Most of you have probably already seen this but people are finally starting to wake up by the look of it.
High petrol prices a rip-off: expert
17:49 AEST Wed Aug 10 2005
AAP
Greedy retailers are to blame for record petrol prices across Victoria, says the state's motoring body.
"Any petrol station charging (almost $1.24) is ripping off motorists because they can't justify that retail margin," RACV government and corporate relations manager David Cumming said.
The price of unleaded petrol hit a record high of almost a $1.24 a litre at many Melbourne service stations, with even higher prices in country areas.
"Basically petrol prices are at a very unacceptable level," Mr Cumming said.
He called on motorists to take a stand against high petrol prices and urged the federal government to remove the GST from the petrol excise it already charges.
This would immediately reduce the price of unleaded petrol by 3.4 cents per litre, he said.
"It's a tax on a tax," Mr Cumming said.
"I've spoken to (Victorian Treasurer) John Brumby and to (Prime Minister) John Howard about it, but without the entire population behind me, getting angry, there's not much more I can do," he said.
"It requires all the states to agree to change the format of the GST but the federal government hasn't even written to all the states to ask what they should do about it.
"They are making a fortune out of the GST but no-one is prepared to make a stand.
"Make a protest. Don't fill up (at service stations with inflated prices)."
Mobil Oil Australia spokesman Alan Bailey said that beyond setting a wholesale price, his company had little to do with the price charged at its service stations, most of which were independently owned.
"Any service station owner has to look at their buy price, what their costs are and what they need to charge to cover their costs, and that is a decision for independent business people to make," he said.
Shell Australia spokeswoman Edwina Pribyl warned motorists to watch price cycles in their region and time their fuel purchases to meet the low in the cycle.
"Obviously we are sympathetic to consumers at this time, when fuel prices are hitting the hip pockets of everyone," Ms Pribyl said.
"It's a cyclical market and... people should watch for the prices to come down."
Mr Cumming said some retailers had dropped their prices slightly but not enough to entice motorists to fill up, Mr Cumming said.
"I would expect it to settle at a lower level, about $1.20 a litre, over the next couple of days, but that's still scaring off a lot of people," he said.
©AAP 2005
ok heres the truth in this one the retailer only makes 5c a litre max they have to make a living out of it and unless its a freehold site of which there arent to many of them left you get told what price you are to sell at by the company. its the distributers and refineries that set the price. yes there is a lot of tax in fuel prices and from memory its like over 50%. but the govt wont reduce it cause its too much money to loose
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” Bill Hicks
the chaos project - click me
barls is right the retailer is bound by oil companies & government.
a perfect example was when i lived in brissie & a petrol station had a sign
out saying petrol 43cents plus tax.
this was a while ago & back then the retailer got about 2 cents a litre
the tax was 43 cents.
they had to take the sign down because it was deceptive advertising.
sucked em in but:thumb
I thought that they are more likely referring to ColesMyers stranglehold on the market... not so much the little guys running standalone businesses. My favourite place is just round the corner from home... they always have the cheapest fuel and they are a home based business, whereas the Shell up the road is caught up in all the Coles discount nonsense and is always... wait for it... 4c more expensive... but if you shop at coles, they'll "discount" that 4cents... hmmm... maths aint my strongpoint but seems dodgy to me.
just a question is this one your talking about a particular company or an independent. cause if its an independent he can pick who he gets his fuel off. noting this cheaper is not always better cause some of the servos that have cheap fuel are getting the cheap and nasty fuel out of indonesia and its not good for your car as its cut with different cheaper solutions like ethanol and metho to reduce the cost of the fuel by the litre. this is another reason to use servos that have the ssaa (service station association of australia) fuel quality assurance sticker on the window with a date in the last 6-8 months.
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” Bill Hicks
the chaos project - click me
yeah this guys reputable.. got all the stickers and no ethanol crap.. just like walking into a big shell servo without the marketing crap everywhere.
cant remember the name of the place though
petrol is cheaper to buy by the litre that bottled water or milk.. so i just buy it🙂
Tagedeezee Heezy
good for him sticking it to the big companies
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” Bill Hicks
the chaos project - click me
I use Optimax + the little leaded bottle stuff = super expensive! $1.24 is nothing. :P
i never normally care bout the petrol prices... but i had to fill up 2 days ago at $1.30... on my pitiful income that completely ruins my week when $45 will barely nudge my fuel guage over halway... normally it fills me up and lasts the whole week.
it doesnt matter how high the petrol goes, people will still buy it. What amazes me is that everyone knows petrol is dearer on thursdays (even though i think most people dont get paid on thursday anymore) but there is still the same amount of people buying it. The 5 caltexs in a 10km radius around me seem to have the same pricing patterns. In the past Monday and Tuesday are the lowest price days although wednesday is now a bit of a low cost day too sometimes. At about 9:30 - 10:00am the price will jump by as much as 12c. It stays there until friday when it will drop a couple, the drop a few over the weekend. I use between 30-40 litres per week and only fill up on tuesdays, every tuesday religiously. If I am held up at the school I can get burned and have to go to the shell which is generally a more stable price but average about the same. A couple of cents dearer than caltex's lowest, couple cheaper than caltex's dearest. While people pay the higher price, it will continue to attract the higher price.
