Wholesalers taking advantage of gas consumers

Published 11:26 pm Saturday, October 18, 2008

My son in Cincinnati told me recently that he was paying $2.75 a gallon for gasoline. A friend told me two days ago that he paid $2.65 in Elkview, W.Va.

Here we are still paying a whopping $3.18 a gallon. Why?

Is it easier to get gas to Cincinnati than to get it to the river from marathon refineries? I think not. Is there a greater division of overhead in Elkview, W.Va.? Hardly believable.

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The obvious conclusion is that the wholesalers of gasoline in our area are taking advantage of us, is it not?

If I am wrong, please explain this to me. Right now, if a person uses 20 gallons of gas per week, he or she is paying $63.60 out of a week’s pay (at the average job salary for the area of $10 an hour that is over 20 percent of take home pay). If a person in Cincinnati is using 20 gallons of gas a week, they are paying $56 per week (18 percent of take home pay for a $10/hour job).

That is only $7.60 a week difference, but over a month it is more than $50. More than a year it is $600. Now think about people who have to travel 45 minutes or an hour to work and use 40 to 50 gallons of gas per week.

We need help. Someone is stealing our money, and we don’t have to take it.

There is something not right about this.

JEFF WILLIAMS

Kitts Hill