"Money doesn't move us": the owner of this gas station sells the cheapest fuel to relieve his community

By Zachary Schermele -

The owner of a gas station in Phoenix, Arizona, is selling a gallon of gasoline almost half a dollar cheaper than at other gas stations in the city, when prices have risen to record highs across the country.

Jaswiendre Singh, owner of a Valero Food Mart, sold the lower-octane gasoline for $5.19 a gallon on Friday, when the average price in the city was around $5.68, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). in English).

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Singh has lived in Phoenix for more than two decades.

He has three children, one of whom is attending college.

He said that he works from 4:00 am to midnight every day and that his wife, Ramandeep Kaur, also helps him in the store.

Jaswiendre Singh and his wife, Ramandeep Kaur. Courtesy of Jaswiendre Singh

Singh has many expenses at home and at work, from thousands of dollars in property taxes to insurance and mortgage payments for his gas station and home.

But he said both "helping humanity" and his religious values ​​(Singh professes Sikhism) influenced his decision to keep gas prices low.

“Money doesn't move us.

We teach our children to do the same,"

she said.

“If you have something, you should share it with other people.”

Singh explained that he can make up what he loses from selling gasoline with what he gets from purchases inside his store, although he declined to say whether he sells the fuel at cost or less than it costs him.

But he did say that he buys from multiple vendors.

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Most of the cars pumping gas at his service station are not Mercedes Benzes, Singh said.

But since so many customers help him by shopping at his store, he felt it was important to give back during this "crisis."

"I have to make money somehow, someday, that's true, but not now," he

said.

"Now is the time to help people," she added.

In part because of Russia's war in Ukraine, gasoline prices across the country have hit record highs in recent months, after the United States and its allies cut their imports of Russian oil.

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The average price of regular gasoline in the country was 5 dollars on Friday, according to AAA, one cent less than Monday due to a slight drop in demand.

With hurricane season stretching into November and the conflicts abroad with no end in sight, experts aren't sure when prices will start to fall.