Sligo Petrol and Diesel prices

Jabby

Hi all Board members and guests.

Have you noticed the price of a litre of diesel has gone up to €1.379 and petrol to €1.289.
I was in Maynooth last week and got diesel for €1.219 per litre when it was €1.349 in Sligo (ever notice how they all keep a good eye what the other is charging???)

I think the cheapest place in Sligo for diesel is (I may be wrong) is Jones Oil near Buckleys Builder Supplies at €1.35 (not much of a difference there either )They don't do petrol though so really we don't have much of a choice in Sligo. They can charge what they like....or can they?

I'm wondering if all of us (when possible- by buying in a different town whilst driving through etc) boycotted these rip off merchants that charge the €1.289 and €1.379 prices, would they then feel obliged to reduce their prices? Would it be worth a try? If everyone of us (members and guests) who read this, decided to shop around for better value for your next fill, wouldn't that alone be a gesture.

What do you think ?....and what are the prices at your local garages?
Somebody told me yesterday that Ballina alone is 8-10c a litre cheaper than Sligo.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Boycott the petrol stations?
So we can drive 40 odd miles to Ballina and pay reasonable prices?

I see your point, but what options have we?

I have to drive to work 5 days a week.
Its only a 20 mile round trip, but I would love to be able to get on my bike and leave the car at home.

Jabby

MikeySligo wrote: »

Boycott the petrol stations?
So we can drive 40 odd miles to Ballina and pay reasonable prices?

I see your point, but what options have we?

I have to drive to work 5 days a week.
Its only a 20 mile round trip, but I would love to be able to get on my bike and leave the car at home.

Its that kind of attitude that has these guys charging what they like. they depend on your 'Ah sure what can I do' attitude. My point is that wherever possible, to shop around...get the best value. what the hell is wrong with that?

Culchie

Jabby wrote: »

Its that kind of attitude that has these guys charging what they like. they depend on your 'Ah sure what can I do' attitude. My point is that wherever possible, to shop around...get the best value. what the hell is wrong with that?

As someone who worked in the oil business for many years.....pricing is a very complex issue at the retail level.

There is no money in selling petrol, absolutely minimum profit margin, you wouldn't get out of bed for it.....so your take on the 'rip off' merchants is way off target. Why do you think there has been about a 33% reduction in the amount of petrol stations in the last 5 years .....because they are making too much money???

FACT - Approx 83% of the pump price of petrol is made up of governemnet taxes, levies, excise duty etc...

Shop around by all means, the consumer decides .... but you need to change the focus of your anger/frustration away from the retailers of petrol, because that's not where the problem lies.

bobcar61

I don't think there is anything we can do at the moment.

I know that I'm not going to drive 40 miles to another petrol station that is cheaper and back again just to save a few quid on a fill,and I would have spent that money,if not more on getting there in the first place,but yes by all means if I was passing a petrol station in Claremorris(far cheaper there) so to speak and realised I had a quarter tank I would definately filll up.

I don' think though there is much we can do in Sligo until a Tesco Filling Station opens or even an Applegree Filling Station opens....and at that we could be waiting a while.

Jabby

Culchie wrote: »

As someone who worked in the oil business for many years.....pricing is a very complex issue at the retail level.

There is no money in selling petrol, absolutely minimum profit margin, you wouldn't get out of bed for it.....so your take on the 'rip off' merchants is way off target. Why do you think there has been about a 33% reduction in the amount of petrol stations in the last 5 years .....because they are making too much money???

FACT - Approx 83% of the pump price of petrol is made up of governemnet taxes, levies, excise duty etc...

Shop around by all means, the consumer decides .... but you need to change the focus of your anger/frustration away from the retailers of petrol, because that's not where the problem lies.

Yes I do agree with you in so far as the profit margin isn't great in that business but how come the Texaco station in Maynooth can afford to sell his diesel at €1.21 per ltr that week. I presume he is buying it at the same price as the Texaco stations here in Sligo. He seems to be doing OK for himself with a 13c less per ltr profit margin.

I don't agree with you though when you say that the problem doesn't lie with the retailer because I think it does. They know by keeping all of their prices at EXACTLY the same price, they eliminate all of the local competition. Thats what annoys me most and in referring to these retailers and this practice as 'rip off' is not that far off target.

