You know, we've seen this sort of thing happen before. Massive price hikes that we have to sustain and eventually get used to, then when the price comes down by what seems like a lot (but still a huge increase from where it started) we are happy.
Price of diesel in your area?
- Thread starter Captain Mainwaring
- Start date
Is VAT included at that price?
Yes. vat inc
wow, we have an independent petrol station and we cannot even buy it at that price never mind retail it
I just did my maths, and I was 1p out
YOUR REGULAR FUEL PRICE
From 12/12/2022 to 18/12/2022 your BP Bunker fuel card Diesel price is 126.73ppl excluding VAT
We have a delivery coming tomorrow £170.3 we sell at 177.9 it is premium diesel, I wouldn't call that ripping people off.
Maybe we can do a deal ?
Its sounds like you are being ripped off too.
I don't either, but I do recognise that every petrol station has costs, labour, business rates etc and I guess their insurance is eye wateringly expensive. I don't think 7p a litre is profiteering, look at the mark up on most other goods.
Depends on the amount you sell. Before pandemic petrol station were making 3-4 pence per LT. Sell 5 million per year makes 350k at 7p. Enough to underpay 3-4 people at the counter, pay bills and insurance. Not surprised if that same petrol station makes 130/150k profit per year. Double than it was before pandemic.
So i think 7 is profiteering otherwise the would charge more..
Larger companies need to make more money because they have more costs than a small station run by family business.
So i think 7 is profiteering otherwise the would charge more..
Larger companies need to make more money because they have more costs than a small station run by family business.
Is that diseconomies of scale then?
Am I understanding you correctly - based on back-of-the-fag-packet calculations of the overheads involved, you've conclude a gross margin of 7p per litre is profiteering, and justify your conclusion based on the logic that, if a 7p margin wasn't profiteering, the margin applied would be even higher?
Please tell me I've misunderstood what you're saying, as that is some twisted logic.
it doesn’t sound logic because many passages are missing but you understood well 
I am business consultant and had 2 petrol station clients, one with 17 pumps one with 2 pumps family business. Pre pandemic and post pandemic the model has changed quite a lot: before it took 3 weeks to the small business family to cover costs, bills and maintenance. Last week it’s profit (including the shop). Less overhead for the family run business, 8 people working, 6 members of the family. 156k profit before tax.
Same business today with 10 members of staff, double electricity bill, it takes 2 weeks and half to pay Their bills. Expected profit before tax 205k.
Different story for the 17 pumps business.
When I took the challenge to make it profitable they were losing 40k per year.
In 2019 they made 260k profit, 2022 they will close around 1.3 million. Despite the fact they pay fuel a lot less than the small business, the larger company is more expensive to run and bigger margin per LT means less profit at the end of the year. recently I have seen them charging 15P per LT. To the 17 pumps business it takes 3 weeks an half to pay bills and maintenence, profit is made the last 4-5 days of the month. however the profit will be more interesting because they have more income from more pumps.
Sure it’s not like this for all the fuel stations in the Uk. This is one example though.
I am business consultant and had 2 petrol station clients, one with 17 pumps one with 2 pumps family business. Pre pandemic and post pandemic the model has changed quite a lot: before it took 3 weeks to the small business family to cover costs, bills and maintenance. Last week it’s profit (including the shop). Less overhead for the family run business, 8 people working, 6 members of the family. 156k profit before tax.
Same business today with 10 members of staff, double electricity bill, it takes 2 weeks and half to pay Their bills. Expected profit before tax 205k.
Different story for the 17 pumps business.
When I took the challenge to make it profitable they were losing 40k per year.
In 2019 they made 260k profit, 2022 they will close around 1.3 million. Despite the fact they pay fuel a lot less than the small business, the larger company is more expensive to run and bigger margin per LT means less profit at the end of the year. recently I have seen them charging 15P per LT. To the 17 pumps business it takes 3 weeks an half to pay bills and maintenence, profit is made the last 4-5 days of the month. however the profit will be more interesting because they have more income from more pumps.
Sure it’s not like this for all the fuel stations in the Uk. This is one example though.
