By Darcy Ellis
Editor

5-15-2008

The pinch at the pump is only going to get worse for drivers in Inyo County this summer.
That’s the indication being given by an informal survey taken Tuesday after the prices for unleaded and diesel took a noticeable jump at several local service stations.
Results of the survey, which included a count of the fuel prices at 17 gas stations from Bishop to Lone Pine, show that Inyo County’s average price per gallon is 32 cents higher than the national average – and climbing.

Many of the retailers contacted attributed the rising gas costs – and current $4.05 per gallon average for unleaded in Inyo County – to the usual suspects: ever-increasing oil prices on the international market and the need to recoup their costs with each fuel shipment rolling through on U.S. 395 in their suppliers’ own gas-guzzling rigs.
“The price per barrel of oil is going up every day,” said Joel Perry at Bishop Creek Chevron, one of eight Bishop service stations polled on Tuesday and one of several countywide to raise their rates at the pump this week in response to oil prices shooting to a near record $127 a barrel.
According to published reports, the spike in oil prices comes in response to concerns that OPEC may consider cutting crude oil production.
Those same reports say gas prices across the nation rose to a new record Tuesday at more than $3.73 a gallon – still 23 cents lower than the cheapest gas found in Inyo County – with projections showing a continued climb in anticipation of Memorial Day and the start of the summer driving season.  
Bishop Creek Chevron raised its unleaded fuel prices on Monday to $4.13 per gallon and diesel to $4.75 per gallon.
The Shell Y Mart in Bishop raised its prices on Tuesday to $4.05 a gallon for regular unleaded and $4.73 a gallon for diesel. What Y Mart charges, employee Bob Craig said, “depends on what the owner pays.”
Eastern Sierra Oil on East Line Street in Bishop, which caters to clients with business and private accounts, increased its prices on Tuesday morning to $4.01 a gallon for regular unleaded and $4.69 for diesel. Like Craig at Y Mart, employee Jim McDade cited a direct correlation between the price at the pump and what the company shells out per load of fuel. “Whatever we pay depends on if we raise or lower the price,” he explained, and unfortunately, the cost for the retailer has been on “a steady increase for about a year, but a heavy increase over the last six months.”
At the Mobil in Big Pine, prices at the pump were raised Tuesday afternoon, according to attendant Jill Montgomery, in response to the ongoing hikes in the price per barrel on oil.
“The price of oil goes up daily,” she said. “We raise our gas prices when we get a new delivery, but in the meantime we try to keep our prices low.”
Keeping prices “low,” or at least at a constant, is not always possible when the other variable to running a business – staying in step with competition – is brought into the equation.
Particularly when so many consumers are willing to drive those extra miles in search of the best bargain in a landscape filled with gas prices over the $4 a gallon mark.
The Big Pine 76, located adjacent to the Mobil, raised its prices “a couple of days ago” to $4.09 a gallon for regular unleaded and $4.89 for diesel – the same rates the Mobil switched to on Tuesday. The Big Pine Chevron, which owner Marguerita Sandoval said raises its prices “every day” in response to costs that are always “going up,” was charging $4.09 a gallon for regular unleaded on Tuesday and $4.79 a gallon for diesel.
Competition was also at play on Tuesday in Lone Pine, where the Mobil and the gas station at Carl’s Jr., located directly across Main Street from one another, were charging the exact same prices down the board – $4.01 a gallon for regular unleaded, $4.11 for plus, $4.21 for supreme and $4.79 for diesel.
The anomaly in Lone Pine is Lee’s Frontier Liquor and Gas at the south end of town, where the price on Tuesday for a gallon of regular unleaded was $4.13 and diesel was $4.99. According to one resident, the day prior, diesel went for $4.69 a gallon.

