Are we seeing the start of a nationwide gasoline shortage?
That's what several viewers have asked us after finding a number of UDF stations out of gas this week.
However, there is no nationwide or even regional gasoline shortage right now, according to Gas Buddy and AAA.
So then what is going on at several local United Dairy Farmer stations that have covered up their pumps in recent days?
Watch a fuel seller explain how high prices are hurting stations:
Stations in several neighborhoods run dry
WCPO first reported last week that some UDF locations were out of gas.
We saw plastic bags covering the pumps at the UDF on Queen City Avenue last Friday, while a sign on the door said "no gas."
Now, a Reddit thread lists a growing number of other UDF stations out of gas for at least a few hours, including locations in Mt Washington, Hamilton, Silverton, and Ross, according to Reddit members.
Fuel seller Mark Duebber — who owns a Marathon station in Delhi Township — said that some stations are not filling their underground tanks completely right now, because it costs them more to purchase the gas than they can sell it for.
"I see this a lot in the gasoline industry," he said. "Because there are days in fuel pricing where what I am paying to drop a tank of fuel in the ground is less than what United Dairy Farmers or some of these big box stores or Thornton's or Speedway (are charging). And they are actually selling gas on the corner cheaper than I can buy it."
In other cases, Duebber said stations that are pricing their gas too low are selling it too quickly, and that leads to empty underground tanks. That can happen if one station is 40 cents lower than others in the same neighborhood.
UDF has been pricing their fuel lower than Speedway, Shell and BP in some areas.
UDF explains reason for shortages
But a UDF spokesman said this was simply a supplier problem.
Mark Wilson, Corporate Head of Human Resources, wrote in a statement to WCPO:
"Over the past two weeks, UDF's primary fuel supplier ran into an issue with product quality that didn't allow us to source the necessary amount of fuel needed to keep our stores in stock on gas. That disruption created runouts at several local stores due to the low supply. Our supplier has since gotten our fuel back to product quality standards and our fuel delivery team has been working since late last week to bring all stores back to full supply. As of today, we have no stores out of fuel and expect to maintain fuel supply moving forward. We apologize for any disruption this may have had on our guests."
So your local UDF should have gas at this point, and if you are lucky it may be priced a few cents lower than the competition.
That way you don't waste your money.
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