Petrol & diesel prices in Donegal (Inishowen)

NIMAN

I see the new AppleGreen filling station has opened to great fanfare in Ballyliffin, and am am just wondering how they can sell their fuel at such low prices compared to all the other stations around?

They are selling diesel at 108, whereas all the others are at 117.
Thats over 40c per gallon cheaper.

I'm sure they aren't selling their fuel at below cost price, so have the other stations been fleecing us?

muffler

NIMAN wrote: »

so have the other stations been fleecing us?

Yes!

I filled up in Drumkeen last week and coming into Stranorlar I noticed that the petrol was 6 cents/litre dearer. I recall hearing a filling station owner from Letterkenny on Highland radio a few years ago saying that they didnt even have 5 cents a litre profit on it.

That same point was made to me by another fuel retailer in the Finn Valley area at a time when it was 7 cents a litre cheaper in Donegal town. Who do they think they are bluffing.

alchemist33

Applegreen in Letterkenny is consistently cheaper than anywhere else in town (except Tinneys down the road). 108 for diesel may be promotional for the opening, but it may well stay cheaper than the rest too.

Furtzy2

All depends on US dollar V Euro. Oil is traded in US dollars. Also depends on supply and demand. Oil producing countries will reduce supply depending on the strength of the dollar and also refineries will switch to kerosene production before the winter months. It's a complicated affair but pump prices will always increase quicker than they fall!

muffler

Furtzy2 wrote: »

All depends on US dollar V Euro. Oil is traded in US dollars. Also depends on supply and demand. Oil producing countries will reduce supply depending on the strength of the dollar and also refineries will switch to kerosene production before the winter months. It's a complicated affair but pump prices will always increase quicker than they fall!

The topic is about the difference in prices that petrol & diesel is being sold at filling stations in this county, not on a national or international basis

NIMAN

Yeah I often heard the story that filling stations only make a handful of cents profit on every litre they sell.

This is obviously nonsense, otherwise AppleGreen are losing money on fuel.

muffler

Like any product bulk buying will allow for a small reduction in costs but generally speaking most filling stations operate under the umbrella of or aligned to a national wholesale company so they are all pretty much on a par in that regard. Accordingly it is then up to the individual outlets to set their own profit margin.

However the independent retailers, just like grocery stores for example, are at a disadvantage as fuel that they are buying in is costing them that wee bit more so in fairness to the independents you cant really fault them for being a cent or two dearer than their rivals.

Look at the twin towns though. There's one filling station in Stranorlar (was 2 up to about 10 years ago) and 2 in Ballybofey and up to about 3 or 4 years ago they all sold their fuel at identical prices and always denied that they operated a little cartel. Hard to believe considering that its all different brands.

In recent times they have taken to charging a difference of +/- 0.01 cents a litre between them which appears to rotate from one station to another every few weeks. Again I dont know who they think they are bluffing but its up to the public to decide where they want to be fleeced topped up.

echo beach

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah I often heard the story that filling stations only make a handful of cents profit on every litre they sell.

This is obviously nonsense, otherwise AppleGreen are losing money on fuel.

Most filling stations make their money on the impulse purchases of high margin goods in the shop not on fuel.

Charles Babbage

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah I often heard the story that filling stations only make a handful of cents profit on every litre they sell.

This is obviously nonsense, otherwise AppleGreen are losing money on fuel.

Applegreen are probably about breaking even on the fuel, but hoping to make a profit on other stuff they sell, which has a profit margin. Tank of fuel = a few cents profit, cup of coffee = 1.50 profit.

buckfasterer

That might be a promotional price to open at in Ballyliffen, I have a notion in my head that when they opened in Buncrana it was the same for a while there too.

Gazzmonkey

NIMAN wrote: »

I see the new AppleGreen filling station has opened to great fanfare in Ballyliffin, and am am just wondering how they can sell their fuel at such low prices compared to all the other stations around?

They are selling diesel at 108, whereas all the others are at 117.
Thats over 40c per gallon cheaper.

I'm sure they aren't selling their fuel at below cost price, so have the other stations been fleecing us?

Probably several reasons... but one of them is the low quality fairy liquid they call fuel. My last two cars always gave tiny misfires on applegreen fuel but never other fuels. The cars just didn't run 100% smooth on that stuff, low quality?

Firblog

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

Probably several reasons... but one of them is the low quality fairy liquid they call fuel. My last two cars always gave tiny misfires on applegreen fuel but never other fuels. The cars just didn't run 100% smooth on that stuff, low quality?

Strange I always filled up at Applegreen and on road to Drumkeen (Kernans?) never had a problem with their Disel.
I did notice once - travelling to and from Dublin one day - that 3 different Applegreen stations had 3 different prices on the forecourt.