THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008
Even Gas Station Owners Not Happy With Price Jumps
By TOM ROBB
Journal Reporter
Pain at the pump is palpable as gas prices in the Chicago area soar ever closer to $4 per gallon.
Local gas station operators say drivers are putting far fewer gallons into their tanks, undoubtedly because the cost to buy a gallon of gas creeps higher and higher.
In the last six months fuel prices in Chicagoland have skyrocketed from an average of $2.88 a gallon in October of last year to a current average of $3.58 per gallon for regular gas as of last week, according to Gas Prices.com. Prices in the last 18 months have risen from a low of $2.16 per gallon for regular gas in January of 2007.
Philip Matthew, owner of the Golf Marathon at 10 W. Golf Rd. in Des Plaines said, "Drivers are putting in $5 (of gas), just enough to get home. It used to be $20."
Mike Aquabrai who runs the Shell Station on River Road and Oakton Street said gas sales are off 40% at his station in the last month to month and a half.
Matthew said two years ago he was selling an average of 120,000 gallons of gas a month. For the last year and a half he has only sold 90,000 a month.
Matthew and Aquabrai both say the fuel corporations set prices. The two leased stations operate on the slimmest of margins earning between $0.03 and $0.06 per gallon above their wholesale price.
Matthew said his station does not really make any money on the sale of gas. The station survives on retail sales and auto repair services. Sales are off in those areas as well, he said. He complained that Marathon Corporate sets his price within a few cents. When the price of a barrel of oil goes up his selling price is immediately adjusted up, but when the price comes down, he has to call the corporate offices to argue that stations nearby are selling cheaper.
The prices are adjusted when deliveries are brought. Matthew averages the price of the gas still in his underground tanks with the purchase price of the new delivery to arrive at a price.
Local, state and federal governments take their cut from each gallon pumped.
Matthew said between $0.86 and $0.90 of each gallon goes to taxes. The City of Des Plaines charges a $0.02 per gallon tax. Other taxes assessed are from federal, county, state governments.
A Gas Prices.com spokesmen said that gas is sold using zone pricing making fuel sold in Chicago more expensive than in some suburbs and gas in Chicagoland more expensive than in other states.
In Chicago the average price of regular gas topped $3.65 a gallon in the heart of the city and averages between $3.43 and $3.51 in Des Plaines and Glenview.
Gas is more expensive in Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights and Palatine at between $3.51 and $3.58 a gallon and higher still in Park Ridge, Northbrook and areas of western Des Plaines where it is between $3.58 and $3.65 per gallon. A gallon of premium gas in the most expensive zones of Chicago is currently $3.99 per gallon, while the price for regular gas in Davenport, Ia. is $3.07 a gallon.