[Hubbert2005]

Just next door in Nova Scotia we instituted regulation about 2 weeks ago. As expected prices didn't drop, they went up on the first saturday by about 6 cents per litre to $1.149.

The interesting part was that EVERY single time that I saw it mentioned in the media it was stated that prices would not come down with regulation yet there were still people who were shocked that the price went up.

[rogerhb]

This is also the same solution as applied in Zimbabwe, however that wasn't on fuel, that was on bread!

[wisconsin_cur]

Some stations are choosing to not sell gas to their customers.

Running on empty

[eric_b]

Yup. Attrition at work.

Here's another link from the same area - I see you live in wi. also.

"Some Wisconsin Stations Stop Selling Gas"
http://www.channel3000.com/money/13383520/detail.html

[What_Went_Wrong]

Yet another sign of the economic bottleneck we are all facing. Expect to see a lot more of this over the next few months.

[Windmills]

I wonder if we'll see retailers of different kinds try to get rid of credit card sales in the future and only accept payments in cash, a bit of a reversal of past trends. There are a lot of middlemen that need to get stripped from the market.

[strider3700]

cash sales get a discount on many things around here. It wouldn't shock me if gas becomes one of them.

[I_Like_Plants]

Wonderful examples of our system eating itself, we'll see many more!

I always pay cash for gas. When I moved here my credit cards would not work for gas, so I fell out of the habit of using them for gas at all.

[frankthetank]

Kwik Trip (gas station chain in the upper midwest) has recently built a huge facility to make their own bread/sandwiches/etc here in La Crosse.

[Gerben]

In the Netherlands we have a different type of payment system that costs a shop owner about $ 0.30 for each transaction. That's a lot cheaper than 2.75% when gas is expensive. Credit cards are not used a lot here and are not always accepted (or you will be charged extra for using one). There is also a debit card system that is used for small transactions (<$30). This costs a shop owner about $0.135 for each transaction. I prefer to use cash though.

[Sheb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('strider3700', 'c')ash sales get a discount on many things around here. It wouldn't shock me if gas becomes one of them.

[cube]

I think this is more of a problem of "over-capacity" and not necessarily energy related.

IMHO there is an extreme over-capacity of retail. There are too many:
1) restaurants
2) gas stations
3) clothing stores
4) just about everything across the board.

Near my house there's a major street with 5 gas stations. IMHO 2 of the stations can shut down and there would still be enough gas stations left to serve all the motorists.

I think the root of the problem is excess liquidity. Thanks to the Feds, running the "printing press" fast and furious there's to many dollars chasing too few worthwhile investments. Money never sits under people's bed mattresses....it always finds a home somewhere:
1) stock market
2) housing market
3) business expansions.

Credit is cheap so what do people do? Pull out a loan and open up their own business. What happens when credit is super cheap? People pull out even bigger loans to "invest" in businesses with smaller profit margins.

BTW there's another gas station under construction near my house.

[Windmills]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gerben', 'I')n the Netherlands...Credit cards are not used a lot here and are not always accepted (or you will be charged extra for using one). There is also a debit card system that is used for small transactions (<$30). This costs a shop owner about $0.135 for each transaction. I prefer to use cash though.

[frankthetank]

Cube-

Not recently, but awhile back it seemed that banks were being built/remodeled right and left. I was always commenting why we needed another bank. Those cash advance places are everywhere too. Someday there will be a shake out and a lot of the little guys and some of the big guys are going to close up shop.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Windmills', 'I') wonder if we'll see retailers of different kinds try to get rid of credit card sales in the future and only accept payments in cash, a bit of a reversal of past trends. There are a lot of middlemen that need to get stripped from the market.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Windmills', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gerben', 'I')n the Netherlands...Credit cards are not used a lot here and are not always accepted (or you will be charged extra for using one). There is also a debit card system that is used for small transactions (<$30). This costs a shop owner about $0.135 for each transaction. I prefer to use cash though.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', 'I') think this is more of a problem of "over-capacity" and not necessarily energy related.

IMHO there is an extreme over-capacity of retail. There are too many:
1) restaurants
2) gas stations
3) clothing stores
4) just about everything across the board.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '1')) restaurants
2) gas stations
3) clothing stores

[advancedatheist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', ' ')
Damnit, yeah! There are just too damn many business owners and too many damn jobs. Get rid of some of those businesses and jobs and things would be a lot better.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('advancedatheist', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', ' ')
Damnit, yeah! There are just too damn many business owners and too many damn jobs. Get rid of some of those businesses and jobs and things would be a lot better.