I think that would be too confusing for the bean counters up here.

>Here in North Carolina it is quite different. In high-traffic areas or downtown, the prices are typically a few cents higher than in outer areas or cities. I drive 2.5 hours each way once or twice a week and I pass through Hope Mills, Fayetteville, Spring Lake, Sanford, Greensboro, and High Point and it is the same in all of them. I watch the prices fluctuate as I drive into and out of each area.
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>>>>>Do you remember the days when most of the gas stations were owned and run locally? When you drove to the cheapest station or the station owned by a friend or a friend of a friend? When conglomerates starting buying them all up and merging and then started under-pricing the little man, those remaining complained that it was the calm before the storm. They stated in news interviews that eventually when the big guys either owned all the little guys or drove the few remaining out of business that then the slow increase in petrol would ensue due to lack of competition. Interesting. I'm not saying that has anything to do with the current price of petrol, but it is interesting to think back on it. Wonder if any of those little guys are still around?
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>>>>There are still a few independents around, but they operate under the threat of not being able to get gas delivery if they don't toe the line on prices. I've noted it before, but here in Toronto, it doesn't matter which gas station you go to, the prices are all exactly the same to the tenth of a cent. If it's 128.7 cents at one station, it's 128.7 at all of them. You might get lucky and find an independent somewhere unobtrusive selling at 128.6, but none of the major stations. Interestingly, they all change to the same price at the same time too, but of course we all know there is no collusion. It's just the universe's most odd ongoing coincidence. And in spite of all their mewling about being forced by world oil prices, the oil companies are all drawing larger profits than ever before.
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>>>I have always suspected that it is not in fact collusion at the higher (oil company) level. It's just that nobody wants to be selling for a higher price than the guy across the street. A station that's a couple of miles away from competitors might have a little different price.
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>>But that's the whole point. The stations a couple of miles away in Toronto have the same price. And it's not even that that is so worrying. It's the fact that they all change at the same time. On a weekend, for example I can end up driving all over Toronto, and no matter where I go, the prices are all the same.