SAN FRANCISCO -- At Bob Oyster's Shell station in San Francisco, regular unleaded gasoline is $4.33 a gallon, plus is $4.43 and V-Power is $4.53.
Putting the price way up over $4 a gallon isn't about making a profit, Oyster told The San Francisco Chronicle. It's about making a statement to a multinational corporation. After Shell forced him to pay higher prices for gasoline in San Francisco and raised his rent, he decided to fight back, he said.
I got fed up, Oyster told the newspaper. It makes a statement, and I guess when people [image-nocss] see that price they also see the Shell sign right next to it.
In fact, far from making a huge profit, Oyster is going out of business. He has operated this Shell station for 22 years, but he is walking away from it at the end of the month, handing over the keys to Shell officials and expecting them to shut it down, the report said.
I'm getting nothing for the station, he said. I just give them the keys and walk away. They told me they were probably just going to fence it and bulldoze it anyway.
Dennis DeCota, executive director of the California Service Station & Automotive Repair Association (CSSARA), told the paper, The dealer can no longer be competitive. The companies are squeezing these guys out. Bob's tired of it, as a lot of us are. It's just wrong.
Shell denied the allegations. I can only speak for Shell, but the majority of our sites are independently owned, company spokesperson Karyn Leonardi-Cattolica told the paper. In fact, she added, the number of independents is increasing.
Oyster said his rent has gone up exponentially; 15 years ago, it was $1,000 a month. Then it went to $6,000, then $8,000, and five years ago the company wanted $13,000. Oyster said he was able to appeal that amount, based on real estate values, and we got it down to $6,000, but this year Shell came back with a demand of $13,000 again.
To the extent that rents went up, it was to bring them in line with the rest of the market, Leonardi-Cattolica has said of similar rent increases, according to the report.
DeCota and Oyster said that they believe if the dealers like them leave, a company like Shell will run its stations with its own employees and set its own pump prices, said the report.
I'm going out with a bang, Oyster told the Chronicle. And I don't care if I don't pump a gallon on the last day.
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