Small-time Gas Owners Feel the Pinch

PlusSmall-time Gas Owners Feel the PinchSmall-time Gas Owners Feel the PinchThe Associated PressEven with rising gas prices, some station owners say they are making less money now than before and can't wait for prices to drop, too. (May 23)In Monticello (mahn-tih-SEL'-oh) Florida, this is the place nearly everyone goes to for gas(nat sound)tires(nat sound)and general repairs(nat sound)but if you ask the owner of this B-P filling station at the corner of U-S 90 and U-S 19, times aren't that good even with gas prices as high as they are.SOT Stewart WheelerWe sell gas and most people don't understand, you know selling gas and not making money. The state and federal government are getting more on their tax than we make. We can only make eight or nine cents on a gallon of gas and then if we take a credit card we have to pay on the dollar three percent on the dollar on the credit cards you lose money.Stewart Wheeler owns one of the many mom and pop gas stations that dot the country.His place, though, is more than just a place to fill it up, it's also where people come to meet, share a cup of coffee and talk about, well, high gas prices.SOTMichael McIntoshIt sucks. It's uh crazy.SOTMichael BentleyGas prices are terrible so we just basically just do the stuff here in Jefferson County we don't go too far out of Jefferson county.SOT Annie WickhamThey're price gouging us, is what they're doing. It looks like it's going to keep going on and on and on.SOTIt's going around. It's like my electric meter.Prices are so high that Wheeler can't even display them correctly.You see silver and ultimate grades aren't four and 14 cents a gallon but rather four-oh-four and and four-14 a gallon.His signs just don't go that high.And with prices like that, he says he sees a lot less people coming his way.SOT WheelerIt's just slowing everything down. People don't have the money. They're not doing anything. They're not buying as much gas. Not getting their oil changed when they used to. Not buying tires, only when they have to. Anything they can get by without doing they're not doing it.He says one thing they ARE doing is going to larger, chain gas stations, which he just can't compete with.SOT WheelerA lot of the stations sell the gas cheaper you know to get the people in the store to buy something else. In a small town like this you don't have enough business so you got to make something on everything you do sell so it makes it harder that a way.So, like everyone else Wheeler is hoping for a break in prices so that at the very least he can still come in each morning and unlock his doors. ___ ___, The Associated Press.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• gas
• prices
• small-time
• owners
• feel
• pinch

[behappyyouall]

@behappyyouall i love monticello fl

[BlahBlahMofo]

@behappyyouall i'm sorry...

[beantna]

steal oil from iraq

[damageflow]

I think there should be a ban on suv's myself, they aren't helping matters any by allowing people to own those gas hogs. If they're really concerned about the amount of oil consumption going on they would either find a method to make those vehicles get better gas mileage, or start ordering people to buy a smaller car. I don't see that happening or being addressed, and these hybrids do NOTHING to curb the gas problem. They still use gas, and they are all overhyped

[stealthswimmer]

as well, we're in the middle east, and ever since we been there the price of oil has only gone up.

[m301]

LOOK AT ALL THE SUV'S!!!!

PEOPLE MAKE THE GAS PRICES GO UP BY ABUSING THE SYSTEM!!!

sO COME ON IN WITH YOUR SUV WITH THE DOUBLE GAS TANK!!! THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU GET 10 MPG!!!