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Municipal Gas Station Proves Popular in Kentucky

They're charging the price of the gas plus a slight bit to cover their costs, hoping to break even.
To be socialism, as several in the article charge, wouldn't the city pay for X% of a gallon? Going lower than any of the competitors could possibly go?
 
Other retail groups, including the Kentucky Petroleum Marketers Association, urged other municipalities not to follow suit. "If milk got too high, are you going to build a dairy?" said Ted Mason, executive director of the Kentucky Grocers Association and Kentucky Association of Convenience Stores.
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lol, why not?
 
dismal said:
AthenaAwakened said:
http://www.kentucky.com/2014/07/19/3343236/ky-town-starts-retail-gas-venture.html



I think it is a great idea.
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What is it about cities that you think makes them particularly good at running gas stations?

Is there anything business you don't think cities should run?
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are you physically unable to ask a question without interjecting shit that has nothing to do with the quote you cite?

I think the town offering cheap gas is a good idea. No where did I say cities were better at running gas stations, or that govt runs anything business better than private concerns. That you pulled out of your ass, and if you want an answer to questions pulled from your ass, I would advise you to go back your ass for that answer.
 
AthenaAwakened said:
dismal said:
What is it about cities that you think makes them particularly good at running gas stations?

Is there anything business you don't think cities should run?
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are you physically unable to ask a question without interjecting shit that has nothing to do with the quote you cite?

I think the town offering cheap gas is a good idea. No where did I say cities were better at running gas stations, or that govt runs anything business better than private concerns. That you pulled out of your ass, and if you want an answer to questions pulled from your ass, I would advise you to go back your ass for that answer.
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I'm surprised you don't see the relevance of my questions. But perhaps if you attempted to engage in intelligent discussion instead of attacking me personally you'd find out why its relevant.
 
KeepTalking said:
dismal said:
What is it about cities that you think makes them particularly good at running gas stations??
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Cities are run by people, gas stations are run by people. People is the common factor, so as long as you have people employed by the city who are capable of doing the job, why shouldn't they be any good at it?
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Ah.

Are people working for a city likely to be as good at running gas stations as people who work for a company that runs gas stations?
 
dismal said:
KeepTalking said:
Cities are run by people, gas stations are run by people. People is the common factor, so as long as you have people employed by the city who are capable of doing the job, why shouldn't they be any good at it?
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Ah.

Are people working for a city likely to be as good at running gas stations as people who work for a company that runs gas stations?
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Probably better. The only thing they sell is gas, and they're aiming to break even, not profit. What's to fuck up?
They might accidentally sell so much gas that they cover the costs and have profit left over? That would be bad...
 
dismal said:
KeepTalking said:
Cities are run by people, gas stations are run by people. People is the common factor, so as long as you have people employed by the city who are capable of doing the job, why shouldn't they be any good at it?
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Ah.

Are people working for a city likely to be as good at running gas stations as people who work for a company that runs gas stations?
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why not?

The canopied station on the outskirts of this southern Kentucky town was converted from use by government vehicles into one that can also cater to anyone looking to fill their tanks.
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All they did was open up a station used for municipal vehicles for use by non-municipal vehicles. So apparently the people were skilled enough to run a municipal fueling station. I don't know what different skillsets might be required to let non-municipal drivers fill up their own tanks there though.

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Keith&Co. said:
they're aiming to break even, not profit
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COMMUNISM!!! :angryfist:
 
dismal said:
KeepTalking said:
Cities are run by people, gas stations are run by people. People is the common factor, so as long as you have people employed by the city who are capable of doing the job, why shouldn't they be any good at it?
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Ah.

Are people working for a city likely to be as good at running gas stations as people who work for a company that runs gas stations?
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They're running a gas station. Not to disparage gas station employees, but exactly what skills are they that you feel municipal employees lack that corporate employees have which would make a difference here?
 
Tom Sawyer said:
dismal said:
Ah.

Are people working for a city likely to be as good at running gas stations as people who work for a company that runs gas stations?
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They're running a gas station. Not to disparage gas station employees, but exactly what skills are they that you feel municipal employees lack that corporate employees have which would make a difference here?
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The people who make most of the big decisions with respect to gas stations are not the people you see inside them.

Would it be fair to say you don't have much understanding of what goes into running gas stations?
 
Would it be fair to say that people who run municipal fueling stations do?
 
dismal said:
AthenaAwakened said:
are you physically unable to ask a question without interjecting shit that has nothing to do with the quote you cite?

