Latest price check show intense competition in the region

Before I do anything, here's what I have so far this week with five days data out of a possible seven days:

• Heating and stove oils show a very modest 14/100ths of a cent decline.
• Diesel shows "no change" and...
• Gasoline shows an added 1.4 cents a litre.

I'll keep you updated with another release and blog posting late tomorrow night on what to expect for Thursday.

Now, here's what I have for this weeks price check of heating oils in the St. John's region. I have added a few observations from the calling around that I done this morning with a few odd things showing up.

Make note of the "notations" at the end:

Company......................Cents/Litre

Harvey's Oil.......................................78.05*

Irving Oil...........................................76.05**

ESSO (Imperial)...............................76.05*

North Atlantic...................................76.05

Ultramar Ltd....................................76.05

Chafe's Oil.........................................76.05

Discount Fuels..................................70.40

A-1 Fuels...........................................70.00

Skinner's Oil......................................71.76

Price difference.......................8.5 cents/Lt or $76.50 + HST

That means a difference of $86.75 based on a 900/Lt fill-up!

Of note!

*To get prices from Harvey's, they asked for a lot of information as regards to my street addy and such which was a little troublesome considering all I wanted to know was the current price, but here's where it got a little too strange. I was given two prices, one of which I was told was if I was a current Harvey's Oil customer. That price was 78.05/Lt cents a litre.

If I wasn't a Harvey's customer, then my price was 70.05/Lt cents a litre just to switch over to Harvey's. Now, pardon me for saying this, but if I were a Harvey's customer, how come I'm not getting the 70.05/Lt price anyway?

**Both Irving and ESSO (Imperial) had phone center operators answering calls from New Brunswick. If I'm going to buy here in Newfoundland and Labrador, it might be a good idea to check where their main centers of operation are located in order to keep workers here in the province. On the same note, these companies may be well advised that if they're going to be operating here in the province, why don't you have more office staff here in the first place?

That's it for this entry. If you have any information that you might want to pass along that might be pertinent to the readers out there, why not drop me a note?

Regards,

George