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

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Comments

  • waiwai Member Posts: 325
    Since you are a patriot, I bet you will only drive a American car.
  • highenderhighender Member Posts: 1,358
    that long post....

    are you running for congress, rocky ? ;)

    gas is going to go down a bit, if we cut all that unnecessary driving.....

    TEach your kids how to do ballet/karate by renting a video or DVD, and show her/him...so you will not need to drive them there..... :cry:
  • pisulinopisulino Member Posts: 78
    am I slow or you will have to run that by my once again :confuse:
  • keepinonkeepinon Member Posts: 10
    In the Brighton/Pickney Mi. area I have seen prices from 2.89-2.95 for regular today.
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    I made the mistake of buying an Acura TL. I liked the car alot but hated the sevice I recieved. It was by far the worsed I ever got. :( I baught the car over a GM because of them having the best customer service and I was having problems with my GM dealers down here. Refusing my entitled GM Employee Discount sent me over the deep end. :mad: Well I finally found a half-way decent GM dealership to work with. I wouldn't say he's awesome, but okay is better than nothing, eh ?

    Rocky

    P.S. I've made a mistake and I'm willing to admit to it. It won't happen again and I'll probably only buy GM cars unless GM starts importing em from China. The day that happens, I'll be committed. :sick:
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    are you running for congress, rocky ?

    I don't think a $60K salary is going to buy me many votes ;)

    OTOH I couldn't do worse. :blush:

    Rocky

    Friend says Gas was also $2.85 on the east side of town
  • lr3rx8lr3rx8 Member Posts: 7
    I got that wrong... the profit margin for Oil company is about 9% - that is they make about 9 cents for a dollar invested. Large Banks make about 18%(Amex, JPM Chase), Pharmaceudicals(Pfizer, Merck) over 20%. The oil companies profit margin is in line with GE, 11%, Walt Disney 8%, Harmon (JBL loudspeakers) 8%. And Microsofts Profit Margin... over 30% - is anybody screaming for Bill Gates head?
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    TEach your kids how to do ballet/karate by renting a video or DVD, and show her/him...so you will not need to drive them there.....

    What's the difference ? If you have to drive to the movie rental place, then you might as well drive em' to the karate class. :P

    I know I'm being sarcastic. :D

    Rocky
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    And Microsofts Profit Margin... over 30% - is anybody screaming for Bill Gates head?

    He owns his company, thus he can make whar he wants. These CEO oil tycoons aren't majority owners and that is where some of us have problems. ;)

    Rocky
  • rorrrorr Member Posts: 3,630
    "...the profit margin for Oil company is about 9% - that is they make about 9 cents for a dollar invested."

    Not to split hairs or anything but, I thought the profit margin was the profit per dollar of REVENUE, not per dollar of investment?
  • tpetpe Member Posts: 2,342
    I don't think that Bill Gates is a majority owner. The market cap for Microsoft is around 280 billion. Last I heard Bill Gates net worth was in the 50 billion range. I doubt that's all stock. I'd guess he is at most a 15% owner of the company. I'd still take it. I also don't think that he makes very much in salary. What would be the point. His salary would be dwarfed by a 1% change in Microsoft's stock price.

    I agree that some of these CEO compensation packages are obscene. Often times it doesn't even matter whether the company was profitable during their tenure. I think that it is an area that could use reform even though it would be mostly symbolic and have no noticeable impact on the price the consumers were paying.
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    Oh I must be mistaken, because I thought he was 51% owner ? I believe that was the case in the 90's right ?

    Regardless Gas could go up to $3500 a gallon, and he wouldn't notice it. ;)

    Rocky
  • deadarisedeadarise Member Posts: 4
    lol! I wish but I don't think so. :P
  • deadarisedeadarise Member Posts: 4
    lol! :P

    it's very simple.

    1. Go to gas station
    2. Use your card
    3. Put Gas in
    4. Stop at $10.00 ( you will have half of gas )
    5. Go to another Gas Station
    6. Use your cash ( if you have enough in your wallet )
    7. Put Gas in
    8. Stop at $5.00 ( then you have a full gas )
    9. the total is $15.00!

    So, now you know what I'm talking about ;)
  • pisulinopisulino Member Posts: 78
    Sorry, I can't understand this scientific formula.
    OMG!
  • tpetpe Member Posts: 2,342
    Even though I think you're putting us all on I'm a sucker and I'll go ahead and explore this rational a little. How much would this gas have cost had you filled up all at once with your credit card?
  • tonys5tonys5 Member Posts: 7
    ">Ok, let me get this straight.

