Dammitall!!

[chrisolson]

So my wife had my car the last couple days - gas was $2.89. I got it back today, and gas is at $3.09! Just fucking great. I have a 1/4 tank left. Fuck. My commute is 10 miles round trip - hers - nearly 50... Oh well -- I guess she did pay to get my oil changed.

I'm glad that most days I'm able to bike commute, but of course, when I made and COMMITTED to that decision, it FINALLY decided to rain after being BONE DRY for nearly three months. Nice! Some days you just can't win.

[Spivonious]

Ouch. I just filled up over the weekend for $2.49, although the average price around here is $2.61.

[Carbuff]

Hmm, thats odd. Prices have been falling lately around here. Maybe you just picked a bad station? I know the local mobil station charges 15 cents a gallon more than the other local guys.

[Pigsnatcher]

Gas here is 2.79, it has been cheaper but that still isn't too bad. I commute 5 days a week 65 miles one way. I have to fill up 2-3 times a week. Sooooooo.......it could be worse.

[Spivonious]

Gas here is 2.79, it has been cheaper but that still isn't too bad. I commute 5 days a week 65 miles one way. I have to fill up 2-3 times a week. Sooooooo.......it could be worse.

Dude, it's time to move closer to your job. I would kill myself if I had to drive 130 miles a day.

[emperor_black]

there was a web-site that you showed you the lowest gas prices near a zip code. Anyone know what it is?

BTW, I'm a Costco member and the price of gas is at least 10 cents cheaper than a regular gas station. Even though I pay $25 per year for the membership (I split the $50 cost with my ex-roommate), I make up for it by saving on gas. now with two cars, i make up for it even sooner.

[chrisolson]

Ouch. I just filled up over the weekend for $2.49, although the average price around here is $2.61.

They're just upping it to fleece the travelers over the holiday weekend.

I find it hard to believe that we "run out of gas" on the holidays -- at least to the point of "pre-emptive price gouging"...

It's all BS. I'll be riding bike all weekend anyway. Pedal Power!!

[Cygnus X1]

They're just upping it to fleece the travelers over the holiday weekend.

I find it hard to believe that we "run out of gas" on the holidays -- at least to the point of "pre-emptive price gouging"...

It's all BS. I'll be riding bike all weekend anyway. Pedal Power!!

Why is it people don't tolerate the rule of supply and demand in some things, but it is accepted in others? Is a '62 strat really 1000 times better than a similar '92 strat? Maybe to some people...Demand for fuel goes up, volume of production goes up, more maintenance costs, overtime, downstream demands not related to direct production, a great many variables that people don't consider. Record profits? Wait until the lean times. You better have lined that nest with a big buffer, or your business will fail. I learned this in retail music, and I now see it in the steel biz.

"Big Oil" isn't much different. Remember the massive selloffs and buyouts just a few years ago? It's the normal business cycle. Meanwhile, my anecdotal view sees larger and larger vehicles going faster and faster on the highways. And people can't seem to understand why the price of fuel goes up during peak driving times?

Or we could just have a wonderful thing like state owned oil and fuel production. Then most of the money and production could be doled out like candy for reelection purposes....

[emperor_black]

Why is it people don't tolerate the rule of supply and demand in some things, but it is accepted in others? Is a '62 strat really 1000 times better than a similar '92 strat? Maybe to some people...Demand for fuel goes up, volume of production goes up, more maintenance costs, overtime, downstream demands not related to direct production, a great many variables that people don't consider. Record profits? Wait until the lean times. You better have lined that nest with a big buffer, or your business will fail. I learned this in retail music, and I now see it in the steel biz.

"Big Oil" isn't much different. Remember the massive selloffs and buyouts just a few years ago? It's the normal business cycle. Meanwhile, my anecdotal view sees larger and larger vehicles going faster and faster on the highways. And people can't seem to understand why the price of fuel goes up during peak driving times?

Or we could just have a wonderful thing like state owned oil and fuel production. Then most of the money and production could be doled out like candy for reelection purposes....

