Bookmark & share:

E-mail this page E-mail a letter to the editor Reader Comments (below)

BY MATTHEW STONE
Staff Writer 09/29/2008

While many Augusta-area gas stations recently offered gasoline for $3.69 per gallon, Monmouth Kwik Shop offered drivers a break. Commuters could get a gallon for $3.39.

Whitefield’s Country Corners Grocery on Route 17 also clocked in at $3.39 per gallon for much of the week. And in Athens, Jim’s Variety sold its gas for the same price.

According to the Web site MaineGasPrices.com, those three stations offered the cheapest gasoline in the state early last week.

Mike Willette, who owns Monmouth Kwik Shop, and Erin King, who manages Country Corners Grocery, said offering the cheapest gas in Maine was largely due to luck.

“I wish it were more scientific,” Willette said.
“Nothing goes into it,” King said. “Our margin as far as what we make is kept the same all the time.”
On Tuesday, Willette’s store was attracting more customers than usual seeking gas for $3.39 per gallon.
“This last week they’ve been coming from all over to buy our gas,” he said. “Our pumps have really taken a beating.”
On Wednesday, the price for a gallon of regular, unleaded gas shot up to $3.59 after a new delivery filled the station’s 12,000-gallon underground tank.
“When I call and order gasoline from my supplier, I have no idea what I’ll be paying when they deliver the next day,” Willette said. “We have no way of knowing.”
The prices at the pump, King and Willette said, remain the same until a new delivery arrives.
“We price our gasoline for the entire load based on the price we pay for it when it comes in,” Willette said.
“When we get a delivery from the supplier, they tell us what we pay for it, then we just mark it at our normal margin,” said King, whose station’s underground tank holds 7,500 gallons of regular, unleaded gas.
On Friday, Sept. 19, the delivery to Country Corners just happened to be priced at a winning amount.
“It was significantly lower than my last delivery,” King said. “It’s just the luck of the draw. The price changes every day and I never know what I’m getting.”
“You’re either a bum or a hero in this,” Willette said.
While the two small stations keep the same profit margin when pricing gasoline, they are still squeezed by fluctuating oil prices and credit card fees that can claim a percentage of profits.
Willette said he takes in the same number of pennies per gallon as profit now as he did when he charged 83 cents for a gallon of gasoline.
The good fortune of a cheap load of gasoline, Willette said, would be the perfect opportunity to gouge prices and rake in some extra profit for a few days while still offering lower prices than the competition.
But Willette said he resisted.
“There’s where the ethics do come in,” he said. “You’ve still got to look at yourself in the mirror every morning.”

Matthew Stone — 623-3811, Ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com

Bookmark and share this story: