I live about 30 miles SE of Seattle. In our city we have 3-4 gas stations (Chevron, Shell, etc). Most of them have kept their gas prices at ~$4.59 per gallon. Whereas if you go to Costco in a neighboring town 5 miles away they have had gas prices at ~$3.49 for the last several weeks. Some other gas stations in the neighboring town have lowered their prices a bit, but I'm amazed at how long these prices in our town have remained a dollar or more higher than Costco. I'm guessing those stations bought their inventory at the higher price. Costco maybe because of volume lowered their prices much earlier - but those local stations can't afford to take the loss of selling their existing inventory at the now competitive price. I'm even more amazed that people are buying this gas at the much higher price. And I still see cars filling up at the much higher price. Thank goodness for Costco for being the price leader for gas. They could be charging 30-40 cents more per gallon and getting away with it, but instead they keep the market competitive.