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susie53_gw

Price of Gas

susie53_gw
11 years ago

How can there be such a difference in the price of gas? I went to my sons yesterday and in a 20 mile distance there was a 30 cents per gallon difference in the price of gas. Drives me nuts. I always fill up when I go through there. How can it be $4.95 one place and $4.65 at the other? How much is gas in your area? What do you bet it will go down after the Easter holiday?

Susie

Comments (37)

  • ont_gal
    11 years ago

    $1.31/liter here-$5.24/gal.

  • SunnyDJ
    11 years ago

    Here in Sw. Pa., our gas ranges from $3.73 to $3.78. Way, way too much!

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  • azzalea
    11 years ago

    Here, it's about 3.40-3.45/gallon (and that's full-serve; our state doesn't allow self-serve stations). But I noticed, when we travelled back to the old neighborhood last Sat. (about 30 miles)--there was one stretch of highway where it was in the 3.33 range (they're always having gas wars along there), and it was a bit higher--upper 3.40's in the old place.

    It's up to the station owners--.30 isn't much of a difference in price, it often varies that much.

    You also have to factor other factors as well--were you in the same jurisdiction? ours is so cheap, because our state has lower gas taxes than most. and those prices I quoted? were for FULL SERVE--self-serve is illegal in our state.

  • Chi
    11 years ago

    I think it was about $4.43 last I looked but I don't even look at the price most of the time because it's just one of those things.

    What I don't understand is people who drive around looking for the best price, or waiting half an hour at the Costco gas pumps to fill up. Unless you have a massive gas tank to fill it doesn't seem very cost effective...

  • Fun2BHere
    11 years ago

    I can save 30 - 40 cents per gallon if I go to certain areas. I always try to fill up when I'm there.

  • patti43
    11 years ago

    One word--taxes. Counties can levy any old tax they want--when we lived in Gainesville, they levied a 5 cent per gallon tax for something (?). So we never bought gas until we were out of county--didn't have to drive too far and it was worth it.

  • kayjones
    11 years ago

    $3.65/gallon here in NW Florida - if I want to drive 7 miles across the bay, it's 20 cents cheaper.

  • marie_ndcal
    11 years ago

    Here in my area of ND is 3.74 with several stations giving discounts paying cash. Where I go he gives 5c for paying cash.
    Cheapest I have paid was several months ago at Sam's Club in Bismark was 2.88. That was when the other stations in that area were 2.99.

  • marie_ndcal
    11 years ago

    Just another note--for the amount of oil we are sending out of this state---over 700,00 gallons per day, we should be paying less than a $$ per gallon.

  • sjerin
    11 years ago

    Seems to me it pretty much has to do with what the markets will bear. We have refineries close to us but pay some of the highest gas prices. But not to worry, the gas corporations are doing great.

  • chisue
    11 years ago

    Regular is $3.85/gallon in Lake County north of Chicago. It's more in Cook County and still more in Chicago itself due to county and city taxes.

    It's hard for me to believe people care, given the huge non-hybrid and non-electric -- and NEW -- SUV's I see everywhere. How high do you suppose gasoline would have to be to get people to conserve? (I'm sure Big Oil knows the breaking point!) Care to guess? $6/gal.? $8/gal. as it is in the UK?

    Our 2005 sedan has only 23K miles on it, and although we 'feed' premium, what's the difference when we fill it so infrequently.

    A friend has a new Camry hybrid that she says has given her 36 mpg with little expressway driving.

  • joyfulguy
    11 years ago

    Save some of the pennies/nickels that you saved when buying at a cheaper location while en route to do several errands consolidated into one trip, put them into a plastic bag in the corner of the jalopy.

    If you drove out of your way to get the cheaper fuel ... figure in the extra gas cost before you bag/bank the claimed savings.

    Congratulations on having bought a jalopy ... that saved you a bundle, that you can add to the savings ... but, in this case, an account in the credit union (the peoples' bank).

    After you have a substantial sum saved ...

    ... transfer it to your discount stockbroker account ...

    ... and buy shares in a petroleum corporation, which you've carefully scoped out during the savings phase of the program!

    It's called making a tiny slice of income/return on payout required while doing your own necessary business.

    Here's another idea ...

    ... lend yourself a chunk of cash, put it into the savings/investment account in the credit union prior ro the transfer.

    And cut back on some non-essentials, to pay the self-loan off - real quick-like! An enticement would be if you choose to charge yourself 2% interest monthly on the outstanding balance (lower than the interest rate charged by most store-issued credit cards).

    So ... if you have any (abusive) payday loans ... or "credit" (read "debt") card balances owing ... be sure to pay them off completely, first!

    Just some random thoughts, rattling around in o j's head today.

    Said by a guy who drives to the library, being hard put to research and too cheap to get high-speed internet installed at home.

    o j ... who, at $1.269 per litre, multiplied by 3.85, is paying over 5 bucks a U.S. gal. for gas

  • cheryl_down_under
    11 years ago

    Our fuel prices have really jumped recently. I filled up two days ago and it was AUD$1.58 per litre. Doing all the conversions, that works out at US$6.20 per gallon - I really do wish that we were paying your prices.

