Gas, cash, anger flow freely as clerks cope
By Chase Purdy
As gas prices continue to soar, so do the tempers of people at the pumps.
Some of these angry customers are aiming their ire at convenience store clerks, whose jobs seem to be getting tougher with the times.
Roberta Adkins, a traveling manager for Circle K stations, has noticed the change in customers' attitudes.
"It is not all that uncommon for people to come in upset. They scream, they holler, they cuss," Adkins said Friday at one of her stores at U.S. Highway 17 and North Shelmore in Mount Pleasant.
"I actually think the more money they have, the worse they can be."
Adkins, who lives in Summerville, understands the frustration.
She estimates she spends about one-third of her paycheck each week driving back and forth to work.
Gas prices in the Charleston area Friday tied the record high set one day earlier.
A gallon of regular unleaded costs an average of $3.863, up almost $1 from a year ago, according to AAA.
The price increase has accelerated over the past month, soaring nearly 28 cents a gallon.
It's those kinds of prices that have people angry when they have to hand over their money.
South Carolina law requires stations to enforce pre-paying for gas at the pump.
Adkins said people tend to complain more if they have to pay by cash rather than with credit or debit cards.
Carol LeTourneau, who works at the Exxon station at 3700 Rivers Ave. in North Charleston, said customers were more vocal when prices first started going up.
"They'd get angry and ask us why, but they didn't get violent," LeTourneau said. "We do try to explain to them that it's not us raising the prices. We don't even make much (on a gallon of gas). I mean, it's like pennies."
Maybe it's the familiarity, but stations that thrive on regulars seem to get less flak from their customers.
Judy Hahm and Rose Stewart work together at a Sunoco filling station along U.S. Highway 78 in Ladson; both said they've noticed very few outbursts.
"This store is not bad at all," Stewart said.
"Most of the customers are regulars, so they complain about it some but that's to be expected. I complain."
Reach Chase Purdy at cpurdy@postandcourier.com or 937-5709.
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Comments
ForPnC (anonymous) says...
You have to be quite stupid to take it out on the clerk. It's not their fault and they don't see a penny of the money.
June 14, 2008 at 3:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
On a gallon of gasoline the retailer, wholesaler and distributer make about 20 cents profit combined. The government takes 40% of their profit in corporate taxes. The federal and state excise taxes combined are 35 cpg in South Carolina. Taxes are the second highest cost of gasoline at the pump after the cost of crude.
Government makes more off of your cost at the pump than any entity except the crude producer yet produces no jobs or paychecks, and not only doesn't contribute to the economy it hinders it by not allowing Americans to tap their own reserves, estimated to be the third largest untapped sources of crude and natural gas in the world.
Other nations like Saudi Arabia, Venezuala and Russia grow rich and powerful by tapping their natural resources while we are the only country in the world whose government will not allow it's resources to be accessed.
Instead our government want to impose a windfall tax on profits over the 40% already collected. 98.5% of all energy stocks are owned by pension and mutual funds. Those are the funds we buy for our retirement, firefighter and teachers retirement accounts buy them for pensions, cities and states own them for their workers pension funds. When you see Barak call for a windfall profit tax, those are where the money comes from. He makes it sound like he's taxing the evil oil companies, but it's really your pension and retirement savings that the tax comes out of. Hope you like the thought of social security, because he's going to severely damage your chances of collecting a pension or living off of your savings.
June 14, 2008 at 8:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justjerry (anonymous) says...
The sad thing is that we have PLENTY of oil right here within our own borders. More than enough to last us at least 100 years assuming the same consumption patterns we have now. If we were to develop alternative fuels in the mean time we have enough oil for much longer than that.
I talked to someone on primary day campaigning for Clyburn for Congress. I explained that I would not vote for their candidate until he committed publicly to allow the oil industry to get the oil that we have here in the US and support the FairTax. Haven't seen or heard anything yet....
June 14, 2008 at 9:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
Thomas obviously cannot read. Oil companies have a fiduciary duty to their stockholders to make a profit. The stockholders are 98.5% teachers, policemen, firefighters, state and federal employees, 401k investors. When an oil company makes a profit that money belongs not to the company but to the stockholders. That's money most of us are depending on for retirement. What's more, oil companies have been reducing their profit margin, they are down to about 4 cents on the dollar now, less that microsoft, eli-lilly, or practically any other business out there.
