Dave Hall wrote:
On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:37:34 -0500, Duane Bozarth
wrote:

Charlie Self wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
Charlie Self wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
Charlie Self wrote:


And that attitude is what is wrong with business today. I've been a
small businessman since at least '68, and to date I haven't found it
necessary to screw my clients out of the last dime in order to get by.

I'm sorta' w/ ya' on this, Charlie, altho I understand the other as
well...

Unfortunately, it's the distributors who control the pump prices
(essentially, local markups are pretty competitive in most places) and
they seem to be, as you note, very prompt in the up direction, not so
prompt in the other...

I don't have data on what the refiners are doing (in the relatively few
cases where they and the major distributors aren't the same)...I suspect
the independents are following the big boys because they'd get crushed
if they didn't.

What I was writing of was at the local station level. Go in Friday and
see a truck filling the tanks, and an 8 cent increase on the pump. Go
by Sunday, and see another 8 cent increase, and another on Wednesday,
but the next truck doesn't arrive until that Friday.

That's neither distributor nor refiner. Just neighbor screwing neighbor
out of a few bucks.

Actually, if you were to investigate, you would probably find that each
of those increases at the local station did reflect costs his
distributor had just passed on to him...I know for a fact that's what
happens here as I know two local re-distributors/retailer wells as well
as knowing what we do on the driveway pumps at the local farmers' coop
of which I am a member...

Here in this last week we got hit w/ two increases in one afternoon
plust another the next day...

Possible, though I'm inclined to doubt it. This stuff comes COD to the
dealer (country store). He pays as soon as it's pumped into his tanks.
That's it. No more to that transaction.

I'm still expecting he's getting notices regularly from his distributor
and simply posting them at that time as are most other retailers...

I think Charlie is trying to say you should sell things based on what
you paid for them, not based on what you are going to have to pay to
replace them in the normal course of business. I disagree. If the
wholesale price of gas goes up $.05, it is immaterial how much I paid
for the gas currently in my storage tank, the real question is how
much do I have to pay to replace whatever I sell to you at the pump.
The difference between my current replacement cost and my current pump
price is my real profit. Yeah, I wrote that as if I owned a station. I
don't, but the concept is the same whether we talk gas, bread or
houses. As an exagerated example, If you bought a house 20 years ago
the price you would want to sell it for would have nothing to do with
the price you paid, but a lot to do with what it is going to cost you
to replace that house so that you still have a place to live.

Dave Hall

Specious analogy. If you sell houses for a living, you might make the
comparison and call it valid. But to say you live in a house and have
to get more for it than you paid so you can pay replacement costs is
not any kind of analogical situation.

You and George are a business shark's dream.