Marketplace
![[SeMissourian.com]](http://www.semissourian.com/images/nameplate.gif)
|
|
Fair ~ River stage: 35.45 Falling Sunday, November 8, 2009 |
RSS
 Print
 Email link
 Respond to editor
 Read comments (31)
 Share link
Ike affects Southeast Missouri gas pricesFriday, September 12, 2008
By midmorning, a rumor had spread in Cape Girardeau that gas could rise by as much as a dollar per gallon overnight. The price of gasoline at most stores in the city increased by 25 cents by Friday morning. While prices could rise again depending on how much Hurricane Ike damages Texas oil refineries, Boeller. president of Rhodes 101, which operates 30 gas stations throughout Southeast Missouri, advises customers not to overreact. "We all need to step back and act responsibly," Boeller said. "The sky is not falling. This is an isolated situation, and things will eventually get back to normal." The eye of the hurricane was forecast to strike late today or early Saturday near Galveston, Texas, a barrier island about 50 miles southeast of downtown Houston. Because 25 percent of the nation's oil refining capability is in that area, a disruption in gasoline production or significant damage to refineries could cause an even bigger jump in the cost of gasoline at the pump. The average cost of gasoline nationwide on Friday was $3.675 a gallon, an increase from $3.671 from Thursday. About 1.3 million barrels of oil are produced in the Gulf of Mexico each day, but most production has been halted until Ike no longer poses a threat to the region. But Boeller said it's too early to speculate how much gasoline prices will rise. "As long as there is not a huge disruption, we're only talking about a few days of a high price of gasoline," Boeller said. On Thursday and Friday, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's office was investigating reported cases of price gouging in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Caruthersville and Sikeston. Press secretary John Fougere said the office is monitoring for price gauging and making sure retail prices are in line with wholesale prices. He advised anyone who suspects such practices to call the consumer protection hot line at 800-392-8222 or submit the claim online at ago.mo.gov. Nixon's consumer division and the Energy Center at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources are monitoring the rack price, which is what wholesale price retailers pay for the fuel, and the price being charged consumers. His staff will be checking to see whether prices are unreasonably high or whether there are sudden shifts upward in price that aren't reflected in the wholesale price to the retailer. "Sixty cents' increase in gas is not a good thing," Nixon said. "Obviously we have gone after price gouging before in the past and will continue to if the opportunities are out there. "I wouldn't want to make any premature statements. But we are watching, we are alarmed by sudden increases in not only gas but also natural gas or other fuels or other emergencies." Stations such as the Ross Mini Mart in Advance, Mo., reported gas for $4.29 a gallon Friday afternoon. Further north, the Jackson BP at 1831 E. Jackson Blvd. had raised its prices by 60 cents to more than $4.00 between noon and 7 p.m. Thursday. Down the street, the Wal-Mart Murphy Oil gas station did not raise prices and continued selling at $3.41. A three-car accident occurred while customers lined up for the cheaper gas at Wal-Mart. One area retailer said supplier prices forced him to temporarily close his four locations for most of Thursday. Basic Fuel owner Dave Lemmon purchases his gas from an independent provider, while other area stations buy from a major supplier. Although this normally allows Lemmon to provide gas at a cheaper price than other stations in the area, the flip side is that he is charged more at times, such as in the current situation. He closed his Cape Girardeau store at 8:30 a.m., and by 9 a.m., his other locations in Jackson, Perryville, Mo., and Sikeston, Mo., had temporarily ceased their operations as well. But Lemmon secured enough gasoline from a supplier in Springfield, Mo., to keep his stores open through Saturday. But Lemmon is unsure how much longer he can remain open after Saturday. That will depend on the severity of Ike. "I'm not going to buy gas that is more than everyone else and then pass that onto the consumer," Lemmon said. 335-6611, extension 137 Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
|
Enter your email address to subscribe to our mailing lists:
|
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
Google
I believe we can all say a great big THANK YOU to KFVS-12 for spreading the rumor of rising gas prices. If it had not been highlighted on each of their newscasts a lot people would have had no idea of what was happening.
Last night I carefully watched your paper on-line and again this morning and saw nothing debunking the idea and mentioning the long lines and the higher price of gas. I would think the paper bears some of the responsibility for the rumor since it did nothing to alert people that a rumor was running rampant. Where is the coverage?
Ok - Maybe you can explain how the 3.41 price of gas at Murphy oil can cause a three car accident (your words not mine)--PALEESE - I really think it was the idiots not paying attention to what they were doing and getting their blood pressure up because - God forbid _ gas prices are going up AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well DUH!!!!!!!!!