Economic ignorance is the only excuse thomas can have to make such blatantly stupid statements. Or maybe it's just plain dishonesty. Has to be one or the other. If I was Saudi Arabia or Venezuala I'd be sticking it to the world and raking in the big bucks too. We deserve it for not allowing ourselves to use our own. We're neck deep in oil and whining because we've forced ourselves to buy theirs at their price, and they're laughing at our whiny butts all the way to the bank.
June 14, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldglory (anonymous) says...
WOOHOO!
Old Glory flying high today
By Adam Parker (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, June 14, 2008
June 14, 2008 at 9:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
Yes, it is very wrong to take out your anger on the clerks.
I was at the Circle K on Mathis Ferry Rd. the other day.
A lady came in yelling at the clerk, because the pump was running too slow. He said, " Lady, what do you want me to do, handjack the gas for you?" The whole store cracked up.
My son's friend filled up his truck the other night, and when he went out to go to work the next morning he only had half a tank. The thieves are at it, and it's only going to get worse.
June 14, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jca (anonymous) says...
rare not nice and very rude.
the station by my house is anything but what you describe they make a dollar over minimum wage not over paid.
i also think its wrong to yell at the clerk its not their fault we watched a woman yesterday use her cell phone to call into the station and blast the clerk for the prices. on the phone while pumping gas. she actually demanded to be charged 1.75 a gallon aqnd got pissed off as all get out when she was charged the same 3.85 the rest of us paid. she yelled into her phone at the black clerk and she was also black too.that the clerk was trying to keep a black woman down. she had churn not children to feed and clothe and deserved to be treated right. she then went into the store and was screaming and demanding money. a cop showed up and we finished pumping our gas and left. to me there is no reason on earth to act like that. she also left 5 young kids none in carseats and one was about 18 months standing n her van the oldest looked to be maybe 7
scary how dumb some people are
June 14, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justjerry (anonymous) says...
Thomas1776 - For the most part majorjohnson beat me to the punch in the rebuttal of your insipid argument. My train of thought is far from fixed which allows me to get alot more facts than you seem to have.
In this country, and in the rest of non communist world, we have an economic system based on supply (the amount of a product that is available for purchase) and demand (the desire of people to purchase said product.) These two forces operate together to determine price. If there is more supply than demand the price will go down. If there is more demand than supply then the price will, wait, you guessed it, go up!
If we avail ourselves of more supply, which we easily and safely can within our own borders, and also use our technological capabilities to develop methods to lessen consumption then the price will go down and we will eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. The result would be a stable supply of oil, jobs for American workers (maybe even some will be union jobs) and a stable and declining price structure because we are not having to compete with the rest of the world to purchase what is being produced and we would be reducing demand through our advances.
The biggest winner in the increase in the oil prices is the federal and state governments. Their take on a gallon of gas or a barrel of oil is far and above what the oil companies, which are owned by individual stockholders, are taking in. Now maybe when you invest in a stock you prefer that the company you have sunk your hard earned money into makes as little as possible. The rest of the world, however, is looking for stock in a company that makes a profit in a productive and responsible manner.
You might want to look hard at Pelosi and Reid (who's approval ratings as the heads of the Congress and Senate are half that of the presidents horribly low ratings) before trying to blame the oil companies. It is these two and their underlings that are the ones that are preventing us from getting at the oil reserves that we have yet to tap right here in the old US of A.
June 14, 2008 at 12:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jmw29410 (anonymous) says...
As someone who worked at convenience stores mainly for extra income, I have to point out a few things.
Some store chains pay better than others and require viable managerial skills.
Customers always assume that C-Store clerks are moronic knuckledraggers and think it's their God Given right to chew on some clerk who is just doing his job.
Perfect examples of rectal customers - The Fat Cats that come to the Marina Store at the Isle of Palms. They are, for the most part, spoiled brats who love nothing more than whining. When asked to prepay for fuel, many times I'd hear "I don't have to! I'm a regular customer here! I come down for two weeks every summer!" And then there's the Scum who patronize the Pantry/Kangaroo on 61 at Pierpont. Especially the Black ones who accuse white clerks of running up the price on the pump when we see them pull up. Special regards to the "gentleman" who screamed at me one night because he could drive to North Charleston and get his gas for 2 cents less per gallon and demanded that I roll back the pump price to match it.
