I just don’t get it. I went past the servo this morning on the way to dropping the munchkin at school. Unleaded was $1.30 a litre. I go past this afternoon and it’s $1.44! WTF?
I cannot understand the infamous price ‘cycle’ that occurs each, and every week. I know it occurs, and I’ve seen it myself. But how on earth can ANYONE justify a 14c hike in the space of 6 hours?? If this is some kind of cycle, then it must be a penny farthing and we’ve just hit the front wheel….and seeing as how it’s Wednesday, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase HUMP DAY don’t it!!!
Why aren’t petrol prices adjusted according to what the servos pay for it? If they buy x amount of petrol at x amount of dollars per litre, why isn’t it sold at x dollars per litre plus their markup, and all the bloody state taxes and excises to come up with the selling price. Then if the next delivery is cheaper, or dearer, then the price we pay is a reflection of that. It’s how a normal shop works. If the local supermarket decided that they were doing to adjust the price of milk, or bread according to a weekly cycle, wouldn’t you think all hell would break loose? So why do the petrol companies get away with it?
If anyone can enlighten me, please do so. I have tried and tried to come up with some sort of feasible or logical explanation but simply cannot. Realistically it’s certainly not a supply and demand thing. I mean anyone can go take a look at this site here and see how and when the cycles occur. A logical and practical person who was in fact looking for the cheaper fuel would simply buy it when it troughs..like Wednesday morning for example. Now wouldn’t it be fair to assume in today’s economic climate where the dollars aren’t going as far, interest rates have just gone up again and the petrol price is ever increasing, that MORE people would be buying their petrol therefore increasing demand which under normal market circumstances would increase the price at THAT time.
My goodness, I need to take a breath!
Anyway, I feel better now.
Oh I started another blog. Well not a blog as such. Lord knows I’m having trouble writing on this one let along two! But one for photos. Not sure how often I’ll actually put pics up there. I’m saving it for those ones that make me go WOW, DID I TAKE THAT?!!!
You can check it out here. It’s called plenty of memories - sound familiar?! Thought about making the tag line ‘and no regrets’ but didn’t really see how that was appropriate for a photo blog.
Oh and I changed themes too, then of course kellyised it 
{ 6 } Thoughts
love the new theme kel! did you upgrade at the same time?
been bitching about the petrol prices for months..frustrating as hell, I know, and we can whinge till the cows come home, it ain’t gonna change any time soon i don’t think…they bleat about pegging the oil companies, then do nothing because they think saying they will look at it will shut people up…
i’m off to check out the new site now…
no smilies????
*shock horror*
It’s Beautiful in here!!LOL I’m loving it!! And gas prices? Anymore I just call it the whimsical thing…Here in the states, they blame it on not having enough refineries. Now, they’ve decided maybe they need to build one..YA THINK???LOL Haven’t had a new one since the early 70’s! Love ‘ya sweetie!!
Donna’s last blog post..Severe Storms & Old Couple
:be:
lovin’ the smilies…..
anonymum’s last blog post..I helped out. THIS time
Yeah, personally unless it’s tuesday night it’s not really worth buying petrol… you’re lucky it was still cheap wed morning… usually wed’s it goes up like 10c a letre at least…. (scuse my bad spelling i’ve got a shocker of a headache)
anyway, that’s my personal tip to you, that was passed on to me by a fellow p-plater… so now you can feel in the p-plater loop… well, to an extent… if i fill you in on where all the speed camera’s and red light cameras are and how to pick a unmarked coppa car from a mile away, THEN you’ll really be in the loop :be:
but am unsure how long ago that was and if it was in sydney… so unsure weather you’ve grown out of the loop :be:
lol… 
not saying you could possibly categorise as old, as i’m unsure exactly how old you are… :angel: :wink: 
Petrol prices explained -
The price you pay at the petrol pump is based on 2 things: 1. the wholesale price, and 2. the rebate that the reatiler negotiated with the oil company. The retailer generally makes approx. 4 cents per litre and aims to maximise volume sold every day of the week. Keep in mind that 60 % of their gross margin is from shop sales (cigarettes, soft drink, choclates, bread & milk) so petrol sales are there to get customers into the store. The cycle starts on Wednesday (highest price) and as it heads towards Friday (highest volume day) the retailer drops the price to compete with other outlets and gain max volume. When it gets to the stage that they are not making any margin on fuel they request further rebates from the oil company to support their sales volume. The oil companies need volume to keep the refineries going efficiently. The oil compaines also have knowledge of selling prices from all outlets via EFTOS data purchased from Informed Sources (costs approx $1M pa - they all do it). They trade off margin for volume as we go through the high volume days Friday - Monday and when it gets to the point of no financial bebefit to provide rebates, they cut the rebates and it goes back to the normal price on, or around Tuesday. The retailer makes around 4 cpl through the week, Govt makes 38.4 cpl + GST.
That’s the price cycle explained.
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