Posted on 12/30/2014 2:18:11 PM PST by RC one
is this one of those grocery store gas stations? They lower it to 85 cents but it’s subsidized by the sales in the store.
All of the other gas prices there are still 1.88.
It's not hard to determine the "real gas price":
That shows the average wholesale price of unleaded gasoline. Note that it is BEFORE blending with alcohol and before any gasoline taxes.
Kroger may be losing money on this one transaction -- it depends on whether they are paying full price for the gift cards or the merchants are selling them gift cards at a discount. But, if they are indeed losing money, it is what is called a "loss leader".
Merchants are willing to take a loss on selected items in order to get you in the door. The expectation is that you will buy other things, and that profit will make up the loss.
It's a psychological marketing game.... just like why they put milk at the back of the store, and candy and magazines at the checkout register.
I’m thinking of buying a few barrels myself.
It’s as if the obots with their mush for brains know that their dear leader somehow magically made the gas prices to drop at his command.
It’s ironic and funny that the very words that came out of his mouth when he said that gas and heating prices would nessasarly would HAVE TOO go up when he is in office, and now ? Just the opposite, and we are sooooooo loving it.
Who says that the God of Israel doesn’t have a sense of humor.
I know this is a welcome break for the MOM and POP stores and business and the restaurant business who rely on people’s extra dollars per week in their pockets to spend.
Anyway, back to the mush brained obots who think that their dear leader at the sound of his voice can make the oil prices to go down, just like they think when they flip a light switch or turn on their gas stove that it some how magically happens and will always be there FOR THEM, so they can be all cozy and comfortable without thinking how it actually got there in the first place.
Yeah, those same obots who go out and have their sudo 1960s back to the future hippie experience protest to protest about anything like the OWS or the environmentalist protest.
Somehow, I can see the OWS protesters morphed into / Police protesters morphed / into the environmental protesters.
All the same lot.
9 times out of 10 that all these morphed protesters who were the OWS types who protested the police will be the same punks who will protest the Keystone Project if and when it gets approved by Congress.
It’s funny though ? Having said all that there is this Exxon Mobile commercial with this woman boiling a egg educating the public that there is more to it to boil an egg than to just turning the knob on the stove to boil a egg.
They actually increased their gift cards to 4x points before Christmas. $250 in gift cards buys you 1,000 points or $1 off per gallon. Gas was around $2/gallon when they did that. I can’t imagine that they would open themselves up to that kind of a loss knowing that everybody and their brother would be maxing out their discounts for Christmas between gift cards and groceries. They have to be at least close to breaking even.
yes, and it’s $1.74 actually which is still pretty low actually. Even so, that’s still $.85/gallon regardless of how you get there and $.85/gallon hasn’t been seen in decades.
Some places in CO are quiet and sparsely populated, but nearly every county in CO is very regulated. The developments on the Range have HOAs, and many of the residents are originally from the northeastern states. Most of those from California are originally from the northeast.
When I was done flying I would steal fruit and avocados from trees on my way home so I could eat. Spent the day sleeping on the beach.
Life was better with less.
Low in OK City, Ok this morning was $1.59 gal.
It feels good now but this is going to kill the US oil resurgence.
you were kind of a hippie, weren’t you? I agree however, simple living was good living.
In my little way, I have praying to God to keep and help the US shale oil boom to survive.
Been praying for a “ Eureka “ moment , a real game changer to were Saudi’s are in total free fall and the US shale industry keeps humming and moving along.
I remember everyone chipping in a quarter (5 of us girls) and having enough to put 5 gallons of gas in the tank when we borrowed our dads’ car. This was late 60’s early 70’s.
I’m afraid the opposite is going to happen and I’m pretty sure liberals are thrilled about it.
It was .49 cents a gallon at the time. Every now and then the Stations would have a GAS WAR and it would dip into the the high .30's ;O
Ah, the old days.
Ed
They do this every year, for a couple of weeks.
$250 in gift cards buys you 1,000 points or $1 off per gallon.
Do the math. If the average gas tank fill is $15, the average savings would be $15. The maximum is actually $35, if you read the fine print.
That means if you spend $250, you get $15 in a "rebate". If Kroger only pays 94 cents for every $1 gift card they sell, they actually paid $220.90 for those gift cards, and their gross profit on the gift card sale was $29.10 -- more than enough to cover your "rebate".
Do I know that Kroger only pays exactly 94 cents on the dollar? No, I don't. But, Kroger doesn't sell those gift cards for cost -- there's no profit in it. The merchants sell them to Kroger at below face value to get your recipient into THEIR store.
A specific example of this: you can take a bucket of coins into various places and feed them into the CoinStar machine. It will give you a cash voucher that is worth only about 90% of what you fed into it. Or, you can choose a gift card at some place like Chili's, for full value. Do you think that Coinstar is waving their percentage, or do you think that Chili's is agreeing to only a partial payment?
Even the VISA and Amex gift cards provide a profit to Kroger, because they share the merchant fee when your recipient uses it. And, I expect they also share in the $1-$2 that most people leave on a VISA/Amex card when they don't try to spend that last bit. Why do you think that so many businesses are giving you a VISA gift card for rebates?
They have to be at least close to breaking even.
They are. But, it's not because the discounted price of gas is close to their wholesale cost.
1.95 in SC yesterday. 2.05 in Charlotte, NC yesterday.
Then,,,,,1.94 S of Charlotte!!
But of course the gas taxes in states are ALL going up, and will stay there whatever the price. As will the federal 18.4 cents/gal excise tax US wide.
Bush’s fault.
***it was .19 a gallon***
I remember those days. Jacksonville, Arkansas. Self Serve, .19 cents a gallon. 1969!
When I left to go into the Air Force in the late 60’s, regular gas was 19 cents a gallon in Tempe, Arizona. We used to collect pop bottles for refunds to get gas money. About 2 hours of collecting pop bottles brought enough money for a date to the drive-in movies and hamburgers, fries and cokes afterwards. Fun times back then.
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