Limited special promotions notwithstanding, gas prices rise in sync with oil prices—except in the curious case of Freedom Fuel. The headlines first grabbed my attention for the intentional shroud of mystery, and now unexpectedly the story connects to the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition.
Based on the limited public info, a couple of non-fuel-business guys from NJ, including an NFL assistant coach, inexplicably (because they aren’t talking about it) decided to form a branding company in Delaware to partner with a shady set of brothers known for both operating fuel stations and for not paying their bills. Somehow the White House is involved.
Overnight, existing fuel outlets formerly associated with a variety of brands in NJ and PA were rebranded in unabashedly American regalia while the Administration ran point on marketing the cheap gasoline coincidentally priced at $3.479 in a nod to president #47. The station count has more than doubled since then, and this month expanded to Michigan. As a political ploy, the upside seems limited. Drivers care more about cheap gas than who is behind it.
Setting aside how the White House is connected, the animating media questions from the jump were why someone(s) would start a money-losing enterprise and then be so doggedly coy about it. At that price, the ostensibly ‘independent’ stations would have collectively agreed to lose a chunk of change on every gallon.
Or maybe not. Adding to the history of similar shenanigans, a lawsuit by LCFC member Mansfield Energy says the brothers stiffed them on $4 million worth of fuel. That would certainly solve the mystery.*
More details will undoubtedly emerge to connect the dots of how this unfolded. Meanwhile, Mansfield deserves to be made whole for a seemingly straightforward contract to provide fuel at a designated price.
The saga is a reminder that something that sounds too good to be true generally is. It’s also a reminder that making money means making a profit, and that making money in the fuel business means pricing above wholesale plus costs. Wholesale reflects oil prices, which is why we all are again over a barrel due to geopolitical drama on the other side of the world.
* The brothers dispute this.