A supermarket petrol price question. - Imagos
Visited a well known national supermarket garage in a fair sized town nearby to mine today who are charching 99.9p per litre for unleaded.

Returning to my own town 15mins later exact same supemarket is charging 96.9p per litre.

My question is why the difference?


A supermarket petrol price question. - Hamsafar
They have taken out the independants, and now have a monopoly.
That is how it is round here anyway, travel a few miles and you can get Shell Ultra for 2-3p less than Sainsbury's City Diesel, due to the former being in a district where competition still survives but the latter they have all tuned into 5 minute car wash forecourts or 'luxury' high-density apartment cells.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Ruperts Trooper
The reason for the price variation is SUPPLY & DEMAND, a well known economic principle.

There's obviously more competition in your home town than where you visited.

It's the same reason that house prices, wages, beer prices, used car prices, etc, vary in different parts of the UK.

Thankfully, we don't have a totalitarian state (yet) which imposes equality on everything.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Vin {P}
IIRC, Asda have a policy of a national price. Others compete locally.

V
A supermarket petrol price question. - Imagos
The reason for the price variation is SUPPLY & DEMAND>>

I don't buy that at all. Both stores are as busy as each other which includes the fuel garage and the population of each town is simular.

The more expensive garage is even nearer to Coryton refinery where i think the fuel comes from so it cant be distribution costs.

IMO there is NO justification for the difference.
A supermarket petrol price question. - mare
The reason for the price variation is SUPPLY & DEMAND>>
I don't buy that at all. Both stores are as busy
as each other which includes the fuel garage and the population
of each town is simular.


Are they other petrol stations close to either of those you saw? I suspect that not all conditions are equla for the two stations and the reason for the lower price is as others have pointed out good old fashioned competition.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Vin {P}
I think you're misunderstanding supply and demand theory.

If I can sell petrol at £1.50 a litre and get the same number of people across my forecourt as another garage selling at £1.00, I would be mad not to. If punters started to drift away, I'd need to drop my price to get them back (all other things being equal). The price will settle where the garage has the number of punters it wants at whatever price manages to achieve that.

The people to blame are the people USING the forecourt, not the owners. If users drifted away, prices would have to drop. Harsh economic reality, but we get the pricing we deserve as we're prepared to accept it.

V

A supermarket petrol price question. - PeterRed
The problem is that supermarkets can sell petrol as a loss-leader by cross subsidy. Then when the local independents go bust, the supermarket prices rise. Simple really. The same applies to all local retailers from bakers to off-licences.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Vin {P}
"Then when the local independents go bust, the supermarket prices rise. Simple really. The same applies to all local retailers from bakers to off-licences."

Are you really saying that Tesco/Sainsbury/Morrisons in Anytown puts up prices when a local bakery shuts up shop? I don't think so. If nothing else, they have the other supermarkets to compete against.

This forum really is degenerating into a "big business good, small business bad" whingefest. If you don't want to pay supermarket prices for petrol/groceries/anything, YOU DON'T HAVE TO. Go somewhere else.

V

A supermarket petrol price question. - No FM2R
Life in England....

We start with milkman who deliver to your door.
Tescos start to sell milk, which you have to go and collect, for 2p less per pint
Everybody is outraged milkman is so expensive
Everybody buys milk at Tescos
Milkman goes bust
No milkmen any more
People outraged at evil Tescos.

Ditto post-offices, butchers, local shops, village pubs, railways, etc. etc. etc. I know, I know, *you* always use the village shop, paid the milkman, use the village post office at every opportunity. But you're one amongst few.

>>This forum really is degenerating into a "big business good, small business bad" whingefest.

Its not just in the type of police force that you get what you deserve.

I don't think you need this bit ""big business good, small business bad"".
A supermarket petrol price question. - Altea Ego
Absolutely.

