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Gas station owner told to raise prices

MERRILL, Wis. - A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices.

Center City BP owner Raj Bhandari has been offering senior citizens a 2 cent per gallon price break and discount cards that let sports boosters pay 3 cents less per gallon.

But the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2 percent more than the wholesale price.

Bhandari said he received a letter from the state auditor last month saying the state would sue him if he did not raise his prices. The state could penalize him for each discounted gallon he sold, with the fine determined by a judge.


Market freedom as guaranteed...
by das monde on Wed May 9th, 2007 at 08:39:30 AM EST
Like laws on fixed prices for books, this aims at protecting small retailers from the competition of big chains, which could otherwise easily undercut them and bankrupt them, so it's a decent law (to keep diversity in suppliers, support small local businesses, for instance).

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed May 9th, 2007 at 09:03:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
the concept shouldn't be applied to single station owners doing charity operations.  
by HiD on Wed May 9th, 2007 at 02:39:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The US government has plenty of extremely competent analysts working for it that issue very solid reports. Of course, their findings rarely mesh with political whims.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 02:23:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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