Flying J in Tampa

[des1954]

A subpoena has been served to Flying J today requesting documentation from their corporate office detailing the purchase price they paid for gasoline prior to raising their rate to $4.59/gallon for regular this past weekend. They, and 3 other major stations, are now under investigation by the Florida Attorney General's Office for price gouging. YaY!!!

 

[des1954]

Well now we know why some gas stations in Florida aren't selling gas. It's not because they don't have it....it's because they don't want to subject themselves to investigation by the Florida SAO! Hmmmmmm......interesting!!

 

[RvUsa]

Go Fl. I think every gas company, NOT STATION should be investigated, and PROSECUTED!!!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Are they going to subpoena the guy that mows the lawn and see what his costs are too ? I thought this was America ?
If I have something you need and I charge you $5 its nobodys business what I paid for it. (except the IRS)

 

[des1954]

I understand where you're coming from Scott, however, there are price gouging laws in Florida and once the SAGO receives complaints, they have to investigate to see if the complaints are warranted. This past Friday, Flying-J, Valero, Dodge's Gas Store, and Pilot Travel Centers raised the price of their fuel on average of $1.00/gal with no justification other than there was a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico headed for Texas. Our Governor issued a warning that he would use the price gouging law to it's fullest extent if any business was caught raising their prices without justification. The subpoenas have been issued to determine if these 4 companies had justification for their increases. The only legal justification, as defined by the law, is if the price they paid for the fuel delivered equaled the price they charged.

One person who was interviewed just after he filled up with regular gas on Friday said the price changed twice while he was filling up! He hadn't even left Flying J's property, and there were no fuel delivery trucks on site - nor had there been any deliveries that day. Can you say: "Caught on film?"

After hurricane Andrew in 1992, business vultures descended on Florida preying on people who were already devestated by the storm and had to take whoever they could get to repair the damages. The action of these vultures is why the price gouging laws were enacted. It also was responsible for contractors in any aspect of the building trade having to be licensed by the State of Florida - and required to produce their licence before pounding the first nail. If someone chooses to hire an unlicenced contractor...they're on their own - but the contracting company's owner could end up paying fines or doing jail time if they get caught fleecing people.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

My understanding of fuel pricing is that they change the price to reflect the replacement cost of what they have in the tanks, so if they have 1000 gallons of fuel and the new price goes from $3 gal to $4 a gallon, they immediately raise it since the fuel they have in the tanks wont pay for the fuel they have to buy next time around.

We are about as far away from TX as you can get and our gas was $3.89 gal BEFORE any of this started. Today it was $4.19 everywhere.

 

[Gatordad]

I think the thing is, is that they were raising on anticipation of the price going up. Don't forget, the price they pay is set a few weeks in advance.

 

[DisneyBishops]

Anyone wanna bet the politicians won't prosecute anyone. All they do is rattle the sabres then do nothing. Then they beat their chests and tells us what they did. But most of us know what they did. NOTHING

Kinda like when Charlie promised lower taxes and lower ins. rates. Anyone heard about either of those lately. Didn't think so.

 

[des1954]

Anyone wanna bet the politicians won't prosecute anyone. All they do is rattle the sabres then do nothing. Then they beat their chests and tells us what they did. But most of us know what they did. NOTHING

Kinda like when Charlie promised lower taxes and lower ins. rates. Anyone heard about either of those lately. Didn't think so.

Actually, YES!! State Farm was just ordered by the Fla SAO to refund an average of $1200.00 per customer for overcharging homeowners for insurance in 2005 & 2006. We have Liberty Mutual for our homeowners and actually received a rate reduction in 2004 after having 3 hurricanes go directly over our house. We had a slight increase in 2006 & nothing since.

The property taxes in Polk County went out of sight in 2006 (almost doubled) and Polk was investigated. The results? Out taxes went down in 2007 & we just received the proposed 2008 taxes, which went down again. Partially due to the increase in homestead, but also due to the fact that the millage rate went down.

 

[homebrew2]

There sure seems to be a lot of opinions on this....however here is what gasoline retailers....the guy you buy it from....were actually looking at 5 days
ago;

Wholesale gasoline prices top $5 a gallon
09.11.08, 4:20 PM ET

United States - (Adds Shell comment in paragraph six)

By Janet McGurty

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wholesale gasoline prices in the U.S. Gulf topped $5 a gallon on Thursday as the region's oil refineries began closing down ahead of Hurricane Ike, adding to fears that U.S. drivers could see pump prices rise again.

