2164 replies to this topic

[vortoozo]

... Back to 132.9 this afternoon.

[FogPub]

^So, an unexplained one-day spike - up by 8 cents, then down by 9.

 

W.T.F.?

[Mike K.]

It’s a tactic to sell gasoline at a premium during a high demand period (before one of the last summer weekends). And driving around last afternoon I saw MANY vehicles lines up at these stations. Meanwhile down the road stations with 1329 were empty. People panic, see the price has spiked and immediately fill up not realizing it’s just a dig by some stations.

[Mike K.]

The rack is 83.70 today.

 

Prices range from $1.279 at Costco to $1.419 at the Esso on Carey at Ravine.

[Jackerbie]

82.10 rack price in Vancouver. Filled up for $1.309 last night, and the spread this morning in Richmond is $1.389 to $1.469

[Mike K.]

So it goes to show that even with Vancouver's higher gas taxes, stations are still willing to go as low as $1.309 at 82.10 in Vancouver. Do we know what Costco was offering when you filled up at $1.309?

[rjag]

So it goes to show that even with Vancouver's higher gas taxes, stations are still willing to go as low as $1.309 at 82.10 in Vancouver. Do we know what Costco was offering when you filled up at $1.309?

 

Yup and they have a higher translink tax which could imply Victoria price margins are higher

[Jackerbie]

So it goes to show that even with Vancouver's higher gas taxes, stations are still willing to go as low as $1.309 at 82.10 in Vancouver. Do we know what Costco was offering when you filled up at $1.309?

 

Richmond Costco doesn't have gas (yet), so no idea. No gas at the Burnaby, Vancouver, or Surrey locations either. The closest would be in Port Coquitlam or Langley, so not a good comparison. FWIW, current price in PoCo is $1.349 at Costco and $1.419 at Chevron (according to GasBuddy) 

 

Yup and they have a higher translink tax which could imply Victoria price margins are higher

 

Translink fuel tax is 18.5c/L, BC Transit tax in Victoria is 5.5c/L

[Mike K.]

Some stations are pushing as high as 1.449 today. The rack price is 85.3, meaning the wholesale price gained 1.6 cents but stations are charging as much as 13 cents more than the previous day (they were priced 1.319 yesterday). The wholesale increase is expected ahead of a busy long weekend and very busy travel period as people prepare for the start of the school year, but a 13 cent rise is another example of gouging.

[Rob Randall]

I love you guys--when it's skyrocketing CEO compensation or record shareholder profits while wages stagnate you're all, "Market forces, my friend" but the local mom and pop gas station puts the price up five cents and all of a sudden you're an outraged Bernie Sanders. "unacceptable price gouging!"

[Mike K.]

Huh?

[FogPub]

Some stations are pushing as high as 1.449 today. The rack price is 85.3, meaning the wholesale price gained 1.6 cents but stations are charging as much as 13 cents more than the previous day (they were priced 1.319 yesterday). The wholesale increase is expected ahead of a busy long weekend and very busy travel period as people prepare for the start of the school year, but a 13 cent rise is another example of gouging.

Glad I tanked up yesterday, then.

 

There's an issue with the pricing model, to be sure; but the much bigger issue is that (other than Costco, which not everyone has access to) all these in-theory-competing companies raise their prices in lockstep, to the same level as each other, every time.

[Mike K.]

Costco has dropped its price to $1.269, still making a profit at a rack rate of $0.853.

 

The reason I'm obsessing over these rack rates and the lowest prices at local pumps is to create a baseline for what it costs a station to acquire gasoline and what their mark-up can be should they choose to price that low. If I hadn't of known about the rack rates I would have rushed out and bought gas at the first station I saw at $1.3x, seeing $1.449 popping up. But today I know that's just a ruse and that there's no need to panic.

[Mike K.]

The rack has jumped to 89.2 today. One station (the Esso near Mayfair) is priced at $1.479.

Now we’re starting to see pre-long weekend price jumps. This is standard to ensure fuel supply chains can keep up, believe it or not, as there will be so many cars on the roads at the butt-end of summer.

[UDeMan]

If anyone is looking for the rack prices Mike is talking about, her is a link from Petro-Canada for National Rack Prices, including Vancouver and Nanaimo

 

https://www.petro-ca...ess/rack-prices

[Mike K.]

And just to reiterate “Nanaimo” would be our local rack rate. Rates pertain to the locations of the big oil storage depots across the country which then supply their regions.

[shoeflack]

Don't the majority of Victoria gas stations get their supply from the Chemainus terminal?

 

It's a Shell property, so its rate is here (Bare Point...showing at 89.1): https://www.shell.ca...ck-pricing.html

Edited by shoeflack, 29 August 2019 - 08:17 AM.

[Mike K.]

They both supply the south Island but I can’t speak for the split. The rack price is typically only marginally different.

[shoeflack]

I don't think many people realize that the two largest terminals on Vancouver Island are in the Cowichan Valley (Shell's property at Bare Point in Chemainus being the largest, and Chevron's terminal on Arbutus Ridge in Cobble Hill being second largest). Imperial Oil and Suncor's terminals Nanaimo are a drop in the bucket in terms of capacity compared to those two.

 

Maybe if people knew more widely that every single tanker truck that feeds Victoria pumps has to cross the Malahat, there'd be a bit more support to properly build that route.

[Mike K.]

Oh I suspect they do, but that’s not enough of a concern for the Malahat to be properly built out.