Jeff Lenard
Jeff Lenard
absorb afford anymore dramatic gas hurt increase losses retailers rita stations temporary
There was an increase in thefts immediately, especially with the dramatic increase of prices. After Katrina, there were so many retailers that couldn't absorb losses anymore ... so they went to prepay. They couldn't afford that one drive-off a day that would hurt their gas profits. And with Rita ... we will see more stations go pre-pay, if nothing else, as a temporary solution.
add california environmental obstacles retailers selling stringent
California retailers have a whole lot of obstacles to selling gasoline. You have stringent environmental regulations that add to it.
beef huge
This is a huge beef for consumers; it's a huge beef for the retailers.
bearing brunt consumer hit stressed
It's a significant hit to a very stressed system, and we're bearing the brunt of consumer frustration,
bottle coffee cup figuring gallon selling stores water
Stores are figuring out you make more selling a 12-oz. cup of coffee or a 12-oz. bottle of water than you can selling a gallon of gas.
gallon gas percent
When gas is $3 a gallon the retailer is responsible for about 4 percent of the cost, but they are getting 100 percent of the abuse.
almost felt increases wholesale
We're in hyperdrive. These wholesale increases are going to be felt almost immediately.
pay people seeing trusted uncharted
We're in uncharted territory. We're seeing more people going to prepay than ever before. I think we'll look back on 2005 and say 'Remember when we used to be trusted to pay for our gas?