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After a week of working at a gas station, there is already a question I despise.
"Why are your gas prices so much higher than everywhere else?" (variations, "I was just in Carson and it was cheaper" or "it is cheaper in Fernley" or my personal favorite "it's cheaper up near the GSR")
Well my friends, there is two parts to that answer.
First, we aren't more expensive... the nearest gas station that is actually cheaper than us is a little over 5 miles away and requires a membership, everyone closer than that is more expensive than us (well, Smiths is cheaper if you are redeeming fuel rewards, but I'm only looking at advertised price).
Yes, it is cheaper in Carson and in Fernley, guess why? They don't have a county fuel tax, Washoe county has a county fuel tax on top of the federal and state. So your gas isn't really that much cheaper there, you just aren't paying as much tax on it. As far as why it is cheaper than by the GSR, well, within 2 miles of the GSR there is something like 10 different gas stations competing with each other and they are all selling their gas at cost or even at a loss to get you into their store to buy overpriced soda and candy rather than go to a competitor... we're out in the suburbs (just like all those other places that I mentioned that are more expensive), we don't have to compete with each other to get people into the store... we have to compete with people who are already driving 5 to 10 minutes to get to us and what is an extra 3 to go to Wal-Mart... we actually have to make money on our gas sales because a lot of people are buying only gas.
The second part to the answer is that I have less than no control over the gas prices... I can't even get anything done by telling my manager that people are complaining because she has no control over the prices... they come directly from corporate. Seriously, here's how a price change works, we get a notice on our cash registers that a price change is going to happen in 20 minutes and then we have 20 minutes to change our sign before it automatically updates our pumps. So all you are doing by complaining is raising the stress levels for both of us without any benefit. You want to complain, here, let me get you the number for the corporate office.
"Why are your gas prices so much higher than everywhere else?" (variations, "I was just in Carson and it was cheaper" or "it is cheaper in Fernley" or my personal favorite "it's cheaper up near the GSR")
Well my friends, there is two parts to that answer.
First, we aren't more expensive... the nearest gas station that is actually cheaper than us is a little over 5 miles away and requires a membership, everyone closer than that is more expensive than us (well, Smiths is cheaper if you are redeeming fuel rewards, but I'm only looking at advertised price).
Yes, it is cheaper in Carson and in Fernley, guess why? They don't have a county fuel tax, Washoe county has a county fuel tax on top of the federal and state. So your gas isn't really that much cheaper there, you just aren't paying as much tax on it. As far as why it is cheaper than by the GSR, well, within 2 miles of the GSR there is something like 10 different gas stations competing with each other and they are all selling their gas at cost or even at a loss to get you into their store to buy overpriced soda and candy rather than go to a competitor... we're out in the suburbs (just like all those other places that I mentioned that are more expensive), we don't have to compete with each other to get people into the store... we have to compete with people who are already driving 5 to 10 minutes to get to us and what is an extra 3 to go to Wal-Mart... we actually have to make money on our gas sales because a lot of people are buying only gas.
The second part to the answer is that I have less than no control over the gas prices... I can't even get anything done by telling my manager that people are complaining because she has no control over the prices... they come directly from corporate. Seriously, here's how a price change works, we get a notice on our cash registers that a price change is going to happen in 20 minutes and then we have 20 minutes to change our sign before it automatically updates our pumps. So all you are doing by complaining is raising the stress levels for both of us without any benefit. You want to complain, here, let me get you the number for the corporate office.
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