Do Gas Station Owners Get Rich from the Surge in Gas Prices?

Many gas consumers are under the impression that everyone related to the gas industry, must be getting rich from the huge surge in gas prices. Annual reports from some of the big gas producers show astronomical profits. How do these gas prices affect the individual gas station owners? Who is getting rich?

In my AC Article "Yes Mr Bush, I Agree We Aren't in a Recession", AC's content producer, Aly Adair, left a comment that planted the seeds for this interview. She said," Why do we rent? Because we lost our business and home when our gasoline distributor filed bankruptcy. Did the government or our Mortgage lender offer to bail us out? NO! "

Aly, how long did you own the gas station? Was this a family run business?

My husband and I owned a small, neighbourhood convenience store/gas station for six years. We leased a portion of our property to a major gasoline distributor that owned/operated the gasoline business and paid us a commission on the gasoline sales.

How large a population is the city your gas station was situated in?

The rural city itself had a population of around 7,000 people. However, our location drew traffic from a much larger tourism demographic because we were located within one mile of 3 popular golf courses, two popular State parks, and a major highway connecting Austin, Texas with Houston, Texas. We were also at the entrance of a growing subdivision, so we got a lot of commercial diesel fuel business from Austin-based construction companies, utility company fleet vehicles, and out-of-town realtors.

Were other gas station owners in your area forced out of business too?

Yes. In our rural area, several of the convenience stores were family owned. Our gasoline distributor had leases with around 350 stores across 14 states. Many of the small business owners who used this gasoline distributor were either forced to sell or shut down the retail gasoline operation at their store.

Where you and your family making a decent living from this venture? Were you raking in huge personal profits from you business like many people believe?