Municipal Gas Station Proves Popular in Kentucky

[AthenaAwakened]

Man, I never realized that one little municipally owned filling station in bumfuck Kentucky would spell the end of capitalism and the American Way.

I know, right?

I never thought capitalism was so fragile

 

[dismal]

Your assumption is in error.

The amount charged motorists will be based on an average regional price for gas, and will include a small markup to cover costs, the mayor said Imagine that, they mark up the gasoline to cover costs! COSTS! How uncommunisty!


Then again, there is no reason why the city would need to "prop" it up. They only real cost they have is the purchase of the fuel and maintenance to the facility. I'm surprised as it seems you have never heard of this kind of an operation before being an expert in the field of retail gas stations.

Wouldn't the "average regional price for gas" include the markup to cover costs? When they add "the small markup", it appears the City intends to use gasoline sales as a revenue source.

I assume he refers to the rack price or dealer tank wagon price not the retail price when he says "average regional price for gas". As I mentioned earlier though, they are probably not going to be paying above the average regional price due to lack of scale and buying power.

 

[ZiprHead]

The really funny thing is that people, when they go to an Exxon/Shell/Texaco station, think they're getting Exxon/Shell/Texaco gas. Those companies supply regional depots where it all gets mixed together. That depot supplies the gas for most all the local stations, including the discount station. It's all the same gas.

 

[Bronzeage]

Man, I never realized that one little municipally owned filling station in bumfuck Kentucky would spell the end of capitalism and the American Way.

I know, right?

I never thought capitalism was so fragile

I don't think capitalism is in any danger. I believe when these kinds of things are discussed, we need to be honest about it.

 

[Underseer]

I know, right?

I never thought capitalism was so fragile

I don't think capitalism is in any danger. [...]

That's because you are a communist who wants to destroy our freedom, so you're obviously trying to lull patriotic Real Americans^TM into a false sense of security, such that they fail to recognize the grave threat this represents. Why do you hate our freedom? What's so great about communism?

 

[ksen]

I believe when these kinds of things are discussed, we need to be honest about it.

And "honest about it" is supposed to mean . . .?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Why would it not use it as a revenue source? Cities do this all the time.

Of course they do. I buy my steaks at the government butcher shop and get my car detailed at the government car wash. What do you buy from the government that is also sold by private retailers?

This month?
Internet
Water
Health Club Membership
Canoe storage
Camping permit
(And the meat lab is open this afternoon and steaks do sound yummy. - Yep.. I can buy gubberment meat.)

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Man, I never realized that one little municipally owned filling station in bumfuck Kentucky would spell the end of capitalism and the American Way.

I know, right?

I never thought capitalism was so fragile

Tell me about it.

 

[Bronzeage]

I don't think capitalism is in any danger. [...]

That's because you are a communist who wants to destroy our freedom, so you're obviously trying to lull patriotic Real Americans^TM into a false sense of security, such that they fail to recognize the grave threat this represents. Why do you hate our freedom? What's so great about communism?

As a second generation intellectual from a proletariat family, I am naturally wary of the company store.

Louisiana has a reputation for political corruption and it's probably deserved. I am sure Kentucky's elected officials and government workers are pristine compared to the Bayou State. Even so, we do work hard to catch and prosecute those who steal from the people. The single most common political corruption indictment in the state is for theft of state property. The property most often stolen is gasoline. It's such a temptation. The gas pump knows the card, but it doesn't know the car or truck.

There was a Parish Sheriff who was indicted and convicted of letting a private tow company fill up at the Parish gas pump. A State Police detective was sitting across the street, catching it all in video camera. This Sheriff went to jail for that, and less than six months later, his replacement was arrested for the same thing.

It will be interesting to watch Kentucky's experiment with state sponsored capitalism. They are going to have civilian vehicles using the same pumps as public vehicles. The opportunity and temptation to steal is tremendous when the stolen article is impossible to tell from that which was legally purchased.

I will not be at all surprised if they discover the fuel consumption of city owned vehicles increases quite a bit, but the miles driven does not.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Um, Bronzeage,
I always thought corruption and graft were just part of Louisiana culture, but I think this town probably requires a fleet card to operate the pump. It probably was easier to steal gasoline before the conversion. I know the places I worked just had old gas pumps and paper logs for records. You only needed a key from the fleet office.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

More work needed, more time is needed. It's *NOT* in the budget. This is the sort of thing that I was talking about in wondering if they were accounting for all the costs.

Well, for one thing they seem to have a very underutilized and over staffed fueling depot they could shut down. Just give everyone a fleet card they can use at the local RaceTrac.

That certainly could be--government isn't nearly as efficient as private enterprise in addressing such waste. When the budget axe comes around they have a considerable tendency to cut lean rather than fat.

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More work needed, more time is needed.

How much more?
The guys that oversaw the municipal pump now oversee the self-service pump.
What extra work? Maintaining the pumps, like they already had been?
Maintaining the property, like they already had been?
Watching other people pump gas...?