  • katlan
    11 years ago

    DH and I just got back from Chambersburg, PA. That's about an hour and 15 minutes from us. Gas was $3.59 there. Gas in our town is $3.79!

    What a load of crap it all is.

  • joyfulguy
    11 years ago

    That's crap - for us.

    Gold - for the oil companies (with a side-saddle for governments).

    Both ... are four-letter words, you'll notice.

    o j

  • katlan
    11 years ago

    I did notice OJ, haha.

    Cheryl down under, UGH, $6.20! I will stop complaining right now. That's terrible!

  • lindaohnowga
    11 years ago

    $3.49 here in Fayetteville, GA "today" but who knows what it may be tomorrow. We've seen the price change three times in one day. It's crazy.

  • carol_in_california
    11 years ago

    There is a 20 cents per gallon difference in our small town.
    Von's is at least 20 cents cheaper than the Chevron just across the street and then just across the freeway bridge, on the north bound freeway ramp the other Chevron is a couple of pennies more than the Chevron on the southbound ramp.

  • minnie_tx
    11 years ago

    3.46 to 3.49 here in NE Texas today

  • drewsmaga
    11 years ago

    So today gas is 3.65 to 3.72 at 5 stations within 2 miles of my house. Three miles away it's at 3.59 at 3 stations. Wassup with that?

  • jemdandy
    11 years ago

    Sweet crude rose more that a $1 per barrel today. That will be reflected in the price of gasoline a month or so down the road. Another factor that affects the price of crude is international money exchange: how the dollar stacks up to other currencies. A drop in the dollar's value will create a corresponding increase in the cost of imported oil.

    I do not think that post Easter will cause much of drop in gasoline. As we get into spring, miles driven goes up and so will gasoline. Someone above said, "what the market will bear". Yeah, that's what I see, too.

  • jel48
    11 years ago

    3.89 here yesterday (Wednesday).

  • chisue
    11 years ago

    O. J. -- Perhaps you can explain why Big Oil wants to pipe all that Canadian fracked crude to an American port for refining (and export) instead of piping it to a Canadian refinery. I see no advantage to the US -- certainly no cheaper gasoline. Maybe you Canadians are too smart to want the extra-dirty stuff moved around or refined 'in country'?

  • joyfulguy
    11 years ago

    Hi chisue,

    It's not "fracked" crude ... it's oil/tar sands crude, which is a larger resource than in Saudi, but the oil is mixed in with a lot of sand and crap, and they have to heat or process it in other ways to get a low-grade oil, that they refer to as "bitumen" and must mix with other (imported, I think) liquid to make its viscosity high enough to push through a pipeline.

    It is my understanding that they can process it more cheaply (and maybe there is surplus capacity) in Cushing than they can in a refinery nearer the source ...
    and that a good portion of the refined stuff is to be shipped abroad.

    It takes a lot of water, some say 4 barrels per barrel of oil, to get the mucky stuff transportable, and they say that the tailings ponds are so large that they are easily visible from space.

    As it is, Canada imports a major portion of its oil, the stuff used in the eastern part, and there's talk of piping some of the tar sands bitumen down to the east to service that portion of our country.

    The story that I hear is that the fracking process is to enable your country to become independent in oil, without needing to import any, quite soon.

    Which will in all likelihood leave our oil boys (many of them based down your way, actually) crying in their beer.

    ole joyfuelled ... but he can't run his car on it

  • cynic
    11 years ago

    20â-30â a gallon difference? That's nothing. Try 60â a gallon difference as in this general area! $3.39 at one station to $3.99 in another part of town.

    Sam's Club and Costco used to be about 8â-10â lower than their competitors but not anymore. They're higher than the competitors now. I got stung on that the other day. Didn't get a chance to check my Gas Buddy and assumed (yeah, I know) that they'd be at least the same or cheaper. They weren't. They were 5â higher than 5 nearby stations. And charge people, what, $50/yr to pay more for their gas! LOL

    People have started using less gas but to do serious conservation it's gonna have to go awfully high. Prohibitively high. People will NOT give up their recreation and their perceived "independence" of auto transport.

    Prices however can vary for a number of reasons. Stations do get volume discounts and different deals on delivery. When you have your own trucks it generally will be cheaper to deliver than hiring it transported as the small operators have to do.

    There's a lot of variables involved in pricing as I said. One place will have higher overhead than others. Especially in a small operation that can have a big impact. If you have to pay employees more, pay higher property taxes, assessments, and other expenses, you have to charge more. Plus some stations use the gas as a draw to increase inside sales. Like loss leaders at grocery stores.

    Another little-known fact is that summer blend gas is more expensive than winter blends. Coming up soon will be the changeover. There's 20(+/-) different gas blends to cover state and federal guidelines. The reason for the different blends is to control VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that are more likely to evaporate the hotter it gets. More VOCs mean more smog, especially in summer heat.

    And supply and demand make a difference. There was a drop in demand for a while when Sandy hit the shores but of course soon recovered.

