Why are gas prices so high in Ames?

[theshadow]

Casey's margin on gas was 45 cents per gallon in 2021-22, and has since "normalized" back to 35 cents per gallon. I'm curious what it is at the other regional chains.

High gas prices produce big profits for Ankeny-based Casey's General Stores

The gas station chain made about 10 cents more per gallon of fuel sold in May, June and July than it did at the same time last year.

www.desmoinesregister.com

 

[shadow]

The K&G on Dayton by 30 has brought down their E15 price a lot since Kwik star opened but no where else in Ames. Wonder if they and others price off what other stations in town are doing.

 

[BCClone]

The K&G on Dayton by 30 has brought down their E15 price a lot since Kwik star opened but no where else in Ames. Wonder if they and others price off what other stations in town are doing.

Can give you some 10 year old info there. Lived in a town that basically had 3 main gas places. The co-op, caseys, and Kum and Go. The managers of all three told me how they set prices. Caseys got a corporate price. Kum and Go got corporate but was also told to match the local prices. The Co-op would basically watch Kum and go and go by that. If KandG dropped on Saturday morning, the Co-op would on Monday, if KandG raised on Saturday morning, the Co-op would also. So if you used the Co-op Monday through Friday. on Saturday and Sunday it was smart to use KandG or Caseys.

 

[GoldCy]

Thompson oil goes back to deal he got when he played with "Phillips 66rs"

 

[SCNCY]

So there is only one terminal that can be used by Ames stations? Seems like an opportunity for someone to step in and take a lot of business.

If I had to guess, it probably has to do with transportation costs. Paying a truck to drive from a terminal in Des Moines is going to cost more for the station than buying in Ames. (Side note, can gas stations even store a full tanker truck of gasoline underground in their tanks?). Thompson Oil is probably able to save a little bit of money on the transportation from where ever he gets his oil from as it would be consistent business, and the trucking line probably has a backhaul for the trips. Thus, making it cheaper for the station to buy from Thompson than somewhere else. This probably leads to Thompson oil to price their gasoline just slightly below the breakeven point for these gas stations to buy outside of Ames.

It's also possible that Thompson oil also has a pipeline to its terminal, which is as cheap as you can get regarding transportation costs. Which then leads to my last sentence in the previous paragraph.

 

[Nor'MidWester]

Bad news for you $3.39 is high by 21 cents. Plenty of places are $3.18.

$3.07 here in the northeast, where it is routinely 30-40 cents higher than Iowa. Y'all are getting screwed in iowa

 

[Trice]

I was assuming it was refineries switching over to the winter mix that caused the 30 cent or so price increase. Haven’t seen anyone report that, but the timing seems about right.

Can't speak for Ames but in the Des Moines area it shot up by about (if memory serves), $0.40 a couple weeks ago, then another $0.30 shortly thereafter. I don't recall seasonal jumps that high in the past.

 

[BCClone]

If I had to guess, it probably has to do with transportation costs. Paying a truck to drive from a terminal in Des Moines is going to cost more for the station than buying in Ames. (Side note, can gas stations even store a full tanker truck of gasoline underground in their tanks?). Thompson Oil is probably able to save a little bit of money on the transportation from where ever he gets his oil from as it would be consistent business, and the trucking line probably has a backhaul for the trips. Thus, making it cheaper for the station to buy from Thompson than somewhere else. This probably leads to Thompson oil to price their gasoline just slightly below the breakeven point for these gas stations to buy outside of Ames.

It's also possible that Thompson oil also has a pipeline to its terminal, which is as cheap as you can get regarding transportation costs. Which then leads to my last sentence in the previous paragraph.

Most I know can't hold a full tanker. Maybe the truck stop ones can since the business is there. What usually happens is the tanker will have an assigned route where he drops off X amount at places and they stage it so he delivers full tank fulls.

Here is fuel advice from a few tanker deliverers I've ran into. If you see a delivery happening at that gas station, don't fuel up. The easiest time to get crap from a gas station is when a delivery happens, they are splashing the new stuff in and mixing up any crud that may be on the bottom of that tank around and that is the easiest time to suck it up and put it into you tank. After a few minutes the crud settles back to the bottom and things are fine.

 

[SCNCY]

Most I know can't hold a full tanker. Maybe the truck stop ones can since the business is there. What usually happens is the tanker will have an assigned route where he drops off X amount at places and they stage it so he delivers full tank fulls.