Jerks!!!!
June 14, 2008 at 12:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
FiscalConservative (anonymous) says...
For all of those who think it is a simple supply and demand equation you are mistaken. If supply was so down you would not be able to get gas sometimes. A big part of it is the oil speculators. I have no problem with that though. It is part of our economy. It will bubble just like the housing and eventually burst. These people do not have to put up all of the money for these contracts so they don't. When this bursts, they will lose a lot of money possibly putting some of them out of business. This would be good but our gov't would probably bail them out like they want to do with the Home loans. Now they won't learn their lesson and it will happen again.
June 14, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ashleyriver (anonymous) says...
Stand828---just a small, insignificant correction on your post:
CongressMAN Lindsay Graham is NOT A WOMAN.
Naturally, the validity of anything else in your post comes immediately under suspicion
Sheesh
June 14, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zmysticman (anonymous) says...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1...
And the President has nothing to do with the oil prices? right...
June 14, 2008 at 4:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
deannchas (anonymous) says...
When are people going to get their heads out of the "sand" and start demanding that the Democratic congress as well as John McCain start drilling for oil in the USA and stop blaming those who dont have the power to change things? Wake up AMERICA
June 14, 2008 at 7:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
StateUrName (anonymous) says...
You know majorjohnson it is people like you who crack me up with all your anti-government talk. If you don't like this government then move to Iran, Saudi Arabia, or China where the conservatives control their countries with no apologies.
The only part of government you really do not like is the part that you are not getting something out of it.
It is this government that has created the environment that allows us to live in the lifestyles that we do. You act like the oil companies are some kind of victim. Give me a break. Exxon made a profit of 46 billion dollars. If I am not mistaken, profit is what you have left after you take out all the expenses like drilling, pumping the oil out of the ground, transporting, paying the CEO his 250 million dollar bonus, exploring for other oil fields, any other expenses, and of course the tax man of the federal and state government. I am so tired of you conservatives and liberals who are sucking the life out of this country by always bashing the government.
I personally do not trust big business. They have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted, check the past. I guess you would prefer we go back to the ole school in which big business went uncheck so lets bring back monopolies of old, the unregulated food processing industry, children in the mines and factories, the fifty or sixty hour work week with no thought of overtime so that big business could work us in the ground and I could owe my soul to the company store. To all conservatives and liberals, appreciate what you got. Could it be better? Of course. But this constant pounding is sicking.
June 14, 2008 at 9:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
outrage (anonymous) says...
majorjohnson - FiscalConservative/ You two put together have it right.
StateUrName - It is the Dems with their income redistribution we are sick of. Check out Fairtax.org !! and take an economics course.
BUSINESSES DON'T PAY TAXES, THEY COLLECT TAXES! IF YOU RAISE THEIR TAXES, THEY PUT IT IN THE PRICE OF THE PRODUCT THEY ARE SELLING AND YOU PAY THE TAXES! GET IT!
P.S. - LOOK UP CAPITALISM.
June 14, 2008 at 11:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
StateUrName (anonymous) says...