    1. Go to liquor store
    2. Use your card
    3. Drink it
    4. Stop at $10.00 (you will be half drunk)
    5 Go to another liquor store
    6 Use your cash (if you did not get mugged)
    7 Drink more alcohol
    8 Stop at $5.00 (then you should be fully wasted)
    9 the total is $15.00!

    So, now you know what I'm talking about :confuse:
  • tpetpe Member Posts: 2,342
    I think the most interesting part of his strategy involves the two different payment methods. Is this essential? What if he paid with cash first and credit 2nd?
  • kernickkernick Member Posts: 4,072
    They reported that 41% of the 5 largest oil companies' stocks are owned by individual retirement funds - 401K's and IRA's. The rest is owned by people who can purchase shares individually through brokers or company employees; there was no breakdown on that.

    They also reported that the lion's share of the oil money is going to the country of the oil's source. Venezula will make $34B this year; Saudi Arabia will clear $150B (forget the exact number). They didn't mention all the other countries that export oil. The good news is that Saudi Arabia is spending much of that money in Western economies for engineering projects, autos, and other goods.
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    I'm still head scratching and the point being WHY :surprise: I know I'm a blonde, and sometimes gulible, but I still don't flat-out understand your reason for doing this and to me it appears to be a waste of time. Why not buy all your gas on the credit card or in cash ????? :surprise: I know I'm getting older, and gonna be 28 yrs old next fall, but I would think I still have my marbels aligned. :P

    WOW !!!!!!!!!!!

    Rocky
  • rockyleerockylee Member Posts: 14,017
    OMG that is the funniest reply I've ever read on here. I need to go get me a Gallon or 2 so I can figure this our. :D

    Rocky
  • kernickkernick Member Posts: 4,072
    you: 5 Go to another liquor store

    me: But don't drive; even if you think gas is a bargain. ;)
  • 210delray210delray Member Posts: 4,721
    Gas down by 1 cent at Hess today! Only $2.88 plus that pesky 9/10ths. Get it while it lasts! Pay 20 cents more for 93!

    Hurry on down, it's going fast!
  • vchiuvchiu Member Posts: 564
    I believe the majority of the price we have in Europe is due to the added tax. Tax can reach up to 80%. It is a Europe policy to heavily tax gas in order to limit the use of such resource, and I support this way of thinking.

    The bottom line is the price paid when filling-up.

    The display price generally vary up to 10% in France where Motorway Tank stations being the most expensive and the supermarket stations being the cheapest (and sold under those supermarket brands)

    The reason for Supermarket stations to be cheaper is that they wish to attract more customers, so sell at near cost.

    My idea is that the Petrol Distribution group generally add a 10% markup where the area allows.
  • vchiuvchiu Member Posts: 564
    Relax,

    Filling up my BMW 740 costs 150 USD in France/Paris and maybe 180 USD if I were in the UK (Previous prices I reported were too optimistic).

    so US prices are still very decent in comparison
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    Most stations in the Hill Country of Texas are $2.85 for Unleaded regular. I found a few at $2.79 NO credit cards. Diesel from $2.69-$2.83. Pretty area to drive through.
  • waiwai Member Posts: 325
    In Europe, is there any country which will tax the big displacement heavy vehicle heavy tax by requiring them to pay a large amount of annual registration fee?
  • p100p100 Member Posts: 1,116
    You are forgetting that the main reason for the cost difference are much higher taxes. And a lot of these taxes are used to provide generous social services for the citizens. We do not get any of these benefits in the US. Over 40 million of US residents do not have any health insurance coverage(not counting the illegal immigrants). If we did, with our runaway health care costs, we would probably be paying $ 10/gallon. So do not complain.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    is that many people these days have less take home pay, as a percentage of gross, than they did back in the old days. So, while factored in for inflation, gas may still seem theoretically cheap even at $3.00 per gallon, keep in mind that once upon a time, state income tax rates were lower. FICA was lower. Heck, I've only been working since 1986, and I can remember that back then they took out a bit less than they do today.

    Federal tax rates may be lower, but there are also fewer deductions. I remember as a kid, my Mom would send me into the gas station to pay while she pumped, and she'd tell me to make sure I got a receipt, because she could write it off. I think back then you could also write off just about any interest payment, not just your mortgage.

    Plus, I think a lot of companies and even the government were much more generous with overtime. Nowadays many people are straight salary no matter how many hours they actually work. Or at best, if they do go into overtime, they just get their regular hourly rate, and not time and a half.

    These days, most people are also responsible for their own retirement. Gone are those generous pension plans of eras gone by. By and large, nowadays it's up to you to sock money away into your 401k. Sure, it reduces your taxable income, but it does also help to reduce your net paycheck.

