Reflecting on Political Promises and War

With no fees or minimums on checking accounts. It's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends. It's pretty much all he talks about, in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See Capital One dot com slash bank. Capital One N Can you just explain what it is you're about to do? I'm gonna raise the gas pri ce. From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is the daily. So we gotta go into the uh fuel manager menu and fuel price configur ation. Alright. I'm gonna go from 449 on my premium to 46 9. For the past four weeks, gas stations across the United States have become a kind of microcosm of the war's domestic impact. It's there at thousands of pumps and cash registers that a test of wills is playing out in real time. I just gotta download the fuel prices to my pumps and that's that . Price increased . Between gas station managers deciding day after day just how much to charge for a gallon of gas, and already cash-strapped consumers deciding just how much pain they're willing to endu re. I mean, does any part of you just feel like really bad The view of this war from a neighborhood gas station in Jacksonville, Florida . It's Friday, March 27th . Okay, I think this is it. Yeah, here we go. Yo, we're getting there. Hey, Florida, Florida drivers. Last week, daily producer Anna Foley and I headed to suburban Jacksonville to talk to a gas station manager named Cam Judyy.. He guys What's going on? Welcome here. Hi. Michael. Camaro. Cameron, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you guys. Now, why this station and this manager? We can come on back? Okay. Because Cam runs a quickly vanishing business in this country, an independently owned gas station. You got some serious little Debbie serious little Debbie stuff, of course. Yeah, right there, right in front, staring at me across the way uh all day, whispering my name. Honey buns and meaning that Cam and Cam alone sets the price. I've never been in the guts of the of the cashier's all you ever dreamed of? The cashier's wing of the store. We met him on a Tuesday when regular unleaded gas at his station cost $379 a gallon, about 40% higher than before the war started. Cam was manning the cast register of the station's convenience store. And it's inside this store, on a residential street across from an elementary school, where you really see how intimately he's woven himself into this community. What's up, Rick? Mr. Lee. Hey Lewis. Yeah, you're good, brother. Are you on a first name basis with a lot of your customers? Cam took over the business about a decade ago from his father, who started buying convenience stores after he immigrated to the US from Syria by way of Guatemala. This gas station in particular he bought right around the time my sister was born, I believe. Seems to be a trend. He has a kid, he has a gas station. He has a kid, he has a gas, I don't know. And Cam grew up watching his father really become the unofficial mayor of this neighborhood. He always goes back to the show Everybody Loves Raymond. That's his name, Raymond. So even growing up as a kid, we couldn't go out to eat without running into somebody that he knew from one of the stores. A waiter, somebody in the back cooking our food in the kitchen, uh somebody waiting in line uh for their coffee. He knows everybody. And it went beyond just knowing everybody. His father's customers were treated as an extension of the Judy family. I didn't know the extent of my dad's impact on some of these customers until I started working here when someone would come in here and tell me like, you know, your dad like I he I was I was uh my my power was off and he he loaned me the money I needed to get the electricity back on, you know, and stuff like that. It's like, Dad, did you really do that? He's like, of course I did. They've been coming to my store for 10, 10, 15 years. So for Cam, this was really the only way he knew to run a business These regular customers that I get in here, I mean, I've known them now for eight years. That's a longer time than I've known my kids. I only got a four year old. So some of these people, they've been around for my wife's pregnancies. I had several regular customers when my when they found out my wife was pregnant, they brought me boxes and boxes and boxes of diapers. Like it's just really cool. I don't think a lot of people get to experience that where a customer comes to your business almost every single day, sometimes up to six times a day, uh become a huge part of your life. They really do. And just to give you an example, when Cam catches local students shoplifting, which happens with some frequency. He never calls the police. He tells somebody else. I know their PE coach. He comes in here every day. So I tell him I I I show him a picture of the kid on my camera and he makes them run laps. Or push labs. Out of here. Yes. That's local justice. I love it. So