Here is fuel advice from a few tanker deliverers I've ran into. If you see a delivery happening at that gas station, don't fuel up. The easiest time to get crap from a gas station is when a delivery happens, they are splashing the new stuff in and mixing up any crud that may be on the bottom of that tank around and that is the easiest time to suck it up and put it into you tank. After a few minutes the crud settles back to the bottom and things are fine.

So if that is the case, the set up and tear down time probably adds a little cost to each station that a tanker goes to. Therefore, probably adding to the cost of buying from a terminal further away as opposed to something close by.

 

[BCClone]

So if that is the case, the set up and tear down time probably adds a little cost to each station that a tanker goes to. Therefore, probably adding to the cost of buying from a terminal further away as opposed to something close by.

I know Caseys stores have their own deliveries. They go from store to store and have routes to deliver. Living in way NC Iowa, all our stuff comes from the Clear Lake terminal which is one of the bigger ones. I know if the local co-op can't get stuff from there, and things are tight during harvest for diesel or LP they are running down to Kansas to pull stuff. There are not terminal every 20 miles. Pipelines are the cheapest so those by pipelines should have the lowest cost.

 

[ExCyment]

Gary Thompson (Thompson Oil) is rolling in the dough these days - even more than before, and all at our expense. Since fuel prices dropped in Ames to $3.64 a couple of weeks ago (at least), the cost of oil has dropped by about $12 per barrel ($76 as of today). So, you'd think fuel prices would follow, right? Nope! Gas here hasn't dropped one cent since oil prices have tumbled. I haven't been to Polk County for a while now, but I'm guessing it's at LEAST $.65 less there than it is in Ames. All thanks to Gary Thompson who controls the distribution around Ames. This is price gouging. I've tried alerting the local news stations in the past to expose this guy for what he is. But, to my knowledge, no one has ever said a word or done any investigating on WHY he insists on soaking the people of Story County for his fuel. It pisses me off.

I don't know, this weekend I noticed prices were lower in ames then des moines.

 

[Cycsk]

I know Caseys stores have their own deliveries. They go from store to store and have routes to deliver. Living in way NC Iowa, all our stuff comes from the Clear Lake terminal which is one of the bigger ones. I know if the local co-op can't get stuff from there, and things are tight during harvest for diesel or LP they are running down to Kansas to pull stuff. There are not terminal every 20 miles. Pipelines are the cheapest so those by pipelines should have the lowest cost.

So, I'm still trying to piece all this together. What does Thompson have to do with the price of gas at Casey's in Ames? Do they get their gas from him rather than their own deliver tankers? And does he do something to control the price they charge?

 

[BCClone]

So, I'm still trying to piece all this together. What does Thompson have to do with the price of gas at Casey's in Ames? Do they get their gas from him rather than their own deliver tankers? And does he do something to control the price they charge?

Probably not much, but stores aren’t going to let their prices be way different than others.

 

[madguy30]

$3.07 here in the northeast, where it is routinely 30-40 cents higher than Iowa. Y'all are getting screwed in iowa

Hit $3.99 in Madison today.

Quite the jump.

 

[BCClone]

Hit $3.99 in Madison today.

Quite the jump.

Damn it, Gary!!

 

[madguy30]

Damn it, Gary!!

It's weird, Kwik Trip is the $3.99 that is usually one of the lower prices.

But Costco last I checked was $3.39 and it's only a few blocks away.

 

[BCClone]

It's weird, Kwik Trip is the $3.99 that is usually one of the lower prices.

But Costco last I checked was $3.39 and it's only a few blocks away.

Think someone sent a typo maybe.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Just a weird note on my experience today.

I have a part-time job that sometimes requires me to drive over quite a bit of territory in east-central Iowa. Today I went from Cedar Rapids to Victor, then back through Williamsburg and Kalona, going through places like Tiffin, Amana, Marengo, Riverside …

Literally every gas station had Super Unleaded (E10) at 3.699. Every last one of them that I saw (except for one in Kalona that was 3.709, across the street from a Casey’s with 3.699). I have never seen gas prices that consistent over that wide of an area. I don’t have much of an explanation or incisive commentary, I just thought it was singularly unusual.

(Also unusual - Lone Tree, the last place I went to, actually had gas at 3.459 and 3.499 at a couple of places. Again, weird!)

 

[drmwevr08]

I thought Biden was manipulating prices until election day? Is he too dumb to keep up the charade another month?
Back to 420 here.

Edit - worse today. I just saw 4.99!