Okay, you've got insight into the business and the potential overheads - that wasn't evident from your initial post, but gives your numbers more credibility than I supposed. Talk me through your logic though that says "if a 7p/ltr margin wasn't profiteering, then the margin applied would be even higher". Superficially at least, that seems to be the same logic as a juror presuming the guilt of anyone pleading not guilty!?it doesn’t sound logic because many passages are missing but you understood well
I am business consultant and had 2 petrol station clients, one with 17 pumps one with 2 pumps family business. Pre pandemic and post pandemic the model has changed quite a lot: before it took 3 weeks to the small business family to cover costs, bills and maintenance. Last week it’s profit (including the shop). Less overhead for the family run business, 8 people working, 6 members of the family. 156k profit before tax.
Same business today with 10 members of staff, double electricity bill, it takes 2 weeks and half to pay Their bills. Expected profit before tax 205k.
Different story for the 17 pumps business.
When I took the challenge to make it profitable they were losing 40k per year.
In 2019 they made 260k profit, 2022 they will close around 1.3 million. Despite the fact they pay fuel a lot less than the small business, the larger company is more expensive to run and bigger margin per LT means less profit at the end of the year. recently I have seen them charging 15P per LT. To the 17 pumps business it takes 3 weeks an half to pay bills and maintenence, profit is made the last 4-5 days of the month. however the profit will be more interesting because they have more income from more pumps.
Sure it’s not like this for all the fuel stations in the Uk. This is one example though.
It sounds not logic I agree. Some goods can be increased in price without clients protesting too much…look at the extra charge on T6.1 ordered more than a year ago and not delivered yet. The market is driven by many feelings, mostly it’s people weakness making business rich. Not the price, not the quality of the product. Both petrol stations I have worked for were not charging enough to make profit. After thoroughly looking into the business the answer was increasing the margin, reducing costs. It did work.
We started with a questionnaire to clients of any age coming to refill their cars and it’s shocking going through their answers. 10% didn’t even notice the difference in price, they just read the info on the papers about it.
30% refill the car 50 pounds when the tank is empty. 20% refill the car at this pump because it’s the closest to their home.
We started with a questionnaire to clients of any age coming to refill their cars and it’s shocking going through their answers. 10% didn’t even notice the difference in price, they just read the info on the papers about it.
30% refill the car 50 pounds when the tank is empty. 20% refill the car at this pump because it’s the closest to their home.
It's good to have some information from @Crazymind who has more business knowledge of the petrol station sector than most, however, I return to my original point - most outlets are paying something like £1.60 ish for a product and marking it up by something like 7 pence when selling it on to us. In my eyes that can't be called greedy.
There is clearly a great deal of profiteering going on somewhere in the chain but there are other players involved. The two petrol stations I've mentioned in this thread which consistently sell at 10p / litre cheaper than the leading supermarket chains are both "Essar" outlets. If they can sell it at that price I'd suggest that the bigger suppliers could too. To be clear, I'm accusing the wholesalers not the retailers.
There is clearly a great deal of profiteering going on somewhere in the chain but there are other players involved. The two petrol stations I've mentioned in this thread which consistently sell at 10p / litre cheaper than the leading supermarket chains are both "Essar" outlets. If they can sell it at that price I'd suggest that the bigger suppliers could too. To be clear, I'm accusing the wholesalers not the retailers.
With BP recording record level profits and the prices near enough at record levels, someone surely is clearly cashing in, my money is on the wholesalers or suppliers. I would be good to know how many wholesalers there really are? do they have a monopoly or have they just all agreed to increase their prices knowing people don't have a choice but to pay it.
Maybe cynical of me I know, but in a day and age where we are constantly being told that prices for everything are going up it makes you wonder how many products are increasing to cover COVID losses or with profiteering as they know we the public willingly accept increased costs as we have been conditioned to do so. rant over sorry
Maybe cynical of me I know, but in a day and age where we are constantly being told that prices for everything are going up it makes you wonder how many products are increasing to cover COVID losses or with profiteering as they know we the public willingly accept increased costs as we have been conditioned to do so. rant over sorry