Can you actually provide evidence of "gouging" ?

Our Congresscritters and states attorneys have been investigating OilCo "gouging" since time began, and have yet to show anything. I'm not saying there isn't room for some price manipulation, but it isn't significant, and that's not gouging.

My "line of thinking" is to recognize the situation for what it is, not what you might want it to be. Oil discovery, extraction, refining and distribution is a large and complex operation, fraught with risk and peril - those who risk their capital aren't going to do it without some potential for profit. In the end, they earn between 9 and 13 percent - in good years.

The "broken" elements of the current production system are minor - 50 blends of gasoline, mid-grade, and issues with permitting of exploration, development, pipelines, emission control, and refinery plant expansion, and should be fixed - but that won't bring about a massive change in the price of gasoline, nor should it.

"Fixing" the problem doesn't involve condemning the very industry that supplies the fuel you desire. Unless we find a way to wean ourselves off of petrol on a massive scale, we will need the oil industry to continue to produce. And frankly, they will probably still be a part of the production and distribution system long after we use our last drop of gasoline.

Wait, so your solution to 'gouging' (or perhaps unneeded tax breaks) is to get on board with the gouging? That is such backward thinking! If your house was on fire would you join in the fun and toss on some gasoline? Broken things should be fixed, not made more broken so they have to be replaced. Your line of thinking is no different than that of people who 'jump aboard' for a free ride via government programs.

Thanks for the ConEd correction
Of course you just confirmed their stance on help from outside.

If that's true, then why doesn't it say "Joe's Filling Station" or something like that on the sign instead of BP, Shell, Sunoco, Texaco, etc?

If the oilco's don't own the gas stations what's to stop the real owner from getting his gas from anybody who gives him the best price instead of from a specific oil company?

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm just asking...

Some of the BI-LOs here have gensets to power their coolers and freezers but they don't seem to have enough power to open a store.

The unions representing the linemen in NYC might get more sympathy if they had accepted help offered from other states regardless of union affiliation in the emergency. They seem more concerned about their political agenda and their "turf" than concerned with re-connecting the customers without power, so it will be bit a longer time to restore power than should be the case.

TBH- I think heat is worse than cold.

At least with cold, you can put on more clothes, and bundle up. You can get into bed with extra blankets and warm up to a certain extent.

The unions representing the linemen in NYC might get more sympathy if they had accepted help offered from other states regardless of union affiliation in the emergency. They seem more concerned about their political agenda and their "turf" than concerned with re-connecting the customers without power, so it will be bit a longer time to restore power than should be the case.
Speaking of gasoline, the Guard was sent in with 5000 gallon tankers to fuel First Responders and other emergency personnel but the gas got diverted to citizens looking for gas instead, so the first responders are not being helped so much.
And the electricity to gas stations is not yet restored.

It depends on who owns the land. The franchise location may lease the station from the oil company landlord, they may lease the land from a real estate investment trust or may own the land outright.
If leasing, a big $$$ chunk goes to the lease.

You'd think that any station owner with a lick of sense would race home and take the generator from momma to power the station. There's gold in them thar tanks if I can just pump it out.

You'd think that any station owner with a lick of sense would race home and take the generator from momma to power the station. There's gold in them thar tanks if I can just pump it out.

Nothing like that is done here.

My neighbor stood watching in horror as good food was thrown into dumpsters. If it were my supermarket, I would have given it away. People were picking stuff out of the dumpsters anyway.

Such a waste, and so stupid of the supermarkets to not have generators.

When you live in the snow belt, during the winter there will be no way to get semi's here because more often than not- route 80 will be shut down due to a truck accident.

This stretch of 80 is one of the worst highways in the nation, and we have weeks- even in good weather- where it gets shut down 3 times a week due to tractor trailer accidents.

So what happens in this case? The supermarkets get a tax write-off, and the insurance company picks up the tab for the lost goods? I'm really not sure how it works.

Sounds like poor planning to me, when a generator would have prevented the loss in the first place, and they're in an area where this happens all the time.

The oil companies are rich enough, but our station was not owned by any oil company. We get the majority of our profits from people buying stuff inside. Not the gas. Can't afford it.

As for the cost of running the thing- my 8000 watt generator takes about 5 gallons a day if running for about 12-16 hours. Even if a bigger genny were needed for a gas station, it still wouldn't cost them all that much to run it for say- 12 hours a day, because they would make the money back in profits.

The gas station I was at had a Natural Gas generator. We had like 12 pumps. In a power outage it could only sustain 8, security equipment, POS equipment and subsequent networking. No hotdogs, no soda, and the cooler full of soda.

So they could still sell gas but in a limited capacity.

You would think that these stores (at least some) would have backup generators. I would imagine they have lost more money than what it would cost for a generator.

Which begs the question- why don't gas stations have generators?

Day 5 of no power here.

The power was restored briefly yesterday, and didn't even last an hour before it went out again. PPL estimates it will be Sunday at 11pm at the earliest for most customers- some could be out until next week.

I spoke with a friend from work located in White Plains NY, the issue there: stations with no power to pump gas from the tanks are closed and the stations that do have power have been sucked dry. People drive around trying to find gas and line up if they find one open.