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Motorists may be hurting from higher petrol prices but independent service station owners say they're also feeling the pinch.
Independent owner Kerry Rowe is on the verge of following hundreds of other independent service station owners by chucking in the business he bought in Avondale in 1966. Now
64, he gets an oil company margin of just 4.6c for each litre of petrol pumped - regardless of retail prices.
Mr Rowe says the low margin forces him to rely on grocery and bakery sales in increasingly desperate efforts to subsidise his BP 2 Go outlet on Rosebank Peninsula. But not even scones and savouries baked on the premises from 3am each day have kept the wolf from the door.
He and his wife, Glenys, last year finished paying off a $1.4 million re-development loan from 1997 - when they built up their site from two to eight pumps operating 24 hours a day - and looked forward to selling the station for a debt-free retirement.
But after worsening economic conditions led to a deficit of $42,830 for the three months to June 30, they face shutting the pumps with the loss of up to 19 jobs and retreating to a separate tyre business run next door by another family member.
"We'll most probably be out of money in three months," said Mr Rowe. "I can't understand how many other service stations can survive - if we didn't have the shop, we'd already be broke."
The Rowes can share some relief with motorists over a 17c a litre price drop at their station in a fortnight - even though the fall may prove short-lived, especially if the New Zealand dollar keeps sliding.
Each time their retail prices rise, so do credit card fees of up to 1.75 per cent of sales, eating into their 4.6c margin.
Rising pump prices until last month hammered their sales, particularly as Mr Rowe accuses BP of failing to honour a commitment to keep him competitive with a nearby Gull outlet. He says Gull commonly undercuts him by 2c or 3c, and it was not until last week that he persuaded BP to match the Australian rival.
Neither do discount fuel vouchers from supermarkets help.
"If you spend $150 in the supermarket [to earn vouchers for a 10c a litre fuel discount], what are you going to buy when you get here?"
Although BP insists independents are important to its network, the Motor Trade Association says numbers have more than halved from the 1500 who operated in the industry in 1996, compared with 400 company-owned outlets both now and then.
Spokesman Andy Cuming says that although retail margins typically as low as 4c throughout the industry were "satisfactory" when petrol was half today's price, they are no longer tolerable.
The MTA says the loss of outlets has particularly severe implications for smaller towns, and for national fuel conservation efforts, forcing motorists to travel further to fill up.
Wellington retailer and former association president Chris Kirk-Burnnand last week stopped selling fuel after almost 40 years, blaming BP's "rack retail margins" for forcing him out of a business which lost more than $100,000 in each of the past two years.
BP spokesman Neil Green denied the company was trying to force independents out although there was "no escaping" that times were tough for all. "Last year and early this year there were periods when BP's margin was negative - that's how tight it is for us."
April-to-June sales at BP 2 Go service station, Rosebank Peninsula:
Total sales - $2,033,589
After payments to BP and grocery suppliers - $123,419
After paying all other costs - - $42,830
