Drop in fuel prices

AdrianC

agarnett wrote: »

Pointing at a local sign price spread is no defense to the allegation of a cartel.

If the allegation is that they're all the same price, so it must be a cartel, I'd have said pointing to a 10% spread of prices (25% if you ignore the tax) was a fairly good "defence" - not that I'm offering it as such.

THe retailers are represented by a common body they call the Petrol Retailers Consortium last time I saw their man spouting on tv. Is that still the same? Why do they need that kind of representation if they are not moving as one?

So any industry with a trade body is a cartel?

This conspiracy theory gets funnier by the minute.

But what about the lack of fluctuation of pump price which we tolerate in UK? Why does it stay the same for days?

My local petrol station changes the price every time they get a delivery, to reflect what they've paid for that delivery, I presume.

agarnett

AdrianC wrote: »

If the allegation is that they're all the same price, so it must be a cartel, I'd have said pointing to a 10% spread of prices (25% if you ignore the tax) was a fairly good "defence" - not that I'm offering it as such.

Well of course it isn't a good defence unless you can show that people actually buy significant quantities at the top of the spread!

So any industry with a trade body is a cartel?

You are beginning to understand! You are certainly on the way to successfully spotting one if you sift using a rule of thumb like that, my friend. Well done!

This conspiracy theory gets funnier by the minute.

You clearly have led a charmed working life if you think conspiracy to fix prices is unusual in UK business.

My local petrol station changes the price every time they get a delivery, to reflect what they've paid for that delivery, I presume.

You presume much. But equally, and given your construction, we can presume that if your local high priced offering doesn't change prices daily then then they ain't selling very much at those prices!

BTW - just crossed my mind that the UK Petrol Retailers Consortium might have metamorphosed at some stage into UK Petrol Retailers Association. Or did it? Ray Holloway was the exactly the UKPRC geezer I remembered who was always interviewed on the windy forecourt of some petrol station on the telly when they wanted to announce a price war or similar, and if I have now Googled correctly he seems to have moved to the UKPRA by 2007 and that seems to be the little guys' outfit! "Consortium" was a bit of a giveaway - Association is softer ... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt - they're the downtrod honest little guys even!

So by 2013 the little guys were feeling squeezed (UKPRA members) and by then the supermarkets were by then using their "British Retail Consortium" as the main spokesbody. But selling petrol at less than cost? I do not think so.

AdrianC

agarnett wrote: »

So any industry with a trade body is a cartel?

You are beginning to understand! You are certainly on the way to successfully spotting one if you sift using a rule of thumb like that, my friend. Well done!

I'm certainly understanding something...

[Deleted User]

Local ASDA
99.7p Green
97.7p Black

Local Shell
102.9p Green
102.9p Black