Re: Gas Price-Zone Price
Posted: August 4th, 2022, 7:54 pm
In the San Francisco Bay Area gas is now under $5 again at around $4.95 at Costco.
I didn't think it would go down so soon.
I didn't think it would go down so soon.
Sam's Club and Costco in Reno started pricing gas about .60 below the next closest competitor a few weeks ago. Some competitors have caught up but they are still way below typical price. They are likely losing .40 on every gallon. I am not sure who started this gas price war between these two chains but it is costing them both a lot.
These club stores seem to be having serious traffic issues that they are pricing gas at what seems like below cost.
In my area Sam's Club is actually more competitive with gas pricing when we aren't in a big run up in gas prices. Now that gas prices are coming down, Sam's back to being about 30 cents cheaper a gallon than the oil company stations and 10-15 cents cheaper than the big pumpers like Sheetz and Wawa. When the run up in gas prices was going on Sam's was only averaging about 10 cents difference between them and the cheapest of stations nearby to them. A lot of times I could get cheaper than Sam's by driving to a nearby area to me that isn't so far that you burn up the savings in fuel.storewanderer wrote: ↑August 5th, 2022, 12:39 am Sam's Club and Costco in Reno started pricing gas about .60 below the next closest competitor a few weeks ago. Some competitors have caught up but they are still way below typical price. They are likely losing .40 on every gallon. I am not sure who started this gas price war between these two chains but it is costing them both a lot.
I haven't noticed as much impact on prices in DC and Maryland by Costco. The stations near the DC Costco are a little less than those a mile away but not even close to Costco pricing. Significantly gas is always much cheaper in outer areas like the nearby Woodridge neighborhood (upper Rhode Island Ave) than closer to downtown with occasional exceptions. Up until about 5-6 years ago, gas prices were very much corridor based in DC & Montgomery County---the highest prices were in Potomac, followed by Wisconsin Ave/Rt 355, Connecticut, Georgia and New Hampshire in decreasing order of price with New Hampshire being the cheapest---the pattern roughly reflected incomes in these corridors, although some of the differences become smaller outside the Beltway. Gas tended to be cheaper in Maryland, but there was a long time where there were relative bargains in DC, such as a couple stations in a rather competitive stretch of Connecticut Ave. The rather linear pattern across corridors has somehow fallen apart, although Wisconsin/Rt 355 tends to be the most expensive, even where there are multiple stations in close proximity. Significantly, Costco doesn't sell gas in Wheaton or Gaithersburg (where they have an odd store probably bought from someone else), so their presence hasn't affected anything. They also don't seem to have much impact in Frederick where they do a large gas business. Sam's is in Gaithersburg but doesn't sell gas there.mjhale wrote: ↑August 6th, 2022, 4:30 amIn my area Sam's Club is actually more competitive with gas pricing when we aren't in a big run up in gas prices. Now that gas prices are coming down, Sam's back to being about 30 cents cheaper a gallon than the oil company stations and 10-15 cents cheaper than the big pumpers like Sheetz and Wawa. When the run up in gas prices was going on Sam's was only averaging about 10 cents difference between them and the cheapest of stations nearby to them. A lot of times I could get cheaper than Sam's by driving to a nearby area to me that isn't so far that you burn up the savings in fuel.storewanderer wrote: ↑August 5th, 2022, 12:39 am Sam's Club and Costco in Reno started pricing gas about .60 below the next closest competitor a few weeks ago. Some competitors have caught up but they are still way below typical price. They are likely losing .40 on every gallon. I am not sure who started this gas price war between these two chains but it is costing them both a lot.
Speaking of taking a little drive for fuel, there is a major intersection about 15-20 minutes from me. Sheetz and Costco are on opposite corners of said intersection. Since the run up in gas prices started Sheetz has been pricing their gas at about 5-10 cents over what Costco is at. The net is that this Sheetz ends up on the average 30 or so cents cheaper than the other gas stations within about a five mile radius of them. I've been filling up at this Sheetz now for a good number of months. They get plenty of traffic from this strategy including inside traffic buying snacks and their made to order food products.