The View of the War From a Florida Gas Station

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Can I give number four, please? Yeah. That's it, brother. There you go, brother.

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Can you just explain what it is you're about to do?

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I'm gonna raise the gas price.

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From the New York Times, Michael. I'm Michael Babaro. This is the daily.

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So we got to go into the fuel manager menu and fuel price configuration.

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All right.

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I'm going to go from 449 on my premium to 469.

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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 pump pumps and cash registers that a test of wills is playing out in real time.

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I just gotta download the fuel prices to my pumps and that's that price increased.

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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 endure. I mean, does any part of you just feel, like, really bad that you have to do that?

1:38

Yeah, Yeah, I feel. I feel bad. I mean, it's a necessity. I have to. But yeah, I feel bad. That kind of hurts.

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Today, the view of this war from a neighborhood gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. It's Friday, March 27th. Okay, I think this is it.

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Yeah.

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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 Judy. Hey, guys.

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What's going on? Welcome here.

2:50

Hi.

2:52

Michael Cameron. Nice to meet you.

2:53

Nice to meet you.

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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.

2:56

Serious Little Debbie stuff? Of course. Yeah, Right there, right in front. Staring at me across the way all day, whispering my name, honey buns.

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Meaning that Cam and Cam alone sets the price. I've never been in the guts of the. Of the cashier's.

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Is that all you Ever dreamed of

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the cashier's wing of the store. We met him on a Tuesday when regular unleaded gas at his station cost $3.79 a gallon, about 40% higher than before the war started. Cam was manning the cash 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.

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What's up, Rick? Mr. Lee. Hey, Lewis. Yeah, you're good, brother.

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Are you on a first name basis with a lot of customers?

4:04

I am, yeah. Yeah. After eight years, almost nine years, this July will be nine years. I got a lot of regulars that come in here.

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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.

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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.

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And Cam grew up watching his father really become the unofficial mayor of this neighborhood.

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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, somebody waiting in line for their coffee. He knows everybody.

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And it went beyond just knowing everybody. His father's customers were treated as an extension of the Judy family.

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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, my power was off, and 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, 15 years.

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So for Cam, this was really the only way he knew to run a business.

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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 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, become a huge part of your life. They really do.

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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.

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I know their PE Coach. He comes in here every day. So I tell him, I show him a picture of the kid on my camera, and he makes them run laps

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or push ups out of here. Yes, that's local justice.

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I love it.

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So when the war broke out a few weeks ago, right before the war,

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I remember we were sitting at 279

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for a long time, and Cam realized he was going to have to raise

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gas prices from 279 to 299 to 309.

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Over and over.

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We went up almost 20 cents in

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48 hours and over again.

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Gosh, it's been almost every day.

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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.

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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.

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And just to explain how this works, this is actually not making Cam more money.

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My distributor of fuel is charging me per gallon, and then I have to account for if they're going to charge me to get it to the gas station. So trucking fees, trucking fees to the store itself. 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.

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For Cam, the margins on gas are actually pretty slim.

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I mean, there's really such a small amount of profit to be made per gallon for a business like mine. I mean, I'm talking maybe 10 to 15 cents per gallon max for my store.

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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 gas. How did you think about this question of how much you could increase the price of the pump? Knowing your customer, how did you balance all that?

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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, a big chain gas station franchise like that, just because it's my store. Can I consider the customer when I'm making these gas prices. Not really. Because as much as I love my regular customers, I can't take a loss per gallon. It would be difficult to even figure out what my break even number would be. Gotta at least make a couple cents off of each gallon or 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 409. I could do that. There's no problem with me doing that. I know gas station owners that do do that. They go 10 cents over their nearest big corporate gas station just so that it can make a little bit more of a profit margin. I choose not to specifically because of the relationship I have with my regular customers. 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 do worry about the longevity of these high prices. It would be a strain on a lot of people, myself included.

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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 399A gallon for regular. He had been holding steady at 379. He looks out at the pumps.

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I don't like to do it when customers are pumping gas.