Most maintenance will be based on how much it's used, not time.

Double the gas, nearly double the maintenance.

 

[ksen]

As a second generation intellectual from a proletariat family, I am naturally wary of the company store.

FWIW, the company store was a product of the free market.

 

[Bronzeage]

Um, Bronzeage,
I always thought corruption and graft were just part of Louisiana culture, but I think this town probably requires a fleet card to operate the pump. It probably was easier to steal gasoline before the conversion. I know the places I worked just had old gas pumps and paper logs for records. You only needed a key from the fleet office.

I'm sure you got that impression from many years of living in Louisiana. Just for the curiosity, I checked and discovered that stateintegrity.com thinks Minnesota ranks ten places worse than Louisiana for state corruption. We were rated C-, while Minnesota was marked D-. This means Louisiana squeaked by and Minnesota is going to have to attend summer school. I never would have imagined Minnesota would be more rapacious with their citizen's money than Louisiana. It's strange how long held impressions can be mistaken.


Stealing gasoline is not a matter of cards and pumps. It's a matter of what vehicle receives the fuel. One card looks as much like one as the other. There is no effective way to prove someone filled a private vehicle with a public card, except to capture all the information at the time of the crime. This means video recording, indexed to card numbers, which are an added expense the tax payers may have to fund.

 

[Bronzeage]

As a second generation intellectual from a proletariat family, I am naturally wary of the company store.

FWIW, the company store was a product of the free market.

The company store was actually a product of a poor transportation infrastructure and inaccessibility to credit markets for working class people.

 

[dismal]

https://www.google.com/maps/search/...3s0x885d35ffbeedf343:0x35b2c3e70278f57a?hl=en

This looks like a decent size town with 15 or 20 brand name gas stations.

I think we can dispense with the discussion that these are mom and pops, and probably conclude that the claim they charge 20 cents more than surrounding towns is complete bullshit.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Um, Bronzeage,
I always thought corruption and graft were just part of Louisiana culture, but I think this town probably requires a fleet card to operate the pump. It probably was easier to steal gasoline before the conversion. I know the places I worked just had old gas pumps and paper logs for records. You only needed a key from the fleet office.

I'm sure you got that impression from many years of living in Louisiana. Just for the curiosity, I checked and discovered that stateintegrity.com thinks Minnesota ranks ten places worse than Louisiana for state corruption. We were rated C-, while Minnesota was marked D-. This means Louisiana squeaked by and Minnesota is going to have to attend summer school. I never would have imagined Minnesota would be more rapacious with their citizen's money than Louisiana. It's strange how long held impressions can be mistaken.

Well my image was from Louisianans description of their home state and is not to be used as a real comparison. But you might want to use a different link than State Integrity, as I'm not really sure you link is telling us what you think it does.

Stealing gasoline is not a matter of cards and pumps. It's a matter of what vehicle receives the fuel. One card looks as much like one as the other. There is no effective way to prove someone filled a private vehicle with a public card, except to capture all the information at the time of the crime. This means video recording, indexed to card numbers, which are an added expense the tax payers may have to fund.

Actually, it isn't that difficult especially if the card travels with the vehicle (like the Feds do it).

 

[ksen]

I think we can dispense with the discussion that these are mom and pops, and probably conclude that the claim they charge 20 cents more than surrounding towns is complete bullshit.

I'm sure you think we can.

 

[dismal]

I think we can dispense with the discussion that these are mom and pops, and probably conclude that the claim they charge 20 cents more than surrounding towns is complete bullshit.

I'm sure you think we can.

I know we can. But then I have relevant experience.

I was suspicious of it from the beginning, but it would maybe have been possible in a very rural area with limited competition and very low volume sites.

This is not that.

 

[ksen]

I guess the town's economic development business coordinator was lying to us. Someone should charge him with misleading the public.

George Wilson, the town's economic development business coordinator, said gas prices in Somerset are often 20 to 30 cents a gallon higher than in neighboring towns.

I know I believe internet forums poster dismal knows more about Somerset, KY gas prices than the local economic development guy does.

 

[coloradoatheist]

I am late coming into this. But the article I saw said that this station saved 3 cents a gallon over the other ones. Is that true?

 

[dismal]

I guess the town's economic development business coordinator was lying to us. Someone should charge him with misleading the public.

George Wilson, the town's economic development business coordinator, said gas prices in Somerset are often 20 to 30 cents a gallon higher than in neighboring towns.

I know I believe internet forums poster dismal knows more about Somerset, KY gas prices than the local economic development guy does.

I have never known local business development guys to be real up on gas price data.

Do you imagine the 15 or 20 stations in Somerset Ky all colluded to raise prices 20 cents above market? When the entire refinery gate to street price markup on gasoline is about 30 cents and the retail profit is maybe 2 cents?