BP Station Owners Consider Switch
Some Detroit area BP gas station owners have switched, or are trying to switch brands amid customer boycotts sparked by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Detroit Free Press reports the owner of three BP stations is converting two of them to the Sunoco brand. Owner Abdel Berry said business is down at one location from 800 gallons to 500 gallons per day. "It's either change or go out of business,'' he said.
BP said late last month it would offer distributors money back for every gallon of gas they buy at terminals. But Michigan dealers say they have not received any cash.
WWJ spoke with Scott Barbat, the owner of four BP stations in Oakland County, who said a boycott just doesn't make sense.
"If you're going to boycott the independently owned and operated gas stations, you're not going to really hit up BP. BP's not really going to get affected," Barbat said.
"You'd be hurting the Michigan economy, you'd be hurting the independently owners and operators. And most likely if you do buy gas from say Cosco, or Meijers, 50-70 percent of the time you're buying BP branded gasoline anyway," he said.
Barbat said that when the oil disaster began, they saw a slight decline. But, recently, things are getting back to normal.
Barbat said even if he wanted to switch from BP, he couldn't, since he is under contract.
BP owns just a fraction of the more than 11,000 stations across the U.S. that sell its fuel under the BP, Amoco and ARCO banners. Most are owned by local businessmen like Asmar and Berry whose primary connection to the oil company is the logo and a contract to buy gasoline.
In a large number of cases, the distributor of BP gasoline also is the owner or operator of BP-branded gas stations. But in some cases, there is only a supply relationship between the distributor and the merchant at the retail location.
Some BP-branded gas stations have reported sales declines of 10 percent to 40 percent from Florida to the Midwest since the April 20 rig explosion and resulting spill that have tarnished BP's image.
© MMX WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