Prompt spot gasoline prices in the U.S. Gulf traded at a record $2.50 a gallon over their gasoline futures benchmark, which itself traded as high as $2.83 a gallon in active trade on the NYMEX exchange, putting the price tag on a wholesale gallon of gasoline as high as $5.32 per gallon.

 

[DisneyBishops]

Well I don't have State Farm so no decrease in ins for me. Also i live in Brevard County and my taxes are going up this year. I guess I better move to Polk County.

So if State Farm was ordered to pay. I would like to know when they do that. I am sure it won't be soon.

In case you didn't notice I have no love lost for politicians or ins. companies.

 

[des1954]

Well I don't have State Farm so no decrease in ins for me. Also i live in Brevard County and my taxes are going up this year. I guess I better move to Polk County.

So if State Farm was ordered to pay. I would like to know when they do that. I am sure it won't be soon.

In case you didn't notice I have no love lost for politicians or ins. companies.

HA!!! My take on politicians is not a good one, either. But..."Uncle Charlie" is following thru on some of his promises. Not all, but some.

Here's some info about the State Farm refund from the Sarasota Herald newspaper...

http://www.heraldtribune.com/articl...=State_Farm_is_in_no_rush_to_send_out_rebates

As far as the homeowners taxes....in 2005 our property taxes were $2785. In 2006 our taxes were $5236. We did absolutely no improvements to our home to justify the increase. If you recall, property values in Florida went thru the roof & people were selling & buying property like crazy. The county tax assessor almost tripled the assessed value of our home and most homes in Polk County. When the real estate market went in the toilet, they did not lower the assessed value until "Uncle Charlie" stepped in. In 2007 our taxes settled at $3895 and our proposed taxes for 2008 are $3812.

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

Gas is still selling here for under $3.50. Diesel is just about $4.10

This is what I do if I think the service station is trying to screw me I go some where else and will never buy anything from that station again. For example the Exxon (foreign owned) up the street is was 4.10 a gallon on Friday/Saturday/Sunday while the Exxon (American owned) 1 mile a way stayed less than $3.50.

As far as raising the price to pay for the next tank of fuel that is BS. If the station owner can't afford to be in the business he should get out and not gouge us. Most stations work on credit with the major company's. Fuel is delivered to your station and you have X number of days to pay for it. At my Buddies station he has 10 day or until his next order of fuel to make the payment. He usually has sold enough to pay for the fuel before the bill comes due.

Here is a good web site to check gas prices-just type in your zip code

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=19808

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

here is the Fly-in j prices for florida why is it .38 more in port St. Lucie than it is in St Augustine

Flying J Locations ----------Regular Unleaded

FL St. Lucie (Ft. Pierce)
I-95 Hwy 68 Exit 131 4.079
FL Quincy (Midway)
I-10 Exit 192 3.899
FL Dade City (San Antonio)
I-75 Exit 285 & SR52 3.859
FL Seffner (Tampa)
I-4 & SR 579 Exit 10 3.839
FL St. Augustine
I-95 Hwy 206 Exit 305 3.699

 

[auntie]

We finally had gas down to around $3.69 last week(We're in NY.) Long time since that low. That was on Friday. By Monday..it was $3.85 at Hess..and at Exxon.. regular gas is $4.05. These two stations are right across the street from one another. Today the Hess station was down to $3.75. Yet the Exxon is still at $4.05. Why would anyone go in there.

 

[KingTryton]

Just as an FYI but here in Knoxville local companies are not able to pull all of the fuel that they need from the Colonial Pipe line. This was caused by the disruption from Gus which had the pipeline down for 3 days, then to have a more serious disruption with Ike.

Some retailers are having to "truck" in supplies from out of the area just to have a bit of a supply. It was common to see plastic baggies closing off the pumps at many stations.

Check some of those major dealers sites and you'll see rationing at some stations in GA & AL.

As far as I am concerned FL should look in it's own mirror for not opening up some of the coastal areas for offshore drilling. Heck the foriegn companies will be setting up rigs soon enough in the gulf.