Obviously we cannot control outside influences and the price of oil per barrell but I do think we could have an influence over the local stations by more of us shopping around.

rgds

Jabby

Culchie

Jabby wrote: »

Yes I do agree with you in so far as the profit margin isn't great in that business but how come the Texaco station in Maynooth can afford to sell his diesel at €1.21 per ltr that week. I presume he is buying it at the same price as the Texaco stations here in Sligo. He seems to be doing OK for himself with a 13c less per ltr profit margin.

You see this is where you are fundamentally incorrect, the retailers (petrol stations) purchase from the wholesalers (the oil companies) at completely different prices.... depending on their volume .... bulk discount if you like.

The world of petrol retailing is a complex one, but trust me ( I have no agenda, it's in my past life) there is tiny profit margin in petrol at the pumps .... think about it, all the large stations have large convenience
stores connected to them .... convenience stores is where the profit is .... not the pumps.

muffler

How much per litre profit are you talking about here?

Approximately.

Culchie

muffler wrote: »

How much per litre profit are you talking about here?

Approximately.

'Profit' depends on your overheads obviously, and I'm out of the industry a couple of years, but to answer your question, from a pump price of €1.30, I'd be surprised if the retailer made over 2 or 3 cents nett a litre.

Any station not doing over 2 million litres a year is peeing against the wind.

Average fuel buy is approx 30 litres @ €1.30 = €40 spend, so that's €1 they make on your €40 .... If customer bought a coffee and donut for €4, they'd make over €3 on it.

Barrell of oil is going through the roof (I guess close to $200 by end of 2009, it's approx $125 now).... global economy in turmoil, shortage of oil reserves, more demand from China/India etc.......so the price ain't coming down folks, so you better get used to it.

Slagging of your local petrol station about the price of petrol is a bit like blaming the guy at McDonalds drive in for the price of the hamburger..... he's only the numpty at the end of the food chain.

Sligo has about 6 million litre capacity at present .... so you'll probably see 5 years from now just 3, maybe 4 petrol stations in Sligo town.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Jabby wrote: »

Its that kind of attitude that has these guys charging what they like. they depend on your 'Ah sure what can I do' attitude. My point is that wherever possible, to shop around...get the best value. what the hell is wrong with that?

Shop around???????? i.e drive around
Sligo as a whole is literally doing as you say, and charging what they like.
I'm not driving 25 miles to Bundoran or anywhere so I can save 4c pl/€2 in total. Its not worth it.
That is just cutting of your nose to spite your face.

I would love to tell Sligo and the world to stick their oil, but alternative options = ?????

Radharc na Sleibhte

Jabby wrote: »

I presume he is buying it at the same price as the Texaco stations here in Sligo.

You would presume wrong.
The bigger the order, the lower the price (within reason).
That doesn't explain why someone in Ballina can get cheaper fuel than us.

Jabby

MikeySligo wrote: »

Shop around???????? i.e drive around
Sligo as a whole is literally doing as you say, and charging what they like.
I'm not driving 25 miles to Bundoran or anywhere so I can save 4c pl/€2 in total. Its not worth it.
That is just cutting of your nose to spite your face.

I would love to tell Sligo and the world to stick their oil, but alternative options = ?????

Mikey, I'm only suggesting that maybe when in a town/city etc that have a cheaper rate than Sligo (and that wouldn't be too difficult lets face it) take the opportunity to fill then... not to go especially to these places. That would be ridiculous.

What really annoys me I suppose is how they all manage to sell at exactly the same cost.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Now that I do.
Anytime I'm passing through Carrick, I always fill up at the place at the roundabout.

Jabby

Culchie wrote: »

Slagging of your local petrol station about the price of petrol is a bit like blaming the guy at McDonalds drive in for the price of the hamburger..... he's only the numpty at the end of the food chain.

Questioning a retailers mark up is not exactly 'slagging them off ' and I think by you using an analogy like you have above is oversimplifying the point I was making.

magnumlady

Castlebaldwin always seems to be a lot cheaper then Sligo town.

Culchie

magnumlady wrote: »

Castlebaldwin always seems to be a lot cheaper then Sligo town.

