General Discussion

It is sort of how car braking goes back through a group of cars and is called the Accordion Effect.

Braking waves, or traffic shockwaves, move backward through a group of cars because each driver reacts to the brake lights of the car ahead after a slight delay, creating a cascading, amplified deceleration. This "accordion effect" (or traffic wave) can turn a minor slowdown into a stop for rearward vehicles.

Remember you buy your gas from a station you pick, the station is more locked into a distribution chain. And they are buying a large amount at once, if the price starts dropping and they have to reduce their prices to somewhat match their competitiors they could face reduced profits or even a loss on the last batch. So in effect these price increases if not actual profiteering are just them leaving a little cushion for the next delivery. Remember they only make a few cents per gallon, most stations either make money from a service garage or an attached convience store. These are ripple effects of this energy being physical and having to be moved around. The oil gets pumped, then it gets transported to a refinery, then sold to a distributor and finally to a petrol station or an oil delivery company. Each of these firms along the way have to preserve cash for future operations, so it is natural for price declines to take longer than increases to hit the pumps. As the declines only begin once stations start to compete on price. I've noticed at different times diffferent brands of gas will be the price leader along Rt 17 in North Jersey, some times it is 7-11, some times Arco and other times Exxon.