Look at this list for I-81 in Virginia, exit numbers 150 and 213. You see how diesel is .08 higher at exit #150?
Pilot Travel Centers LLC - Complete Pricing List
150 is just outside the "big city" of Roanoke, and that Pilot fuel stop is right across the street from a T/A (full service truckstop with restaurant...well, what some people call a restaurant...ugh!, etc). I happen to know that the fuel depot for that area, (where ALL the gas comes out of one pipe, regardless the brand name label at the pump), the trucks get on the interstate at exit #150. In other words, they're hauling it 63 miles up the road and charging LESS money for it? Why? Because T/A is one of the old overpriced dinosaurs and Pilot is going to take advantage of the ride by being closer to their high price. They're also benefitting from the traffic of company drivers who will stop there to eat, and won't pull off the road again in 63 miles. They'll just pay the extra 8 cents, or their companies will.
I'm sure that some of you would have the government step in and do what? Make them both lower their prices at exit 150?
What people consider to be a monopoly usually depends on whether they think they're benefitting from a company's size or being hurt by it. People complain about Walmart, but Walmart wouldn't be where it is without customers. Like Bruce Williams likes to occasionally say, "The American consumer is about as loyal as an alley cat in heat!"
I love the way they yell about petro companies making "record profits." Well, ya know? Population grows every year and inflation has a long term average of around 4%. If you only maintained your market share in whatever industry you're in, you should make "record profits" every year, or at least in the average long term. If you made what you did last year, you lost 4%. If you made 4% more, you broke even.
