PS Will the tribe share in the enormous profits of the American oil companies through the fuel income?

Could the tribe buy a 100,000 or 1,000,000 gallon tank and buy gas in bulk and pass the savings on to our members through lower prices. Would the tribe have to pay tax on the gas or would it be like the auto tags or tobacco that the tribe sells? Gas is suppose to cost only $2.00 a gallon in Mexico without all of the Federal and State Taxes.

Wouldn't that be so cool if Indian tribes could buy gas, diesel, and home heating fuel without State and Federal Taxes. A casion would be good and a string of Caddo gas station would be nice.

Sounds good to me!! Caddo money for Caddo gas.

Well are we going to buy a giant underground gas tank and start the "Caddo National Gas Company"?

The tribe has an annual budget that is spent over the course of the entire fiscal year. Couldn't we take say a hundred thousand dollars and buy some gas and sell it discounted to the tribe and pay back the hundred thousand as we receive the income?

This could create some additional tribal jobs and cut cost for us.

Does the tribe have good credit? We could borrow the money to start the CNGC.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a possible winner??

We could buy in bulk and share the profits. How about some wind turbins for a wind farm, you know the wind blows at the complex all the time.
ha ha! Little joke.

Little Kitty. MEOW!!!!!!!

Speaking of wind turbines ---

What happened to the tribe's wind turbine? Do we still have it? Does anyone know?

The only problem is, there is very little profit to be made at the pump on gasoline. Stores that sell gasoline use it primarily as a draw to get people in their stores. Out of the price your paying at the pump the establishment is only making a few cents per gallon off the fuel they sell. Even if the tribe were to receive a break on some of the taxes, which makes up a good piece of what we pay, the "discount" wouldn't be enough to realize any real profit potential from selling fuel alone. You'd have to have something to go along with it like a convenience store or something.

Nor would buying in bulk net you any special pricing either. Fuel pricing is what it is no matter how much you buy...wholesale prices must be monitored daily to maximize those nickles and dimes your making off the fuel.

The nickle and dimes or pennies are not what I was talking about. Had we gotten into this a $2.oo a gal and pruchased 100,000 gallons with todays price of $4.50 a gal we (the tribe) would be seating on a huge profit or we could have a supply of cheap fuel for a long time.

Home heating oil would be a good investment too.

I don't think oil prices are going to go down in the future do you?

If the tribe bought now with the price of gas predicted to go up to say $9.00 a gallon where would we be?

Again, will the tribe receive an increase from the fuel income?????

If I may chime in for a second. depending on the volume of fuel sales, which would depend on many factors as well. 100,000 gallons would last, at best, maybe two to two and half months. A facility with an average volume of sales in Anadarko can pump upwards of 30,000 to 40,000 gallons per month. If you had a station on say the interstate, they can pump that in a few days or weeks. Then you'd be right back to the nickles and dimes.

Not to mention the offset in your profits to pay for the purchase and installation of the holding tanks, the number of which would depend on what grades you wish to sell, pumps, utilities, personel to run it,the facility and the contractors to do the work etc...not to mention any corporation commission and EPA crap that might come into play. Fuel pricing at the retail level is also regulated by the state. There is a certain percentage above cost you can make without price gouging. To low and you're being predadory. I'm not sure what, if any, tax breaks tribes may receive. I'm sure they're probably pretty minimal. Not enough to realize any significant discounts to your customers.

Selling to tribal members only probably wouldn't produce enough volume. You would have to be very careful. Say you bought in right now at the current pricing, and a week or two from now someone has an epiphany and the price comes back down. Even a small amount could be quite damaging to your bottom line. Pricing can change up and down so rapidly, often times on a daily basis.

On the home heating oil, which I'm no expert, how many homes in this area actually utilize it to heat their homes? That would be the only drawback to that. Propane perhaps? Farm Diesel, kerosene, bulk oil for the area farmers etc...

As far as the profits to the tribe from the fuel income goes, we'd have to ask our tribal leaders about that one. Good luck getting an honest response there.

Please don't take offense to what may seem like information trying to shoot down your ideas, that's not the case at all. The notion of having a chain of Caddo stores is a great one! As well as trying to help our tribal members realize something with an actual earning potential. Casinos have proven to provide a great profit for some tribes, but it would be nice to have other venues as well. Keep brainstorming people, you're on the right track. It's just getting the details worked out and getting an administration working for us that's truly interested in what's best for our tribe.

Just my two cents worth in a nutshell...

Same question --
What happened to the wind turbine?

The Sac & Fox have tanks for use of tribal cars. All purposals have to have a price to pay for gas and they are required to buy from the tribe at a price higher than the tribe paid for the gas. They do make nickles and dimes - enough to update their auto pool and make repairs.

Why couldn't we do that and then offer gas to members at membership meetings - at the lower price?

We do have several Indian homes in Caddo County that use propane - a service at a lower price would help them.