    And while a lot of things haven't kept up with inflation, others have outpaced it by a long shot. I found an old property tax bill for my house, from back in 1961. It was about $200. Last year I paid about $2550. And that's still cheap for the neighborhood, kept low mainly because the house has been in the family for ages and was homesteaded in, as opposed to being sold and resold from time to time, and having the property tax assessments stepped up more quickly.

    As for wages in the early 70's, my Granddad retired in 1974, at the age of 60. He was a railroad worker. His wages when he retired were about $6.00 per hour. Or about $240 per week. I can vaguely remember a time as a kid when my Mom said she was making $5.00 per hour, which I think was in the mid/late 70's.

    And I know you shouldn't believe everything you hear on tv, but IIRC Archie Bunker made about $6 per hour working on the loading dock. And he was able to support a stay-at-home Dingbat, his little goil, and a Meathead. He didn't have to worry about fuel prices though, because they didn't have a car. Not even a LaSalle. :)

    But in a nutshell, the 70's weren't THAT long ago. I can't imagine too many people were only making $75 per week! Maybe kids with part time jobs or something.
  • p100p100 Member Posts: 1,116
    Back in 1988 I was making roughly 1/3 of what I am making now. However, it does not seem that I can afford more these days because the cost of living has more than tripled, when factoring in all expenses. And lot more than tripled in some instances (home insurance, home prices, property taxes, certain utilites, college tuition, etc.)
  • Karen_SKaren_S Member Posts: 5,092
    ....the speculation of the global future and comparison of alternative fuels is all very interesting, but for quite a few posts now there has been no one "reporting local gas prices", and that is what this topic is about.

    Therefore, a new discussion has been created and I will be moving off topic posts from here to there.

    Will our dependence on oil ever end?
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,709
    but did Meathead and Ms.Struthers go car-less, too? If so, they are all shining examples of city-types that could survive fairly well without driving automobiles.

    Hey, Seattle-area people out there, I want to run this by you. I was at my Pocatello, ID, library the other night reading the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and I saw an article about an underground tunnel being dug to make way for light underground rail. Ya gotta be kiddin' me? I leave my fair city for a couple of years and you guys are all about building a light rail system to circumvent the huge volume of Seattle traffic and try to get to your jobs in under two hours? Wow. I thought Tim Eyman and the like had stopped that project cold.

    The tunnel was underneath the Rainier Valley area(just SE of downtown a smidge), I believe. Do add some more, fintail and any other Seattle area residents. For some reason it's not making the newspapers in eastern Idaho. ;)

    Oh, 87 unleaded was up to $2.59/gal today in Pocatello, ID. This was at the Phillips 666 station, which is only a Griffey Jr.'s throw from my house in the north end of town. :)

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    When Mike and Gloria moved to California, they bought a Toyota hatchback. Edith just looked really confused and asked Archie, "What's a Toyota hatchback"?

    He replied "It's small. It's got slanty headlights. And it'll bomb ya without warning."

    When Archie had the bar, he did buy an old 50's Studebaker pickup. I think there was an episode where he hit Reggie Jackson's Rolls Royce with it.

    As for people living in the city, I've known plenty who live in either downtown DC or Baltimore, and they'd usually say that having a car was more hassle than it was worth. Many of them would get by fine without one, but then decide that suddenly they need the "freedom" that a car gives them. They'd quickly discover, however, that the car would bring them more burden than freedom.

    Oh, 87 octane in my area is now up to $3.119 per gallon, regardless of whether I get it at the Citgo or Shell on my way to work.
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,709
    Henry Ford experiment to make a heavy machine with wheels, an engine, a transmission, a steering wheel and some seats has flown the coup and is costing everybody way too much greenback, more than the experiment's worth.

    Nah! :D

    Throw in this nutty oil price hike and, well, you know.

    Thanks for the 'All in the Family' update, LOL. He hits one of Reggie's gems, I love it. ;)

    Still waiting for Seattle people to chime in on this light rail adventure. Ya mean you'd rather have light rail than the Sonics? You guys are messed up, man. The Sonics must stay in Seattle, or only go as far as Bellevue. Keep 'em in western War-shing-ton.

    Midwesterners have to say War-shing-ton, they can't pronounce it Wa-shing-ton, like it's really spelled and meant to be pronounced. :confuse:

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 26,023
    in old movies used to say it "War-shing-ton" pretty often.

    One thing I always have a problem pronouncing is "Rainier". I think the mountain in Warshington State is pronounced "Rah-neer", but the town in Maryland on the outskirts of DC where you go to get drugs and get shot is pronounced "Mount Rainy-er".
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    ...in a sense. Didn't he drive a taxicab for Mr. Munson? If so, didn't Archie have to work two jobs to support his family and the layabout who married his daughter?