There's a pretty good explanation for that (again my view on it) however I'm off to the pub now and going to have a few pints of bulmers:)

elshambo

Culchie wrote: »

There's a pretty good explanation for that (again my view on it) however I'm off to the pub now and going to have a few pints of bulmers:)

Good posts culchie, id say part of the difference is in bigger towns the land/rent costs add to the expences?
I know some of the high prices in Dublin have been blamed on the price of leases/ land prices

Truth is though its all the hippies fault with there bio fuels and braids:D

Enjoy the pints, might have a few myself

Big_Mac

Castlebaldwin is always cheaper than anywhere else in the town I have found for petrol. As for Diesel, the cheapest place in town is Sligo fuels in deepwater quay - Between the coal yard and the dump. Haven't found it cheaper anywhere else, and I'm always looking - Got a dirty diesel myself:D

genie

MikeySligo wrote: »

Now that I do.
Anytime I'm passing through Carrick, I always fill up at the place at the roundabout.

It seems that the further you are from Sligo, the cheaper the petrol and deisel gets. Down the road from me in Ballyfarnon petrol is 121.9 (deisel is around 130.9) and in Carrick on Shannon there is a place on the left on the road out towards O'Dowd's stoves/fireplaces place and the station (similar to the places down the quays in Sligo) where deisel is 127.9.

Slidey

I'm sure a good few people have heard about the goings on in a certain filling station mention before and as a mechanic with a diesel i would never get diesel from there.. injection componets in a car are just too sensitive and expensive to replace.

peasant

slideways wrote: »

I'm sure a good few people have heard about the goings on in a certain filling station mention before and as a mechanic with a diesel i would never get diesel from there.. injection componets in a car are just too sensitive and expensive to replace.

could you please elaborate ...possibly without naming names ?

Personally, I am of the firm opinion that Sligo residents are being ripped off in perspective to the rest of the country.

Possibly something to do with being on a main artery close to the border or whatever.

On the bank holiday weekend diesel in feckin Achill Island was 5 cent cheaper than here, as stated Castlebladwin is always cheaper, as is anywhere a good bit outside Sligo.

We're now homing in on 1.40 for diesel, whereas near Dublin you can still get it for 1.30 ...something is not right here.

Slidey

The garage in question was found to have illegal diesel deing sold at the pumps. The owner of the premises had the shop and pumps leased out to another person. He has sinced distanced himself further from the premises...

muffler

Culchie wrote: »

'Profit' depends on your overheads obviously, and I'm out of the industry a couple of years, but to answer your question, from a pump price of €1.30, I'd be surprised if the retailer made over 2 or 3 cents nett a litre.

Any station not doing over 2 million litres a year is peeing against the wind.

Average fuel buy is approx 30 litres @ €1.30 = €40 spend, so that's €1 they make on your €40

I dont buy into that explanation at all.

How on earth can you have 2 towns that are 15 miles apart selling the same brands of petrol, located along the same national primary route yet the petrol can be got 5 or 6 cents per litre cheaper in one of them. Are you telling me that the people selling it the cheapest are doing so at a loss?

BronsonTB

Statoil in Tubber is always pretty good with the prices..Generally Cheaper than Sligo prices.
Most of the garages in Sligo must have some aggreement between each other as they use to vary but now all the same, Tubber has 4 garages and the price can vary between all 4 sometimes.
Always worth shopping around....just my 2 cents....

veryangryman

muffler wrote: »

I dont buy into that explanation at all.

How on earth can you have 2 towns that are 15 miles apart selling the same brands of petrol, located along the same national primary route yet the petrol can be got 5 or 6 cents per litre cheaper in one of them. Are you telling me that the people selling it the cheapest are doing so at a loss?

No their probably also only making 2 cent profit. Difference is they probably buy less bulk quantities from oil companies and/or dont run the station efficiently enough to put the prices any lower. A combination of poor management and outside factors.

brianthebard

Jabby wrote: »

Yes I do agree with you in so far as the profit margin isn't great in that business but how come the Texaco station in Maynooth can afford to sell his diesel at €1.21 per ltr that week. I presume he is buying it at the same price as the Texaco stations here in Sligo. He seems to be doing OK for himself with a 13c less per ltr profit margin.

I don't agree with you though when you say that the problem doesn't lie with the retailer because I think it does. They know by keeping all of their prices at EXACTLY the same price, they eliminate all of the local competition. Thats what annoys me most and in referring to these retailers and this practice as 'rip off' is not that far off target.

