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Municipal Gas Station Proves Popular in Kentucky

jonatha said:
dismal said:
Loren Pechtel said:
dismal said:
Loren Pechtel said:
dismal said:
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.
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Or maybe there's some local factor that raises prices.
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Any local factor I can think of would also apply to the citi owned store.
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Unless it's due to taxes or the like.
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It has not been suggested that the city applies a tax to private stations that it does not apply to itself (except of course property tax).

Indeed the city implies its mission is to lower gas prices, which if they were high due to a city tax would have a very direct solution.

The city asserts the prices are high due to the ruthless profiteering of the 20 local gas stations and the answer therefore is to spend taxpayer dollars to create a 21st.
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The notion that Somerset or Pulaski County has high taxes of any sort strikes me as ridiculous. (N.b., both sides of my family are from Pulaski County and I've spent a good deal of time in Pulaski County....)

Local gas prices are probably higher in that area compared to neighboring communities because thanks to Lake Cumberland there's a large tourist population (with boats, even...) that can be gouged.
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You'll sometimes see higher prices on the main drag a tourist would take into a tourist spot because tourists are not as price sensitive, but this appears to be a decent size town with 15 or 20 gas stations spread throughout, sometimes with 2 or 3 stations to a corner. There should be more than enough competition for the local trade.
 
dismal said:
coloradoatheist said:
Would another question be, "Why do gas prices drop?"
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Answers #1 and 2 are "oil prices drop" and "refining margins" drop. Retail margins are usually pretty small and stable.

And it appears there is more than enough retail competition in this town to have that be the case here.
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We understand it, but why should price gouging companies ever lower gas prices, they should be making all that exta money when the price of their gasoline goes down.
 
ksen said:
dismal said:
If the historical pattern holds the station will be a failure and its apologists will tell us city owned gas stations were never *really* tried.
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I agree that republicans failing is the historical pattern but maybe this guy will break the streak.
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You noticed how he used "historical pattern" but fails to mention the historical pattern is simply in his mind.
 
dismal said:
jonatha said:
The notion that Somerset or Pulaski County has high taxes of any sort strikes me as ridiculous. (N.b., both sides of my family are from Pulaski County and I've spent a good deal of time in Pulaski County....)

Local gas prices are probably higher in that area compared to neighboring communities because thanks to Lake Cumberland there's a large tourist population (with boats, even...) that can be gouged.
Click to expand...

You'll sometimes see higher prices on the main drag a tourist would take into a tourist spot because tourists are not as price sensitive, but this appears to be a decent size town with 15 or 20 gas stations spread throughout, sometimes with 2 or 3 stations to a corner. There should be more than enough competition for the local trade.
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There are a lot of tourists in Somerset. And it's not big enough for there to be many gas stations that aren't on the main drag.

(Ever been to Pigeon Forge?)

ETA - If it is in fact due to the tourist trade, an examination of seasonal price changes should make that fairly clear. The Buckeye Navy packs up and goes home in the fall...
 
jonatha said:
dismal said:
You'll sometimes see higher prices on the main drag a tourist would take into a tourist spot because tourists are not as price sensitive, but this appears to be a decent size town with 15 or 20 gas stations spread throughout, sometimes with 2 or 3 stations to a corner. There should be more than enough competition for the local trade.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of tourists in Somerset. And it's not big enough for there to be many gas stations that aren't on the main drag.

(Ever been to Pigeon Forge?)

ETA - If it is in fact due to the tourist trade, an examination of seasonal price changes should make that fairly clear. The Buckeye Navy packs up and goes home in the fall...
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I am going entirely off the google map I linked earlier but it does seem to clearly show a decent sized town with 15 or 20 gas stations spread throughout...some of which do not appear to be anywhere near a main drag.
 
Compare it to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Tennessee and see how many gas stations they have.

They're all expensive....
 
Yes, a random guy on the internet looking at google maps probably does know more about local conditions in a town than the people that live and work there.
 
dismal said:
I am going entirely off the google map I linked earlier but it does seem to clearly show a decent sized town with 15 or 20 gas stations spread throughout...some of which do not appear to be anywhere near a main drag.
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I'm looking at the google map, with little red dots for gas stations.

Every single one except for the Convenient Food Mart at 595 Bourne Ave, is on something that qualifies as a main drag...
 
dismal said:
jonatha said:
Compare it to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Tennessee and see how many gas stations they have.

They're all expensive....
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About in line with the Tennessee average according to gasbuddy.com

But also, that's a much smaller town (really just a main drag) with quite a bit less competition than there is in Somerset, KY.
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I'm surprised Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg are in line with the Tennessee average. Knoxville is known to have cheap gas cheap, so it must be really cheap.

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg combined are almost as large as Somerset. And that's not even counting Sevierville...
 
jonatha said:
dismal said:
I am going entirely off the google map I linked earlier but it does seem to clearly show a decent sized town with 15 or 20 gas stations spread throughout...some of which do not appear to be anywhere near a main drag.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at the google map, with little red dots for gas stations.

Every single one except for the Convenient Food Mart at 595 Bourne Ave, is on something that qualifies as a main drag...
Click to expand...

How many main drags do they have?

There are around 10 gas stations that are not on 27 or 80, which appear to be the main drags.
 
jonatha said:
dismal said:
About in line with the Tennessee average according to gasbuddy.com

But also, that's a much smaller town (really just a main drag) with quite a bit less competition than there is in Somerset, KY.
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I'm surprised Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg are in line with the Tennessee average. Knoxville is known to have cheap gas cheap, so it must be really cheap.

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg combined are almost as large as Somerset. And that's not even counting Sevierville...
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Data is not always consistent with our intuition. Though I have no idea how reliable gasbuddy is. They have an interesting map of the area that you can scroll around. Some of the stations right up against the smokies do indeed seem very high. but there are also some high ones in Knoxville. I would worry some of the outliers might be stale data.
 
dismal said:
jonatha said:
I'm looking at the google map, with little red dots for gas stations.

Every single one except for the Convenient Food Mart at 595 Bourne Ave, is on something that qualifies as a main drag...
Click to expand...

How many main drags do they have?

There are around 10 gas stations that are not on 27 or 80, which appear to be the main drags.
Click to expand...

Anything near the center of town, or anything that's shown wider than a thin line (any color on it at all) will get plenty of traffic.
 
jonatha said:
dismal said:
How many main drags do they have?

There are around 10 gas stations that are not on 27 or 80, which appear to be the main drags.
Click to expand...

Anything near the center of town, or anything that's shown wider than a thin line (any color on it at all) will get plenty of traffic.
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They always try to build gas stations on the busiest streets. (See earlier posts about how gas stations make money.)
 
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