Recently, the rising cost of gasoline has been a major cause for concern to every Jamaican. It would appear that the pricing process goes through several additions before the final price reaches the consumer. First the refineries purchases crude oil from overseas processes it then sells to the marketing companies such as Shell, Petcom, Texaco, Total and Esso. These marketers then add their mark up which if rumors are to be believed can range up to 30 percent. The gas is then sold to the dealers who also add their markup before the final price is set.

Follow up:

Today I received an email with a suggestion to combat the rising gas prices which I thought was worth passing on. I have no idea who came up with the suggestion but I do believe it could work if we all give it a try.
The suggestion is that for the rest of this year, no one purchases any gasoline from one of the biggest marketing company, Shell. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. It they reduce their prices; the other companies will be forced to follow suit.
Talk about simple people power. In the originators words, “we need to take aggressive action to teach them that buyers control the marketplace, not sellers”. For this to work effectively we need to get every Jamaican involve (absolutely no politics). The originator further explained that if every one of us told ten friends who in turn each told ten friends we could have three million people informed in 8 days if each person passed the word within one day of receipt.
This sure beats blocking the roads. The goal is to hold out until they lower their prices to the $40.00 range and keep them down. All you have to do is tell 10 friends and DON’T BUY GASOLINE from Shell. That’s all.
Nuff Love