Price Difference of Premium vs Regular

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Station owners have a gross profit of 7-10 cents per gallon of regular gas sold.

LINK


As elaborated in the article, that 7-10 cents is not profit. it is revenue. After they expense what it takes to actually run the station and meet payroll, it can get down into the 1-2 cent range for actual profit. I have tanked fuel in years gone by and dealt with a lot of station owners. Fuel sales profits are razor thin. They may not be losing money, but it sure isn't making them Bill Gates. It is the convenience store portion of the station that brings in a better margin.

The marketing of fuel has to also achieve the end of using up as much of the fuel streams as possible. The refiner doesn't want to end up with fuel that can't be sold simply because the franchisees or independents are only willing to sell a higher margin premium.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
It's not a matter of losing money on the sale of RUG, rather it's a matter of accepting very low margins in return for the high margin convenience store traffic.
This is why stations without convenience stores are so rare these days and also why few convenience stores without gas stations exist anymore.

While it is unusual these days for a gas station to not have some sort of convenience store to make up for relatively low margins on fuel, I don't really see vice versa to be terribly true around here. It's rare to see a 7-Eleven around here that has gas, although the one that I drive by the most used to be co-branded with Citgo. Independent conveniences stores around here rarely have gas.

There are of course the gas station brands, like ampm (ARCO), ExtraMile (Chevron), and Corner Store (Valero). I've seen a few combination 76/Circle K locations. Some of the bigger ones I've seen are a combination of a gas station, convenience store, and fast food (McDonald's, Wendy's, or BK). The weirdest combination I've ever seen was a temporary Sonic with a gas station. It was temporary, and they had a sit down area and drive-thru, but no drive-in.

I sort of wonder what incentive gas stations had for pay at the pump. While it does reduce the amount of cash on hand and reduces labor costs to some degree, it would also seem to reduce convenience store sales. Costco certainly doesn't use convenience store sales, but it does drive traffic to their warehouses. Another low-margin gas retailer would be supermarkets. They may be trying to drive traffic to the stores, but the ones I've seen (Safeway) actually have small convenience stores at the cashier. It's also odd because they typically have the weekly ad displayed at the pumps like I remember seeing with newspapers on the walls next to urinals in Chili's.

 

[B320i]

Originally Posted By: Neil_A
Originally Posted By: Kestas
So screw them, I'm filling up with regular. All my vehicles have knock sensors.

Just because you have knock sensors doesn't mean the knock isn't causing negative effects. Noticeable reduction in overall fuel economy, performance, and excessive kr (knock retard) can occur if you vehicle requires or even recommends premium. Knock retard can only be compensated for so much with reduced timing. Having a knock sensor doesn't mean your engine will never knock, especially if you do not follow the manufacturers recommendation regarding fuel octane levels.
As I've said before, it AMAZES me the number of late-model vehicles that I notice making the nasty "drrr-brrr" metallic noise that is indicative of nasty pinging. Even brand-new Mercedes, Kia, Hyundai. You name it, I've probably heard it pinging. I'm beginning to think there is SOMETHING in our fuel these days, because cars don't make that horrid sound of their own free will...

Even my Grandfather's '05 Camry V6 pings - and its never had a diet of anything but RUG, and no CEL. Always a highway car.

 

[danthaman1980]

Up here, premium is usually $0.40-$0.50 more per gallon.

When I filled up the Mazda yesterday, I noticed premium was $0.78 more per gallon. So the Mazda got regular.

 

[SubLGT]

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/06/20170622-eia.html

Quote:
...The difference between US average retail prices for premium and regular gasoline reached $0.50/gallon in late 2016 and it has remained near that level so far in 2017…

...On the demand side, the premium gasoline share of total motor gasoline sales has steadily increased in recent years, reaching a high of nearly 12% in August 2016—the highest share since 2004…

...The combination of increasing demand for premium gasoline and market challenges to further increases in ethanol blending has led refiners and blenders to acquire more expensive sources of octane, leading to an increase in the price differential between premium and regular gasoline in recent years...