Gas station war; one owner kills another over pricing.

[TonyM]

Detroit police say a war between two gas stations took a shocking and tragic turn with a station owner shooting his rival who was irate over a gas-price cut.


The shooting happened around 10:45 a.m. at the Marathon station near the corner of Springwells and Fort Street in southwest Detroit.
Investigators say the confrontation started when the owner of the BP station on that corner went to the Marathon station to discuss with its owner why he'd dropped the price for a gallon of unleaded gas to $2.93 per gallon, three cents less than BP.

The discussion quickly escalated into a fight with two more people from the BP station brawling with rivals at Marathon. One man was hit with a baseball bat in the melee. And then, police say, the 51-year-old owner of the Marathon station pulled out a gun and shot the owner of the BP, Jawad Bazzi, a 45-year-old father of five children.

In a wild post-script, it appears the BP station took advantage of the shooting. While police were still swarming the Marathon station, the BP jacked up its prices. WXYZ's Bill Proctor reports that as soon as the owner's body was taken away, workers at BP changed the price-per-gallon of unleaded from $2.96 to $3.09.



AP story...

DETROIT (AP) - A price war between competing Detroit gas stations spurred a fight. And police say it led to one station operator shooting the other to death.

Jawad Bazzi was killed this morning after crossing the street from his BP station and confronting the 51-year-old operator of a Marathon station.

Police say the 46-year-old Bazzi apparently was angry that his competitor was dropping the price of regular, unleaded gas from $2.96 a gallon to $2.93.

The two men began to argue and the Marathon station operator pulled a gun moments later. Police say he fired several shots, hitting Bazzi at least once in the head.

The Marathon station operator was arrested. No charges had been filed as of this evening.

Source (http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=294c7893-a059-43bd-81ce-afc69f90cff2)

[concrete]

Many of the things you can count don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count. -- Albert Einstein

[netwrangler]

That certainly gives new meaning to the term "gas war."

Decades ago, as an oil company Retail Rep in San Francisco, I watched, indeed participated in, the development of the first gas war in that market in years — all this while I was studying Economics in night classes at a University.

What is striking to me about this story is lack of dealer cooperation implied by the altercation. In the SF market then, the dealers on a key corner would work together against their suppliers.

Suppliers [major oil companies, mostly] would lower the price to the dealer to "meet competition." The dealers on a corner would take turns being the first to lower their price so the other dealer[s] could get a lower price from their supplier. Once one supplier lowered their price, the others would usually follow. This created a "bargain" corner, and all dealers benefited from the price elasticity as drivers flocked there.

Obviously, the situation in Detroit is different. I wonder what the difference is.

Are price reductions to the dealer [based on competitive prices] a thing of the past?
Is there a battle going on based on culture or religion?

If there are any Retail Reps on this forum, I'd sure like to hear what they think.
Well, maybe it was just personal.

Thanks, TonyM for the original post.

[cramerica1972]

That certainly gives new meaning to the term "gas war."

Decades ago, as an oil company Retail Rep in San Francisco, I watched, indeed participated in, the development of the first gas war in that market in years — all this while I was studying Economics in night classes at a University.

What is striking to me about this story is lack of dealer cooperation implied by the altercation. In the SF market then, the dealers on a key corner would work together against their suppliers.

Suppliers [major oil companies, mostly] would lower the price to the dealer to "meet competition." The dealers on a corner would take turns being the first to lower their price so the other dealer[s] could get a lower price from their supplier. Once one supplier lowered their price, the others would usually follow. This created a "bargain" corner, and all dealers benefited from the price elasticity as drivers flocked there.

Obviously, the situation in Detroit is different. I wonder what the difference is.

Are price reductions to the dealer [based on competitive prices] a thing of the past?
Is there a battle going on based on culture or religion?

If there are any Retail Reps on this forum, I'd sure like to hear what they think.
Well, maybe it was just personal.

Thanks, TonyM for the original post.that guy should get death,b/c IMHO what he did was capital murder over 3 cent difference in gas price.

[TonyM]

that guy should get death,b/c IMHO what he did was capital murder over 3 cent difference in gas price.

If the man was murdered over a $3 difference would that change things?

While being tried by your peers is the American way, I think the original intent was to have the decision of guilt delivered only after careful consideration of all relevant facts.

[netwrangler]

that guy should get death,b/c IMHO what he did was capital murder over 3 cent difference in gas price.To understand why this fight could take place, you have to understand service station economics.
Lets say that these two stations will pump 100,000 gallons a month when both are at the same price.
If Dealer A lowers his price by $.03/gallon, Dealer B is faced with two unpleasant alternatives:

Lower his price and accept a $3,000/month reduction in net before tax (BT) income.
Hold his price and accept an unknown, but significant, loss in total volume. The change to the bottom line could be more than $3,000/month.



What if Dealer B can't afford to do either?
What if Dealer A doesn't care?
What if Dealer A actually wants to control both stations at the intersection, and has a cousin waiting to take the other location as soon as Dealer B goes broke?
So, lots of "what if's," but I have seen this scenario take place more than once. The point is, for Dealer B, this is not over 3 cents, it's about paying the mortgage, keeping the kids in parochial school, staying in business.

I don't condone the violence at all, but I can certainly understand how it might take place.

If the man was murdered over a $3 difference would that change things?

While being tried by your peers is the American way, I think the original intent was to have the decision of guilt delivered only after careful consideration of all relevant facts.Absolutely right, Tony.

We are just reading a newspaper report. Who knows what really happened? That's what the courts are for.

[cramerica1972]

bottomline is the guy was whacked over money.

[aiki14]

bottomline is the guy was whacked over money.

Can we be sure? The guy gets angry and crosses the street onto the other guys property with malice aforethought, is he armed? Carrying a cricket bat?
Does he threaten, or in some way cause the defendent to be in fear (assault)? Does he strike first (battery)?

The incident occurred on the defendants property (although defendant may be the incorrect term if no charges are filed) and in many states one can use deadly force to defend ones self or ones property against a threat.

I am gonna wait and see before the urge to use Soprano's type descriptions overcomes my sensibilities.

[Rich]

I agree with Aiki, the article states that the BP went over to the Marathon gas station to give him some cookies,,, NOT!!! Then later two other BP employees went over to fight, then someone pulled out a bat and hit someone, not sure which side.

I'm sure the dead BP guy was very polite when he went over there to Marathon to talk things out........................

Sounds to me that these dudes didn't do their five prayers that day.

[TonyM]

bottomline is the guy was whacked over money.


No, the bottom line is that in almost every post you display an amazing lack of cognition. You can only see the world through your own myopic eyes. You establish anything you see or hear in the mainstream media as absolute truth. I'm almost convinced that if the front page of the New York Times ran a headline of "Cramerica1972 was the man behind the grassy knoll" that you would in fact actually believe it.

I hope that one day you become open-minded and finally get to see and enjoy the entire world. Knee-jerk reactions like your own are what led to lynch mobs before our society became a little more civilized.

[bigzip]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/METRO/803280454

Update from Detroit:

The gas station owner that killed the other gas station owner is killed. Live by the gun die by the gun so they say.

[netwrangler]

Oh, Lordy!

I have to tell you, 'gas wars' were not this violent when I was a Retail Rep.