Report Your Local Gas Prices Here (retired discussion, please see the new one)

uga91 · August 2003

Here in the Duluth, GA area, regular seems to run mostly in the $1.37 to $1.39 range. Add 10 cents for each grade change.

PF_Flyer · August 2003

Drove down to Cincinnati from Dayton this morning. When I left, 87 was going for $1.41, when i got back this evening, it had jumped 20 cents to $1.61...

What earth shattering news event did I miss???

uga91 · August 2003

I've seen a gas station near me jump 5 cents just in the time I was at work. I often wonder what happened that day to cause such a (relatively) big jump. I like it when oil prices drop and gas stations say the gas they have in the ground was bought at older prices so they have to keep their prices high--but, when oil prices go up, their price at the pump goes up the very same day! What happened to the price of gas they have in the ground then?

PF_Flyer · August 2003

When we woke up Tuesday morning, the price in Dayton went back down to $1.49 over the course of the night!

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ghulet · August 2003

...cuz gas here is just always too expensive. That said, the range in the last week has been:

87 octane=$1.739-1.779
89 octane=$1.819-1.899
93 octane=$1.919-1.979

iluvmysephia1 · August 2003

$1.77-$1.87 for 87 octane. Chicago is the home of the "I'll slip past you on your right side while you look straight ahead and drive" thing. Whoa, I'd forgotten that about it. I'm WAY too mellow of a driver to drive comfortably in that city. The term "drives me nuts" kept creeping into my mind. Also the streets were very pock-marked up. Seems to be a common trend for American roads anywhere these days.

Mr_Shiftright · August 2003

CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS?

I was driving through the desert a few weeks ago (Utah) and there, in the middle of nowhere, gas was $1.76 a gallon. This is in a place where stations are sometimes 100 miles apart.

Now in California, I pay $1.89 in Richmond, which has a huge oil refinery right next to (literally) the gas station.

I suppose the answer is "market forces", or supply and demand. Not too many Hummers lining up in Emery Utah for gasoline, at ANY price.

tboner · August 2003

Taxes, maybe Cali has higher taxes.

They probably also, in fact, I'm certain, they require a unique fuel formula compared to the rest of the nation.

So yes, those forces are in effect since fewer refineries make the california fuel formula.

TB

idntnvu · August 2003

are hanging around 1.419 for regular unleaded, some as much as a dime higher, but pretty close.

wilcox · August 2003

Gas price rise 10 to 12 cent per gallon since last posting...who responsible? G. Bush? OPEC? California?

Uga91 - Carrollton

wilcox · August 2003

Mr. Patel say rise in gas prices is no his fault. He explain to me that he sells gas cheap to get people to come in store where items that sell make profit. More people buy gas allows him to sell merchandise inside at much greater markup.

Mr. Patel verified this by presenting his latest fuel delivery invoice. To summarize: Price $1.41 regular....to....$1.52 for premium. His pump prices were $1.44 for regular and $1.53 for premium.

Looks like he make fast nickel...but slow dime.

Let's blame the higher prices on New York and California.

PF_Flyer · August 2003

Sure seems to eb the case that the mere thought that gas prices are going to rise precipitates moves. That's the only explanation I can come up with a more than 10% jump in price at the pumps in one day. The wife paid $1.35 in Altoona on Wed while new stories were circulating that analysts expected prices to rise over the rest of the year... WHAMO... $1.55 on Thur.

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Mr_Shiftright · August 2003

Shell premium unleaded, $2.33/gallon @ Lincoln and 19th Ave, San Francisco.

luckylou · August 2003

Brevard county in Florida , since the BO in NY my local gas station regular has go up from $1.42 9/10 to $1.58 9/10 , with 10 cents intervals for higher grades. In a matter of 4 days up 16 cents.

carnut4 · August 2003

Yikes! Unleaded regular now up to 1.93! Other grades over 2 bucks. THat's a 40 cent a gallon increase in the past 3 weeks. What's going on?
This is now the most expensive gas we've ever had here-a new record.

fintail · August 2003

Someone is making bank

18fan · August 2003

Up to $1.659 for regular unleaded... add 10 cents for each higher grade.

:-(

andys120 · August 2003

here in NH has caused prices to go above the high levels of Mar/Apr '03. I saw $1.939 posted for High Test at a Texaco, regular only $.20 cheaper.

iluvmysephia1 · August 2003

I paid $1.589 for reg.unleaded yesterday at one of the Conoco stations in Rolla, MO yesterday. Not rising a lot but still rising.

wilcox · August 2003

W. Ga premium ranges from $1.63 to $1.70.

bcarter3 · August 2003

If I owned a refinery I would raise the price of gas a couple of cents each week until the politicians started to threaten. Then I would drop the prices back to previous and wait a month or so and do it all over again. Seems to be working fine for the oil companies. The politicians obviously will not threaten anyone unless the public pushes them!!!! South Florida regular $1.63-$1.74

wilcox · August 2003

If each time gallon price rises, then do motorists tend to notice and cut-back on consumption?

