tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post114961208829314244..comments2023-11-05T04:50:27.094-05:00Comments on Social Econ Blog: Self-Service Gas StationsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149629535445846932006-06-06T17:32:00.000-04:002006-06-06T17:32:00.000-04:00Okay, if gas stations can always make more money w...Okay, if gas stations can <I>always</I> make more money with a convenience store (which has to be the case for them to - essentially - always choose those over offering full-service), then isn't that because consumers aren't willing to pay for full-service.<BR/><BR/>It seems like if you'd only end up in a situation with convenience stores despite people's desires for full-service IF there were so few of those people that it didn't justify the fixed cost of entering the full-service market.UnSerious Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01077275761820885697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149623570409687332006-06-06T15:52:00.000-04:002006-06-06T15:52:00.000-04:00Wow, I read that like 10 times looking for that nu...Wow, I read that like 10 times looking for that number and didn't see it. Of course, once I searched for 52, it came up right away. Fortunately, I prefaced my questions with "I know I'm dumb."Tony Vallencourthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06640680964080820351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149623020651220752006-06-06T15:43:00.000-04:002006-06-06T15:43:00.000-04:00The 52 percent number comes from someone else. Cl...The 52 percent number comes from someone else. Click the 52 percent of revenue link, and that takes you to someone else's summary of the industry. It is in there somewhere (down a little ways).BWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15253628675169664406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149621047292661562006-06-06T15:10:00.000-04:002006-06-06T15:10:00.000-04:00Gotcha,I still can't figure out the fraction of re...Gotcha,<BR/><BR/>I still can't figure out the fraction of revenues from gasoline though. Is that based on gas revenues per station in non-convenience store gas stations? Or is the actual breakdown there somewhere I don't see.<BR/><BR/>And I add my counter-post, of course....Tony Vallencourthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06640680964080820351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149618453639956352006-06-06T14:27:00.000-04:002006-06-06T14:27:00.000-04:00Further if you are interested in where the 1 to 2 ...Further if you are interested in where the 1 to 2 cent figure comes from, here is the rough calculation for the 40 or so stations my friend had data for: <BR/><BR/>depending on the size of the station, their labor costs increase between $500-$1500 per month. (Here, we assume that the firm keeps only one employee per station per shift in the absence of the law.) Across the 40 stations, they average 100,000 gallons per month(again with a fair amount of variance). So the expected savings per gallon would appear to be somewhere in the 1 to 2 cent range.BWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15253628675169664406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149616992495056402006-06-06T14:03:00.000-04:002006-06-06T14:03:00.000-04:00Dave, 1. Some places do offer this service, but yo...Dave, <BR/><BR/>1. Some places do offer this service, but you tend to only find these options where the station can make a large profit by offering the full service option. I can think of three places were this is likely to occur: 1) where the real estate prices surrounding existing gas stations made it hard to add a convenience store; 2) where people don't buy stuff at convenience stores; and 3) where firms can charge a lot more to provide full-service than it costs to provide (i.e., where they can make more profits then they do off the convenience store for a large proportion of customers). <BR/><BR/>2. Maybe in other states, but definitely not in Oregon and NJ. <BR/><BR/>The point is simply that the firms make more money by not offering it (and getting people out of their cars to buy drinks and snacks) then they can make by offering it. So no one (or very few people) choose to supply this service. <BR/><BR/>Tony, <BR/><BR/>Click on the economic census link. Click the more arrows under industry detail for whatever you are interested (e.g., gas stations with convenience stores) in the NACIS heirarchy section. There will be a table with each state in there. To get the fraction of gas stations with convenience stores take the number of establishments with convienience stores (e.g., in NJ this is 551) and divide this by the total number of establishments (again, in NJ this is 3155, so the fraction is 17.5%). The numbers may be slightly off, I did them 2 years ago (and sent them to you in a email). I only double checked quickly that these were the same data I used then.BWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15253628675169664406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149615901662761302006-06-06T13:45:00.000-04:002006-06-06T13:45:00.000-04:00Bryce,I'm totally confused. How did you get those...Bryce,<BR/><BR/>I'm totally confused. How did you get those calculations from those data sources? I don't see the data there at all. I know I'm dumb, so please explain....<BR/><BR/>PS Other readers: see how bent out of shape Bryce's economist friends are getting?Tony Vallencourthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06640680964080820351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21552987.post-1149615391639386572006-06-06T13:36:00.000-04:002006-06-06T13:36:00.000-04:00A couple of thoughts:1. If lots of people really l...A couple of thoughts:<BR/><BR/>1. If lots of people really liked full-service, then even in states that don't have full-service laws, why wouldn't <I>some</I> gas stations specialize in full service, especially in areas (e.g., downtown) with lots of gas stations.<BR/><BR/>2. Do people feel obligated to tip at full-service gas stations? If so, then the cost is actually higher.<BR/><BR/>3. I remember one gas station in Cambridge that had one full service tank, and the rest were self-service. It seems like if we want to mandate something (and I'm not totally convinced, but I appreciate your argument) mandating something like that would ensure the most freedom.<BR/><BR/>But I'm still not clear on why, if some people like full-service, we don't have more specialized gas stations. I agree that sometimes full service is nice: let someone else check your oil, see if your tires are full, whatever.UnSerious Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01077275761820885697noreply@blogger.com