Are you serious? Read this article and many others like this... Exxon Mobil is making record profit each quarter.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11098458/

To humor ourselves, lets assume these "poor" oil companies are indeed finding it hard to make supply meet demands and are running under loss, how do you account for all these record profits?? And do you mean to say there are more big vehicles running on the streets in the past two years or so than before the Katrina? Are people travelling more during the holiday seasons NOW than before?? ...with such high gas prices??

To a certain extent, that is true. There are more SUV's now than before. But there are also more fuel-efficient vehicles now than before. At first, there was the gas-guzzling monster Hummer H1. now there are H2 and H3's which are more fuel-efficient. not to mention the hybrid vehicles and smaller cars.

I think after the katrina, these oil companies realised that they can make a TON on money by charging whatever they want and people will still buy it cause public transportation sucks in this country. they will continue to do this. there is no end.

[RacerX]

there was a web-site that you showed you the lowest gas prices near a zip code. Anyone know what it is?

http://www.gasbuddy.com/ is a great one. It also has a way cool zoomable national map that shows the price ranges in color codes.

Here's another tip: Stations usually change prices on Wednesday mornings, so fill up on Tuesdays. Also, chrisolson you should have filled up a couple days ago, everybody knows it goes up before holiday weekends. Heck, I think I mentioned it last week, when I filled up for 2.59.

[ADR]

I just paid $3.15 for Premium, last week it was $3.27. So what I do is just put like $25.00 in,instead of filling up at the higher price.
This is Albany,NY. Much cheaper in NJ (taxes) and they only have full serve too.

[JetFixxxer]

We will never see the 1.50 a gallon again. We are use to paying high gas prices and they Big Oil companies are used to making record profits. Nothing is going to change. I just paid $2.63 this morning.

[chrisolson]

Gassed up for $3.05 yesterday. $3.19 today. Irony??

Yes, profits. It's 110% PROFIT motivated, and in a free society, they are certainly entitled to it. They also have a choke-hold on the commodity, and government regulation to boot. Supply and demand, my ass. The US doesn't just "run out of gas" on the fuckin' weekends...

Ron, I can't exactly control when I run out of gas (especially when I wasn't driving my car since Sunday...), but thanks for pointing out the obvious... Sheesh. Also a little difficult to do when your car is in a shop 40 miles from where I live. Duh... I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

[lerxstcat]

there was a web-site that you showed you the lowest gas prices near a zip code. Anyone know what it is?

BTW, I'm a Costco member and the price of gas is at least 10 cents cheaper than a regular gas station. Even though I pay $25 per year for the membership (I split the $50 cost with my ex-roommate), I make up for it by saving on gas. now with two cars, i make up for it even sooner.

Go to autos.msn.com and scroll down to "Driving Tools"; then click on "Gas Prices" and enter your zip code.

[OnlineStageGear]

Before everyone blindly flames big oil for making all the big profits, take a close look at what your hard earned money goes towards. Close to 50% of Americans think that retailers and oil companies make over $1 in profit per gallon and nothing could be further from the truth. Here is a breakdown of what you pay for in California 2 days ago with gas at an average of $2.79 a gallon.

$0.14 Distribution Costs, Marketing Costs and Profits (getting the gas to the Retailers)
$1.75 Crude Oil Cost
$0.31 Refinery Cost and Profits (here is the big oil profit)
$0.01 State Underground Storage Tank Fee
$0.21 State and Local Sales Tax
$0.18 State Excise Tax
$0.18 Federal Excise Tax
$2.79 Retail prices

Here are the taxes by state put on each gallon of gas http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/blo...-tax-rate.html
Gotta love NY, and that is basicly the same charges when gas was $1.50 a gallon.

So the the Government is really making all the money on the gas ? Hardly.
Cruse oil roughly costs about $4 a barrel to get out of the ground yet has been sold over $70 recently. So the blame the Arab nations ? Yet again, hardly. Here are the top 4 Nations we imported oil from in 2002.

17.0% Canada
13.7% Saidi Arabia
13.5% Mexico
12.0% Venezuela

Matt