Following a “fill-up” in Hesperia, Calif. that cost $225, this RV vacationer hit the pump again in Bishop 223 miles later. “This’ll probably set me back another $100 bucks,” the RV’s owner glumly said. Photo by Ken Koerner

For the time being, until the next fuel shipment comes in, competition has the prices at the two service stations in Independence at the same rates.
Valley Market raised its prices last week to $4.09 a gallon for regular unleaded, $4.19 for plus and $4.29 for supreme. According to employee Ashley Lowe, prices have been steadily on the rise for the past year or so, but it seems like “just in the last month” the gas station is having to change its rates more frequently to keep up with the other retailers up and down the valley.
Just down the street at Independence Shell, owner Praba Soma explained that he, too, is having to raise his prices every week when he gets a new fuel shipment. “And even if we don’t get a shipment we have to raise prices because our competitors do,” he said.
But Praba said he did receive a load of fuel on Monday and didn’t raise his prices, which as of Tuesday were exactly what Valley Market was charging a few blocks away.
Back in Bishop, Manor Market on West Line Street also seems to set its prices based on what’s happening with the other retailers in the area. Manor raised its prices on Tuesday to $4.05 a gallon for regular unleaded and $4.69 for diesel. According to employee Laura Simpson, the prices at the privately-owned business are changed once a week, “as the prices in town go up.”
A little closer to town on West Line Street, Giggle Springs Too “waited about two weeks” before making the decision to raise prices to $3.97 (cash) and $4.01 (credit) a gallon for regular unleaded, said clerk Cheyenne McKellips.
Giggle Springs on Main Street in Bishop raised its prices Tuesday to $3.99 a gallon for regular unleaded. An employee there said price changes go into effect depending on what their nearest competitor, located a stone’s throw away, does. “When AM-PM goes up, we go up,” he said.
The reactionary move is not lost on JT Kamaljit, who said the prices at the AM-PM/Arco station he owns with his father are set by the corporate office.
“They could change every day, they could change every other day,” Kamaljit said. “When we get a fax from our corporate headquarters about 3 p.m. each afternoon, that’s when we learn what’s going to happen with the price per gallon.”
Kamaljit added that locally they do not adjust their prices to stay competitive, or to sell at a lower rate, but “we have noticed that about every time we go out and change the prices on our signs, the station across the street will be changing theirs pretty quickly and pretty consistently.”
On Tuesday, Arco was charging $3.99 a gallon for regular unleaded.
The one gas station in Inyo County that is, apparently, making an effort to offer lower costs than other retailers is the Paiute Palace Gas Station on North Sierra Highway.
The Palace gas station as of Tuesday was charging $3.98 a gallon for regular unleaded and $4.55 for diesel (it is not currently dispensing plus or supreme).
According to Assistant Manager Laura Soto, “as a general rule we change our prices only when the stations in town change theirs, and we try to stay a penny to two cents below what they charge.”
Soto said she has seen “a little bit” of increase in traffic from motorists frequenting the gas station, but couldn’t say whether that was related to their competitive pricing.
What several of the retailers surveyed Tuesday did not notice was a decrease in motorists at the pump, at least “not yet,” said Craig from Bishop’s Y Mart.
And while drivers feeling the sting are sure to experience the discomfort for some time to come, it’s not without some measure of sympathy, especially from those making a living at Inyo County’s various service stations.
Perry, the employee at Bishop Creek Chevron, had the dubious honor of changing the business’ signs Monday to reflect the higher gas prices.
“I’m sure we all (in the gasoline business) feel like executioners when we go out there and change those signs to the higher prices,” he said. “I feel like they should start giving us hoods.”
McDade from Eastern Sierra Oil agreed. “If we had any control over it, we wouldn’t do it (raise prices so high),” he said.
Kamaljit noted that everyone is suffering from high fuel costs.
“Hey, I have to fill up my tank too,” he said. “Yeah, I feel bad for us. That last fill-up cost me $97. You know that made me feel plenty bad.”
If that sounds anything like cold comfort, Inyo County motorists may at least be able to take solace in one small fact: they don’t live in Bridgeport.
On Tuesday, cost at the Texaco Mo-Mart in Mono County’s seat for regular unleaded was $4.59 a gallon, with plus ringing up at $4.69 a gallon, supreme at $4.79 a gallon and diesel at $5.09.
“And everything is going up 20 cents tomorrow,” the clerk said.