> what i have dificulty in understanding is the broad spread in pricing
No kidding! Pricing seems to be VERY arbitrary. Here in Leesburg, VA there
is a cluster of stations near my house - Exxon, Mobil, and Sheets. They are
usually pretty close in pricing, with Sheets being something of a lesser
brand and cheaper, but the gas seems fine (unlike the crap I got a while
back at Costco - way cheap, but my '92 Dodge Caravan didn't run worth a hoot
on that stuff and the mileage plummeted!) But there is a lone Shell station
just on the other side of town that is usually about 0.10 (or more) higher
that these others. All within town limits, so taxes all the same. Guess they
figure with no competition within eyesight that people don't think about
driving to the other side of town to get gas. And it's a small town - maybe
5 min or so to get to the other stations. I freqently travel from Leesburg
(which is about 35 miles W of DC) to Glade Spring, VA (way down in the SW
tip of the state, about 30 miles NE of the TN line) and the variation from
one end to the other is surprising. And I can't really make any associations
between the prices and anything else, other than stations within eyesight of
each other are usually about the same price, and generally lower than lone
stations with no nearby competition.
Eddie
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