You want local? you want independants?

said it before on here will say it again

use them or loose them.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
A supermarket petrol price question. - rustbucket
Ive said it before petrol is priced thus:
charge as much as you can get away with.That means every one in the resale of petrol / diesel rips off joe public.
Its the same with food. clothes you name it thats Great Britain for you.
--
rustbucket (the original)
A supermarket petrol price question. - Altea Ego
Its the same with food. clothes you name it thats Great Britain for you.


Yes? its called profit an free enterprise? Its also what pays taxes to government that pays for your healthcare and funds my pension fund


------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
A supermarket petrol price question. - No FM2R
>That means every one in the resale of petrol / diesel rips off joe public.

You do realise that members of "joe Public" also own shops, petrol stations, restaurants etc. that members of Joe Public sell their time to employers, and you do realsie that this includes you ?

Do you give your emplyer a discount of 10% just because you can ? You don't ? What a "rip-off" worker you are.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Dalglish
... This forum really is degenerating into a "big business good, small business bad" whingefest

>>

did you mean to say it the otherway round "big business bad, small business good" ?

i find the general tone here and in the country at large (specially the media) is "all businesses bad, public sector good" .

as for tvm, he is deafinatly incoragable.

A supermarket petrol price question. - Altea Ego
and big
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
A supermarket petrol price question. - Vin {P}
"did you mean to say it the otherway round "big business bad, small business good" ?"

I was wondering who would spot my deliberate mistake.

As for:

" charge as much as you can get away with.", the pearl from rustbucket.

That should really be rewritten "charge as much as people *will pay*". What on Earth are they meant to do?

To look at it another way, you sell your labour to the organisation that employs you. Do you try to get as much for your labour as they will pay? If so, then you are "ripping off" your employer in the same way you apparently think you're being "ripped off" by business.

V
A supermarket petrol price question. - wotspur
On saturday had to drive upto London then over to Herne Bay and back via Dorking to Weybridge. Of the 100 or so garages I went past at least 90 were doing diesel at 99.9 (including surprisingly Clackett Lane services), a few were at 98.9, and the cheapest was in Hinchley Wood ,Esher and just of the A3 at Hook, at 97.9.
Last week it was cheap on the road between M3 AND M4 ON THE A322.
For your cheapest local garage try www.petrolprices.com
A supermarket petrol price question. - Grenache
We used to have three petrol stations in our town (small market town), a Tesco and two independents. The two independents closed, there was nothing else within 10 miles and Tesco started charging more than other garages around 15 miles away. Following lots of complaints - articles in the paper, and customers filling in a complaints form every time they went into Tesco, Tesco eventually agreed to pin their price to the same as their big store in the big town 15 miles away. So the pressure seems to have worked so far (5 years on)
A supermarket petrol price question. - drbe
For your cheapest local garage try
www.petrolprices.com


Better still, Mr W

www.petrolprices.com will let you choose up to 3 areas - postcodes or towns - and have emails sent to you every weekday showing the 10 cheapest filling stations.

A supermarket petrol price question. - Waino
Trouble is, I'm a bit reluctant to give out my e-address these days. I am already being bombarded with pharmaceutical offers, on-line gambling, unmissable financial deals and offers of lovely Russian ladies who can't wait to meet me.

A supermarket petrol price question. - drbe
I am already being bombarded with pharmaceutical offers,
on-line gambling, unmissable financial deals and offers of lovely Russian ladies
who can't wait to meet me.


Doesn't happen to me, what's your secret?
A supermarket petrol price question. - Waino
Doesn't happen to me, what's your secret?

>>

I wish I knew. I blame SWMBO for giving the address to all and sundry.

...... must admit, the pharmaceuticals, the gambling and the financial stuff does nothing for me. Those Russians look pretty cute though........ ; >) Just don't touch that link!!!


A supermarket petrol price question. - DavidHM
Waino

petrolprices.com is the only site on which I have registered my work e-mail address. (Don't ask me why, I have no idea).

I get precisely ZERO spam from any source at work, unlike most of my colleagues (so it's not all down to spam filtering.)

Since joining last September I think I have had two newsy mails from the site in total; so you really have nothing to lose by registering.

