Pump prices are crushing, and vehicle owners have had to curtail their movements and their weekend activities all because the price for a gallon of premium is over eleven dollars.
But our next story is about a gas station owner who is taking some of the hurt out of that bruising pump price - at the Texaco across from courts that is bucking the trend and taking a hit on their revenues in the hopes of attracting customers. Because while the price of gas is controlled, it doesn't mean you can't sell it for less than the controlled price in the hopes of encouraging a downward trend in gas prices.
In the hope of encouraging this trend, we decided today to give this gas station a run at some free publicity while hoping that it's a trend not just a stunt.
Andrew Castillo, Manager - Belize Diesel Service Center
"Well this promotion that we have been going on has been since March of last year. We started with the discounted price of fuel that's going for a little less than a year now. Whenever we notice that the price of fuel was going up was when we decided to give back a little to the customer. We decided to ease off a little on them."
Monica Bodden
"Now tell us about the discount that you guys offer here."
Andrew Castillo
"Well the discount right now is at 15 cents, we had it at 10 cents when the gas prices started going down, and we changed it to 10 cents. Previously, we started with the 15 cents off, on Sundays only. Then from there we saw the need of the customers and we changed it to be a daily thing. But when the prices started going down, we adjusted to 10 cents. But now that prices are going up again, we decided that it's time again to give that additional 5 cents that we had been giving before."
Monica Bodden
"So on every gallon, whether its diesel, regular or premium, you get a 15 cents discount?"
Andrew Castillo
"Yes that's right, a 15 cents discount on every gallon of fuel that you purchase here."
Monica Bodden
"So it's not just something that is going on for a week or something like this, this has been going on for a year."
Andrew Castillo
"Yes practically a year this has been going on."
Monica Bodden
"And you guys plan to continue it?"
Andrew Castillo
"Yes this is something we have noticed; that is something, that the customer has appreciated very much from us, and we definitely are going to continue with it."
Monica Bodden
"Do you guys - by giving this discount - do you guys suffer a loss?"
Andrew Castillo
"Well, on that part we are cutting down on our margins but, you know it's something that, how do you call it, corporate social responsibility. It's something to give back to the customer. By us taking the 15 cents off from the customer, our customer base is growing, and we notice that we have a lot of grateful customers that keep coming back to us. So we notice that this is a win, win situation."
Castillo told us they will be putting up their 15 cent discount on their promotional board so that everyone can see.
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