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Station owners need convincing

NANAIMO: Re: Gas prices leave little to be thankful for, Letters, Oct. 6.

Re: Gas prices leave little to be thankful for, Letters, Oct. 6.

Why does gas cost consistently more in Nanaimo than in Courtenay, Duncan and Victoria? Does the gas not enter Vancouver Island at Nanaimo? Shouldn’t it cost more in those other centres?

The answer to Nanaimo’s high gas pricing is simple and serious. The thinking seems to be what can the market bear before someone screams too loud?

In an open market system, consumer prices are regulated by the competition keeping its prices low to attract customers. However, when all the sellers seem to raise their prices at the same time, the consumer is held hostage by a closed system.

Now the sellers have a monopoly where they can set the price to the point of being a burden on the buyer and the consumer is still forced to pay.

So what can we do? I propose that any gas station in Nanaimo that charges more than $1.28 for gasoline be listed as a price gouger and that no one buy any other merchandise from those stations except the bare necessity – gasoline. No purchase of chocolate bars, chips, papers, drinks, etc.

While the gas station may hold power over the price of gasoline, the consumer holds power over where they will buy everything else.

It’s not much but it’s something. Who knows? It might make them notice.

Ron Sitter

Nanaimo