Does every cut-back in consumption mean that terrorists who are financed through Middle East and Arabian Gulf countries get less funds to finance their operations?

Is this "a blessing in disguise"?

Is our country so paranoid about someone out to get us that it believes this baloney?

just4fun2 · August 2003

Gasoline is 1.69. Why get upset with something that you have no control over the pricing? You can cut back on your consumption and bring the cost of driving down. Relax!!

nippononly · August 2003

is that here in California last year, when the gas prices spiked, all the "experts" shook their collective heads and said, "what do you expect? all your gas comes from California, with your unique formulation and all, so there are bound to be occasional shortages"

Now that gas has spiked $0.40/gallon in three weeks, they are saying "well it was to be expected - after all, those drivers down in Arizona where the gas main broke were bound to cause a shortage"!! Now how is it that a mere 10 months later we are depending on the Arizona pipeline when before the shortage was because all our refining capacity was located right here?

I smell a fish, and it aint fresh.

Today: $2.29/gallon just around the corner at the 76, $2.17 at the place I usually go, for 87. Three weeks I filled up for $1.65 at the very same station. Three weeks.

tboner · August 2003

I heard on the news where the EPA temporarily lifted their restrictions on the formula that AZ had to use for their fuel.

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=6423

So they probably got some CA gas, some TX gas, etc.

This DOE page helps get a handle on fuel prices and such. It points to increased demand, smaller stockpiles and modest if any increases in refinery capacity.

Also note that we now IMPORT gasoline as well as crude oil because we cannot refine enought ourselves in the USA.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_gasoline.html

TB

PF_Flyer · August 2003

We're coming into our first football weekend here at Penn State, not to mention arrival weekend for new students. And anytime there's an "event" like this, our gas prices miraculously rise just before the event and decline after. When asked about this, local gas station operators say that it's simply supply and demand and that they don't "gouge" us because there's about to be an influx of large numbers of vehicles that will need to gas up to leave. If that's really the case, wouldn't the price not rise until after the demand actually increased?

I think it's a duck!

PF Flyer
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tboner · August 2003

Don't the stations need to order fuel in advance of an expected large influx of visitors?

Of course it is a holiday weekend as well.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure stations DO try to raise the price, and there is no crime in that.

Besides, check my posts here about two years ago now regarding how much a station owner makes, vs how much you pay in taxes.

I personally would rather have the station owner make a profit for having his capital on the line, than sending $0.37/gallon to the State and Federal governments who DON'T put every penny of that tax back into the roads and bridges in the state.

It is frustrating because you don't have any control over it.

So do what I do and laugh at all the SUV owners you see on CNN complaining about fuel prices, and remind folks who I hear complain in person that even if fuel prices were to double today, they will probably still spend more on the vehicle, than the fuel.

TB

tboner · August 2003

I'm sure many have heard the economic "law" that prices are generally inflexible in the downward direction.

Any businessman who thinks he can get away with it will be quick to raise prices, but slow to drop them.

Looking around the St. Louis area, I found gas has bounced around a fair bit. Early last week, fuel was in the mid $1.5x's and jumped to $1.749 by the end of the week.

I gassed up this AM at $1.619.

So in reality, the price is all over the place.

What am I leading upto?

Just in time inventory. If I'm running a gas station, I really don't want to keep a large inventory of gasoline, especially with prices as volatile as they are.

First, gasoline is perishable, so it does have a shelf life, it evaporates, goes bad, etc.

Second, if I filled my tanks to the very top at the highest price and prices drop $0.20/gallon over the next week, I now have to sell my fuel for a loss, especially if the station across the street has already dropped their price.

I'd like to hear from someone who runs a gas station, but I bet they get fuel daily or perhaps every other day in many cases.

Seems that would be less risky than speculating on what fuel prices will do, losing fuel to evaporation, etc.

But if gas prices really have you bothered, then just use less gas. Combine trips, get a smaller car, stay home and watch a PPV movie instead of the theatre, etc.

I drive about 35K miles/year and my wife another 10-12K.

The average fuel economy we get is 25MPG (31MPG in the Prizm for 25K miles, 24MPG in the SVT for 10K miles and 17MPG in the MPV for 10K miles) or about 1800 gallons of fuel/year.

At $2/gallon, that is ONLY $3600

I paid nearly twice that in payments for my wife's van this year.

TB

PF_Flyer · August 2003

I'd LIKE to understand how it works, but nobody seems to want to take the time to give up the "secret" of gas pricing.

I'm all for the free market, and we generally pay what the market will bear, but gas seems to march to the beat of its own drummer.

