Earlier this week, the White House proudly boasted about a series of “Freedom Fuel” gas stations that had lowered their fuel prices to honor President Donald Trump, but by Friday, industry experts were raising questions as to who was footing the bill.
On Tuesday, the White House published a video promoting a new line of Freedom Fuel gas stations that had opened in Pennsylvania that had all lowered prices for a gallon of gasoline to $3.47 in honor of Trump, the 47th president.
While a White House spokesperson told The New York Times Friday that the administration had nothing to do with the promotion, Jeff Lenard, spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the stunt made no financial sense.
“I don’t see how they can make money selling fuel,” Lenard told the Times, while also noting that the gas stations participating in the promotion appeared to be small operations with limited services and merchandise that were mostly reliant on fuel sales. “They need to have some other way to make money, whether it’s in-store sales, or a carwash or something else. The question everybody is asking is who is taking the loss?”
Gulf Oil Chief Energy Adviser Tom Kloza also questioned the feasibility of selling gasoline as low as $3.47 for an extended period, telling the Times that such promotions are typically as short-lived as a few hours.
“We occasionally see retailers sell at below cost for grand openings, or special promos tied to holidays,” Kloza told the Times in an email. “But the period where one sells at the disadvantaged prices is measured in hours and not days or weeks.”
Scouring through public records, the Times found that “Freedom Fuel Network” was registered in Delaware as a limited liability company “less than a month ago.” When trying to contact Anna Vishev, who was listed as the attorney of record who submitted a trademark application for the Freedom Fuel Network logo, Vishev told the Times they were “not authorized to disclose any information about the company,” the outlet wrote.
A Times reporter was also stonewalled when attempting to get answers from a man working the cash register at one of the Freedom Fuel gas stations.
“I don’t want to talk about politics,” said Sikander Kumar. “It’s all about cheap gas and keeping customers happy.”
As of Friday morning, at least one of the Freedom Fuel gas stations had raised their prices for a gallon of gas to $3.57, according to the gas price tracking app GasBuddy.