I went out - to get my gas - very patiently waited in my car for my turn at the pump and instead of reading the magazine I took along IN CASE there was a line I was entertained by the people trying to out manuvre each other- Wow another exciting night in Jackson
YES! It is outright price gougeing. At 11:00 AM in Dexter the price at a local grocery store went up to $4.39, now you can not tell me the gas still in their tanks was bought at that price when yester day they were $3.55. The price on the commodities market at noon on CNBC was $2.80, add the taxes of .36 cents and another .25 cents for the middle men that puts gas at $3.41. Now I do not know what the markups are for the jobbers and the gas dealers and then the retail stores but .25 cents total seems fair. But to mark up gas at retail or like the Basic Fuel owner said to $4.70 that is outright price gouging and I hope the Attorney General prosecutes everyone to the fullest. If you want my vote Jay Nixon get these crooks NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought it was strange of KFVS to report on rumors. Was the news story that there was a rumor or was it that there was a large crowd at the Kidds gas station on Kingshighway?
Hey KFVS there's a large crowd at Walmart almost every night of the week -- what's the rumor for that?
The BP in Jackson was the largest example of gouging I saw last night. Around 5:30 gas was $3.45 and at 7:30 is was $4.09. They should be investigated and fined. I will say this, Rhodes near the high school was $3.69 at 5:30 which was the most expensive I saw at that time compared to everyone else around $3.45 or $3.47. But later around 7:30 when everyone else jumped drastically Rhodes remained at $3.69. I applaud thier integrity. However it may have been different at other stations.
TommyStix
I agree with you on this one. What I found more strange was they where reporting on something in MISSOURI.
Thank you KFVS for spreading such BS. I heard about this from someone at the fitness center saying they saw
this on KFVS and you better top off your tank.
Hey news hounds at KFVS oil is trading at $100.95 up .08% according to CNBC at the time of this post.
Also I saw a large line of cars at Mcdonalds around noon out by the interstate. You might want to send someone over there and investigate.
I totally agree that KFVS-12 did waaaay more damage by giving so much coverage to this "rumor". To even have 3 different people on location, was ridiculous. I would expect this of Mike Shane, but Laura and Jeff?!?!...I almost started to like you guys.
What's up at Wal-Mart again? Free boneless hot wings with the purchase of an oil change? Was that it?
Much of the credit or BLAME for this situation has to be on KFVS. For them to report on a rumor as a news story only adds to the hysteria. And I think stations ARE price gouging, when they raise the price of the gas that is already in their tanks, which they bought at a much lower price. They are sticking it to the consumer and will continue to do so until the Attorney General's office forces them to stop this practice. Jay Nixon, where are you on this one? This calls for prompt action.
The other day I saw a bumper sticker which read: "When Bush took office, gas was $1.47 per gallon." We celebrate when we only pay $3.37 for a gallon of gas.
Gas prices have been going up for years, forcing people to make hard decisions; including whether or not to eat or get their medications.
Unless something radical is done to stop the cost of gas from going up, this country is going to be left paralyzed.
I'm surprised that so many of you are dogging KFVS. They are actually the reason I didn't rush to the gas station last night. I saw Mike Shain covering the traffic at the pumps and he said, "We have not been able to substantiate the rumor that gas prices are going up." So when my sister called me and told me to gas up I said, "KFVS said it's just a rumor."
I think the Live, Local, Late Breaking News Team got their fill of corn dogs and decided to have some fun.
JBT in Jackson shot up to $4.09 and the Casey's less than 1/2 mile down the road remained unchanged. JBT needs to be investigated for gouging as well.
Any station that raises the price of gas without any logical explanation or reason will be turned into the AG's office and I will not do business of any kind with them again. It is ridiculous that a station owner would do this.
If you want my business...you better behave and not take advantage of me!!!!!!!
This is got to be the biggest pile of $%&* I have ever seen. If the hurricane does not even delay a single thing then what the hell did they raise prices for. Because they can and we have no control. The SOB's in charge think this is fair. I hope that every single gas station in the area goes out of business. You SOB's have been sticking it to the consumer long enough. The storm has not even caused any issues yet and you F---ing idoits are causing the average Joe to go broke. Screw you all.
Let the free market rule. Pricing should really be none of the Attorney Generals business If a station is charging 4.09 and the other just down the street is only 3.45, whats the big deal. Buy from the cheaper station if you wish. You have a choice where you buy your gas just like the station owner has a choice to decide how much he wants to charge for his product.
If your time is worthless and you don't mind waiting in line for 30 minutes to buy gas for less money, that is your option.
"We all need to step back and act responsibly," said Boeller, president of Rhodes 101, which operates 30 gas stations throughout Southeast Missouri. "The sky is not falling. This is an isolated situation and things will eventually get back to normal."
Back to normal? normal should be 1.47/gallon like before Bush took office. I noticed yesterday on 9/11/2008 that the rhodes on william street was the first to raise their gas prices. It could be worse, I suppose...the gas in sikeston at 9:30pm was 4.199 at fasgas. not sure how much they raised it and at what time but that's the most expensive gas that i've seen around southeast missouri. Even in stlouis last weekend, the gas was cheaper than cape/jackson. Seems like the gas companies are exploiting the consumers left and right. Was it because of the anniversary of 9/11 or because of the hurricane? We'll probably never know, and keep on getting bent over the gas pumps...