Obviously we cannot control outside influences and the price of oil per barrell but I do think we could have an influence over the local stations by more of us shopping around.

rgds

Jabby

In Maynooth there's a Tesco filling station so everywhere is cheaper in order to compete. Sometimes as you get closer to Tesco the prices at the other petrol stations goes down. If you had gone past Texaco to the Maxol 300 yards down the road it might have been even cheaper!

dingding

I buy my petrol with a fuel card www.axaplus.ie/fuelcard.php So I get Petrol in Sligo for a Dublin price.

Culchie

OK, here we go .... only going to raise more questions and inconsistencies but I did say it's a complex game.


Marker Sites

How come all the stations close together are the same price?

Well the major brands all have 'marker sites' i.e their major competitors .... usually one of the market leader (Statoil or Esso) will soon be Topaz/Esso announces a pump price change, normally once a month, and is enforced midnight that day.

X site is the first site to change prices, Y and Z sites react to this ...whether it's up or down.

Marker sites are normally within a close area.

Marker sites are nearly always used by the CoCo (Company Owned Company Operated) sites.

Distributors

Distributors principal and traditional role in the oil market is to distribute home heating oil, however as the market has changed they now more often than not have their own fuel pumps open to the public...e.g LMS Oil, Sligo Fuel etc... These guys buy millions of litres and so their discount is bigger and so it;s no co-incidence most have you have quoted a distributor as the cheapest in your area.

Independent Stations Joe Soap sites, ten a penny 10 years ago ...your old friendly village petrol station.

Soon to be a thing of the past .... because there's no money in petrol at the retail level:cool:. Oil companies have no interest in the logistics and costs involved in the delivery 5000 litres a week to the ass end of Belmullet once a week, and 5000 to Easkey, 8000 to Geevagh;)etc.... (known in the trade as milk drops) Oil companies now outsouce their deliveries to haulage companies, they are (in general) no longer oil company employees ....it's cheaper, and they keep wage costs down, and the haulier has to take the risk in the fuel, insurance costs etc...

Because the oil companies have little or no interest in supplying these sites, they charge a 'rack rate' or recommended wholesale price to them, i.e little or no discount.

A branded independent site must buy from their contracted oil company under supply agreement) so over last 5 years, this has obviously put the squeeze on the small stations, so when their 10 year supply contract is up, the relationship with oil company is 'frosty' and so they normally go their own way and go independent......or they sell their property in the centre of town/villages and build property on them, because there is no money in petrol at the retail level
Who supplies the ones that stay then? .... Well here come the distributors back into the equation again.
Because the distributor is buying in mass bulk, the petrol stations can buy from the distributors at a cheaper price than they can from the oil companies directly.....That suits the oil company fine, as the distributors come and collect their fuel from the oil depots .... or in some instances the oil companies deliver to them in 40,000 litres drops....one drop, one location, happy days.

From the oil companies point of view, customers need fuel, so they'll always sell the fuel from the depots....they just don;t want to really get involved in the costs of delivering it. If they have to, they want to do it in the most cost efficient way possible.


I know this won't satisfy everyone, and probably only raise more questions...but the background information might just help fill in a few blanks for you.......and there is no money in petrol at the retail level, so don't go buying any petrol stations in the next decade or so ...and if you like your local petrol station owner, buy a car wash and give him 95% profit and a Mars Bar and a coffee..... he'll thank you much more for it than filling your tank up with petrol/diesel.

bobcar61

Can anybody get these Texaco or Statoil fuelcards or is that literally just for businesses who have a fleet of cars/vans?

Culchie

bobcar61 wrote: »

Can anybody get these Texaco or Statoil fuelcards or is that literally just for businesses who have a fleet of cars/vans?

Anyone can, but not great value. Get a DCI card from Sweeney Oil and ask for a decent discount.....it can be used at any DCI signed place (approx 50% of stations...all the big ones)

Cmar-Ireland

With the fuel cards, DCI Texoil etc, can you check the fuel price online, is it one fixed price for all stations or will it vary from location to location.
A woman I work with said she got diesel at 108.9c yesterday in Carlow. A difference od 20c per liter compared to the regular punters