Officials: Boycotts misplace BP blame
Reader poll
JANESVILLE — For some drivers, BP’s green and yellow sunflower logo has ceased to represent gas, a gallon of milk and a quick snack.
Instead, the big sunflower is a reminder of the oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, and for some it’s enough to make them take their gasoline business elsewhere.
In the middle of those two visions, are convenience store owners, whose livelihoods depend more on the milk and the snacks than the gasoline.
Unfortunately, those kinds of boycotts hurt only local business people, state and local industry representatives say.
Statewide, gas station owners with BP signs out front are anxious, but they haven’t noticed a significant drop in sales, said Pam Christenson, director of public affairs for the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association.
The BP brand has about a 30 percent market share in Wisconsin, but it doesn’t own any gas stations. It got out of that business many years ago, explained Alicia Clark, director of retail operations for the Janesville-based Golden Oil.
Golden Oil Company owns 10 gas stations and has a network of 20 dealers and supplies BP gasoline to all of them.
“Many people don’t really know how the industry works,” Clark said. “Independent, local, owner-operators run them. They have nothing to do with BP.”
And here’s the kicker: Those owner-operators make almost no money on gas sales.
“The margins on gas are razor thin,” said Christenson.
How thin?
“Pennies on the gallon,” Christenson said.
Then, every time a consumer swipes a credit card, the card company takes a percentage.
For example, if gas was $3 a gallon, a credit card company would get between 6- and 9-cents a gallon.
It’s inside sales that matter, both Christenson and Clark stressed.
“People aren’t going to make two stops, one for gas and one for something else,” Clark said.
Most station owners don’t have the ability to rebrand, even if they wanted to—they’re under contracts that average about 10 years.
And even though station owners make almost no money on gas, those sales are still important to the business.
“Part of the value of the business is based on the number of gallons sold,” Cark said.
Jun 9, 2010 at 11:16 p.m.
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Actually, just because the product you buy doesn't say "BP" on it doesn't mean it isn't a BP product. There are a handful of companies doing the majority of the drilling and refining. BP produces many products that don't end up with the BP name on them. Let's not forget 11 people lost their lives in this disaster, and BP as a company is really hurting over this. It is not benefiting them to not be able to control the spill. Its costing them a fortune, not to mention the business losses and harm that has come to their reputation. Most other major oil companies have their own experts on site as well trying to help stop this. Drilling experts from all over are down there trying to help. The Coast Guard is involved. Everyone is doing everything possible at this point, and it doesn't appear to me that anyone is taking it lightly. The problem is that it is spilling out 5000 feet below the surface of the water. The pressure is a lot higher at that depth and the environment is different. Environmentalists didn't want anyone drilling in Alaska, but the reality of it is there is a long history of arctic drilling. We know how to do that type of drilling, and its much easier than this because the oil is closer to the surface. The risk with moving away from arctic drilling is that you're moving much closer to people, communities, and economies that can be very seriously hurt by a disaster like this. This deep water drilling is much newer. No one knows how to fix this, as is clearly the case since it is still leaking all these days later after many failed attempts to control it. A multitude of companies dropped the ball on safety, preparedness, and engineering. The government dropped the ball on oversight and regulation. There were many failures here on all levels, but the reality is that even when very smart people do everything right, bad things still can happen and things can still break. I'm not saying that everyone did everything right by any means, but as long as we are dependent on oil as a primary fuel source we have to realize that these are the risks. Just because we've chosen to ignore them and have been lucky enough not to have anything like this happen in 20 years doesn't mean that these aren't the risks we take everyday. It doesn't matter what name is on the fuel you chose to buy, it all comes from the same place with the same risks attached. This could very easily have happened to any other company handling oil. If it makes you feel better to single BP out as the only bad guy here, go ahead, I can't stop you, but at least recognize that as long as we need this product someone has to provide it and there are risks involved.
Jun 9, 2010 at 12:43 p.m.
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Why Doesnt the President Sit down and talk face to face with BP and maybe they could work together to fix the problem and clean up, it would be a lot better that the Pres trying to make points by shifting the blame, work to gether for heaven sake.
Jun 9, 2010 at 12:40 p.m.
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Consider this: Exxon-Mobil is doing just as much drilling with just as much probability for disaster as BP. You don't gain anything by boycotting BP and taking your business to another gas station. Ultimately, you're killing a local business. Feel better about yourself now?
Jun 9, 2010 at 8:30 a.m.
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It won't hurt BP if we stop buying gas there? What do you think they make them huge profits on? OIL!!!!
Jun 9, 2010 at 8:17 a.m.
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The bottom line is that they sell BP gas by choice.
Jun 8, 2010 at 7:05 p.m.
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The President says we gotta kick someone's butt.
Jun 8, 2010 at 5:23 p.m.
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Like I said before, why put more local people out of business?
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