Motorists, Merchants Dealing with Escalating Gas Prices

Unrest in the Middle East has gas prices soaring once again as local motorists and gas station owners brace for an unpredictable spring.

Conflict and political upheaval in areas of Northern Africa and the Middle East have caused oil prices to skyrocket across the board in recent weeks, at a time when gas prices typically stay in the lower range.

Reports Monday list the national average of a gallon of gas at just under $3.30, while the price of oil jumped to $100 per barrel. Locally motorists and gas station owners alike are feeling the pinch, paying anywhere from $3.18 for regular unleaded at in Newbury Street to $3.39 for the same grade at

High gas prices are not a good thing for either party, but both say it doesn’t change the need for gas and oil or the relative frequency in which people purchase it.

“It hasn’t really affected us. It didn’t last time (in 2008) when it was $4 a gallon, either,” said John L’Heureu, who works at Lynnfield Street Shell. “We haven’t seen a drop in business. People may be putting a little bit less in the tank, but they are still coming.”

Across the street at, which operates a Mobil gas station alongside its longtime oil heating business, motorists were filling up for a few cents less than those at Lynnfield Shell, but despite the high cost off the product, most said they did not pay too much attention to price differences.

“I actually hadn’t even noticed it was less when I pulled in, there were just less cars here,” said David Butterworth, a Middleton resident. “When I am around home I may pay a little closer attention to who has cheaper gas but if one place is three cents cheaper but it is a mile away is it really worth it? It kind of costs the same amount.

“When you’re on the road you obviously look at prices, but if you have to stop you have to stop.”

Others said the prices don’t necessarily dictate how much they spend on gas, rather how often they fill up.

“I put in $20 every time whether it is $2, $3, $4 dollars because that is what I can afford,” said Tracy Skinner of Lynn. “So, I guess I have get gas more. I haven’t really noticed yet. It is crazy, though. My brother owns his own business in Virginia and he has two or three big vans. He is paying a lot for that now.”

The price of gas is dictated by the vendors who provide it to each individual fueling station, which accounts for the variance in price, and contrary to popular belief among motorists, the individual stations make the same, and sometimes less money when the prices are higher.

“We work on a price margin as opposed to a percent, so it isn’t like we are profiting when the prices are higher,” said Chuck Holden of Holden Oil. “In our case, our oil trucks are some of our top diesel customers (at the Mobil station), so we are filling them up when we go out.”

Holden said most customers do not realize many of the residual costs that merchants must pay when the prices are higher. For example, credit card companies charge fees to merchants based on a percentage of the sale. So if people are paying more for gas on their credit cards the station is paying a higher fee to the credit card company.

“That is why you see some places starting to charge a little bit more for credit card sales as opposed to cash,” he said.

Holden said as bad as the situation is for motorists, it is worse for oil customers. While gasoline shipments typically come in every few days, meaning the price may stay the same for a bit, oil prices are changing daily, often times every time they fill up a truck.

“The volatility of the market makes it difficult. If it stayed in one place that would be one thing, but you can’t predict any of it,” he said.