The Arco gas station at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and 182nd Street seems to be operating lousily. Its sign says $4.89 for regular, $4.95 for plus and $4.99 for supreme. These prices has stayed the same for 2 years, while for the same type of gasoline, other gas stations like another Arco down the road at 182nd Street and Prairie Avenue sells regular gas for just $3.37.
"I used to buy my gas there for many years," emailed Raelyn Morgan to the Daily Breeze, a Los Angeles County's South Bay region's news source, a few days ago. "But over the past couple of years their gas price has stayed the same - $4.99 per gallon - it never changes. There are rarely any cars there, duh." Social media like Yelp also published more or less the same kind of comments from the locals.
No wonder most just avoided buying gas from this station. Even first visitors to the area will not buy gas there after seeing the price tags. People are seen to park in only to buy little things from the am pm mini market. Few buy the gas when they haven't paid attention on the price tags written on the sign. Upon their paying, they are normally dumbfounded when realizing the unusual price, but make the payment anyway.
"I just noticed (the price) after I paid," told Heat Lasher to a Daily Breeze's reporter. "I was like, 'Hey, there's no cars here.'"
However, despite the price that is out of the ordinary, there are few people who regularly buy the gas from the gas station. Still, because of the very slow business, people wonder why the gas station still survives. "I don't know how they survive," remarked a resident of Redondo Beach Jason Von when he pump air in his tires a few days ago. "I can't figure it out. It's always empty."
The station's manager Alfredo (not his real name) has responded to this issue. "We're going to put the prices down soon," he remarked. However, he is not likely to have told the truth as the history suggests.