My wife went to uni with a girl whos family ran an independant servo. They actually bought shell petrol cheaper than the shell badged servos. You'd be spewing if you were a shell franchisee.. are servos franchises?
I think cars are taxed the wrong way. It should be like it is in some euro countries where you are taxed depending on the engine size. Or go further and do it on fuel consumption x kms travelled at rego time. That way it would promote driving smaller more efficient cars, which take up less room on the roads, and create less pollution. It would also benefit those who have more than 1 car. Why are we paying double triple quadruple tax when we only use the same road.
For that matter why arent drivers insured, not cars. In total some are paying maybe 4 or 5 times what other people are, and they arent any more of a risk.
nn[ Edited on 10-8-2005 by amazer ]
Chris.... kombi pilot, oval dreamer... finisher #26971 2005 city to surf
they are ether freehold, which means you own the site, or franchises, which means that the company owns the site
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” Bill Hicks
the chaos project - click me
What is really screwin us is the likes of coles and woolworths in thier partnerships with caltex and shell offering discounts at the pumps and charging extra in the supermarket for thier groceries so they are covered. the poor bloke trying earn a quid out of fuel and ciggies bread and drinks etc hasnt got a chance, so look after the little guys cos once they are gone watch out and that does not only apply to fuel. look at the newsagent buys his shop to sell papers and mags and then woolworths waltzes in starts selling papers where does that leave yhe guys that shelled out thier hard earned to buy the newsagency.
proper preparation prevents piss poor performance
Coles and Woolies will push all the independents out the market and as the remaining oil companies love to make money, they'll just sod off overseas, and the little guy with dissapear, leaving Coles and Woolies to charge what they like, as they snap up all the little guys servos for a song.
Then they kick out all the merchandise and replace with their mates stuff, so local suppliers go bust too, or get told what to sell at. It's not just about fuel - it's about real-estate ownership and controlling the wider market though it. Ask anyone that sells to Woolies, like dealing with a King Brown.
The 4c offer will turn into a loyalty program, as they will claim that they can't administer the docet refund system and keep the discount, because it sooo popular and people like it, so customers will need to join their club.
Coles are already 'testing' the idea, and they'll just refine it until they get you.
But it's all good. They just want you to be their bitch.
I like the English system - rego tax based on the emissions and engine and age. Kombi's drive for FREE. $700 of my rego a year would cover the increase in price....
I thought the 'war' was in part about stable oil markets.....so why is it getting more exy...maybe Bush did a 'deal' with Opec - they keen schtum about Iraq and the total control he's not got on oil production there ... and they get to wind up the price ... time to get out the Rage Against the machine tunes....nn[ Edited on 10-8-2005 by crewcabconnection ]
Loves a lolcat
this may be a bit off topic but from what I have read about cars in the UK... with diesel cars the fuel is cheaper and when You buy a new diesel car You get a rebate from the government for doing so.... its also calculated on the fuel consumption too.....
How much is normal unleaded in Queensland - aka Brisbane?
It used to be always much cheaper than NSW....
I used to use High octane petrol when ever I went to Qld on holidays....
Lee
- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---
Thats what coles and safeway are slowly doing in all areas of the goods market. Shell ,caltex etc are no longer intrested in been the service provider thats why they sold there servos to the super markets who in turn lock you in with buying the weeks groceries to get your 4c off fuel. Once all the little guys have sold up /closed there doors you will have no chioce but to buy from them. The only way to do somthing is to vote with your filling up. eg lets say boycot shell ,caltex and just use say BP if every one did this shell and caltex will be forced to put prices down or think more before putting them up, this will then have a knock on effect with BP but this will only work if people stick to buying from BP. Forget about seven eleven for now as when ever I have used the fuel in the past my kombi does not run as smoothly ie they must be running with old stock winter stock for summer driving and summer stock for winter driving etc etc thats why there prices must be lower so its a waste of time trying to make cheap petrol cheaper.