when the war broke out a few weeks ago. Right before the war, I remember we were sitting at 279 for a long time. And Cam realized he was gonna have to raise gas prices. So from two seventy nine to two ninety nine to three oh nine. Over and over. We went up almost twenty cents in forty-eight hours. And over again. Gosh, it's been almost every day. He wasn't repeatedly raising gas prices on strangers. He was raising prices on people he really cares about, people who he knows are already stretched very thin. I hope they understand that I'm not pricing my gas to make a quick buck. I'm pricing my gas how I need to price it in order to stay afloat. And just to explain how this works, this is actually not making Cam more money. My distributor of fuel is charging me per gallon, and then I have to account for if they're gonna charge me to get it to the gas station, so you know. And then we also have to account for the different fees that are associated with the customer purchasing gas, the credit card companies and debit card companies. For Cam, the margins on gas are actually pretty slim. I mean there's really such a small amount of profit to be made uh per gallon for a business like mine. Uh I mean I'm talking maybe ten to fifteen cents per gallon uh max for for my store. His pumps hold about 8,000 gallons, which usually lasts a couple of weeks. And so 10 cents of profit on that is about $800, which is a surprisingly small amount of profit for a gas station to make on g as. How did you think about this question of how much you could increase the price at the pump knowing your customer. How did you balance all that? I mean my regular customers, they're pretty loyal. I like to think that they would choose my store over a big corporate owned gas station or a big chain gas station uh franchise like that, just because it's my store. Can I consider the customer when I'm when I'm making these gas prices? I can't not really, because uh you know I, as much as love my regular customers, I can't take a loss per gallon. I can't I it it's it would be even it'd be difficult to even figure out what my break even number would be, you know. We gotta at least make a couple cents off of each gallon. Mm-hmm. Or uh there's really no point in selling gas. Selling gas. I could take the gas price of that big chain gas station up the road that's priced at $399 today. I could say, well, I'm independently owned. I need to have a bigger profit margin and price mine for $40 9. I could do that. You know, I there's no there's no problem with me doing that. I know gas station owners that do do that. They go ten cents over their nearest big corporate gas station, just so that they can make a little bit more of a profit margin. I choose not to, specifically because of the relationship I have with my regular custom ers. I would love for this to be over next week and I go back to 279 a gallon. That'd be awesome. I hope beyond hope that it is temporary and it does not last long. But yeah, I I I do worry about the the longevity of of these high prices. It would it would it would be a strain on on a lot of people, including my myself includ ed. But despite his best intentions, as we wrapped up our conversation and Cam's day came to an end, he checks in on prices around town. Most of his rivals were at $3.99 a gallon for regular. He had been holding steady at $379. He looks out at the pumps. I don't like to do it when customers are pumping gas. And he makes the call to raise the prices . So I'm gonna raise it from 379 to 399. That's a big jump. It is a big jump. Ye ah. So if I go outside right now, even on that big sign, big sign is happening right now to o. And that's it's almost instant. Yep. Bo om. We'll be right back. Investing with Schwab is like spending a Saturday at a great farmers market. You can feel your reusable tote with a bit of everything. Maybe you go for some free-range, self-directed investing. Or perhaps you pick up a few farm fresh trades while you peruse. You can even get help from a dedicated advisor.' Thats full service wealth management. Mix, match, and change your mind whenever you want. 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That's why Deloitte brings together AI and data analytics with multidisciplinary teams who can help you connect the dots across your enterprise, from risk to operations to customer needs, so opportunities don't slip by, and surprises don't spread. Because the smarter your systems, the sharper your instincts. That's how technology makes people better at what they do best. Deloitte Together makes progress. Learn more at Deloitte.com slash Together Makes Progr ess . It's cold. It's cold for Florida. Yes, it is. That's right. The next morning, just before 7 a.m., Anna and I returned to the gas station to watch Cam open it up for the day. Those were the pumps? The pumps, yep. We wanted to understand just how much this relentless increase in gas prices, including Cam's most recent