Yes they have, I have had to slow down, leave for work at 4am to get there on time. Take less side trips, and cut the grass in my yard only once a week. I grow up in a time when gas was 18 cents a galion, then I thought 38 cents was high. What I do not understand is the gas I'm buying today is the same gas that was at the station in the tanks two weeks ago, so why are we paying $3.69 a gal for gas that was bought and sold at $1.95by the gas company a month ago Angry.
I read an article in a paper a few days ago by a gas station owner in the States (can't remember where). The chap was talking about price gouging and while he couldn't say it didn't happen, he did find that all of his suppliers were charging him more than he could sell the gas for (other stations in the area must have kept theirs lower as well, I assume). He was selling for $3.09 a gallon but his lowest price supplier was selling for $3.18 to him, so he was taking a 9 cents loss on every gallon sold.
Perhaps in the example you point out the station owners are hedging their bets? Now that they know supplies and deliveries are so limited they are charging more for the gas they got cheaper so they can mitigate their losses when they inevitably have to pay more than they sell future gas for?
Having said that, $5.69/gallon in Atlanta seems way too high even with the current conditions but I suppose if stations all around the cities are running out there's no other choice than to make as much as they can on the limited supply they have?
It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months. There could be another hurricane to hit the area which would cause even more chaos. On the other hand, supply lines and refineries could get back on track and prices could come down. Depending on how long that takes, the cold winter weather could have a big effect on prices.
Matt
