The Corner Service Station -- Nearing Extinction?

Link to WSJ article.

Data points:

• majority of "gas" / service stations in US independently owned
• increasingly difficult to make a profit
• since 2008, XOM has sold more than 95% of ~ 2,000 stations it owned; will sell rest by year-end (I blogged about this some years ago)
• Chevron had 491 company-owned stations at end of 201, down from 1,348 in 2001
• credit card transaction fees cut into margins (currently 15 to 16 cents/gallon)
• 90% of sales now paid with credit cards (something I have opined on in the past)
• five years ago, 75% of sales paid with credit cards
• people don't carry the amount of cash required to fill their tanks
• 30% increase in gas-station defaults over the past two years seen in California, Arizona, and Nevada
• Getty Petroleum Marking filed for bankruptcy in December, 2011
• 80% of service stations have convenience stores; declining in number; margins are 2%
• increased competition from supermarkets and warehous clubs
• in Boston, recent story that it was difficult to find any gas/service station inside the city

The local service station down the street from where I am staying: regular jumped from $3.83 to $3.95 over the past ten days. The largest jump was this week. Two, maybe, three refineries in the Northeast are slated for closure; winter blend to summer blend switch over; and so it goes.