hike, were hurting his customers. So this is this is $3.99 day. Do you think that people are gonna notice the 20 cent increase tod ay? Definitely. Oh yeah. 379 to 399. It's a big jump. And uh yeah, we'll definitely get some people in here that are and we were just we were 20 cents cheaper yesterday. What happened, C am? Over at the pumps. If you want to talk about gas prices, we start cussing now, huh? People did not hold back. It's out of hand. Out of hand. Oh my god, it's awful. It's just gonna affect so many people. I mean it's really so sad because people are already struggling and this was just so unnecessary. It's like you're paying double now than what you was paying a couple weeks ago. People that's on fixed income, they have a tough time with these gas prices. See a hundred dollars ninety-eight eighty. That's a very expensive amount of gas. Never been this bad man . Most people didn't stick around for a very long conversation. They got back in their car, they told us they had to go to work. But among those who really talked to us, what became clear was just how minutely they could describe gas prices impact on their finances and how these far higher prices have become a kind of referend um, a referendum on the war in Iran, on President Trump himself, and really on the entire promise of America . We're talking to people about gas prices. If you have thoughts. Oh. I've seen them two something now they're at four. So yeah. So I mean I just got out of the military about a year ago, so like now I'm on like a fixed income type stuff, so like seeing the gas prices go up really Were you in Iraq or Afghanistan? Jordan Afghanistan area. Okay. And yeah, once I saw that they cut up the uh straight, I was like, there go the gas prices. When you fill your car, what is the actual cost now? 50 bucks. Then it's usually like 30. So where has that come from in that like pie chart of your bike? It comes from our grocery budget. Because like everything else is like bills, can't skip bills. I mean sometimes we'll if we need to we'll skip a bill but we'll just go right back to it. But usually the allotment comes from our grocery bills. And does it change how you eat? Yeah. Can you give me an example? Like we've been going to um uh those food banks every now and then which help out. I like those. Uh a lot of local churches do help out, so that's pretty nice. I have three kids, so I make sure that they eat first, so usually we'll get all their food first and then my wife and I will be like okay we have this much left let's get us some dinners so like there's been nights where her and I don't eat and we'll just let them meet. But we're cool with that because like as long as our kids eat we're f ine. That's a really meaningful sacrif ice. I mean they come first, so I mean we're fine. We can handle it, but I think uh I give it a month before all this levels off maybe. You hope. I hope. Yeah. One can hop e. We just need to pull out and just not be there and just let the straight open up. Like it's it's not our war . It's not our war yet. It's not our war. Well, thank you for spending time with us. Of course. And thank you for your service. I appreciate it . Thank you. Andrew is literally skipping meals because of this war, but we also met somebody whose But who sees the war and Trump's rationale for it in a totally different lig ht. We're hanging out with Cam to talk about gas prices. He let us spend the day with him. What's your name? William. And what do you do for work? I own a trucking company. Whoa! So you this is important. Um so you're involved in the trucking business at a time when gas is four dollars a gallon. When diesel's five gallons diesel's five in some states we're paying six and seven dollars. So a lot of money's coming out of your pocket. Well you're puppy two hundred and fifty gallons every time you fill up. Yeah. So do the math. It's costing anywhere between twelve hundred to sixteen hundred dollars for a tank of fuel now. Wow. And then the rates have not gone up. So you'd be a strong candidate for being very upset about this war. I would be, yeah. But uh I think that it's worth it. I'm a Trumpster, but let me tell you I have some issues with him at the moment. But I still support what we're doing in Iran because I've been watching it all my life. I'm seventy years old. So I support it but for the people of Iran. If I were going to endorse the war, it would be simply to free the Iranian people from this ridiculous regime. What happens after that? Who knows? Did they have a nuclear weapon? Why wouldn't they? So I don't know what drove his decision to do this, but I feel like it was very serious, you know. So you have faith that if the president has determined that the United States should be involved in a war against Iran, that he knows something and he's made this decision wisely. I truly believe that, yes. He is not one to just go out and I don't think to just start this up for you know