Of course, if I ever completely understand gas prices, car insurance might make sense as well...LOL

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iluvmysephia1 · August 2003

Kurt Warner pass, but some of the explanations are kind of, well, murky to understand if you really hear the details. A refinery fire, for example can drive up prices immediately...it makes a person wonder if here's not oil people and middlemen who "look" for handy excuses to plug in as the "gas rise excuse flavor of the week" eh? Hey, push button #51, Roy, that one'll work just fine. As for car insurance I have this suggestion. Call around if you want to get some quotes..we just learned that we WERE paying too much for ours after a recent increase in premium prices and it wasn't that gecko that got our business eventually, either!

18fan · August 2003

Up *again* to $1.699 for 87 unleaded... add 10 cents for each higher grade. That's an increase of about 20 cents just in the last week!

PF Flyer: How much do the prices usually spike up there on a weekend where there is a game at State Penn?? ;^)

uga91 · August 2003

Gas here in the Duluth, GA area (NE metro Atlanta) is running in the $1.53 to $1.56 range for regular. I did find a BP station yesterday that had regular for $1.46, so I filled up even though I still had half a tank! I can't figure out why they were so "cheap" compared to other stations. A Shell station across the street from them was $1.49 while another BP station about 2 miles away was $1.55. My closest gas station, a Chevron station, was at $1.55 this morning. Add $.10 a gallon for each upgrade onto each of these prices. The "experts" say the prices should come down after Labor Day--let's hope so.

PF_Flyer · August 2003

I'll keep a closer eye on it this year, but it seems like the spike is about a nickel...

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KCRam · August 2003

"Thank God I'm a Diesel Owner"

Sunoco truck stop, Palisades Park, NJ

87 - $1.659
89 - $1.739
93 - $1.799
94 - $1.839
diesel - $1.379

Mount Arlington Exxon, Mt. A, NJ

87 - $1.819
89 - $1.919
93 - $2.019
diesel - $1.759 2 weeks ago, afraid to look now

Three guesses where I tanked up just now, and the first two don't count....

kcram
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iluvmysephia1 · August 2003

and that chinga-ringa-chinga-chinga-ringa sound so loud like that that I...I...ummm...can't believe the diesel fuel costs you less! Oh, BTW, regular unleaded spotted at a Break Time mini-mart/gas station in Rolla, MO at $1.579 tonight.

sonjaab · August 2003

Price has shot up since the "blackout" from $1.49 a gallon to $1.79 for regular in 2 1/2 weeks!
Diesel is STILL $ 1.60 tho !

uga91 · August 2003

I saw a "no-name" gas station at $1.43 this morning. The Chevron across the street from it was at about $1.53--about $.02 cheaper than earlier in the week.

nippononly · August 2003

are so lucky! ;-)

Every time gas prices make the evening news, they report where the cheapest gas in the nation is, and guess where? Georgia, every time!

zenzikora · August 2003

I happened to be in Goergia in '99 when the gas prices were at a super-low point. Regular was 69.9 down there, and 99 up here. Now where I live (an hour Northwest of Philly PA) it just went up from about 155.9 to anything between 175 and 180. I don't think I've ever seen it this high around here. Premium will hit 2.00 soon.

uga91 · August 2003

We have a lot of chicken houses in this state, but I don't know if we are the "chicken capital" or not.

I don't exactly know why our gas is the cheapest (or close to it) in the nation. I have heard a couple of reasons in the past, but I can't remember what they are off hand. I'm not complaining, though!

Hey, nippononly--don't you live in California? You are the lucky one--getting to vote for Arnold!

nippononly · August 2003

for governor! :-)

loved this above: "I don't think I've ever seen it this high around here. Premium will hit 2.00 soon."

87 octane shot over 2.00 quite some time ago around here...we will be lucky if it ever goes back under 2, I would think. The morning news had a piece on gas prices again this morning, and what a surprise! The San Francisco Bay Area is once again the most expensive region for gas in the nation...I love living here, but the gas sure aint cheap.

uga91 · August 2003

The no-name station I passed yesterday is down to $1.41 today and the Chevron across the street from it is down to $1.52 this morning as well. Come on down!!

nippononly · August 2003

also reports that 90% of the gas sold in California today is sold by 6 major gas/oil distributors. The state government is now talking about regulating gas prices as a public utility.

uga91 · August 2003

so I don't know for sure BUT isn't all the regulation what lead to the blackouts Southern Californians were facing last year?

nippononly · August 2003

that was DEregulation that led to the blackouts

uga91 · August 2003

BTW, if it makes you feel better about gas prices, the Chevron station around the corner from me dropped from $1.55 this AM to $1.49 this PM. Yee-haw!

nippononly · August 2003

that makes me feel a LOT better! :-P

uga91 · August 2003

ghulet · August 2003

Here in Chicago, gas spiked at $1.959/2.059/2.159 a week or two ago (because of the NYC blackout? Gimme a break) and are now about six cents cheaper. IIRC, gas prices always go up around Labor Day, don't they?

andys120 · August 2003

Either $1.55 or $1.49 would be a screaming bargain. IN NH regular is at least $1.65.

Isn't regulation what caused the gas lines in the 70s?

Report Your Local Gas Prices Here (retired discussion, please see the new one)

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