[Poll] Petrol Price Cycles or Price Gouging?

bigbadboogieman on 13/03/2018 - 10:27
Last edited 13/03/2018 - 10:34

Recently I have been noticing a trend that Fuel companies tend to price jack near public or school holidays (start and end). I get the "official" price-cycle justification and what not but at times I seriously think we as consumers are being exploited by Fuel companies.

Just today 3 of the big retailers near my location were selling ULP91 for 149.9c/l while a smaller player was still selling the for 122.9c/l. The smaller one would most likely also change the price in a couple of days.

I noticed a similar hike just before Christmas, then just before back to school after Christmas, then just before Chinese New Year and now before Easter and if this trend is correct, there will be another price hike just before end of school holidays in April.

Was discussing this with a senior colleague and he lost it completely and started cursing the fuel companies.. I think he was angry because he missed his chance to refuel before the hike.

I have started a poll.

Poll Options

  • 1
    Meh.. Electric car
  • 3
    I don't care I take public transport
  • 11
    Cycles representative of supply and demand
  • 64
    Hating the Ripoff Price Gouging
Automotive

Comments

  • pegaxs on 13/03/2018 - 10:50
    +2

    You forgot the “diesel; what price cycles??”

    Simple, don’t buy at the expensive times, fill up before public holidays, use apps to find the best prices in the area.

    • bigbadboogieman on 13/03/2018 - 11:06

      Just sharing my experience… I filled up last Wednesday guessing that Easter was 3 weeks away thinking will fill up again next week (Wednesday) as it would still be 2 weeks to Easter thinking prices would still be normal. Guess what, barely made it to the station yesterday and filled up minutes before they hiked the price by 30c/l.

      • retiredfeline on 13/03/2018 - 11:08
        +2

        Get the Fuelcheck app and look at the curve. It's not hard to see a rise coming up.

    • Kiwibigspender on 14/03/2018 - 12:02

      where are you located ?

      We commute between Brisbane & Sunshine Coast twice a week.

      Brisbane is ALWAYS far more expensive than Sunshine Coast.

      Average around Brisbane last week was around $1.49, but at Puma at Glass House Mts just south of OZ zoo on Steve Irwin way, they were $1.29 with 4 cents off that for racq members.

      Almost always 20-25 cents a litre cheaper at Puma Glass House. Guess rent there is much less than in the city & they are open 24 hours.

      Also around Costco at North Lakes, servos tend to be cheaper to compete with Costco members pricing.

  • toniyellow on 13/03/2018 - 10:52
    +1

    Personally I don't mind it because if you pay attention, you don't miss your chance, and the petrol companies make their money off other people and not you.
    https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/petrol-diesel-lpg/petrol-p…
    is good for monitoring where the cycle is at.

    https://www.fuelcheck.nsw.gov.au/app
    is good for looking for retailers along your commute with the lowest price.

    It is like a lot of things, there is a lazy tax.

    • bigbadboogieman on 13/03/2018 - 11:02
      +1

      Yes but for daily commuters cycles can be long enough where a full fuel tank can't get you through the Hike cycle completely.

      Having said can't understand the retail price difference of 30c/l overnight. I am guessing even the foreign currency exchange rates don't move as much.

      • tomclancy on 13/03/2018 - 11:54

        Yes but for daily commuters cycles can be long enough where a full fuel tank can't get you through the Hike cycle completely.

        A simple solution is to use Jerry cans. If not then pay the lazy tax. I'm with toniyellow, I don't mind price cycling because other motorists are subsidising my fuel costs.

        • bigbadboogieman on 13/03/2018 - 12:36

          other motorists are subsidising my fuel costs.

          I am sorry, I feel stupid because I don't understand.. how are other people subsidising your fuel cost?

        • mysterytal on 13/03/2018 - 12:41
          +1

          @bigbadboogieman:

          Buying at the low price in the price cycle means buying petrol at less than the wholesale price. In a normal world no-one would sell anything for less than the price they buy something for but for some reason Australian petrol retailers do. They can only do that as they sell petrol to others at 25 cents above the wholesale price at the high price in the cycle. Sensible consumers avoid buying at this time but some people either don't care or must buy it and buy at this price. They subsidize those who buy at 5 cents below the wholesale price.

          Retailers can still make profit from in store sales which have higher gross margins even though they're losing money on petrol sales.

          It's complex…

        • Haroharo on 13/03/2018 - 14:56

          @mysterytal: is there evidence that they are selling below wholesale price? And also at what point in the cycle does it go below wholesale (e.g. halfway, three quarters of the way)?

