What would we think if we had to pay the REAL price for our gas? What if we had to factor in the cost of protecting the oil companies and their pipelines There is a military cost to our oil isn't there? Is that not a part of the cost of gasoline?

I'll write about this on Monday, Mitch, but it happens both for gas and cigarettes.

JRB -- we do factor those in. It's called "taxes". Think how much we pay in taxes for gas. Do you think it all goes for roads?

Nice to see Bruce Gordon has a good gig.

Gas in Orrock Township at Sandune Stop is $1.99 this afternoon.

What are the directions to Sandune Stop?

Seriously, government mandated minimum prices are evil and harmful to the economy. Sorry to be redundant.

I'm not going to argue in favor of the law, but calling small gas stations as "uncompetitive" isn't altogether fair. They can compete in other ways, usually by offering products and services you won't find at a Sam's Club gas station. They don't make money on gas; they make it on pop and jerky. They're more convenient than Rainbow for a can of Coke, for example. But when the Sam's Club takes away half the gas business, it kills the walk-in traffic, and that kills the bottom line.

It's not so much a problem in a metro area; there'll always be a Holiday or SA here. It's probably more of a problem in smaller towns where a ten-pump Wal-Mart loss leader can kill the convenience store down the block, and then the town's lost a place where people can get a gallon of milk on the way home.

Again, not a reason for the state to get involved. (The state of Minnesota probably put more gas stations out of business years ago with regulations that mandated removal of old underground tanks, but that's another story.) But I'm not cheerful about another class of small local businessmen going under when Wal-Mart comes to town.

No, I don't want the small business owners to go out of business because Wal Mart lumbers along. However, why are consumers penalized by state government? How is it the state's job to tell a business owner how much he or she can charge for a commodity? I don't get that at all.

Since Wal Mart and friends aren't going away any time soon...I think the question for those small [insert business of your choice here] is "what advantage do I offer to a customer? What are my unique selling advantages? [insert answers like...customer service...assistance with installation...a loaner car...a baker's dozen...etc.]

When not selling real estate...I have a background in training and consulting - and still provide customer service training through a local company. It's the single best competitive advantage any small business has...they just don't know how to build it and leverage it.

Jane N-B
www.TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com

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