Gasoline Price Gouging and Price Fixing...

This morning as I stopped for gas at 120th and I-25 in Denver I noticed that the Diamond Shamrock station was selling unleaded regular for $2.75 a gallon and straight across the street at the Conoco the price was now $2.99 a gallon. I started filling up at the Diamond Shamrock and was talking to the guy next to me filling up his car complaining about the prices. This guy apparently works in the wholesale gasoline market and told me that the consumers are screwing themselves and are too stupid to know it. He said that the Oil Companies and major gas station chain owners are using the web site www.gasbuddy.com... to determine what the highest prices in the metro area are and then are setting their prices to be just below the highest price. He told me that he and others in charge of the wholesale market all check this web site to see what the market will bear and then adjust their prices upward. He told me that since there are now laws in regard to price gouging in regard to gasoline that they were going to put it to the american consumer forever. Apparently the oil companies are not only using that site to determine what they can charge, but according to this man they also own the site. I thought you might find this interesting.

Also you have to notice, it's fast becoming a cash-only business.

Many time now, the card processing equipment, is rejecting more and more card purchases of gas, when using known good cards.

When it happens to you, ask the manager, you will get some lame excuse or all the way to you having a bad card.

Of course I am sure it isnt because they have to pay a fee to process the card purchase.

This isn't price gouging of course, nor price fixing. The average american pays less for gas than the average italian or frenchman, or even the average canadian, and its silly to suggest that prices shouldn't go up when there's two hurricans that destroy our ability to get gas to refineries, and then destroy some of the refineries too.

How would this guy know who owns what anyway? I mean, lots of people work in the oil industry, if they all know it, and they're telling it to people that they literally randomly meet, then its not much of a secret no?
Also, why would the gas companies need to have a website, wherein locla people enter the price of gas, to know....the price of gas? They already know it, they're the ones selling it. They wouldn't need to make a fake website to get the information.

Here is the registration information for gasbuddy.com, for what its worth

Registrant:
GB Internet Solutions Inc
1651 Park St
Regina, Saskatchewan S4N 5A2
Canada

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: GASBUDDY.COM
Created on: 12-Jun-00
Expires on: 12-Jun-06
Last Updated on: 05-Jan-05

Administrative Contact:
Condom, Domain [email protected]
GB Internet Solutions Inc
1651 Park St
Regina, Saskatchewan S4N 5A2
Canada
8014159866 Fax --
Technical Contact:
Condom, Domain [email protected]
GB Internet Solutions
1651 Park St
Regina, Saskatchewan S4N 5A2
Canada
8014159866 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.DATAPIPE.NET
NS2.DATAPIPE.NET

Of course I am sure it isnt because they have to pay a fee to process the card purchase

Why would they bother? Lots of them simply have signs up know that say 'cash only'. Nothing illegal about it, and why should they accept credit cards since they have to pay a fee? If all of them didn't use them, then the price of operating a station would be lower, and there'd be lower gas prices.

[edit on 30-9-2005 by Nygdan]

Uhh,..actually,...there arnt alot with signs out.

In fact, almost all stations that are of brand name, MUST carry the ability for card transaction by contract of brand affiliation. A necessary fact of owning a franchise or distributership.

But yet,..the machines mysteriously reject just the same.



edit - and the domain reg info says nothing except thats its owned by a webmaster, and the site looks 'real' imo, for whatever thats worth. No maybe it isnt a government owned site, or one sponsored by the oil execs.

Each of GasBuddy Organization's web sites provides a live forum for consumers to post local recent low and high gasoline prices

[edit on 30-9-2005 by smirkley]

denver.craigslist.org...

Conoco gas - they did it again!

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Reply to: [email protected]
Date: 2005-09-30, 12:29PM MDT


I am a vendor and deliver from Meridian to Lakewood every morning. I saw once again that Conoco raised their prices by at least 15 cents overnight.. Here’s the deal, they did it at every single store in town at the same time and they all went to $2.99 for regular. I know for a fact that some stores are independent and some are company owned. This proves collusion and price fixing! Too bad we don’t have lawmakers with the strength to go after them.

A Bradley station on the Westside went DOWN 6 cents overnight and was selling for $2.66. How does it cost Conoco 33 cents more to get the same gas? I knew we were in for trouble years ago when they started buying up smaller chains and building new stores everywhere. They are the market leader in town and others follow shortly after they raise prices. I have noticed this very same thing happen dozens of times over the past few years, even back when gas was less than $2. Every time the price came down a few cents, they would push the price right back up there. The next morning, all stores had the SAME new price.

I wonder what would happen if everyone decided to buy their gas any place other than Conoco. I bet if enough people did it, prices would come down quickly at all stations, at least until the next chain tried to do the same thing.

I wish Westword would do a story on it but they are probably too scared to.


this is in or around all over

What do you expect when "we" elect an oilman as our president? That and a limp congress that doesnt have the stones to stand up to big business for fear that their campaign contributions will dry up...Gas will be 3.00 from here on out. It is what the PTB want for now and if it werent for 2 hurricanes it would have been from something else. Time to deny ignorance people.