This is tough. For my LHS guy, we have talked a lot about this and his thing is, he cannot afford to sell stuff any cheaper and stay in business. He HAS to sell the fuel at a 50% markup because he does not sell enough. He sells screws, nut and bolts and stuff for about 5x what I can get it from www.mircofasteners.com . For a small town LHS, there is no choice, so on those things that are a 1 time purchase I go to him, that includes buying an ARF. BUT, when it comes to fuel I must admit that I will not pay $25/gallon when I can get the same stuff for about 40% less from other places. I understand why he has to do it, but when I am spending up to $800/yr at $15/gallon, it would be foolish to spend more for me. Now if I only burned 10 gallons a year, eh, I think I would stick with him.

The other thing is that my LHS does not carry what I prefer to use in fuel and other stuff. I have suggested companies for him to switch to that would save him on cost and he could get the same markup $$/gallon. Also,he would sell more because we would buy it even if it were a few bucks more per gallon, if he carried the right fuel at the right price. But he just downright refuses. This goes for covering and some other stuff too. He refuses to carry anything that he cannot get from "one supplier".