Reynold Gladu, owner of Ren’s Mobil Service in Amherst, Massachusetts, emptied his gas tanks earlier in June for what may be the very last time. Gladu decided to stop selling gas due to frustrations over the rising price of fuel, he told the Daily Hampshire Gazette in a piece published Tuesday.
Cardboard signs that say “Out of gas” hang above each tank at Gladu’s station, which he has owned and operated for the past 48 years. Gasoline prices are on the rise throughout the country, reaching an average of over $5 in Massachusetts, as noted in AAA New England. After pumping his last tank for $4.75 a gallon, Gladu refused to sell even the cheapest grade fuel for anything more than that, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Since 1973, Ren’s has sold gas through the oil embargo of the 1970s, as well as through price fluctuations due to wars and hurricanes. In the 1990s, when Gladu was informed by Mobil that the service station would have to become a convenience store, it was the support of the Amherst community that helped Gladu take over the property lease and keep Ren’s running.
But, now, Gladu is out of patience.
“I don’t want to be part of it anymore,” he told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “This is the biggest ripoff that ever has happened to people in my lifetime.” (RELATED: Random American At Gas Station Sums Up Biden’s Biggest Problem Live On MSNBC With Stunning Simplicity)
Gas station owner’s patience runs dry in downtown Amherst https://t.co/QSCGBxrAf7
— Daily Hampshire Gazette (@DailyHampGaz) June 8, 2022
Ren’s will continue to offer services such as oil changes and tire installations, but Gladu is realistic about the station’s impending closure now that he is no longer selling gas. Gladu said he is frustrated with the oil companies.
“Dealing with Mobil, they don’t think through their pricing policies anymore,” he said, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “I’ve served their product, but I refuse to do it anymore, because they’re only getting richer.”
ExxonMobil’s operations media manager, Julie King, wrote in an email to the Daily Hampshire Gazette that her company does not control the cost of fuel at the pump; rather, service stations “price their fuel based on local market competition and other business factors.” King also told the Daily Hampshire Gazette that there are many factors that determine the price of gas, from inventory levels to transportation cost.
Gladu maintains his firm stance on the matter, expressing to the Daily Hampshire Gazette that “enough is enough. People shouldn’t have to pay these prices to go to work, to go to church, or to do whatever they have to do.”