I think the town offering cheap gas is a good idea. No where did I say cities were better at running gas stations, or that govt runs anything business better than private concerns. That you pulled out of your ass, and if you want an answer to questions pulled from your ass, I would advise you to go back your ass for that answer.
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I'm surprised you don't see the relevance of my questions. But perhaps if you attempted to engage in intelligent discussion instead of attacking me personally you'd find out why its relevant.
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Is it much of a business? They don't really set prices for the main product they sell, they usually don't perform any service for distributing the product, and may not even be involved in the financial transaction either. So all they need to do is sell over priced bags of Cheez-Its and reasonably priced sodas, beer, and cigarettes.
 
This is what we call an "inappropriate use of tax dollars."

If there was some reason a private business, in competition with other private businesses could not provide a vital commodity, there might be a reason for government to bring gasoline into the city, There is no fuel shortage, just a basic misunderstanding of economics.

I like this quote from the Mayor:
"We are one community that decided we've got backbone and we're not going to allow the oil companies to dictate to us what we can and cannot do," Girdler said. "We're going to start out small. Where it goes from here we really don't know.
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The city must also own an oil well and a refinery. All they have done is gone and bought fuel at a distributer and are now selling it at a low price. If this price is actually less than the final cost of delivering a gallon of gas to a citizens car, the taxpayers are subsidizing driving a car.

Why stop at gasoline? Food is a critical need. Why not open a no frills discount grocery store. Medical care is a critical need. Why not open the county health department to the public and sell low cost medical care?

In the meantime, I hope the sewers of Somerset flow downhill, the potholes are filled, the grass is cut at all the parks(I assume they have parks), the police cars have good tires and the roofs of the schools don't leak. This is what people expect when they pay taxes to a city.
 
dismal said:
Tom Sawyer said:
They're running a gas station. Not to disparage gas station employees, but exactly what skills are they that you feel municipal employees lack that corporate employees have which would make a difference here?
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The people who make most of the big decisions with respect to gas stations are not the people you see inside them.

Would it be fair to say you don't have much understanding of what goes into running gas stations?
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No, the people who make those decisions are the ones who run gas stations, not simply the ones who work at the counter. Like, for instance, the municipal employees who have been running this gas station.

What is the skillset that the people doing such jobs for a corporation have which you feel that the people doing such jobs for the municipality don't have?
 
Bronzeage said:
This is what we call an "inappropriate use of tax dollars."
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Who is "we?"

If this price is actually less than the final cost of delivering a gallon of gas to a citizens car, the taxpayers are subsidizing driving a car.
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If you read the story you'd know the city is not selling under cost. They are selling at cost plus a couple percentage points. What they are not doing is charging for profit.

Why stop at gasoline? Food is a critical need. Why not open a no frills discount grocery store. Medical care is a critical need. Why not open the county health department to the public and sell low cost medical care?
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Indeed, why not do this?

There's nothing magical about "profit" that causes things to be done faster or better. Oftentimes the quest for profits leads to dangerous shortcuts and lost lives.

In the meantime, I hope the sewers of Somerset flow downhill, the potholes are filled, the grass is cut at all the parks(I assume they have parks), the police cars have good tires and the roofs of the schools don't leak. This is what people expect when they pay taxes to a city.
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Maybe you should read the story so you don't start making points that aren't related to this at all. There's no diversion of tax revenues from other places to this one fueling station.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
dismal said:
I'm surprised you don't see the relevance of my questions. But perhaps if you attempted to engage in intelligent discussion instead of attacking me personally you'd find out why its relevant.
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Is it much of a business? They don't really set prices for the main product they sell, they usually don't perform any service for distributing the product, and may not even be involved in the financial transaction either. So all they need to do is sell over priced bags of Cheez-Its and reasonably priced sodas, beer, and cigarettes.
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In my experience gasoline companies spend a tremendous amount of time and effort in setting the gasoline price. The clerk does not just hang up the number he feels like that day. Price too low, you're screwed. Price too high, you're also screwed. There are entire organizations set up just to set the price. They also have organizations whose job it is to set up procurement channels to insure reliable and low cost supply of gasoline.

You touch on convenience store operations, which opens up a whole new set of issues. Pricing, promotions, staffing, training, optimal facility layout. Etc.

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ksen said:
dismal said:
What do you think the big decisions with respect to running a gas station business are?
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Why don't you tell us?
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I think the thread will go better for you if ignorance prevails. Just trying to help.
 
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