Fair tax. Outrage are you French because you sound like a lazy Frenchman because they have had the fair tax(ATV) for years. If citizen A makes 10,000 dollars, he pays only a thousand dollars in taxes which is only ten percent of his income. Sounds fair so far. If citizen B makes 1 million dollars, she would pay 100,000 dollars in taxes and that is only ten percent of her income. Again this is only fair to her. You know that tax shore is fair because both people only had to pay ten percent of their income. I know that Citizen B will struggle to find a way to take care of that 900,000 dollars that is left and citizen A will be grateful for 9,000 dollars in his pocket because God knows it is his fault for his income level. Outrage you are just a whiny spoiled American. I am sorry that you can't have that fifth BMW in the yard because mean old Uncle Sam who created the security in this land for you to have a job in which you have done well or created an atmosphere in which you were able to make so much money as a business man. We know it is a sacrifice on your part to not have that fifth BMW in the yard. Business pass on all taxes. No they don't. They sell their product at a price in which the public will buy their product. Look at the price of fuel. Did grocery stores match the cost of fuel increases with the price of their food? No. They absorb some of that cost. Just like they do when it comes to taxes. They absorb some of the price of their own taxes because that is what competition makes you d. They only economics class you want me to take is the one in which it justifys your position to make as much money as you want without giving any of it up, even though the government protects and allows you to make the income you do have. How do you think this country got to the point of prosperity that we truly do have, even if you are poor or rich? The government responded to the needs of the people. I guess you would like to go back to the days of the Company store. Lets go back to the good old days where business pretty much did anything they wanted to do (They treated people so well.) and no body could stop them. I guess we need to have children back in the factories and mines or no labor laws. We need to get rid of minimum wages, we need to get rid of require overtime for work after 40 hours and allow businesses to work people as much as they would like without any fair compensation, limited public schools, should allow no form of labor unions(people should feel glad they have a job), and lets just deregulate everything and have no government because people treat each other so well without government interference. And as I said before, people like you, Outrage, only want the part of government which benefits them. You are nothing but a spoiled whiny American. Grow up and recognize what we do have here. Can we improve it of course, but not in your selfish, regressive ways.
June 15, 2008 at 12:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rollo (anonymous) says...
StateUrName
First, The Fair Tax has nothing to do with income. You are advertising your ignorance, again!
Second, This government, from which you believe all blessings flow, was the creation of industrious, intelligent, thoughtful, and wealthy businessmen.
Your "How do you think this country got to the point of prosperity that we truly do have, even if you are poor or rich? The government responded to the needs of the people. I guess you would like to go back to the days of the Company store. Lets go back to the good old days where business pretty much did anything they wanted to do (They treated people so well.) and no body could stop them..."
Displays your lack of depth in thought and knowledge. The businesses that employed the practices you describe did so with the full blessing and co-operation of government!!
It was individuals, many of them were business owners themselves, who influenced government to make changes!
Thanks for posting and showing how ignorant and shallow some people can be, we need to be reminded sometimes that the dinosaur is not really extinct.
June 15, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
outrage (anonymous) says...
StateUrName - You must be knew on this board. Everybody on this board, by now, knows I am a Deputy Sheriff and not a wealthy person.
I the spoiled Irish/American(not French) drives a 1997 chevy! So, I guess I am spoiled.
The French do not have anything similar to the Fairtax, so stop listening to the left wing liberals and do some of your own research. Maybe you will learn something.
Let me guess, you believe in a Socialist society!
My point is! Tax everyone the same, through consumption, not through a 65,000+ page tax code. Eliminate the corporate tax and watch the jobs come back to this country and the trillions of dollars in offshore bank accounts come home. Which would mean more money for the banks to lend, meaning lower interest rates. I don't have anymore time to help you right now, but I will check back tonight.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
June 15, 2008 at 11:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
VAT is not the same as fair tax. VAT is value added tax and is applied at every stage of ever purchase, from buying the raw materials to the retail sale. Fair tax has nothing to do with income, and the income tax in France is suffocating. Capitalism lifted more poor people out of poverty than any other economic system in the history of the world. France has almost 30% of it's population out of work, 40% of the population working for the government, and the other 30% paying for the first 70%.
In short, StateUrName has no idea what he's talking about.
June 15, 2008 at 5:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rollo (anonymous) says...
Majorj...
The Fair Tax has nothing to do with income.
The fact is that income is the only tool that most Americans have to develop and grow their wealth. When income is taxed, part of that tool is taken away! Under the Fair Tax, I can decide how much of that tool I can give to gov't on a weekly basis. This would allow me much more flexibility in my personal finances. And allow me to utilize much more of my 'income tool' as I need it to achieve my goals.
The Fair Tax is FREEDOM!
June 15, 2008 at 7:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rollo (anonymous) says...
I notice that 'StateUrName' has not been back, hopefully he's studying his 1930 economics texts to see where he went wrong.
Better, he is answering calls from his children and grands on Fathers' Day and thinking what a wonderful world he can leave to them if he educates himself and them on The Fair Tax!
June 15, 2008 at 7:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rollo (anonymous) says...
June 15, 2008 at 7:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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