Thumb of Michigan | Pat H - 2/23/2017 08:02
Would it be that hard to just buy up an old gas station and pay the fortune it costs to get tanks updated/upgraded (if necessary) and just start selling e85 yourself? Blender pumps are nothing new and no one is preventing anyone from selling fuel are they? I'm in the middle of nowhere and a Indian guy bought the run down station, fixed up and has been running for 10 years. We'd all like him to put in a diesel pump (and probably e85), but the fuel is only an excuse to get folks to stop and buy something in the store. He makes money on fuel once in a while, but not consistently. It's his business and I suppose he is free to sell what he wants.
Understand your point entirely. Margins on fuel aren't the reason any pumps are in front of most Pop/Beer/cigarette/potato chip store. Fuel is only there to get someone in the store.
In my case, I will stop at one over the other simply due to the availability of being able to buy E85. Well, accurately priced E85 might be a better term. Thats me, there aren't enough people in many areas that will follow my lead on the E85, though. So, in my case, the fuel is the only thing thats the draw to get me into store A vs store B. Need the demand for E85 still to turn it into a marketing advantage.
Not sure why it is, but our county seat has an E plant, and no E85 available in the city limits far as I know. There is a station 5 or 6 miles away from town that has blender pumps, but they have been a bit screwy on the spreads between all grades since putting the pumps in a few years ago. The nearest "big" city has a couple of stations I'll stop at for E85 (Meijer and Speedway in Bay City for those wondering) . What I do find sort of weird ( and not sure why I feel that way) is that in my travels to the Detroit area for medical reasons the last couple of years, theres no shortage of stations that offer E85 once in the Metro area. Usually see E85 advertised prominently on stations that have different competing brands across the street from each other. Which kind of leads me back to what I said originally. One local station may not want to handle E85 (for example) but is forced to because the competition does? Maybe just dreaming.... |
GM doesn't offer flex fuel?
