Supermarket price variations

targaid

Now, I know that supermarkets vary their prices from area to area depending upon perceived wealth in the area, but pertrol seems to be a little diffferent. Making regular trips to my in-laws' near Wigan I notice that their Asda tends to have the same price per litre as my local one in Glasgow. However, checking on petrolprices.com tonight I see that Sainsbury's have different prices in several branches within 5 miles of one another. Since their delivery costs between such stores cannot be significantly different I wonder what their justification is for these variations. Surely it is unfair to charge a different price so close together and amounts to discrimination by post code? :mad:

Rural areas suffer from this to an even greater extent, but there is a minimal justification for it.

rev_henry

They're a business, they can charge what they like. It just happens that Asda often has a policy of the same price nationwide - in particular when they send out a press release about price cuts - it'll be the same cut price at all their stations. The other supermarkets just vary their prices depending on local competition and demand.

Hammyman

targaid wrote: »

Since their delivery costs between such stores cannot be significantly different I wonder what their justification is for these variations. Surely it is unfair to charge a different price so close together and amounts to discrimination by post code? :mad:

Its a free market economy.

spiro

targaid wrote: »

amounts to discrimination by post code? :mad:

No different to insurance then.

dzug1

targaid wrote: »

Since their delivery costs between such stores cannot be significantly different I wonder what their justification is for these variations. Surely it is unfair to charge a different price so close together and amounts to discrimination by post code? :mad:

.

Since when did they need to justify it? The customer has the option to buy elsewhere. And what's actually WRONG with discrimination? People do it all the time.

Flyboy152

targaid wrote: »

Now, I know that supermarkets vary their prices from area to area depending upon perceived wealth in the area, but pertrol seems to be a little diffferent. Making regular trips to my in-laws' near Wigan I notice that their Asda tends to have the same price per litre as my local one in Glasgow. However, checking on petrolprices.com tonight I see that Sainsbury's have different prices in several branches within 5 miles of one another. Since their delivery costs between such stores cannot be significantly different I wonder what their justification is for these variations. Surely it is unfair to charge a different price so close together and amounts to discrimination by post code? :mad:

Rural areas suffer from this to an even greater extent, but there is a minimal justification for it.

This is the very reason why I have no sympathy for petrol retailers. They have to take a very large part of the blame for the rise in fuel prices. For example, when the fuel duty was cut by one penny at the budget, our local petrol station increased the price by two pence, when a smaller and independent retailer outside the village dropped his by two pence a litre.

davetrousers

Flyboy152 wrote: »

This is the very reason why I have no sympathy for petrol retailers.

Can you explain why petrol retailers might need sympathy please?

Flyboy152

davetrousers wrote: »

Can you explain why petrol retailers might need sympathy please?

Because they continue to bleat on about how little profit they make from selling petrol and how much of the price of a litre is tax etc. They constantly make the excuse that it is not them setting the prices, but the oil companies themselves. The whine on about the wholesale price fuel being so high and that they have little or no control over the price at the pumps.

kwaks

OP, delivery/transportation costs are also affected by the volume being sold at each station. A station selling more fuel and taking larger deliveries will be paying less per litre on transportation than the station 1 mile away buying half as much fuel.

Flyboy, petrol retailers do not make a fortune selling petrol, as can be seen by the marked decline in the number of petrol staions in the UK. As for the oil companies, tell me another industry which has to pay 62% tax whilst being overcharged by every supplier. Just to get a supply boat out to us with food can cost 60k, each chopper flight to ferry the men is 5-8k.

Exploration in the N.Sea will decline due to the recent tax hike, the oil is being taxed at both ends.

Outpost

The prices at fuel stations, whether they be supermarket ones or otherwise, all basically comes down to the competition. The seller will pretty much charge whatever they can realistically get away with, basing that on the prices of competitors' fuel. In areas with a lot of competition driving down prices the fuel will be cheaper than a place where there is a monopoly.

People in certain locations benefit, those in other locations lose out.

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it if I were you, it's not worth it.

Outpost

targaid wrote: »

Surely it is unfair to charge a different price so close together and amounts to discrimination by post code? :mad:

Don't kid yourself, discrimination is used for everything.

Why does the same-sized house in London cost more than one in the Outer Hebrides? You could call that post code discrimination.

I wouldn't class it as post code discrimination but rather charging what you know people will pay. Petrol prices are basically the product of a similar scenario.