By Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch
While consumers are the public face of the agony that record-high gas prices are wreaking on wallets, smaller, independent gas station owners also are suffering.
And according to one independent owner, the culprit is not only higher gas prices, but the large chain stations that can afford to lose money on gas in exchange for the purchase of things like snacks inside the station.
"People think I'm trying to gouge them, but I just can't stay low like these other guys," said John Fegaras, owner of the BP station at Kieffer Road and U.S. 421. "How can they be making money? I just can't keep up."
Fegaras on Friday looked out of his station at the signs at Speedway and Family Express stations at the same intersection and realized he's charging 15 cents more for a gallon of regular gas than his two competitors.
At 1 p.m. Friday, Fegaras was charging $2.56 at his BP station, while Speedway and Family Express were charging $2.41.
According to an invoice provided by Fegaras, he's paying $2.40 per gallon (including the taxes he must collect) from his supplier, Good Oil Inc. Add approximately 12 cents to each gallon for state sales tax and the cost rises to about $2.52 per gallon.
By charging consumers $2.56, Fegaras is making 4 cents profit on each gallon sold. By charging just $2.41 per gallon, stations like Family Express, Speedway, Meijer and Jewel are losing more than a dime per gallon.
Lisa Zobrowsky, store manager at Meijer, said prices depend on which suppliers stations buy their gas from. She's resigned to losing money on gas to stay competitive and bring customers into the station or into the store.
"It's strictly based on what we're paying," she said. "We check area stations three times a day so if someone else goes up, I can gain a bit. But we have to be in line with others.
"I feel terrible for businesses that are just gas stations. But we're driven by competition and we have to stay up on that."
Sherry Mougros, who manages Fegaras' store, said she makes four or five gas purchases per week from Good Oil. The most recent purchase cost the station more than $20,000, according to invoices.
Mougros canceled a scheduled delivery for late last week and said the next gas delivery to the store likely will come on Sunday.
"It's like the big fish eating the little fish," she said. "We have to go along (with the bigger stations) or they'll kill us. But we just can't do it."
Fegaras said the bigger stations are trying to run smaller businesses out of town, but Zobrowsky said her lower prices are charged simply to stay competitive with the chain stores.
She said prices can rise and fall three times a day.
"I know it's very depressing to drive around. Gas is expensive and everybody needs it," she said. "It's just a matter of who's going to drop first and by how much.
"It changes so often, we can't always keep up. We're always trying to stay a penny lower."
Family Express President and Founder Gus Olympidis was not available for comment on Friday, nor were Speedway executives.
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