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And he makes the call to raise the prices.

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So I'm going to raise it from $379 to $399.

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That's a big jump.

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It is a big jump. Yeah.

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So if I go outside right now,

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even on that big sign, Big sign is happening right now too. And that's. It's almost instant. Yep.

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Boom.

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We'll be right back. Foreign.

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12:32

Good morning, Cam.

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Good morning. It's cold.

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It's cold for Florida.

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Yes, it is.

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That's right. The next morning, just before 7am Anna and I returned to the gas station to watch Cam open it up for the day.

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Just gotta turn the lights on, turn the gas pumps on and we're open for business.

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Those were the pumps.

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The pumps, yep.

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We wanted to understand just how much this relentless increase in gas prices, including Cam's most recent hiker, were hurting his customers. So this is, this is 399 day. Do you think that people are gonna notice the 20 cent increase today?

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Definitely. Oh yeah. 379 to 399. It's a big jump. And yeah, we'll definitely get some people in here that are. And we were just, we were 20 cent cheaper yesterday. What happened, Cam,

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over at the pumps, if you want to talk about gas prices, let me start cussing now, huh? People did not hold back.

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It's out of hand, out of hand.

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Oh my God.

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It's awful. It's just going to affect so many people. I mean it's really so sad because people already struggling and this was just so unnecessary.

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It's like you're paying double now than what you was paying a couple weeks ago.

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People that's on fixed income, they have a tough time with these gas prices, see $100.98, 80.

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That's a very expensive amount of gas.

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Never been this bad, man.

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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 referendum, a referendum on the war in Iran, on President Trump himself, and really on the entire promise of America. Talking to people about gas prices. If you have thoughts.

14:26

Oh, I've seen them do something. Now they're at 4.

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So, yeah, we met a guy named Andrew who, like many people in Jacksonville, is a veteran. The region is a major military hub.

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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 kind of hinders that a little bit.

15:20

And were you in Iraq or Afghanistan?

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Jordan, Afghanistan area. Okay. And yeah, once I saw that they cut off the straight. There go the gas prices.

15:31

When you fill your car, what is the actual cost now?

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50 bucks. That's usually like 30.

15:43

So where has that come from in that, like, pie chart of your house?

15:46

Usually it comes from our grocery budget because, like, everything else is, like, bills. Can't skip bills. I mean, sometimes 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.

15:49

Does it change how you eat?

16:02

Yeah.

16:03

Can you give me an example?

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Like, we've been going to those food banks every now and then, which help out. I like those. 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 dinner. So, like, there's been nights where her and I don't eat and we'll just let them eat. But we're cool with that because, like, as long as our kids eat, we're fine.

16:05

That's a really meaningful sacrifice.

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I mean, they come first. So, I mean, we're fine. We can handle it. But I think I give it a month before all this levels off.

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Maybe you hope.

16:42

I hope, yeah. One can hope. We just need to pull out and just not be there and just let the straight open up, like it's not our war.

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It's not our war.

16:53

It's not our war.

16:54

Well, thank you for spending time with us. Of course. Thank you. 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 financial pain is just as immediate, but who sees the war and Trump's rationale for it in a totally different light. We're hanging out with Cam to talk about gas prices. He let us spend the day with him. What's your name?

16:58

William.

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And what do you do for work?

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I own a trucking company.

17:28

Whoa.

17:29

So you. This is important. So you're involved in the trucking business at a time when gas is $4 a gallon?

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Well, diesel's 5 in some states, we're paying 6 and $7.

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So a lot of money's coming out of your pocket.

17:41

Well, you're pumping 250 gallons every time you fill up.

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Yeah.

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So do the math. It's costing anywhere between 1200-1600 for a tank of fuel now.

17:47

Wow.

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And then the rates have not gone up.

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So you'd be a strong candidate for being very upset about this war.

17:56

I would be, yeah. But I think that it's worth it. I'm a Trumpster, but let me tell you, I have some issues with. 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 70 years old, so I support it 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 felt like it was very serious, you know?

