Members of the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association had an emergency meeting yesterday and reached agreement on action they will take in response to the non-response by the government to their request for a change in the margin, which dictates the level of profits they earn.

After months of repeated appeals and warnings, Raymond Jones, association president, surrounded by colleagues in the industry, told reporters they have reached the end of the line in suffering the losses they have been experiencing due to the inflexible margin they have long operated under.

"We had an emergency meeting here today to discuss actions that we need to take in order to bring some change to the margin regime that we have been experiencing in The Bahamas and the fact that we can no longer profitably operate our operations in The Bahamas," Jones said.

"So, the purpose of this meeting was to make a decision as to the course of action we will take within the very near future that will bring some attention to our cause and the plight that we face currently."

The retailers, however, refused to outline their action plan, seemingly trying to take the government and public by surprise.

But Jones did say, "The next course of action for us is to minimize our cost to operate and that means looking at how we can reduce our operating hours."

He added, "You can stay tuned [for] that because today we decided what we are going to do and we will make the public aware of that in short order, but we have to reduce our operating costs because we cannot continue on a 54 cent [per gallon] margin where the cost of salaries has gone up 24 percent, the credit card fees; we enjoy the fact that the public is moving to a digital economy [but] we cannot afford those costs against a fixed margin.

"We need to be treated as every other business, every other investor in the country, that we are afforded the ability to make money, to get a return on investment. We cannot continue with this anymore."

Jones also noted that the retailers like other businesses are facing a rise in electricity costs. He again appealed to the government to help retailers have a "livable income" to keep their businesses afloat.

Retailers and wholesalers split an 88 cent add-on to the landed cost of fuel; that's 54 cents for retailers and 34 cents for wholesalers, but there are also add-ons that the government gets.

So, for example, if the landed cost of gasoline is $3.56, there is a 34 cent add-on for the wholesaler, a 54 cent add-on for the retailer, 56 cent value-added tax, $1.15 customs duty and a one cent charge (that's $1.72 total for the government).

This brings the grand total for a gallon of gasoline in this scenario to $6.16.

Asked previously what permanent help for retailers would look like, Vasco Bastian, association vice president, said, "We are looking at the margin increases and looking at the overall model. Convert it from a margin increase to a percentage and we don't ever have to come back to the government."

Jones said yesterday retailers are "scraping" for money to buy fuel.

"We implore the government to do something about it," he said, renewing an appeal association members have made numerous times over the last year.

"We are willing to meet and talk, but right now we've had substantive discussions with them; but now is time for action because we have not [gotten] anywhere with them in terms of getting some results of what we need.

"We have been reasonable and we want to be treated reasonably and fairly."

Asked whether retailers plan to go on "strike", Jones said, "We're not going on a strike because we are independent operators, but we will take some definitive action collectively."

He said 80 percent of retailers in New Providence attended the meeting yesterday.

"We are here in unity today to take some action and make some decision on how we move forward," Jones said.

He said everything in the retailers' arsenal to ensure survival is on the table.

"We don't want to see our staff out of work and not making money," Jones said. "But we have to take some action to make sure that we pay them as we employ them."

Jones said the public will soon "see" what is happening with the petroleum retailers.

Back in December, Minister of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis told The Nassau Guardian the government is not "deaf" to the concerns raised by members of the association.

"Our view is we would look at [the retailers' proposal] and study it and benchmark it against what other jurisdictions are doing, but primary in our consideration is we do not want to do something now that would lead to an immediate increase in the price at the pump. We think that would be counterproductive," Halkitis said at the time.

"... Nobody wants to see layoffs and closures and I think we all need to understand we are in a difficult period and we just need to continue to work through it."

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