to hide the Epstein files or whatever. So that's all I know. That's all I can tell you. So if the war is justified, is the gas price increase a small price to pay ? Or does it feel like a big price to pay any? I don't think it's a big price to pay. I do worry about the commercial end of it. If there's no assistance, if there's no way to uh I mean a lot of these smaller trucking companies. People don't understand how many have gone out of business from from the rate wars. Okay. Now the ones that survived that have to pay the gas prices. Right. It'll kick them right over the edge. So I am concerned about that. Hopefully it won't last that long. I think the war over there is gonna last longer than four weeks, you know. But um but you can afford these gas prices. Yeah, I can afford it. Ye ah. I don't like it, but I can afford it. Thank you for your time. Yes, sir. Thank you. Good luck, be gas. So despite these higher prices, William is standing by the president for now. But there's a whole group of people for whom the promise of lower prices, including lower gas prices, was their primary reason for voting for Trump. So now every trip to the gas pump feels like a betrayal . We're talking about gas prices. Unbelievable. Especially when we thought we were about to get those lower gas prices. I was happy for a couple weeks when I was two dollars like ha now it's hard. Including a woman who goes by Sean and is a licensed Medicare agent. I make $26 an hour. Now you tell me why should it be hard for me to put gas in the car? So you just put six bucks in. Six dollars. Why so little? Because it was expensive. That was an expensive. On top of rent. Because I mean I pay two thousand dollars to live every month. Now it're talking about gas. I have the ride to work. Okay. I have grandchildren. I have two elderly parents that live in my home. One of them who has stage five kidney disease. Okay. And I just took him to dialysis. So even with incomes, it's going like this. You're down the drain. Down the dra in. You said you were excited for two dollar gas, like Oh my God I was like we are here and was that something you heard from the president in his campaigns? Was that where you heard that from? Trump said that we were gonna have lower gas. That was one of the things that he promised and unfortunately, I voted for him. As a black woman, I voted for this man thinking that our economy is gonna be amazing under him. Yeah. And and now I wish I never did that. Are you mad that he started this war and raised? Ye ah. Because to me now it's not even about people no more. It's about money. I know we are in America and we think we're safe, but we're casualties of war. We have to start speaking out against what's going on over there because we will be them if we don't stand up for them . You're upset. I'm upset. You're crying. I'm ups et. Do you feel like you were kinda hoodwinked? Yes, I was hoodwinked. This man talked about we were gonna be great again and I did kinda see that in my eyes, like we were not the America that we used to be. So okay, we have this man coming through and he's bold and he's powerful. He'd pump me up off of I'm a good man. But then he really was a wolf in sheep's clothing. And got everything I want. I got your vote, and now I'm just gonna tear it down. It's all about me and my money and my big rich friends. So I'm upset. I made the wrong vote. And I need everybody to understand what we're going through. Like stop. We are not on the beach anymore. Take your shades off. The tsunami hit. And it was called President Tr ump. We gotta get up . I'm a proud American, very, very proud American, and right today I'm a sad American. I'm not real pro ud. I'm not real proud of us . So I think we're wrapping up Camar reporting at the gas station, and I wonder if you can forecast a little bit in the next week and whether you think you're gonna have to keep raising prices. What it would take for you to lower them? I don't see lowering happening anytime soon. Usually when it's quick to rise like this, it's slower to lower. I don't think it's gonna take a week for me to have to raise it, honestly above three ninety-nine . As I was driving into work today, I passed by a gas station charging four oh five for credit card purchases on gasoline so regular regular and it was an independent as well uh same as mine probably over the weekend I'll probably have to go above four dollars. And as far as going well beyond four dollars, I could see it capping around 459. That's my estimated price cap, I believe. How do you come up with that number? That's probably the highest that I remember ever putting my gas prices at. I hope it doesn't get to four fifty nine. I hope it doesn't go above four oh nine. But as unpredictable as everything is and what's going on, you just never know . Well, thank you again. Thank you guys. Absolutely. I appreciate y'all coming out here and talking to me about this . Till next time. Yes, sir