At this rate I wonder how sales of V8's go over the next few years I bet there's going to be a few less 4x4's and SS utes on the roads in five years. I heard that you can run three small engine cars (1.2 etc) a week to what a 4x4 will use in petrol a week.
Bugger as I really want to have a new SS in my drive before they stop makin the beasts
Next time your doin your weeks shopping at safeway or coles add up how much of you wage packet you are giving them with food and fuel every week. Then ask how much are these guys putting back into your local community and i dont mean self filling jobs at Johnny H's minimum wage and new personal bargining agrrement.
Don't get me started on Target, Kmart, Aldi and Big W and cheap imports from china its another masive topic which will effect all of us in the long run.
nIck
recycle, restore, enjoy
yes, coles prices have gone up in the super markets.
But think about this when you pull into the next coles express service station.
Look at the price board and then ad 5 to 7 cents more to it and this is what they are paying for fuel from shell.
Coles express makes about 1% and this would be a good month with the other companies such as BP and mobile selling closer to the buy price.
The price continues to stay competitive to the rest to attract the customer into the site.
Its when you buy something in store is where they make the money.
What makes the prices worse is every one panicing when the media starts to tell everyone to expect a price rise.
This gives the oil companies to green lite for higher prices.nn[ Edited on 10-8-05 by manx_xtc ]
Jasmine the 75 L Bug
56 oval, 2000 New Beetle
Mr Bubble Head wrote:At this rate I wonder how sales of V8's go over the next few years I bet there's going to be a few less 4x4's and SS utes on the roads in five years. I heard that you can run three small engine cars (1.2 etc) a week to what a 4x4 will use in petrol a week.
nIck
there probably wont be much effect at all. If driven correctly they are not really that thirsty on fuel. I used to have an SS commodore with the GenIII V8 it was auto... on the freeway i could get it down to 10Litres/100kms city driving and stop/start etc was about 12Litres/100kms.. so not too bad if you are easy on the right foot.
see.... air and water do mix 😉
1974 1300
1997 MK3 Golf GL
2003 NB Cabrio
2012 Golf VI GTI
2014 Audi A4 Quattro
that's why i'm on gas at the moment with my daily.. $60 for 800kms not bad
OK a few little notes, and some different views (though i may not agree with these views)
1- Coles and Woolies are businesses, they are there to make money and the higher the profit the better. If that means putting smaller operators out of business, they will. The only way they will stop this is if people don't buy their product.
2- What are our fuel prices compared to to the other countries in the world? Comapred to Europe, US, South america?, Asia? in those terms our fuel prices are pretty good, as we really don't have a large oil feild.
3- I am happy to pay higher fuel prices. Driving is a luxury not a rite. I catch the train more. and save on fuel that way. I will still run my car on the track (last week i used 55 L in 250kms of a touring road event) i pay the price.
4- There are alot of things (water) that people have to used to having cheap or at a cost much lower than what it really costs. because of this when prices come to a point in which they are reflecting teh true cost of the impacts of the product, people start to complain.
I have no sympathy for my car, only the wallet that pays for it!
Go hard or go home!!!!
in most parts of the US they will pay about 125c per 4 litres.. so about what we pay per litre. Some parts of the US at the moment are a bit more like 150c for 4 litres.. converted from gallons etc that's how much it works out to be.
i agree with bix... driving is a luxury, not a rite. in a few years time when the oil starts to really run dry people will realise this, think about how much you will be spending on fuel in 10 years time!
i do wish that the government would spend the taxes it gains from fuel on planning/researching and creating a suitable transport infrastructure for when the fuel does run out... more busses, more trains, better bikeways and make all these alot more accessable to everyone.
of course, using the tax from fuel to do these things means they cant go huge holidays every month so i guess we will just have to be p*ssed off a little longer.
in the beginning, the universe was created.
this made alot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move.
I've gotta say its refreshing for me (A maintenance engineer at a BP Oil Refinery) to see a fuel prices discussion that is actually pretty well educated and not full of urban myths and bullshit !!!
Keep it up guys !
My wife stopped at Shell to get petrol yesterday and wondered why the console operator wouldnt activate the pump. Then the hooded bandit ran from the shop. She had to lock my daughter in the car and go see if the operator was OK.
I love living around here. its great. not. I guess the shell will be a little dearer for a while.
Chris.... kombi pilot, oval dreamer... finisher #26971 2005 city to surf
Bandits in Wolongong! my god, they must have been on a holiday and needed to money to get back to Mt Druitt.
Rob...
Boxer Power
Member of DMLRK.....Die Mittler Lebuns Resto Komeradschaft
