Jay Honeck wrote:



But it's an inevitable and utterly predictable result of our government's
ill-thought-out destruction of independently owned gas stations in the 1980s
and '90s. All we have left now are the big company stations, controlled by
a relatively small number of owners -- so it's easy for them to control
pricing.

That's BS. Here in Montana we had regulated gas prices until about 5
years ago. Every link in the chain was required to sell it for at least
8% more than he bought it for. The reasoning was to protect the little
guy. Screw the little guy. If you can't make a profit then go do
something else. As soon as we got rid of that stupid law gas prices
fell because everyone could set their own price. To say the big guys
come in and force the price up is a red herring. Today the most
expensive gas is always the mom and pop shop. Here the cheapest gas is
at Costco, one of the larger companies. Next cheapest is the medium
sized stations with convenience stores, like Super America. They use
their cheap gas to get you in the store to buy overpriced dairy products
and donuts. Then comes mom and pop, bitching about the damn corporations