        • tomclancy on 13/03/2018 - 15:01

          @mysterytal: well said mysterytal

        • tomclancy on 13/03/2018 - 15:09
          +1

          @Haroharo: A friend is a senior manager in the Caltex fuel pricing team. They say Caltex makes 4-5c per litre profit when averaged across the entire cycle. At the bottom of the cycle they are selling below the wholesale price and make up for it by selling with a large margin at the top of the cycle. If you want to work out at what point in the cycle it goes below wholesale then take 5c off the top & bottom prices and find the midpoint of those two -> but I don't know why this matters for a retail buyer because you should just fill up at the bottom of each cycle, not when the petrol company starts selling below cost.

          The above doesn't account for in-store purchases, just unleaded fuel.

          The fuel cycle has been going for 30 years and is highly predictable. If you aren't aware or don't pay attention to it then you are doing your wallet a disjustice.

      • ESEMCE on 13/03/2018 - 12:13
        +2

        LPG FTW
        Run Petrol on the cheap weeks and LPG on the expensive weeks.
        Even in the cheap weeks Petrol only hits around breakeven to LPG, maybe marginally cheaper and that's with my Mixer setup.. People running injection systems are better to never run petrol (outside of maintaining the fuel system turnover)
        The death of LPG as a cheaper fuel option is greatly exaggerated.

  • thetrain on 13/03/2018 - 10:54

    What 'official' price cycle justification?

    Petrol retailer rip-off plain and simple

  • retiredfeline on 13/03/2018 - 11:05
    +1

    near public or school holidays (start and end)

    Servo operators can read holiday calendars as well as you can.

    • bigbadboogieman on 13/03/2018 - 11:08

      Yes.. prices are normally controlled from central for most larger retailers. If holidays or not can't understand the retail price difference of 30c/l overnight. I am guessing even the foreign currency exchange rates don't move as much.

      • retiredfeline on 14/03/2018 - 10:31
        +1

        It's a stampede effect. From a high, servos gradually discount to gain advantage over others. When a low is reached all it takes is a few servos to decide they're fed up with low prices to jack the price to the top. All the others follow suit so as not to lose out on profits. Then the cycle starts again. It's not perfect though, there will be holdouts in some suburbs that sport lower prices to draw customers. But they will still raise prices, just not as much.

        It's probably an oscillating system if analysed as such.

        TL;DR: Watch the curve. If it's been low for a couple of days, that's probably as good as you will get. If there's an impending holiday and the curve is ripe for a rise, expect it sooner.

  • Blue Suby on 13/03/2018 - 11:08
    +1

    Spent a weekend in Canberra recently and the Woolies servo had price matched the Costco servo across the road. Every other servo in Canberra was 30c+ dearer/litre. Perhaps they have access to 'cheaper' fuel-not. It was not out of our way and we filled up before heading South and then again heading home North.

  • Caped Baldy on 13/03/2018 - 11:11

    Price gouging although it can likely be justified as supply vs demand.

  • mysterytal on 13/03/2018 - 11:23
    +1

    Well technically I don't care too much as I use Public Transport more often than use a car but I do use another persons car and hear all about it and the constant eye on the price.

    Lucky we have apps for that. If prices are high I use the 7-11 app to buy price at the lowest price sold in any 7-11. If prices are low I tend to use my Woolworths e-gift card and buy at Woolworths.

    I would like to see price gouging discouraged. I also know of people that store petrol when it's cheap. By buying and storing 100 litres the day before a 30 cent jump they say they've saved $30. It's dangerous to store it. Keep it a fairly constant price all the time and they won't do that.

    I think that the price should not be allowed to move by more than 1 cent either way per day which will prevent these 30 cent in one day jumps. The more we can distribute petrol purchases over a week the less petrol stations we need. I'm sure the day after a 30 cent jump these places must be empty. That's an inefficient use of resources.

    edit: added a missed word…

  • ronnknee on 13/03/2018 - 11:23

    It's simply supply and demand. If demand is greater during the start of holidays, then the price would naturally go up for all service stations. If it's price gouging, then only a few service stations would be more expensive. The most you can do is check who's the cheapest on Fuel Check in NSW.

  • bobbified on 13/03/2018 - 11:29

    Recently I have been noticing a trend that Fuel companies tend to price jack near public or school holidays (start and end)

    Where have you (and your senior colleague) been this whole time??

    This has been happening for many many years! It's the most talked about thing when it comes to the topic of fuel.

    • bigbadboogieman on 13/03/2018 - 11:40

      Relatively new to the country.. plus didn't have a car before.. :)

  • Nugs on 13/03/2018 - 11:38
    +2

    OPTION 5;

    gotta have suckers, otherwise I'll be paying more

    .

  • ahly92 on 13/03/2018 - 12:52
    +8

    Just use the 7/11 trick. Have been filling up for 115-117 for past 3 months when the bowser is showing 140+

    • marquise on 14/03/2018 - 10:17
      +1

      Just wish there was a way to lock in a price in another location.

