The price of a gallon of gas exploded Wednesday in Louisville. AAA says the average price for a gallon of regular in the Metro is $4.02, though we've seen prices even higher. Tuesday, it was $.18 less. As the price at the pump goes up, so does frustration and concern from many consumers across Kentuckiana.
"It seems like we're working just to pay for our gas these days," Adrienne Burgstaller said.
Burgstaller filled up when the prices was $4.13. Working for her and others getting gas, we went to John Zikias with Thorntons to ask about how they came up with that price. There's a lot that goes into the price: trading, speculation, and natural disasters, but there's one more piece of the puzzle.
"It's really more determined by what other stations are charging," he said.
Zikias said they want to have the lowest price in the market and will drop their price first and up it last.
"Our stores will keep us updated throughout the day on what's going on in a particular marketplace. If competition is moving the price," he said.
Consumers aren't the only ones feeling the pinch. Gas station owners say it's costing them, too. Every time you fill up with a credit card, the station has to pay a percentage of the sale to the credit card company.
"As retail prices go up, so do our credit card fees. For instance, last month our credit card fees were over $.05 cents a gallon. We had days we weren't even making $.05 a gallon so we're losing money when you use a credit card," Zikias said.
Some experts are speculating the price could drop several cents overnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment