On Thu, 8 Sep 2005, Maule Driver wrote:

It's nice if your local supply keeps the price based on what they paid
rather than what they's have to pay to replace it. Our guys are doing
the former and I thanks them.

It's nice that they want to be nice, but if/when the price drops, they're
going to be in big trouble. No one is going to line up to buy the
expensive fuel they bought at the top of the market, and they'll have to
sell it at a loss. Whether the price is rising or falling, the only way
for the seller to come out even is to price according to current
replacement cost. They need to make a little extra money when the price
is rising, because they _will_ lose money when the price drops. The
narrower the profit margin, the more it hurts.

Oddly, the folks who get hopping mad at merchants who won't give them a
deal when prices are rising, are never around begging to pay a higher
price so the merchant doesn't lose his shirt when prices are falling.

-Dan