Gas station owners say if it were not for grocery, beer and cigarette sales, they would likely be out of business. They say they are not making the fortune you might think on gasoline sales, despite high prices.
The Associated Press reports:
Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience
Stores, estimates that gasoline accounts for 70 percent of a typical
station's revenues, but only 30 percent of its profits. Paul Fiore,
executive director of the Service Station Dealers of America, a trade
association for auto repair shops, said the mix is about the same for
service stations.
Low profit margins are squeezing companies
along the length of the gasoline supply chain, from the biggest
refiners to the smallest corner stations. Contrary to popular belief,
95 percent of gas stations in the U.S. are independently owned: Their
prices and procedures aren't dictated by a major oil company, even if
the station licenses that company's name.
With crude oil,
gasoline's raw ingredient, soaring to records near $112 earlier this
month, up from about $60 a year ago, gas prices are actually struggling
to keep up. Crack spreads, the difference between what refiners pay for
crude and get for the gasoline they make, have gone negative on some
days in recent weeks. That means that in those cases, refiners were
losing money making and selling gasoline. In comparison, at one point
last spring, crack spreads reached as high as $37 a barrel.
Here is a sampling of background reports from the National Association of Convenience Stores:
Gas Prices are Consumers' Top Economic Concern
(Findings from the 2008 NACS Consumer Fuels Report)High
gasoline prices are a top economic concern today, and have
significantly affected how consumers behave -- especially at the pump.
station owners will make all that money back -- and...
