I stumbled across this random photo I took back on April 3rd and got to thinking. At that point, I really thought gas was climbing at a ridiculous rate. And, as we all know, since then, at least here in California, it has gone up to at least $4.50 for Regular, and up to and even over $5 a gallon for Premium. Now, this got me to thinking, what other industry is there where prices can be raised so much, and none of the oil companies even offer any sort of explanation, or even communication on why things happen. Beyond that, I don't think anyone even notices that NONE of the big oil companies advertise beyond their stations, or even offer anything beyond basic services to give the customer a good user experience.
Could you imagine a gas station that was actually pleasant to go into? Or a frequent buyer program? Gas is one of the top 3 things that people spend money on, yet no one makes any sort of effort to make it a good experience so at least we feel like we are not getting ripped off when they raise prices over 15% in 30 days. I would even venture to guess that some people would have paid the current gas prices happily if there was some thought out into why they were being raised and there was some value added to the experience. That is the reason that people pay almost $4 for Starbucks when they can essentially get the same thing at a gas station for under $1.
I find it pretty intriguing that retailers of the most widely traded and competitive commodites on earth (oil is first, coffee is second) have chosen to take such different paths, with one being revered as new age capitalists with a conscience (i.e. Starbuck's) and the other the equivalent to a crack dealer (i.e. people are hooked, let's make them pay for it.) It would be nice to see someone try something different. Hopefully the same thing happens here that happened in the music industry, people got tired of being gouged and found a way around it. My next car will at least be a hybrid if not better.
