Gas Station Owner Who Lost $12K After Lowering Prices Says It Was Worth It

A gas station owner in Georgia has said he has no regrets about taking a financial hit in order to offer his customers discounted fuel over the July 4 weekend.

With a gallon of gas in the Peach state fetching an average of $4.31 over the holiday period, Ravi Patel offered a special discount to help out drivers coming to his A to Z convenience store in Hinesville.

For three hours on Monday, he charged $1.99 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline for cash or customers with a Chevron credit card. Other credit and debit purchasers paid $2.09 per gallon.

Cars were lined up for more than a mile to take advantage of the deal available at the Chevron outlet on East General Screven Way.

He told local media that he had consulted with his brother about the need "to do something to give back to the community" and do something "to ease the burden on everyone's wallet."

With the cost price of gas at $3.85, Patel said he would lose around $1.86 a gallon and for the duration of the deal, he was as much as $12,000 out of pocket.

However, he said he was happy to do it. "Everyone's wallet's taking a hit right now in 2022," he told WTOC, "so the least we can do as a locally, independently owned convenience store is give back for the community."

One driver, Darlene Hills, told the outlet that she was not surprised at Patel's generosity. "They're always doing something for the community, they're always giving back."

As Americans face high prices at the pump, the U.S. convenience store chain Sheetz also offered a special discount deal for those filling up over the July 4 holiday in the six states where it operates its 650 store locations.

With the Biden administration battling the fallout of soaring gas prices, there was some good news this week after gasoline futures fell more than 10 percent on Tuesday and are down more than a fifth since June, raising hopes that prices at the pump might fall.

The price of U.S. crude oil was around $98 per barrel on Wednesday, down from about $108 late last week, while Brent crude fell below $100 per barrel, down from about $111 last week.

After hitting a peak of more than $5 a gallon, a 50 percent increase in one year from $3.13, the national average for a gallon of gasoline on Thursday now stands at $4.75, according to AAA.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at gas price tracking site GasBuddy, said lower crude oil prices could translate into a cut of between 40 to 65 cents for a gallon of gas at the pump in the coming weeks.

"Stations are getting lower prices already," he told The Hill. "Prices could go down a penny or two every day or two for the next six weeks as long as nothing changes."