Shut Up About Gas Prices Already!

[EricKei]

Huh? a 15 cent hike in less than an hour???

Gas prices tend to creep (and occasionally jump) up on weekends. You just happened to pass by twice and got to see the before & after ^_^ They just timed it so that the price would go up just as a ton of people are jumping into their cars for school pickups and work rush hour.

[crazyofficeclerk]

Today I got treated to the rant about how our prices went up just because the price of gas went up. Really, I hang the tags and take care of the price changes and I can guarantee that we had less than 100 prices go up in the entire store. Some of those price increases were TPR's that expired this week, so its all in your mind. You all started saying that as soon as the people on the TV said that. Also, don't bitch about how high your bill is when you buy 3 sets of light bulbs at 6.99 and a thing of coffee that is over 14.00. Please. Just. Shut. Up.

[BrenDAnn]

I had a gem today! This older (50s or so) guy came in, and as he was standing in line with people behind him, started ranting about gas prices. On and on he went, as if he were standing at a pulpit, preaching. Seems he saw the solution to the problem on television (because TV never lies...pffft). The solution? In his words: "We have GOT TO STOP BUYING THEIR OIL!" Yup. He claims if we start using our own oil which "we have all over the place" then oil prices will "plummet to $5 a barrel". Of course, he admitted that "they" wouldn't want oil to be that cheap, but that was STILL the solution. I mentioned that people on the other side of the world are paying $8-$9 a gallon, and he just went on and on. To make it worse, the next guy in line looked at me and said "he's right". I wanted to tell them both to GTFO and not come back! AARRRRRGHH!

[Midnight_Angel]

Bear in mind that although it may seem like we Americans are getting a steal compared to you guys across the pond for gas, there is still a slight difference in currency and not only that, but also cost of living/minimum wage.

We haven't seen gas prices this high since spring 2008, so this is a big deal to us, and we're going to complain about it. Just the same as in 2005 during the Hurricane Katrina Gas Scare as I've always referred to it (every day that the storm got worse, gas went up, and up, and up) and gas flirted with $3 a gallon, that was the first time that we'd ever seen that. There was panic. There was hysteria.

As there was in 2008, and as now.

Oh, the ever-rising price in gas is quite present over here as well... as is the interesting fact that whenever there is a price increase for oil, fuel prices jump up within what feels like minutes. Whenever the Euro loses value compared to the dollar, prices jump just as fast. They call it 'sharing increased costs'.

However, when oil prices drop, or the Euro soars, it takes several days for the fuel prices to follow. Officially, the companies 'still have to sell the stuff they needed to acquire at increased costs before we can share the lower prices with our customers'.

[excuse me??]

The main stream media here in the the United States generally avoids comparing the spending power of gold to U.S. dollars when it comes to purchasing gasoline.

[Moderators I just deleted what I had added to this... to avoid any political or global-economic discussions]

[Shalom]

WOW you get cheap gas.

In the UK it just went over £1.40 per LITRE. Higher in some places.

So that works out at about $9.54 a gallon here. You've got it all to come - only the rich will be able to drive soon ...

Yabbut your gallons are bigger than ours. (Imperial gallon == 10 pounds of water, or 4.546 litres; US gallon == 231 cubic inches, or 3.785 liters. Yes the spelling is intentional.) For a US gallon that works out to about $8.62. Which is still damned expensive compared to here, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

[Racket_Man]

I wonder how long it will take for food delivery to die out here un the US if prices stay above $4 or $5 a gallon. sub minimum wages (and going down all the time), small mileage compensation (less than half of the IRS recommended per mile rate for the last 3 years) and tips eroaded to the point of absurtity (ohhhh gas is SOOO high I can not afford to tip ya right now).

if it stays above $4 for a while and my cheap company give us pittance raise for mileage it will be bye bye for me doing delivery anymore.

[Jester]

It's 3.59 where I am.

$3.89 here.

Yeah, I'm somewhere around $3.69-$3.98...

It's somewhere around $3.50 here...

$3.55 a gallon.

$3.56/gallon.

This is odd. Normally Key West is on the high end, but as of last night, it was $3.39 per gallon for the cheap stuff, which is lower than all of these posted. Very, very odd.

Bear in mind that although it may seem like we Americans are getting a steal compared to you guys across the pond for gas, there is still a slight difference in currency and not only that, but also cost of living/minimum wage.

Let's not forget the huge difference in cost of health care. Assuming you even HAVE health care as an American. (The debate about that is for fratching, but the fact that a lot of our non-American friends pay far less for health care is a fact that is relevant to this discussion.)

Just the same as in 2005 during the Hurricane Katrina Gas Scare as I've always referred to it (every day that the storm got worse, gas went up, and up, and up) and gas flirted with $3 a gallon, that was the first time that we'd ever seen that.

Heh. It flirted with $5 a gallon here at that time.

