That's why most gas stations are convenience stores now and not just gas stations. Also I find it hard to believe its just 8 cents when you see up to a .50 cent fluctuation between stations. Additionally, again we are only talking about a short period of time. why should average people who are not business owners have to lose money during a disaster when they can't go to work? Same shit. Gas stations, which are really OIL COMPNiES need to suck it up.
If we are talking about Mom and Pop business then they need to make sure they have an emergency fund like regular working people should have too.
The reason you see this is the corner Shell station is privately owned and they pay a higher price for their gas from the distributor. They don't get a volume discount. The Exxon down the street is corporate owned and they get an extreme discount on their gas and can actually sell it for what the Shell buys theirs for.
The average profit on a gallon of gas for the local guy is 8 cents. I'm surprised 333 got this right. The variation is, when prices go up, they are quick to increase the price. However, when prices drop, they are very slow to drop their prices, increasing the profit margin. I know this because I owned a mom and pop Shell station for several years.
I'm against price gouging in an emergency. I would price my gas to make a reasonable profit and to cover potential price increases from the distributer, but anything past that is taking advantage of people. I'll let the people who are buying it then reselling it on Craigslist do that