To the editor:
Have you noticed? Anyone who travels to Houlton or points south must have noticed the change in price of gasoline between Presque Isle and Houlton. There was a time when gasoline always cost 5 to 10 cents a gallon more in Houlton. People blamed that on Interstate 95.
As of Jan. 7, gasoline cost 16 cents more a gallon in Presque Isle than it did in Houlton. Why? Well, we are told that it costs more to transport gasoline all the way to Presque Isle. The roads are not as good and all the small towns slow the truckers. For a typical truckload of 10,000 gallons that means it costs an extra $1,600. Since the same dealers sell gasoline in both cities and we’re told that they only make a small mark-up per gallon, then the difference must be in transportation. Right!
If you believe that story then we must all be in the wrong business. Where else can you make $1,600 for just driving up the road for an hour. I guess we should all be trucking gasoline.
Where are our legislative representatives? Do they drive with blinders? Don’t they recognize excessive pricing when it’s this obvious? What are they doing to help the people that elected them? Nothing!
Leighton Perkins
Mapleton