[Victory Sabre]

I own and operate a gas station. When people bitch to me about the gas prices, I flat out tell them that while they're buying 10 gallons at a time (or whatever it is) we're buying 8000 gallons at a time, and some of it's diesel (which is expensive as hell right now). We're also only making 6-15 cents a gallon on those gallons, and we need that money for the next load, because the cost to us went up again.

That usually shuts them up.

[ShootMePlease]

I don't see any point in complaining about gas prices. No one I would bitch to has anything to do with it. You need it for your car so you can get where you need to go. Period. That would be like complaining if toilet paper prices went up. What are you gonna do ? Use newspaper ?

[Shalom]

Helpful hint for those who live in or near New Jersey:

The Lukoil stations on the Garden State Parkway, while generally on the high side during periods of stable gas prices, are not permitted by the terms of their contract with the Parkway authority to raise their prices more than once a week, which they do early on Friday mornings. This means that if the prices shoot up over the weekend, which they did last week, they're stuck with the old prices for the remainder of the week. This being the case, I was able to fill up last Thursday at $3.09 while the rest of the state was already at $3.35. Even with the 50¢ toll to get back off the parkway, it still was worthwhile. (They're up to $3.26 now, but if prices keep escalating that might be a good buy this coming Thursday.)

[Becks]

The Lukoil stations on the Garden State Parkway, while generally on the high side during periods of stable gas prices, are not permitted by the terms of their contract with the Parkway authority to raise their prices more than once a week, which they do early on Friday mornings. This means that if the prices shoot up over the weekend, which they did last week, they're stuck with the old prices for the remainder of the week. This being the case, I was able to fill up last Thursday at $3.09 while the rest of the state was already at $3.35. Even with the 50¢ toll to get back off the parkway, it still was worthwhile. (They're up to $3.26 now, but if prices keep escalating that might be a good buy this coming Thursday.)

I remember that!!!

*squeals*

My grocery store was by one of those.

*muttering* Damn, I miss that job.

[JarethsPet]

This happens at our station as well. People insist, no matter how much we tell them otherwise, that we are the ones that are gauging them. If that is true, then why do all other stations in the area have the same price?

They complain to us because they know we can't get away or excuse ourselves. I just stare at them after they get done ranting before smiling sweetly and asking for the money.

[EricKei]

A (southern-regional) grocery chain here (hint: apparently named after a dog; a book about the pup came out a while back) offers a combination store discount card/gas discount card -- basically, every $X you spend in-store gives you Y cents off of gas at a particular gas company's stations (hint: hold this up to your ear to hear the ocean)....The thing is, said company's gas down here has historically been more than anyone else by five to ten cents or so, and, once this promo started, they jacked it up another dime x.x -- Long story short, their gas pricing structure is insane unless you've dropped something like $400 at the grocery store in question, consistently, month after month, in order to garner a 40-cent discount...And, oh yes, the discounts do expire after a month or two. For a large family, this is probably a weekly trip, but for singles like me...? Not so much.

As for Katrina -- I evac'd to southern Mississippi (no choice in the matter -- Dad was sick and simply couldn't tolerate going any further, even tho he wasn't driving) -- Post-storm, some people showed up and I got the priveledge (read: relatives we were with made me) of dropping something like $30 on 8 gallons of gas...These days, that doesn't seem too harsh, but back in summer 2005 that was like O_O Prices these days 'round these parts are just now creeping up upon $3.29/gal or so for Regular.

[Barracuda]

Ok, I'm going to deal only in factual statements here to avoid crossing the line into Fratching territory, but in a nutshell here is what is going on. For the last 50 years, the US dollar has been what is known as the "international reserve currency." What that means is that the dollar has been seen as the most stable currency for international transactions compared to other forms of currency and is the most likely to be used for international transactions, such as, for example, buying oil. (It's also been why US dollars are accepted in so many countries without even needing to be changed into local currency.) However, due the recent economic crisis and the fact that US debt has ballooned, international perception of the dollar has changed, and recently there was an article in the AP about China, Japan, OPEC countries, Russia and France meeting to debate creating a new international reserve currency. What this means is that oil prices automatically go up for the US since the country that produces the international reserve currency ALWAYS gets better prices on international transactions since they do not have to trade their currency in on the ever fluctuating exchange market. When oil prices go up, gas prices go up. When gas prices go up, food prices go up, as does the cost of anything that requires shipping anything anywhere in the process (just about anything.) This is why the US has, until recently, had the cheapest gas in the world outside of the Middle East (and possibly Alaska, which can provide its own oil.) It is also why, when you look at any other developed country, gas is much more expensive than it has been in the US. The equivalent of $5-$8 a gallon gas has been common in Europe, Asia, and Australia for years (one reason why Americans own more cars per capita than any other country.) Now that we have lost the position of having the international reserve currency, prices on everything are going to be going up big time for the foreseeable future. I advise investing in gold immediately, because we haven't seen anything yet, and assuming things stay the same, rampant inflation could be next.