(No connection, obviously, other than as a satisfied customer).
A supermarket petrol price question. - wotspur
every diesel price in my vicinity, Woking, Weybridge, Chertsey, all diesels seem to be 99.9, and the cheapest listed all seem to be Shell or Esso - rarely if ever does it seem to list Tesco or Sainsbury stores,even if they are the same prices, is it truely independant and accurate??
A supermarket petrol price question. - drbe
every diesel price in my vicinity, Woking, Weybridge, Chertsey, all diesels
seem to be 99.9, and the cheapest listed all seem
to be Shell or Esso - rarely if ever does it
seem to list Tesco or Sainsbury stores,even if they are the
same prices, is it truely independant and accurate??


I use www.petrolprices.com quite a lot. It does seem that the nearest 97.9 diesel price to you is in my neck of the woods.

If you are passing Hinchley Wood; Surbiton; Sunbury; Guildford; Leatherhead, they all have diesel at slightly cheaper prices - until tomorrow's price increase of course!

It it independant and accurate? So far as I know - yes. I haven't yet caught it out.

Good luck! and keep hunting
A supermarket petrol price question. - DavidHM
It regularly lists Tesco and Sainsbury for me, along with Asda and Morrisons - but then they're the closest and cheapest to my work postcode.

If they are neither particularly close to you, nor particularly cheap, it has no reason to list them although I bet if you stuck that supermarket's postcode in it would list it as it would then be the closest station - unless it wasn't in the top 5 within the closest possible distance.
A supermarket petrol price question. - FP
95.9p near here in Watford - sickening, isn't it, these regional variations? (Mind you, I'm sure it's on the way up.)
A supermarket petrol price question. - greenhey
In what economists call a "perfect market" drivers would all find out and head for the cheapest fuel.
But that assumes a few things:
- They know about all the options;
- They care
On the latter point, I reckon as probably 40-50% of fuel is bought by company car drivers , so they arent paying it themselves and get taxed on a fixed scale, they probably dont make the effort
A supermarket petrol price question. - Glaikit Wee Scunner {P}
www.petrolprices.com/ gives all the cheapest local garages and supermarkets. Just make sure the distance is set properly. I've got to go up to 15 miles on the site to get below the depressing 98.8 petrol and 99.9 diesel.
Still, off to la belle France on Monday for a few weeks , where I hope the diesel will be considerably more cheaper.
And the wine less expensive.............
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Xileno {P}
Last week I was paying an average of 1.20 euros a litre for diesel.
I brimmed the tank at Calais...
A supermarket petrol price question. - CGNorwich

What i find interesting is actually how price sensitive people are when buying fuel - after all the diference between 97.9 and 99.9 per litre is only 2% or around 80p on a £40 fill. Whilst I totally understand that to a high mileage mileage driver or business 2% is significant to the average motorist it harldly worth the effort to go out of your way to find another supplier yet that difference is enough to form queues at one garage and leave another deserted. When it comes to servicing the car however the majority of motorists don't even ask the hourly rate.

It's also interesting how the 100.00p litre is a psychological barrier which petrol stations are extremely anxious not to be the first to cross.
A supermarket petrol price question. - Imagos
In Southend today and passed a BP garage which was charging 96.9p unleaded. No more than half a mile away another BP garage was selling unleaded at 97.9p.

Ok so this is just 40p more or whatever on a full tank but in my mind it is a blatant rip off.

>>>What i find interesting is actually how price sensitive people are when buying fuel - after all the diference between 97.9 and 99.9 per litre is only 2% or around 80p on a £40 fill.>>

It is the principle my friend.
A supermarket petrol price question. - CGNorwich

So would you drive half a mile to save 1p per litre? - I certainly wouldn't principles or no . However that difference will certainly be having an effect on the dearer garages' sales and it may well be forced to lower its prices to retain business. The interesting thing about free markets like petrol is how quickly competitors react to price changes and how comparitivley little difference there is between the highest and lowest prices