I was listening to the radio today and they were report the sales and profits of the largest corporations. Walmart had the most sales at over 250 billion dollars. Funny though as we all here about how low the margin is on fuel for the companies and here comes Exxon Mobile making the largest profit out of any company in the entire world at over 50 billion dollars. Hmmmmm

My father used to own a Shell Station and I have to tell ytou the quickest way to lose your shirt is to sell gas. The company (Shell) who you have to buy your fuel from knows exactly what you sold every litre for. If the price goes up across the street he would put his up to match and make an extra .4 of a penny for the rest of his tank (he only made about 3 cents a litre). Well, Shell would know instantly that you put your price and and were making a better margin. So what do they do? Take the margin away with the next load of fuel. Happened every time. If the station across the road lowered their price we would have to lower as well....sometimes we lost money (ie, we were helping people (paying out of our pockets) to put fuel in their vehicles) do you think Shell would help us out? Heck no...they have profit margins to keep. I remember one year in July (usually the best month for fuel sales) we lost $7000 because of the companies price gouging. So in fact we put $7000 worth of gas in peoples cars out of the goodness of our hearts.

The problem with a boycott of a particular company is that it would put a small ma and pa gas station out of business in no time. The only thing they make money on is the cigarettes and the pop and chips. When it came time to renew the contract with Shell we told them to shove it up their ^&^*es. We left and warned anyone else who even considered investing in the station what happened. The station never opened again and it was one of the top stations in Northern Ontario. hehe.

I have no sympathy for large corporations like that and less for OPEC. The only thing that is good about the price of oil is Alberta. And yes, the largest importer of oil to the States is Canada (you are right, it is not well known).

I am not a bitter person....really.... The price of gas in Halifax is 85.9 cents a litre and we refine the stuff right here!!!!!

Gas right now here is $1.63 per gallon for regular. The good stuff is $1.86 per gallon. I would be tempted to drive my Toyota cuz it gets excellent gas mileage but don't want to be smeared on the highway if I wreck. I'd rather be in my bonnie. The yoyo is only a spare vehicle if one of the bonnies is in the shop and we also use it to pull the camper. 3 years ago gas was only 92 cents per gallon.

So what should I do if the only reputable stations around here are Exxon, Shell, BP/Amoco? When did BP & Amoco merge anyways? I usually use Exxon. We have some arab or indian folks that run some of the smaller gas stations and they always have the lower prices but I don't trust their gas and my car always runs poorly if I tried their fuel. I drive 30 miles one way to work everyday so I consume a lot of gas and I have to pay for my sons gas and he drives the same to go to school.

I read a similar post back a couple years while I still lived in Ottawa. It was basically the same thing. I used to fill up at Petro almost exclusively, then a new Sunoco station opened up and I started going there, ( a Petro was on the same corner but across the street).

Now that I live back in Sudbury, the Petro I used to use all the time while living here previously was closed for a couple months for repairs ( new tanks and what not). I stopped going there. I now use Esso pretty much exclusively.

While I am on the road ( I drive 5,000 kms a month, yes 5,000 kms) I was using many different types of gas. Not many Sunoco stations in Northern Ontario. I did use Shell a few times ( supreme) and the car was running pretty damn good. I also used Petro once and a while. Well about a month ago my fuel gauge decided to quit working, it is a 2003 Malibu LS. I did a bit of research and found that Shell and Petro are the 2 main causes for that problem on GM vehicles. So after that I make an extra effort to NOT use Shell or Petro when I fill my car up. If it means driving a bit more to find gas I do.

I know that Esso is another of the big companies but at least it is not Shell or Petro.

On another note, I knew a guy that used to haul gas for just about everyone till just recently. He was saying that you Mr.Gas and smaller names had to be the worst gas out there, and that get this CANADIAN TIRE GAS was the best one out there. It had the most additives in it yet you don't see them advertising it much. He said it was better than any other gas he used to haul. Since I find allot more Esso stations than Canadian tire gas bars I still use Esso.

I find also that once you use one brand of gas stay with it and the car seems to run better than getting different stuff on each fill up.

Here'* a few more little tidbits on this story;

http://www.truthminers.com/truth/gas_out.htm
http://www.manlymanclub.com/hall-of-...in-letters.php
http://www.hoaxinfo.com/gasout.htm
http://www.skittish.org/hoaxes/archives/000976.html

Cheers,