Last night, while I was reading my “news feed” on Facebook, I saw that one of my friends had posted that they drove to Wilbur and bought their gas there. They said that it was 27 cents cheaper than here in the Coulee.

I wrote a letter a while back about how the gas prices are so high here in our area and said that I would not buy gas here until someone could explain to me why they were so much higher. Well, no one has explained this to me, and I haven’t bought gas here for several months. I spend roughly $50 a week on gas, so about $200 a month.

I now know of several others who are making the decision to not buy gas at any of our Coulee area gas stations, and eventually there will be more. At some point that has to put a dent into someone’s pocket book as a small local business owner. I heard that Jack was asked why his gas prices were so much higher and he said, “It’s what they set my prices at.” Again, I personally do not know how all this works, but common sense would tell me that if Wilbur, Coulee City and Nespelem stations are able to sell gas at a lower price, then these businesses must not be paying as much for their gas if “they” set the prices. If you pay less for something, then you can afford to let it go for less; if you pay more for something then you obviously want to get more for it. So why doesn’t he buy his gas from a supplier who does not charge as much for it?

I may be completely off track on this, because, like I said, I do not understand how all this works, but from talking to people who do understand it I think we are being overcharged. Many of us in this area do not work right down the road from where we live. I drive roughly 170 miles a week back and forth to work. I am lucky compared to some who drive much farther. I am thankful for a good job and a car to get me back and forth, but it is just not fair to our community to be charged so much for gas when areas around us are much lower. It is unfair to the people in our community that we have to make decisions like driving an extra 20-30 miles to get gas because someone owns all the operating gas stations in our area and continues to charge such high prices.

I don’t think that we are being unfair by asking why and to lower the gas prices. We aren’t asking for Jack to only charge $3.00/gallon, just get close to the other stations. Paying 27 cents more per gallon is not even close.

April Smith