Those stations, already operating on thin margins, will be forced to raise prices at the pump or go out of business.

These are small businesses operating on very thin margins.

Most supermarket chains operate on wafer-thin margins of 1 percent.

A. They operate on very tight, small margins.

With such high-grade intelligence, utilities could operate on much smaller safety margins than had been previously possible.

That, he continued, will "damage many booksellers who operate on very slim margins."

However, since their rainy-day funds have been pretty much depleted, at this point state and local governments are operating on very narrow margins.

For a company like ourselves that operates on small margins, it could affect us.

But they said that even the current reimbursement rates forced them to operate on razor-thin margins.

Operating on slim margins, only the largest farms stand a chance of turning a reasonable profit.