Amador County Gas Prices 10/21

First, here are the numbers as of 10/18/2007...

Safeway (Martell) - $3.05
Mirastar WalMart (Martell) - $3.05
Shell (Martell) - $3.25
Chevron (Martell) - $3.29
Folsom Average - $3.11

And the chart...


So, here are the trends since the last gas price posting at the end of July. Prices in both Amador County and Folsom has been in relative lockstep, with prices dipping to their lowest levels around 8/27, then spiking to the highest levels since about mid-June. Most of this is already known considering most of you fill-up gas on a weekly basis.

Here are some items of note. Safeway has gone on the record saying they would always be a penny below the competition, meaning Mirastar/Safeway. This statement has generally held true to form since Safewway opening in late 2006. An anomaly occurred on approximately 9/15 when Mirastar stayed at $2.67 and Safeway jumped to $2.89. This "inversion" continued until 9/19, at which point the two retailers have mirrored each other's price moves.

Another interesting note is that around 8/6, all four of the Martell gas stations were within 10 cents of each other, then widening to 30 cents by 9/12, then pricing within a 20-25 cent range from then to the present.

So what does this all mean? It continues to appear that both Shell and Chevron have completely abandoned the notion of pricing their gas close to Mirastar and Safeway. While Shell/Chevron price within 15-25 cents of the Folsom average which is slightly below the quoted 10% more than Amador County residents have historically paid for gas compared to Sacramento folks, Safeway/Mirastar continue to price below the Sacramento prices.

Also to note, while Mirastar prices are comparable to Safeway's, Mirastar is consistently empty while the Safeway station is jammed packed. As they say in real estate, it's location, location, location.

Update 4 - Amador County Gas Prices 7/27

Ok, I'm going to start by apologizing to my readers (0, if you exclude the blog readers coming here to read Casey's Earth Mission blog) for having not put up a new post on gas prices in Amador County for 3 months. The good news is that I have kept up with the price changes and have them saved in Excel. So, going off memory from last night's updates, here is the gas price update.

For nearly a month, the Shell and Chevron gas stations at the intersection of Ridge Road and Hwy 49 have been at a price stalemate. Both stations locked their prices at $3.19 even while the Safeway, Mirastar (Wal-Mart), and the Folsom average price have dropped. Did both stations finally tire of keeping up with the low priced gas leaders in Amador County?

Three months ago, these were the price percentage differences:

"...there is only a 16 cent difference, which equates to a 4.5% difference, which is far below the 10% difference historically quoted by locals. Across the street at the Shell station, the difference is even smaller, 4 cents or 1.2% difference."

As of 7/26, the Shell station on Ridge finally ended stalemate and lowered the price to $3.15, with Chevron at $3.19, Safeway at $3.04, Mirastar at $3.09, and the Folsom average at approximately $2.94. With those numbers in hand, the percentage difference between Chevron and Folsom is 7.9%, and between Shell and Folsom is 6.7%.

So, again, the question is: Why have the gas stations in Amador County (Chevron and Shell, in particular) stopped pricing within earshot of Safeway's prices? Is the rack price of gasoline for Amador County Chevron and Shell stations significantly higher than the Chevron and Shell gas stations in Folsom which are pricing in the $2.90s?

Update 3 - 4/29 Sutter Hill Gas Prices

So, it's been almost two months since my last update on gas prices around Sutter Hill (Amador County) compared to the Sacramento Valley (specifically Folsom). This doesn't mean that I haven't been collecting pricing information over this period of time. First, let me post the latest updated chart. You'll notice the prices have bunched up, but I'll discuss that in a moment.


As of 4/27, prices are as follows: Safeway - $3.33, Mirastar - $3.33, Shell - $3.39, Chevron - $3.51, Folsom average - $3.35.

Notice anything interesting? The lower prices that both Safeway and Mirastar (Wal-Mart) had since the beginning of the year over the Folsom average price has evaporated. For the year, Folsom's average prices have been as high as 17 cents over Safeway's prices to a few cents above or below zero nowadays. What does this mean? Well, since the other Sutter Hill gas stations (Chevron and Shell) have pegged their prices an x amount over Safeway in order to maintain their market share, this movement up of Folsom average prices has consequently closed the gap between the Sutter Hill gas stations and Folsom gas stations.

From the last gas update post on March 9th, the Chevron in Sutter Hill was priced 7.2% higher than the average pump price in Folsom. The Safeway-effect was already underway at that point. As of today, there is only a 16 cent difference, which equates to a 4.5% difference, which is far below the 10% difference historically quoted by locals. Across the street at the Shell station, the difference is even smaller, 4 cents or 1.2% difference.

The Safeway-effect has changed the gas price landscape in Amador County, with prices within 5% (high-end) and equal to prices in Folsom. The change was only made possible by the introduction of Safeway gas in the mix, sparking a kind of pricing "war" in which the beneficiaries have been the residents in the area.

In the next installment of the gas price update, I will attempt to add to the chart the daily RBOB quotes. RBOB stands for "reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending" and is specific for delivery at New York Harbor. I'm not sure how to do this properly since there are many different RBOB contracts with monthly delivery/expiration dates. It will probably be easiest to pull the price for the spot month contracts, or contracts set to deliver in the current month. While the RBOB is for gasoline on the East Coast and Gulf regions, it does provide us with a consistent baseline of gasoline price before additives are put in by specific brands (Chevron's Techron, for instance) at the truck rack.

Update 2 - 3/09 Sutter Hill Gas Prices

An article by Liz MacLeod in the Ledger-Dispatch prompted me to provide the latest follow-up on gas prices in Amador County. For the past week, gas prices have increased on a near daily basis. As of today, 3/09, Safeway has bubbled their price for regular unleaded gasoline to an all-time Safeway high of $2.94, while the Chevron and Shell nearby are priced at $3.21 and $3.09, respectively. Without further adieu, the latest chart:


The Chevron is 23 cents higher than the average in Folsom, located in the Sacramento Valley. A 23 cent difference equates to a 7.2% higher pump price at the Chevron compared to the Folsom average. Amador County residents usually mention the pump prices have been historically 10% higher than the Valley. If the highest priced dealer in Amador is pricing only 7.2% higher rather than the mythical 10% difference, then Safeway is starting to make a dent in the prices in Amador, but there is still a ways to go.

Update 1 - 2/27 Sutter Hill Gas Prices

Here is the first update to the original post from last week on Sutter Hill gas prices. Three more stations have been added to the survey (1 in Jackson, Martell, and Ione) from Amador County and two stations have been added from Folsom. I've added the Folsom stations so that we can see the consistent pump price difference between Chevron and Shell stations in Folsom versus Amador County. This move to compare same brand stations is in response to jbjbj's comment that branded stations are forced to purchase their gas from their brand's distributor rather than a wholesaler, which the Safeways and Mirastar/WalMarts can purchase from.


There still exists a 20-30 cent difference between the unbranded versus the branded stations. What is not as noticable is with the inclusion of the Folsom branded stations, comparison of like-branded stations still shows Amador County 10-15 higher than the Valley.

I am still not convinced that branded stations have to purchase from their distributor but I cannot cite a reputable source to confirm.

Update: I believe the article I read that seems to imply that all gas comes from the same place and is the same gas until additives are introduced post-refinery was from the May 08, 2003 Sacramento News & Review.