Bob Eddy: Yes. Look, I think, again, we’re focused on doing the right thing for our members for the lifetime value. And I think there’s a good case that our members save even more money today than they did several years ago. So you could think about us justifying a membership fee income hike with the fact that our members get more from us than they did 4 or 5 years ago. But we want to be very cognizant of the fact that, we are in an interesting consumer environment, and we don’t want to derail the progress that we’re making, right? And go back to some of the earlier comments that I made. We’re thrilled with our progress in Q3 and over the last several years, we’ve had a fee increase without a fee increase. So I think we can keep up the momentum. I don’t want to do anything to derail that. That’s not saying I’ll never do it, but we haven’t given any thought to doing it in the very near term.
Operator: Our next question comes from Mark Carden with UBS.
Mark Carden: So to start on fuel, you noted that profits came in higher than anticipated and that you’re boosting your 4Q expectations. But at the same time, you’re keeping your longer-term profitability expectations steady. And so just curious if you’re seeing any signs that the industry may be getting structurally stronger from a profitability standpoint? Are you looking to lighten your gaps here at all? Or are you expecting price competition to basically just step back up as fuel prices normalize?
Bob Eddy: Mark, that’s a great question. Certainly, gas was good profit performer for us in the third quarter. We expect it to be in the remainder of the year as well. That really all is a function of two things. First and foremost, our gains and market share, we continue to grow our gallons. Our gallons are up 3% in Q3. And the market is double-digit down in our markets. So we are garnering tons of share. Part of that is just our low pricing. Part of it is our co-brand credit card that gives you another $0.15 off per gallon and is a really great way to show value to our members on an everyday basis on top of the already fantastic pricing that we have. Second, really, behind market share is just the volatility of the cost of the commodity.
So with not one but two wars going on in the world, that provided a little bit of sadly extra volatility. And that provides some extra profit for us. So I think that will continue through the fourth quarter. I don’t think — I think you can probably predict my answer on the long term. I don’t think we’re looking to widen any gaps here. We’re not trying to make any extra money off of gas while acknowledging that we have gotten structurally more profitable and the market has gotten structurally more profitable, we’re not trying to float that up overall. What we’re trying to do is put great pricing on our fuel, build the lifetime value of our memberships, get people in our parking lots through the gas business, so they come in and buy some general merchandise and some grocery items from us.
We’ll continue to focus on that. It’s a great way to build the membership, great way to build traffic, and price perception. So our team has done a wonderful job operating the gas business in a quite dynamic environment, and it’s a key to our long-term future of our company. So good performance. We’re looking for some more good performance. And over the long term, it will continue to drive our business.
Mark Carden: Got it. That’s helpful. And then just as a quick follow-up. What are you guys anticipating on the labor front over the next few quarters? Do you see much of a risk for another round of investments?
