I'm not clear on what your asking.
Are you asking if a boat/marine dealer buys oil in bulk for use in their shop when servicing motors? possibly yes, but except for the largest service places, the bulk pricing is probably on the volume of cases of the gallon sized containers
If a dealer would sell you a gallon or 2 of their bulk oil if you brought your own containers to put it in?Not likely, but maybe in a small mom and pop kind of place where you know the guy
Whether a dealer would discount service work if you brought in your own oil?perhaps, but probably not enough to off-set the purchase price of the oil you bought to bring
And the cost savings on any of the above because of fluctuating crude prices?Dealers arent likely to be the ones seeing that cost savings, even if there was any. The distributors and refiners would be the ones to capture that savings
And as GA said, long slow supply chain compared to fuel and fuel oil.
And I wouldnt put it past the retailer you mentioned to have used their sheer size and purchasing volume to demand a better wholesale price so that they could reduce the retail price to the consumer. If only to be the low cost retailer.
FYI retailers use specific numbers in their pricing models to designate different pricing schedules. The 99cents portion from a year ago indicates it was normal retail then. The 36cents or the 6cents on the current price, even if its been that for more then a year, could indicate something. I dont work for them so I cant tell you for sure why its priced that way but its a common practice to use certain numbers to designate a change. Perhaps the 36cents means they bought way more Pennzoil then they should have and are trying to off load it at a lower price. The 6cents could also mean that they intend to discontinue selling that particular oil for whatever reason and want to move product.
$1.63 a gallon isnt a small chang, theres a reason it dropped. Even if the Pennzoil refined now is available at a savings, the retailer bought, or agreed to buy, whats on the shelf, in stores and at the warehouse, long time ago at a price set then.
Who knows, maybe Pennzoil is going to revamp the packaging and they are the ones discounting the price to retailers.
Just like cars, gotta move the current inventory because the newest ones are headed to stores.
