December 27,2018-
The website Gas Buddy reports that the small Central Valley town of Lemoore is the cheapest place to buy gas this holiday season. The 7 -Eleven in town is selling regular today for $2.20 per gallon, best price in the state says the Gas Buddy website.
That compares to what most Californians have been paying – an average of $3.27 a gallon or more. Many stations are still posting gas near $4 despite a huge drop in oil prices from $ 70 a barrel in August to about $45 this week.
Competition for your gas dollar has grown in the past few years offering more suppliers, larger stations and more of them. For some reason, it’s all happening in Lemoore.
One new player in Lemoore’s gas price derby is the new Yokut Gas station that opened early 2018 and offers 24 pumps to go with 24 slot machines. The place is big at 8000sf- big for any station.Operated by the Tachi tribe they can offer below market prices in part because they don’t have to pay state taxes on the fuel they sell.Fuel is not the only profit center where there is a tax advantage for tribes.That price break includes tobacco, sales tax and casino gambling.
Today Yokut Gas is selling regular for $2.46, still not the lowest in town. The region has another tough new competitor in Costco in Hanford that is selling regular today at $2.69 – pushing all the little guys to compete or go home.
Other Indian-owned stations in the Central Valley include Chukchansi Crossing Fuel Station & Travel Center in Coarsegold and the Tule Indian Tribe stations in Porterville and near Avenal.
While many gas stations were closing a decade ago, facing leaking underground tanks – todays newer gas stations are much larger than the old corner station, now offering a bunch more for your pit stop, filling up on more than gas.
An example of the new larger stations are the several new Arco outlets in Visalia and the south Valley being built by one developer.Also we are stopping at more of those huge truck stops the sprawl over 10 to 15 acres like then prosed Flying J station next to Loves in Tulare and a similar size one in Goshen now under construction.
There are even some new players in the gasoline supply game as well this year including Pemex Oil (Mexico based) with a new station in Hanford and Sinclair Gas that is opening new stations in California including in Orosi now, and competing on price.
Then there are the establishment players like Chevron with seven locations in the Hanford /Lemoore area that offer gas but with no discount despite that big drop in the price of oil in the past several months.Still selling gas at $3.70 at some of their locations you would end up paying $10 to 15 more to fill your tank than at the cheaper stations. They make sure they are convenient however – jus around the corner.
The good news as 2018 turns to 2019 is that Americans generally are spending less this month on gas. ”Americans are spending $225 million less every day on gasoline than they did some 75 days ago” remarks a Gas Buddy analyst.