17:59

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?

18:36

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.

18:48

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?

19:00

Anything? 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 or if there's no way to. 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

19:07

to pay the gas prices, right?

19:25

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 going to last longer than four weeks, you know, But.

19:26

But you can afford these gas prices?

19:36

Yeah, I can afford it.

19:38

Yeah.

19:39

I don't like it, but I can afford it.

19:41

Thank you for your time.

19:44

Yes, sir.

19:45

Thank you. Good luck to you guys.

19:45

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.

19:47

Unbelievable. Especially when we thought we were about to get those lower gas prices. I was happy for a couple weeks when I was $2.

20:10

Like, ha.

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Now it's hard.

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Including a woman who goes by Sean and is a licensed Medicare agent.

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I make $26 an hour. Now you tell me, why should it be hard for me to put gas in the car?

20:25

So you just put six bucks in.

20:31

Six dollars.

20:33

Why so little? Because it was expensive. That was an expensive.

20:34

It's hard right now. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Like, on top of grocery, on top of rent. Because, I mean, I pay $2,000 to live every month. Now we're talking about gas. I have to 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.

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You're down the drain.

21:08

Down the drain.

21:09

You said you were excited for $2 gas.

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Like, oh, my God. I was like, we are here.

21:13

And was that something you heard from the president in his campaigns? Was that where you heard that from?

21:16

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.

21:21

And.

21:34

And now I wish I never did that.

21:36

Are you mad that he started this war and raised.

21:38

Yeah.

21:44

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.

21:46

You're upset.

22:04

I'm upset.

22:05

I mean, you're crying.

22:05

I'm upset.

22:06

Do you feel like you were kind of hoodwinked?

22:08

Yes, I was hoodwinked. This man talked about we were gonna be great again, and I did kind of 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. I 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 going through. Like, stop. We are not on the beach anymore. Take your shades off. The tsunami hit and it was called President Trump. 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 proud. I'm not real proud of us.

22:10

Well, thank you for sharing. Take care. So I think we're wrapping up CAMR 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 going to have to keep raising prices, what it would take for you to lower them.

23:14

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 going to take a week for me to have to raise it, honestly, above 399. As I was driving into work today, I passed by a gas station charging 405 for credit card purchases on gasoline.

23:45

Regular.

24:07

Regular. And it was an independent as well. Same as mine. Probably over the weekend, I'll probably have to go above $4. And as far as going well beyond $4, I could see it capping around 459. That's my estimated price cap, I believe.

24:07

How do you come up with that number?

24:25

That's probably the highest that I remember ever putting my gas prices at. I hope it doesn't get to 459. I hope it doesn't go above 409. But as unpredictable as everything is and what's going on, you just never know.

24:27

Well, thank you Again, thank you guys for all the time you've absolutely.

24:40

I appreciate y' all coming out here and talking to me about this.

24:44

Till next time.

24:48

Yes, sir.

24:49

We'll be right back.

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Here's what else you need to know today. They now have the chance, that is Iran, to permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and to join a new path forward. We'll see if they want to do it. On Thursday, President Trump sought to ratchet up pressure on Iran to enter into diplomatic negotiations to end the war. If they don't, we're their worst nightmare. In the meantime, we'll just keep blowing them away unimpeded, unstopped. Trump's latest threat came as Israel claimed it had killed a key Iranian naval commander who had led Iran's effort to close the Strait of Hormuz and as Israel expanded its ground operations in Lebanon. Meanwhile, with Congress unwilling to end the crisis at the country's airports, the president said he would sign an emergency order to begin paying airport security agents who have gone without their pay for weeks. The money is expected to come from funds previously approved for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down by Democrats since late last month. Today's episode was produced by Anna Foley and Caitlin o'. Keefe. It was edited by Devin Taylor. Contains music by Dan Powell, Diane Wong, Alicia Ba Itoub, Marian Lozano and Chelsea Daniel. Our theme music is by Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. That's it for the for the Daily I'm Michael Balboro. See you on Sunday.

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