Kings Mountain, NC was

$3.50 a gallon 5 pm last night.

Same station, $4.59 a gallon now.

The hurricane has not even made landfall yet! What is up with that?

WOW!!! I hope you filled up last night.

I paid $3.67 @ Chevron this morning at 7:30.

3.38-3.50 depending on where you find it this morning.

They said this morning on the radio that WHOLESALE gas, is now at 5.00 per gallon.  So expect it to jump bad. and probably soon.

I have not heard a word about that here in the Houston area and I have had my TV on for three days. I hope it is a regional thing. If so, keep it over there. Good luck.

I would report that gas station for price gouging.

About $3.39, same as it's been................

-Ike

Well I got out for lunch. In Gastonia , NC the Citgo stations are holding at $3.59 a gallon. All the other stations are up to $3.79. So thankfully, we are nowhere near what Kings Mountain is at. Something fishy over there.

I would report that gas station for price gouging.

Then that place should be shut down and the owner to never be able to own another business.That's how i feel about gouging prices.

I need to fill up,i plan to do some heavy fall fishing in rain tomorrow...something i haven't done yet this year,fish in the rain.

I paid 1.69 on post today that is up almost 15 cents...

AL

After I filled up for $3.65 last night, it is now $3.99 in Boone, NC. I have heard reports of $4.99 in Gibsonville, NC, and even heard of places in SC running out.

I would report that gas station for price gouging.

What is 'price gouging'?

I would report that gas station for price gouging.

What is 'price gouging'?

Price gouging is a pejorative term for a seller pricing much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.  In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a felony that applies in some of the United States only during civil emergencies.  In less precise usage, it can refer either to prices obtained by practices inconsistent with a competitive free market, or to windfall profits.  Non-pejorative uses are generally in reaction to what the writer believes is an unjustified restraint on the market.

I just posted this on the "Oil prices plunge" thread, but I just saw $5.12 today in Eufaula, Alabama and alot of places down here are out of regular and mid grade.

I would report that gas station for price gouging.

What is 'price gouging'?

Price gouging is a pejorative term for a seller pricing much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. In precise, legal usage, it is the name of a felony that applies in some of the United States only during civil emergencies. In less precise usage, it can refer either to prices obtained by practices inconsistent with a competitive free market, or to windfall profits. Non-pejorative uses are generally in reaction to what the writer believes is an unjustified restraint on the market.

Reasonable and fair are two terms that are incompatible with capitalism.

Unless a gas station owner is holding you at gunpoint and forcing you to buy gas, you can't cry 'price gouging'.

Say you sell widgets.  Normally, the demand isn't that high.  Then a flood passes through and widgets are in high demand due to their being useful for powering your frammistan.

Now, would you expect a retailer to sell those now-scarce widgets for his normal price?  Of course not.  Retailer XYZ doesn't know when he will be able to get another shipment of widgets.  

Not being able to let the market set prices is a great way to create shortages.

Burley 99.9% of time I agree with the exact concept you put up in your last post.

The .1% though where anti-gouging laws usually take effect though is where you are in Galveston, you got a major hurricane coming. You have all these folks who need to rapidly get out of town. You have a resource like gasoline that everyone needs to get out. Then you have a station who charges $20 a gallon for gas. Not because he has paid anything near that or because his supply is low. it is because in this limited scenario he does just about have a gun to the head of the consumer.

To your point though, you do usually have to combine limits on prices with rationing (say no more than 10 gallons per customer) because this concept is as you say opposite to to supply and demand. It is really a temporary override of the normal system for the greater good. Though in NC, we have plenty of alternatives to the guys who placed the prices so high and no massive hurricane to escape so I would not apply our situation to gouging.

Burley,

I agree with you, I was just giving you the definition that you asked for.

Burley 99.9% of time I agree with the exact concept you put up in your last post.

The .1% though where anti-gouging laws usually take effect though is where you are in Galveston, you got a major hurricane coming. You have all these folks who need to rapidly get out of town. You have a resource like gasoline that everyone needs to get out. Then you have a station who charges $20 a gallon for gas. Not because he has paid anything near that or because his supply is low. it is because in this limited scenario he does just about have a gun to the head of the consumer.

'Gouging' simply doesn't exist.

I've got to agree with Burley on this.  This is how captalism works.  I don't like high gas prices as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to get mad at people for making money.

   Like I said, 99.9% of the time I would hold to this. But I think there are those .1% of special cases when public safety override the laws of capitalism. Such as in times of war (i.e. WWII rationing), or natural disasters.

   

  I do not think such exceptions should be made lightly however. Face it, capitalism, works.

 To go back to current prices. Gastonia now has prices all over the place. Citgo stations are all $3.59 a gallon still while others are $3.79 - +$4. Seems like a wide range and I have no idea why Citgo stations are so low still. Though a lot of stations in this immediate area are now running out of gas.

  Now that all the news stations in this area are reporting high prices and sporadic shortages, I expect it to get worse throughout the weekend. Never been so proud of my boats 3 gal tank and how little of it it uses, in my life. I will probably have the entire lake to myself this weekend. WooHoo!!!

In the scenario where a gas station charges $20 just because they can, there is a simple solution. When things get back to "normal" don't buy gas from them. Go somewhere else. That's the other side to capitalism. And that's the side of capitalism that keeps business owners from "price gouging" more often.

Gas at my station went from 3.50 at noon to 3.67 at 2:15 today here in Houston.

$5.35 in Yadkinville, NC.

$5.35!!! Are you kidding me!? Is that just at one store or are there a lot around that range? Sorry, yadkinville, NC is starting to get closer to home.

3.45 in Trumann

4.29 in Jonesboro