Some Consideration for Oil Dealers
Editorial - The Ridgefield Press
Written by Macklin Reid, Press Staff
Friday, January 02, 2009
With oil prices’ dramatic rise and fall, heating oil dealers have been on people’s minds, and not all the thoughts are nice. They deserve some consideration.
Amid the coffee counter grumbling about being “locked in” high as prices fall, a few things get overlooked. One is that the dealers aren’t making out like bandits — many are squeezed by the unpredictability of oil prices, just as their customers are. In a story on last week’s front page, all three Ridgefield heating oil dealers said they’ve been fielding calls from customers who locked in high, watched prices fall, and now want out. The dealers have difficulty convincing customers they’re locked in, too, with contracts to pay their suppliers high prices. But it’s true. State law requires them to have bought 80% of the oil they contract to sell a set price.
Also overlooked is the service they provide. It’s an amazing demonstration of free market capitalism’s efficiency. Here is a place of cold winters and widely spaced single family homes, heated by oil furnaces. Know anyone who hops in the family truck to ride down to Bridgeport or New Haven to get their month’s oil?
Of course not. Yet everyone has heat — all the time. Fat little tanker trucks crawl around our windy roads, delivering heating oil to homes as they use it up. Bitter weather or mild, it’s rare for someone to run out. If they do, a phone call gets a delivery quickly on its way.
There no government oil service, no heating oil conglomerate. Homeowners are served by a patchwork quilt of local oil dealers with overlapping territories, competing for customers with a combination of price and service. They’re middlemen, buying their product here, and selling it there — with a mark up. But they do provide service: They shop for the oil from suppliers in port cities, truck it, deliver it to homes, track weather and usage to know when more will be needed. Often they maintain customers’ furnaces and provide repairs, if needed, in the middle of the night.
No, they’re not heroes. But they’re not villains, either. They’re just decent folks, making a living by providing a vital and often overlooked service that keeps everybody’s house warm.
