From: utzoo!utcsrgv!dave
Newsgroups: net.misc
Title: Gas prices in Canada
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.987
Posted: Mon Feb  7 21:46:05 1983
Received: Mon Feb  7 22:31:48 1983

There's been a very interesting phenomenon in Toronto gas prices in
recent weeks. Prices start at about 43 cents a litre everywhere. The
expensive places might be 43.8, and the cheap ones 42.5 cents. Then
a price war starts between two nearby stations (for locals: the latest
one started at Yonge & Steeles, and the one before that at Bayview &
Sheppard), and over the course of a couple of days, they lower their
prices by a few cents a litre. Then the media pick up on it, motorists
start flocking there, and the rest of the city starts lowering THEIR
prices to match them. Soon gas stations across the city are down to
about 32 or 33 cents, with the expensive ones at 35 or 37 cents.
(For you U.S. residents, a 10-cents-a-litre drop is about 45 cents an
imperial gallon, or roughly 35 U.S. cents a U.S. gallon.)
	So far, all we have is normal price competition, and
capitalism in action. That's great. But it only lasts for a few days.
	All of a sudden, on the same day, EVERYONE in Toronto goes
back up to 43 cents! It's kind of fun on the day it happens -- you
get to scurry around town, looking to fill up at a station that hasn't
put its price up yet. (Twice I've done that and been told that I beat
the increase by less than half an hour. And on my Malibu, that's
a $5.00+ saving.)
	Now, I would hate to accuse the oil companies of price-fixing,
but how do you explain what's going on? Also, there are quite a few
independent stations around, and they seem to follow the trend too.
And, when stations are putting their prices up, why not go up to, say,
40 cents when everyone else is going to 43?

Dave Sherman
U of Toronto