Do you want to do something about the gas stations raising the prices, call the number in this article and report them. It's fine to wait in line for 30 mins or longer, but if you can't even get into the parking lot, how are you supposed to wait? A person shouldn't stop in the middle of the road like they were on Jackson Blvd to get into Kidds last night. That's not safe at all. You can keep driving around the block hoping the line gets short enough to get into the station, but you're wasting gas doing that. So yes it's wrong for the station down the road to charge a lot more for gas. I understand if it's .10 or even .20 cents higher, but not more. Gas stations should be within .20 cents of each other or it should be consided gouging. Also those gas stations like Jackson Bait & Tackle just increased their price because they knew there were lines at all the other stations. What other choice does a person have?
Report all gas stations you feel are rising their prices for no reason!!
Winks on the corner of Lexington and Perryville is at 4.15 while the rest of the town is at 3.69. Guess where I will never get gas again.
Lemmon should be applauded for being a responsible sensible business man. I will always purchase my gas at Basic Fuel!
Rhodes 101 at Scott City is pretty much always higher per gallon in town. Casey's General Store historically has the cheapest per gallon, followed by Larry's Store 24.
This was all a hoax by the news media to fill time and space. The local oil cartel just took advantage of the situation. Another "Good O'Boy" move. Guess what the prices will come down again.
The gas prices will go back down, but Americans are being hurt NOW. I only fill up about once a month because I ride my bike to work, so I'm affected very little by the increase, but here in NC gas is already over $5/gal in many places. Consider yourselves lucky, for now.
If you think high gasoline prices are a problem, wait until you get next year's homeowners insurance bill.
Investor speaks like a true corporate republican. O.K. let's buy into that sensibility. Here's the deal. The largest corporation in American is the U.S. Government and the stock holders are 'we' the people. We're instructing our senior officers and the CEO to regulate the price's of all the sub-businesses that operate here in our market. Get along with it or move to another market. Oh, and by the way. We're seriously considering replacing our CEO and the fellow we have in mind has promised to increase the profit margin for 95% of us.
All I can say is I sure do wish we were back home in MO right now. I'd take the gas prices going up over not being able to get any gas because a good 75% or so of the stations are completely out. There are only a few that still have gas available around here where we are at in Southern Alabama and their prices are at least $4.50/gal.
Investor, I'm about as steadfast a Republican as you'll find-- been voting straight-ticket Republican since 1980. But I'm sorry, you are just wrong on "trusting in the free market here" since in this case, the free market in oil has attracted speculators and vultures who are literally stealing billions of dollars from the American public. There is no oversight, no checks on their power! While I agree with most GOP policies, the Republicans have become so corrupt that they're destroying the country.
This is why in fact, 2008 will be the first time I vote for a Democrat for President. McCain/Palin have been bought by the oil companies are under their power-- the oil companies are almost laughing at the extent to which they control the Republicans this year.
While I still retain many doubts and misgivings about Obama/Biden, I'll be voting for them merely because the Republicans have become disgustingly corrupt after 8 years in power. They've betrayed their own conservative principles, so much so that they're engaging in open theft against the American people. These bank bailouts recently-- guess who's paying for those? The taxpayers are, you and I, paying to provide $100 million bonuses to corrupt and failed executives and big stockholders who made poor investment decisions. It's the government stealing from the hard-working middle and working classes in the USA, and giving to their filthy rich friends.
And this theft is happening under a Republican Administration. Our national debt is hitting over $10 trillion because of these bailouts by Bush and McCain, and taxes will be rising to deal with this, either explicitly or due to inflation (which is, in fact, a tax in itself). Nobody in my very Republican household will be voting for the Republicans this year-- we're all giving the Democrats at least a stab in power to deal with this mess, which is by far the worst I have ever seen, stretching all the way back to the 1950's. The next few years are going to be extremely painful for our nation.
First, thank you KFVS for reporting the "rumor". My gas tank was empty and I appreciated their coverage. In addition, KFVS clearly stated it was a rumor many times during their coverage.
Second, I do think some price gouging is going on AND MO has price gouging laws. Hope the appropriate authorities are paying attention.
However, gasoline wholesale prices did shoot up on the east coast or northeast according to the following link. One could debate the localized increase was a direct affect of wholesale cost (as Lemmons of Basic Fuel stated in different interview with KFVS).
MY question, doubt any of these stations took on a great deal of new fuel inventory from 5pm to 7am (when many of them raised their price per gallon). DO gas station owners raise their retail prices in "anticipation" of paying more for their next inventory delivery??? Is that an acceptable business practice? (Don't think it is normally illegal, but is it ethical in THIS type of situation?)
My other thoughts se Missouri and southern IL seemed to lead the gasoline price increases in the US. WHY are WE leading this time? Our region usually LAGS behind trends?
eh...forgot to post the link.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/nationworld/ats-ap-oil-pricessep12,0,3666973.story
Has anyone posting here ever even seen a supply/demand curve?
fyi...CNN has reported that there is definately wide-spread price gouging taking place across the US. Their "expert" stated it was reasonable for prices to be increasing a little bit in anticipation of temperary supply issues due to Ike's damage. However, he was concerned by the quick, high rate increases all over the US.