sand. Eventually the ocean will erode all the way to the house, and your house will fall into the water. Will it be expensive to move your house inland or build a sea wall to protect it? It will be incredibly expensive. However, if the alternative is to watch it fall into the sea in five years, you do what you have to do.

[sammy22]

NYRules, why the not-so-subtle comments about the store owner's ethnicity? Do you think that makes your argument stronger? There's no need for that.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by sammy22

NYRules, why the not-so-subtle comments about the store owner's ethnicity? Do you think that makes your argument stronger? There's no need for that.

blah blah blah... Here we go again... Im a racist, facist, whatever! I dont care. lol Get over it. I just was painting the picture that is all. Not meaning to be demeaning the Arabian race.