      • ahly92 on 15/03/2018 - 00:53

        Not sure if sarcastic but there is… thats how ive been doing it on android. If u need more info pm me

        • marquise on 15/03/2018 - 00:54

          Umm not sarcastic at all. OK I'm assuming you're using a GPS spoofer? But the ability is not built into the app right?

        • ahly92 on 15/03/2018 - 01:05
          +4

          @marquise:

          U need to download fake GPS.

          1. Find lowest price fuel

          Use petrolspy for melb and qld. Zoomout to max and click on list. Find cheapest 7/11.
          to check if NSW has cheaper i like to use https://www.fuelcheck.nsw.gov.au/app as you can filter by brand. Again zoomout and click on list

          2.Download Fake GPS.
          3.Set location of cheapest price.
          4.Open 7 eleven app. Dont click anything. U should see faintly the background map changing over to new location.
          5.Close the app.
          6.Stop the fake gps and close app.
          7.Open 7 eleven app. Then close it. Repeat twice. (Doing so ensures the mock location message does not open)
          8.Open 7 elevn app one last time and this time click on find cheapest price.
          9.Sometimes u need to repeat steps 3=>8 more then once to bypass the popup. Bit once u get used to it takes only a few seconds

          1. Enjoy
        • marquise on 15/03/2018 - 01:06
          +2

          @ahly92: Cheers! Was just reading about it and also found this for price monitoring https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/288802

        • ahly92 on 15/03/2018 - 01:42
          +1

          @marquise:

          Thanks for the link
          Saves me time

        • marquise on 15/03/2018 - 01:45
          +1

          @ahly92: $1.20 98RON Waverley Gardens, VIC!

  • tsunamisurfer on 13/03/2018 - 12:52

    I have come to accept the price cycle, as long as I always buy at the low point its fine. So far it’s working out fine.

    One of the most annoying things about the cycle though is the queuing. In Perth the low point seems to be Monday and on Monday evenings you can see cars queuing on the street just to get to the station driveway, they are often 5 cars deep in line, at say about 5 mins per person (assume full tank + line up to pay), that’s potentially waiting 20-25 mins. That is lunacy to save a few dollars.

    I will gladly go to another station that is one or two cents more expensive.

    • MeesusEff on 13/03/2018 - 13:13

      Southlake Caltex Woolies is one of the crazy line ones. It was spilling on the main road last Monday, I drove further down to just a Caltex (had no woolies fuel voucher anyway) and it was just 1c more with no queue!

      • tomclancy on 13/03/2018 - 15:14

        Are WISH cards accepted there? Maybe that's why the queue, extra 5% off.

  • mkar18 on 13/03/2018 - 14:22

    If you are near costco, get a costco card… Fuel is usually around $125 throughout…. saves money and you don't need to worry about cycles… $60 a year membership but will get to shop at costco too..

  • Hithere on 14/03/2018 - 09:03
    +1

    No such thing as a fuel cycles or price discounting in many rural areas, it goes up before the start of holidays and takes several weeks after the holidays to go down again but never as low as before.

    Not unusual to see prices in Melbourne 20c and more a litre cheaper. It only costs about 1c a litre to transport it, so yeah, it's one big price gouge by the oil companies.

  • mlbrooke on 14/03/2018 - 09:24
    +1

    Ozbargain seems to be the place for people to show their superiority over others, what value is there in commenting with things like ‘just fuel up at different times and you will not be ripped off’.

    The OP asked a question is it price gouging? There is one simple answer and that is yes it is, so what if you fuel up at a better time and save money! They absolutely ramp up prices before long weekends, they probably still do it during the week like they used to, which meant that ‘pay day’ was the most expensive day to refuel.

    I think the ACCC got involved and it may not be so bad now but it is pure and simple taking us for what they can. BUT, many industries do this now, supply and demand, Hotel rooms dynamically change price due to occupancy (there is a platform they use to determine occupancy based on historical seasonal load), Airlines too so it’s very common. Even GPUs now days because there is so much demand are being jacked up because companies want to maximise their returns.

    All corporations have a responsibility to their owners pure and simple and they work within the law (though that can be a tenuous thing) to maximise their returns to their owners. That’s the ‘price’ we pay for freedom :)

    Therefore it’s doing what they should be doing, even though we may not like it.

  • Scorpex on 14/03/2018 - 12:01

    When I drove a company car I didn't care as much about the fuel price cycle as I do now. It's probable that a large proportion of the drivers filling up during the high part of the cycle are paying by corporate card and couldn't give a rats about the price.

  • lainey13 on 14/03/2018 - 18:56

    Been like this since forever?

  • wilko23 on 09/04/2018 - 21:57

    Has the 7-eleven app hack stopped working for anyone? mine isnt being tricked by the fake gps anymore? :-(

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