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My dad just started selling gasoline for 25¢/gallon. (update: dropped price 5¢)
guitarwes
Posts: 9,240 ✭✭✭
Been trying to get my dad to sell gas at his small town service station for 25¢ per gallon for a few years now (to be paid in 90% dimes, quarters, and halves of course). He finally caved in and I made him some signs and stuck them up on his pumps today. I made a large conversion chart for all of his employees so they won't be confused trying to figure out how much gas to pump when someone hands them $2.35 worth of coins. (i.e. $2.35 / .25 = 9.4 gallons of fuel). I did the chart from .10 to $12.00 in 5¢ increments.
When (if) he gets a few rolls of $10 face or so he's gonna sell them for about 1-2 points below melt. We'll see how it goes for a few months to see if he wants to continue it or to see if gets to be too much trouble.
Update: Dropped price 5¢ per gallon. Had a bunch of people saying they're gonna dig their silver change out and buy with it but no sales of yesterday.
When (if) he gets a few rolls of $10 face or so he's gonna sell them for about 1-2 points below melt. We'll see how it goes for a few months to see if he wants to continue it or to see if gets to be too much trouble.
Update: Dropped price 5¢ per gallon. Had a bunch of people saying they're gonna dig their silver change out and buy with it but no sales of yesterday.
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Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
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Can YOU always sell for coinflation spot price when you get ready to move some?
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
--Severian the Lame
You need to advertise it as "Gas4Silver"
<< <i>What's the difference in this and coin shops giving them 12-15X face for it? That's what the buy price is around here.
Can YOU always sell for coinflation spot price when you get ready to move some? >>
Not all, and probably not most coin shops buy 90% silver at 12-15X face. Most of the coin shops and dealers I know would pay 20X or a bit better.
Buying at 62% of spot (20x) and selling for 71-72% retail (23x) leaves plenty of room for a nice profit. I've not been aware of any times in the past 10 yrs when one
couldn't get 68-70% of spot from the leading dealers in my region. While I'm sure there is probably a coin shop in my state paying 12-15X face, I don't
know one off hand. And I can understand paying as low as 60-62% to ensure there is no downside risk if unloaded the same day to a regional dealer for 67-70% just in
case silver plummets by 10% in one day. But paying 37-46% of spot is quite a cushion. There are far too many reputable dealers paying fair to have to deal with that.
The flip side of this is when those customers eventually learn what they really got for their silver, they may never come back for gas. All we need is another $Cash4Silver
type operation giving the industry a bad name. Seems to me you'd be doing your region a far better service by paying closer to 20X and putting those local shops to shame,
not to mention educating the local consumer. Might actually work to your advantage in larger volumes and building a well respected name. My largest local shop pays 65% of
spot and sells for around 71.5%.....a 10% profit. While it's not the very best price around by far, it's enough for them to get huge volume and make plenty of money.
Most regions probably have laws and regulations about buying silver from the public (cooling off periods for stolen merchandise, ledgers for police, getting ID's, etc.). For a small operation it wouldn't be seem to be worth the regulatory risk. If you end up doing $50K/yr bullion volume that triggers Patriot Act 2 requirements of maintaining a written money laundering plan as well as doing training for employees. And you might also have to include the bullion purchases/sales separately in your 1040 schedule C or D. A gas station type operation would be an ideal way for small time crooks to launder their stolen silver coins.
<< <i>Been trying to get my dad to sell gas at his small town service station for 25¢ per gallon for a few years now (to be paid in 90% dimes, quarters, and halves of course). He finally caved in and I made him some signs and stuck them up on his pumps today. I made a large conversion chart for all of his employees so they won't be confused trying to figure out how much gas to pump when someone hands them $2.35 worth of coins. (i.e. $2.35 / .25 = 9.4 gallons of fuel). I did the chart from .10 to $12.00 in 5¢ increments.
When (if) he gets a few rolls of $10 face or so he's gonna sell them for about 1-2 points below melt. We'll see how it goes for a few months to see if he wants to continue it or to see if gets to be too much trouble. >>
Not sure how small the "small town" is, but you should send your local newspaper/t.v. station a press release on this. They would definately run a story on it.
Dropped the price to 20¢ per gallon.
Might try to find out if the paper wants to do a small article on it to generate some interest. I know the local B&M coin shop owner in the next town over, so this might generate some interest for him also with people bringing in coins to sell.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Too bad the station isn't in NYC/NJ. You'd sell a boatload of gas there!
Great marketing idea. Keep us posted on how it works, and let us know what publicity you get.
Your experiment or new gas for silver policy may take some time to get traction. Don't give up and keep posting results.
...or trade easily saleable 90% worth $4+ for it...
gee, can't understand why they aren't lined up around the block...
RIP Mom- 1932-2012
No takers yet but lots of people seeing the sign from the road, slamming on brakes, and driving thru really slow to read it and lots of regular customers saying "Oh, I'm gonna go home and dig out my sock full of silver dimes and come back and fill 'er up!"
I have a small glass display case inside of dad's store with about 100 coins for sale in 2X2's ranging from wheats to silver halves with a big sign that says WE BUY COINS. We're doing this gas thing more to spark people's interest into digging through their accumulations to see if they have any silver to see if they want to sell any of it. We usually buy it outright for about 2-3 points back of melt if someone comes in wanting to sell alot of it, which has only happened once.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
for all you haters, it's just a way to increase sales and to draw people in to buy stuff.
If you've ever owned a small gas station, you would understand. Making 4-8¢/gallon is just about like providing a service to folks in hopes they will get out of their car, come in the store, and buy a coke and a candy bar.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
If you've ever owned a small gas station, you would understand. Making 4-8¢/gallon is just about like providing a service to folks in hopes they will get out of their car, come in the store, and buy a coke and a candy bar.
Yeah...I get the concept of advertising and promotion. FYI one of my first jobs was managing a gas station; percentage-wise, we made way more profit inside the store than outside. I get that.
FWIW, kudos for trying something slightly outside the box. This type of trading does exist in other venues....there are small mom and pop grocery stores who will take silver and gold in trade for food purchases, for example... In fact I saw a You Tube vid of a guy going into one and doing just that. (How much they pay...that may be another story.)
That said, this might not be the best idea. IMO there's a fine line between a promotion and a come-on...it's likely just to tick off a few folks who come in thinking the price is for real, and maybe cause a wreck out front. Not to mention, most people who have 90% pretty much know what it's worth and where to sell it...and the local gas n'go likely isn't it. Also, you may get some extra unwanted attention once it's known you may have valuable silver coins on site... just saying.
But hey, I could be wrong. Let's just hope someone isn't ripping off Grandpa's coin collection to get gas for the jalopy. Also, you might want to check local laws to see if you need a second hand dealer license or some other type of local permit, and should you start buying a significant amount, you might also consult with your accountant about potential tax implications.
JMHO
RIP Mom- 1932-2012