Tuesday and Wednesday were good days to fill the gas tank.
Thursday was even better as gas prices dipped below $1 per litre at several stations in Courtenay and Comox, the only B.C. towns to do so.
As of Thursday afternoon, the best bang for the buck could be found at Costco, Superstore, Safeway, the Chevrons in both towns and the Aspen Co-op Gas Bar in Comox.
Costco led the charge at 96.9.
“It’s nice having Costco here, for sure,” a motorist named Lena said while filling her tank at Safeway. “Drop the price of gas — I’m not going to complain. I just filled up for less than 50 bucks. When the price was high, 50 bucks wouldn’t fill my tank.”
“I shop around for gas,” echoed Cathy, who enjoyed a discount with a Safeway card. “I love these wars.”
Courtenay resident Kari Mathew — recalling the price of gas was cheaper last summer in Williams Lake before she moved to the Valley — received a four-cent discount with a Costco card.
“Quite nice,” she said. “Gas war — keep going, for as long as it possibly can.”
Mathew knows several Campbell River residents who have made the trip south to fill jerry cans and “everything they possibly can” to avoid paying 127.9 in their town.
But not all are happy when gas stations wage war.
Andrew Rice, general manager at Rice Toyota Courtenay, said private owners buying gas at $1.21 per litre are losing money.
While he likes cheap gas as much as the next person, Rice is concerned about established businesses that support the local economy.
Such as Comox Esso at Ryan and Anderton, owned by Sung Bae Kim and his wife Angela, who dropped their price this week to 119.9.
“He’s getting close to shutting his doors,” Rice said. “He is losing almost three grand a day in gas sales alone. He’s feeling the hurt big time.”
“We cannot go lower,” said Kim, who has placed signs on his pumps to explain the prices after being accused of stealing from customers.
The Kims have cut the hours of their four employees and lowered their own paycheques to alleviate the problem.
“It’s draining us,” said Angela, who refers to the gas war as a “corporate fight” that has “put a big hiccup in everybody’s lives.”
“We don’t want to lose our staff,” she said. “It’s a no-win situation.”
Angela feels Costco’s marketing strategy is “ruthless” in terms of selling memberships.
“Couldn’t Costco have found a better way to come into the community?” she said.
Costco Wholesale Canada spokesperson Ron Damiani said the company made more than $1 billion in membership revenue last year.
“Our memberships are our oxygen,” said Damiani, who could not comment on market forces.
Costco provides value for the dollar by taking costs out of its operating structure. In gasoline, the company does not accept Visa or MasterCard, which charges a few cents for every litre of gas. Furthermore, its gas bars are not open 24 hours a day, which saves on employee costs.
“That’s a major investment,” Damiani said.
In addition, Costco only carries regular and super grades of gasoline, thereby preventing the company from having to invest in the entire infrastructure.
“Those three factors, we take them as part of our reason for being,” Damiani said. “We provide these savings right back to our members because people pay to shop at Costco. If they don’t get value for their money, they don’t renew their memberships.”
Despite the better price at Costco, Rice still prefers to gas up at Comox Esso.
“We’re always going to use him because it’s convenience for us,” Rice said. “We’re not going to buy Costco gas because we believe in the little guy.”
reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
