The French government has announced plans to allow retailers to sell fuel at a loss - even though French law currently prohibits doing so - with hopes that the measure will bring down prices at the pump for consumers.
Hm I’m not convinced that’s a good idea or even one that works. It probably only drives those who can’t afford sell-at-loss prices into insolvency before prices rise again. Imo the high gas prices aren’t even the main problem, it’s the lack of affordable and reliable alternatives.
It probably only drives those who can’t afford sell-at-loss prices into insolvency
That’s exactly why it’s generally not allowed.
I also don’t really see what should motivate petrol companies to keep prices low after pricing out smaller competitors.France is run by neoliberal dipshits now. They probably have decided that they want the small places out of business to “improve efficiency.” Also short-termist deregulation policies that leave everyone off worse in the long run is kinda their bag.
That’s the reason it’s banned in the first place.
Large companies would come into a market and sell their products for huge losses until the local competition went bankrupt. After the competition is gone, prices would go much higher than they were before.
This is probably just going to cause small individual retailers to go under while being taken over by larger groups. This is a bad move that isn’t even going to move prices in a meaningful way.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, prices are expected to hit €2.40 per liter next year…
And? You have good public transport and good bike infrastructure. Make it 5€
Public transport is also increasing in price quite significantly. So expensive, in fact, that it would be cheaper for my girlfriend to go to uni by car (about an hour’s drive) once her free student travel runs out, than it would be to take a discount (!!!) subscription for the route from home to uni by train. Public transport here is good, but it’s suffering from enshittification due to underfunding and sky high prices. It’s a shame. And unfortunately, a 45km one-way bike trip isn’t feasible most days. Not time-wise anyway.
Maybe an electric motorcycle could be an option? They can be charged straight of the wall and can be had starting from around 5000€
That’s definitely an interesting option, but it’s a step down in convenience compared to cars/trains, with the protective gear and stuff. :/
I think it’s more Problematic to live almost 50km away from your workspace. I don’t expect any form of transportation to cheaply transport me 100km every day tbh.
But also to be fair. The train should always be cheaper than a car. Also at above 2€ per L with a reasonable consumption of 6-8L you are around 16€+ just for fuel. Aren’t trains with discount Tarifs around 8-12€ per trip?
I think it’s more Problematic to live almost 50km away from your workspace.
Not even talking about personal freedom, but as soon as you’re not living alone anymore, you may just not have that choice.
Fair enough. But yeah, it’s crazy that taking the train is more expensive than going alone by car. It’d make sense if it was compared to carpooling, but nope…
While I don’t know the transport pricing structure in NL, that kind of calculation is generally only ever true if you own a car anyway and ignore that cost.
The cost of owning + maintenance + extra fuel was taken into account I’m afraid
In Germany, owning a cheap car runs you around 3000€/a, with a relatively low mileage. I imagine that’s similar in NL. You’re saying you’d definitely run above that with whatever commuter ticket is available to you?
Our car is a little above “a cheap car”, perhaps. But taking into account 4 days on site, you get about 20k km per year (assuming 52 weeks). With maintenance and other costs, including putting money aside for when this car is to be replaced, we reserve about €300 a month. That is including fuel for those 20k km per year. Getting a “traject vrij” (free travel on a certain route) subscription from the railways is, I kid you not, €400 a month. Even more expensive than when I looked last time. 🥲 Edit: forgot to mention you’ll need the bus as well, which is around €2 per ride. Around €70 euros per month extra. Cheaper than getting a discount subscription (€18 per month + €55 in fares) or a total subscription for the bus (€97 per month)
Ok. That sucks. :/
With maintenance and other costs, including putting money aside for when this car is to be replaced, we reserve about €300 a month. That is including fuel for those 20k km per year.
Never ever is it that cheap!
20k km means €2200 for benzin alone. (5,5 liters/100 km and 2€/liter)
Insurance is €900
Road tax €500
Maintenance and tyres €1200
Savement for replacement €1500
This is €6300 yearly or €500 per month.
Uff. Where did you read that?
Basically, it will increase about 20 cents per liter. Coupled with the fact that the advisory price is currently around €2.30 (lowest I’ve seen recently was €2.10), yeah…
If fuel prices are artificially lowered in a country, it will be an advantage for local companies to the detriment of competitors based in other countries. I wonder how the EU can allow such a form of protectionism. Oh, silly me, I just forgot EU == France 🤣
As a German I feel offended that you don’t attribute anything bad in the EU to Germany.
German EU dictatorship singlehandedly forces lower French petrol prices!
Also something something nuclear power!Aaaaah, so soothing. I feel peace again. Thanks, mate.
You’re not making any sense. There are already huge disparities between EU countries based on tax structures, and it’s not causing huge distortions. I can guarantee you petrol will still be cheaper in Luxembourg.
That’s how politicians from all parties always justify not doing anything to defend local industries.
