62chevy wrote:Soapm wrote:You sure the savings would be passed on to the consumers? Modern day prices appear to be set at what the consumer will pay and has nothing to do with actual cost. Actual cost determines the size of the executive bonuses since they skim off the top before the stock holders get a dividend. And because they get to vote on the size of their bonus so why not 1000% of their base pay???
As long as there is competition prices will stay low. But you are right about selling for what the consumer will pay.
Whenever I think of the word competition it makes me think of Walmart. I can name a slew of department stores that have fallen away during the rise of Wally World. My fear is they will have a monopoly once all the competition is squeezed out which means they can charge anything they want. One saving grace is not every one (me for one) will buy their cheap foreign made junk. Food is food but their shirts last about two washings and many of their other goods, well, lets say you get what you pay for.
But back to gas, we have two types of stations by me. We have the named brand stations not afraid to raise their price since they have a loyal following that believe their product is superior and will buy just because of the name then down the street we have the no name station that charges a penny or two less for those of us who shop price. I also observed the same tanker filling the tanks at both stations.
Competition driving price is a moving target these days since consumers seem to be divided by cheap or quality and the two markets co-exist each with their own loyal customer base. Then you have a guy like me, if you have the nerve to call it gas I'll fill my tank but I want a shirt to last me a long time.
When I lived in Michigan there was a store called Meijer's, they had an ad that show how they test shirts and pants by putting them through extreme washing before putting them shelves. Cost was a bit more than WalMarts but worth it. Here in West Virgina we only have WalMarts, Target and Kmart and they are all about the same.
