The letter read, in full: "We're disgusted with Rutter's on the issue of gouging at the gas pump. Rutter's has an insatiable appetite for charging the highest gas prices. Rutter's doesn't like the banks to overcharge them when customers use debit cards. Well, Scott Hartman, we [image-nocss] the customers don't like you, Rutter's overcharging us for gas."
By "insatiable appetite," the letter referred to a statement Hartman'smade in a recent story, "Debit-Fee Reduction Worries Some Mid-Sized Banks."It read:
"The Durbin Amendment represents reform retailers like Rutter's Farm Stores have waited on for years. Since 2009, the cost of swiping for the Manchester Township-based convenience store chain grew 20 percent to $5 million last year, said CEO Scott Hartman.
"Rutter's operates 55 gas stations in six central Pennsylvania counties. Next to labor and rent, swipe fees are the company's third largest expenditure, Hartman said.
"We're disgusted with the banking community on this issue," he said. "It's because the banks have an insatiable appetite for generating profits with awful fees. For banks to be lobbying Congress to keep a monopoly in place in this day and age is just wrong, but they never give up. They're an animal that needs to constantly be fed."
"It's likely double whammy at places like Rutter's, where a patron might swipe at the pump for gas then make another purchase by plastic inside the store.
"Everytime you swipe your card, we get a fee," he said, adding that lower fees would be passed onto consumers in the form of lower prices."
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The Daily Record editorial defended the chain on the issue of gasoline prices:
"A letter to the editor on Thursday's editorial page took issue with Rutter's--and CEO Scott Hartman--over the price of the convenience store chain's gasoline.
"No one is happy about these high gasoline prices, and it's understandable when folks grumble their frustration. But the causes of the high prices lie far beyond comparatively small retailers such as Rutter's--they lie on Wall Street, among other places.
"And, in fact, we have it relatively good here in York County. According to data on the GasBuddy.com website late last week, York County had the lowest average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Pennsylvania.
"And among gas retailers in York County, Rutter's operated five of the 10 lowest-priced retail locations in the county.
"Obviously, prices change constantly--even among stores owned by the same company as they compete with other sellers--so that information might not hold true at this particular moment (see current prices at www.inyork.com/drive). But it's clear that Rutter's gas prices are competitive, and its margins are thin. Mr. Hartman said his company nets an average of just 1-cent to 2-cents per gallon over the course of a year. He cites industry reports that his company has the lowest margin in the northeast region.
"That won't stop people from complaining about the price of a commodity that most of us need to survive--to get to work so we can feed our families.
"But please don't yell at the guy behind the convenience store's counter--or even the CEO desk. That's just not fair."
York, Pa.-based Rutter's Farm Stores is a family-owned and -managed enterprise that operates 55 convenience stores throughout south central Pennsylvania.
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