    My family didn't become a two-car family until I bought my 1968 Buick Special Deluxe in 1981. Of course I paid cash for it, so there was no addition burden of debt on me or my family. My Mom got her own car in 1987 - a new Dodge Omni, paid cash. By that time, I had long since been on my own.
  • kerribearkerribear Member Posts: 2
    When I was living in South Korea I used to think it was insane to see a moped with a family of four or five riding upon it. Now I am thinking maybe they are geniuses; I'm wondering if I could squeeze my family of six onto one?? I would love to have a mass transit system like they had there; we could go anywhere in Seoul for a mere fifty cents!

    Anyway, we are paying $2.77 a gallon for regular unleaded on Fort Lewis in Washington. BTW, this midwesterner pronounces it Wash-ing-ton so we don't all add in letters that aren't supposed to be there :P !
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,709
    it's just something I've noticed from so many Midwesterners that I had to mention it. Where do they get the 'r'? Weird.

    Good that you pronounce it Wa-shing-ton. :D

    Mt.Rainier, all 14,410 feet of it, is pronounced 'Ray-nee-yer.' But said quickly, without the funky dashes in there! ;) Ahh, my homeland...don't tell me I'm gettin' homesick!

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • mlpntrmlpntr Member Posts: 61
    I bet you wish it was 2000 again.
  • mlpntrmlpntr Member Posts: 61
    Gas prices are much higher than when this forum was created.
    I paid $2.98 yesterday for the cheap stuff.
    :cry:
  • kerribearkerribear Member Posts: 2
    LOL, I think it is weird too, my inlaws all say Warshington and it drives me insane :confuse: ! I could send some rain your way to give you a taste of home if you like ;) .

    Kerri
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,415
    Hey Iluv, you can find out about the Seattle area rail project here

    Prices at my usual station in Bellevue WA today - 2.99/3.09/3.19. 10 cents higher than on Sunday

    Here's a way to conserve gas - mandate that cities employ efficient stoplight timing and traffic controls. Bellevue needs A LOT of work in this area, I am certain things have became even less logical over the past several weeks. I think if a city can't get its act together in terms of managing traffic flow, that severe witholding of funds should come about. They have no other motivation to actually do their jobs any other way.
  • p100p100 Member Posts: 1,116
    I just spent $ 41 and change to fill up my Mazda 626 today. When I bought the car in 1999, it cost about $ 18 to fill it up.

    Gas prices in Central Florida:

    Most places $ 3 for regular, $ 3.10 for mid-grade, and $ 3.20 for premium. I wonder why they bother with this 2.999, 3.099, and 3.199 BS?
  • p100p100 Member Posts: 1,116
    Just as Bush reserves the right to start preventive wars, US oil companies now increase the gas prices "preventively" too, in case there is a shortage of oil in the future.
  • KCRamKCRam Member Posts: 3,516
    "we will not put a 3 on our pumps until we have to"

    My usual Sunoco truck stop, Palisades Park NJ

    87 - $2.819
    89 - $2.919
    93 - $2.969
    94 - $2.999
    diesel - $2.799

    Ahhh, I love the smell of cheaper, more efficient diesel in the morning... ;)

    kcram - Pickups Host
  • highenderhighender Member Posts: 1,358
    in bay area is $3.08 for reg...

    $3.25 for the 92 prem.
  • ab4dab4d Member Posts: 4
    Gas in Northern,VA near I-66 & I-81 (Front Royal) is $2.82 for regular $2.96 for mid grade, and $3.09 for Super. I can remember when there was a 25 cents difference between the grades. I wonder why regular was boosted in price closer to Super than Super being reduced closer to Regular, but I guess the huge reported profits by the oil industry provides the explanation. :mad:
  • tpetpe Member Posts: 2,342
    I have had the same thought, to an extent. I always believed that the difference between the grades had to do with anti-knock ingredients being added. That price increase should be totally independent of the price of oil yet, I agree, the differential between the grades has mysteriously gone up. Where I disagree with you is that the oil companies are responsible. This is something that takes place at the refineries. For the most part they aren't controlled by big oil. I guess maximizing profit is something all businesses try to do.
  • gagricegagrice Member Posts: 31,450
    I'm still cruising around Texas in the Sprinter RV. Just filled up in Big Springs. Diesel was $2.79, unleaded $2.85. I decided to try and conserve today. We never went over 65 MPH. That Mercedes diesel turned in a 410 mile tank of diesel at 24.58 MPG. My best mileage yet. Try getting that with any other 7500+ lb vehicle.
  • tpetpe Member Posts: 2,342
    24.58 mpg in a 7500 lb vehicle. That's amazing.
This discussion has been closed.