QuikTrip only local bidder for MUSD’s gas business

Discounts in bulk are the American way, but how much discount does one really receive?

At Wednesday night’s school board meeting, governing board members had the opportunity to approve a bid from a local gas station to be the school’s fuel supplier.

However, the discounted rate was only two cents off the per gallon price at the pump.

“I get a bigger discount when I fill up at Fry’s,” said school board president Shannon Amos.

District business manager Aron Rausch explained to the board that the district had sent the bid request out to10 gas stations in the community but had only received one response.

“We even called all of the companies to verify we had sent the bid request to the correct people and places,” said Rebecca Reber, purchasing coordinator for the district.

The company returning the two-cent discount bid was, ironically, the newest gas station in the city-QuikTrip.

“How can we have all these gas stations in town, and the newest guy on the block is the only one to respond with a bid?” asked board member Tim White.

The two-cent discount QuikTrip proposed is part of a five-year contract, which must be renewed every year by the board.

“We can take this deal now to come into compliance and during the next year try to find a better deal,” Reber said.

However, administrator John Sampson explained that one and a half to two cents is the normal discount gas stations hand out to districts, and the district could not do much better than that. “All of these stations know what the other hands out, and they are not going to fall out of line with that,” he said.

After receiving that information, the board seemed satisfied with the contract and passed it by a 3-1 vote with Amos voting against.

File photo