Family-owned convenience store chain Sheetz is cutting prices at the pump ahead of July 4. President and CEO Travis Sheetz said the holiday weekend was a great opportunity to provide some financial relief to travelers.
The company is offering unleaded 88 gasoline for $3.99 per gallon and dropping the price of E85 gas to $3.49 through July 5.
Travis Sheetz said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday that Americans with “light duty” vehicles produced in 2001 or newer can take advantage of the discounted unleaded gas while flex-fuel vehicles can use the E85.
Sheetz’s discounted rates come as traveling Americans face record gas prices across the country.
After the national average hit $5 per gallon in mid-June, President Biden called for a gas tax holiday that would last through September. Biden’s plan would suspend the federal gas tax and save Americans 18 cents per gallon for roughly three months.
Sheetz said he has seen firsthand the “big impact” that high gas prices have had on families, ultimately taking a toll on his family business as well.
“High gas prices aren’t good for gas retailers either because people have to spend more on gas, and so they have less disposable income to spend on other things,” he said. “It’s difficult for everyone.”
A national spokesperson for AAA called the extended period of record-high prices “unprecedented” and warned that prices could remain high through the summer as the war in Ukraine continues.
Sheetz said, however, that politics and foreign issues didn’t play a role in the decision to lower prices over the holiday weekend.
“It was something that we wanted to do,” he said. “It was just an opportunity, we thought, to give back and also to drive some awareness around these alternative fuels that we think are great options for people.”
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
