While President of the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association (BPRA) Raymond Jones said yesterday that retailers will continue to refuse to sell diesel at their stations until the government addresses their issues, some operators reported yesterday that they have resumed selling diesel.

"We pulled off this morning, mainly because I think our president realized that we have a heart and that today is a big cruise day," George Cartwright, owner of Esso on Wulff Road and Montrose Avenue, told reporters after a BPRA meeting at St. Matthew's schoolhouse.

"The taxi drivers, the tour buses and everything, most of them operate off of diesel, so we took that into consideration that we have to make sure that those guys are able to service our number one industry."

Cartwright said expenses have increased, but he doesn't have the freedom to raise prices in response to those increases because fuel is price controlled.

"Salary expense went up with minimum wage, right? We make 54 cents on gas and 34 on diesel, so that's a five percent gross or less on diesel, and anywhere between eight and 10 percent gross on gas.

"So, minimum wage goes up 25 percent; that 25 percent has to come out of that 54 cents.

"You get credit card fees, right? The banks charging you a credit card fee on every transaction, and that has to come out of that 54 cents or 34 cents and it goes on.

"National Insurance is going up. BPL (Bahamas Power and Light) has gone up. Just the other day, in regards to BPL, the government said that they can no longer afford to finance BPL, and so forth, so BPL's fuel surcharge will be going up. Who is paying for it? The consumer.

"Why is it that we as dealers, who have been in this business, some of us for 10, 15, 20 years, we're not deserving of a margin increase?

"The sad thing is that we are not requesting a 100 percent margin increase. We are asking for 7.8 percent on our existing margin.

"Just the other day, I walked into [a store] to buy a loaf of bread, $9; nobody questioned it. Inflation is something that happens and we have to learn to live with that.

"It's not going to change; inflation is going to happen. So, hopefully, the government will come and deal with it, agree with the proposal that they gave us, and we can move forward and don't be affecting anybody. We don't want to affect our customers. That is not our thing. This is not about inconveniencing our customers. This is about us being able to survive."

The association has been pressing the government for months to raise the fuel margins to allow the retailers to stay afloat.

Jones said retailers are purchasing diesel at a higher price than gasoline, but making less money on diesel given that the margin for diesel is 34 cents per gallon, compared to 54 cents for gasoline, which is also extremely challenging for retailers to survive on.

He said retailers discussed the "constant battles" in their industry at their meeting yesterday.

"We're actually calling on the government to meet with us, so we can finalize the discussion we've been having with them with regards to the proposals presented, so we can come to an agreement," said Jones, while noting that they have not heard from government since commencing their action.

"We're selling gas. So, that's still available to the public. We're not trying to do any action that's going to actually impair the public from moving around, but, at this point, we have to get this price margin change, so we can carry on and run our businesses and operate profitably. That's the focus."

Jones said the petroleum retailers feel the pain of the industries that have been impacted.

"The taxis have called and given their support," he said. "But we don't want to do anything that's going to affect them indefinitely to the point where they can't make money because, at the end of the day, we are all in this business to make some money. So, we feel for them, and we are with them. But we asked the powers that be to let's get this resolved as soon as possible. We're ready, willing and able to sit and have that discussion today.

"It's not a question of whether I think it is going to move the government. We hope that, and I know the prime minister is a caring person because discussions we've had with them, they've been very clear that they understand our plight. We just need to get back to the table and finalize what we think is an agreement that was ready to be executed."

The post Some retailers resume selling diesel, though govt refuses to budge appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

The post Some retailers resume selling diesel, though govt refuses to budge appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

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