    And gas prices affect other prices too. It's a tangled web.

  • Lindsey_CA
    11 years ago

    If my car is pretty close to empty, it costs over $70 to fill it. Ouch.

  • cynic
    11 years ago

    Doesn't take a huge tank to hit $70 at some of these prices! I have a 20 gallon tank on this one and my last vehicle. A friend has a pickup with a 35 or 40 gallon tank and he goes crazy about how much it costs to fill it. I can't get it across to him that he doesn't have to fill up as often but he just looks at the outlay then. So he puts in $20 at a time... And of course when his daughter or wife use it, they MIGHT put a fiver in. LOL But usually they ask when he's going to fill it.

  • eccentric
    11 years ago

    We live in Toronto - gas is about the same - and sometimes higher - than that posted by ont_gal. We are still working on the $75.00 that we had to pay to fill up our new-post me being creamed and our 2002 car with 48,000 kms on it being written off - payout was only $3,500, our mechanic is devasted, but I was not about to take back an insurable car. Plan was to drive it for 2 more years and then maybe take taxis - people around the corner do this - they are in their 40s. It was not my plan to buy a new 2013 Golf Hatchback - the 4 door - but it felt comfortable, the dealership was a 7 minute drive from our house - and our totalled car had been towed to the dealership's collision centre by the insurance company. I could have got a better price on a new Jetta - fully loaded - but I was not as comfortable in it - sat too high - or was too wide or something. I was hoping to find a car with low mileage and by low I mean lower than our 48,000 km (or just under 30,000 miles) - but I couldn't - they all had a lot more mileage. There was one that was a year old but it had leather seats, etc. etc. - every upgrade up the wazoo. I hated the rental - it was a sedan but wider than our car and it did not have snows. The good snows were on our car and they would have fit the Golf but they wouldn't left me have them. I did argue that it would not cost $75.00 plus tax to fill up our car but the business manager said it made it "fairer" for everyone - certainly not for us! The car had 50 kms on it due to their road tests - it now has 95 km so obviously it is not going far. I am terrified of being whacked again - in our No Fault province, I was found Not Guilty - good thing because I was not so our insurance did not go up. No deals either - unless I bought a car we did not want. So this car would definitely be a good buy for someone say in 6 years, it might have 1,500 kms on it! On April 7 we have to drive from Toronto to Burlington - I am looking for the 'scenic route". I learned to drive in Ottawa when I was 28 - in the winter. My husband learned from his father. He wears strong lenses - I do not need glasses -and have great night vision. But while I can drive the 401 or DVP I really prefer not to, especially with all of the nut jobs out there dialling cell phones with pieces of paper held up over their faces and the back seat driver (my husband). I don't even have a cell phone. The dog is going to the much loved dog boarder - who will take him should we ever die together - just in case! I expect gas prices to rise for the Easter Weekend.

  • dedtired
    11 years ago

    Gas had been running about $3.70 around here. I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw a station selling regular for $3.55. I zipped in and filled up. THEN -- I noticed it was $3.55 IF YOU ALSO BUY A CAR WASH! Humph. I think I actually paid $3.65. So, beware of gas stations that also have a car wash.

    It costs about $80 to fill my car. If it got up to $6 a gallon, I'd buy a hybrid, not that I go anywhere. A tank lasts me a month.

  • minnie_tx
    11 years ago

    $3.45 here today in NE Texas

  • Lindsey_CA
    11 years ago

    I filled up yesterday on the way home from work. Gas prices had come down quite a bit, but it still cost me over $62 and it wasn't empty...

  • chisue
    11 years ago

    O.J. --Thanks for the mini-tutorial. I still don't see why it's not moved to Canadian refineries instead of being pumped to Texas. As I understand it, the Texas refineries already have a surplus of crude, and this is 'crude squared'. Plus, the refined product will be sold to whatever country will pay the most -- regardless of whether it is refined in Canada or the USA. The pipeline has nothing to do with the ultimate cost of gasoline in the USA. Hmm. Maybe Canada has more environmentally strict (more expensive) laws on refining?

  • joyfulguy
    11 years ago

    We're no he!! when it comes to environmental consciousness!

    Usually suck our thumb ... till we find out what big brother to the south is going to do - well, the present gov't. does, anyway.

    Talk a good line about processing resources closer to home ... but don't do it.

    Plus ... we used to have some locally-owned, world-class mining companies.

    Sold 'em all off - now owned elsewhere!

    o j

  • jemdandy
    11 years ago

    Sometimes crossing a state line or other political boundary can have an effect. Around here, there is a drop of a few cents by crossing west to Jefferson county from Waukesha county. The counties surrounding Milwaukee county are under an court edict to use a special blend in winter. A few years back, a group from Chicago sued Milwaukee and won forcing the city and surrounding counties to use oxygenated gasoline to lower polutants.

    Gasoline prices is expected to rise for the Easter weekend and then may rise again as we approach the spring and summer driving season. Officials expect we will have increasee travel over last year.

    I guess its 'charge what the market will bear'.

  • liira
    11 years ago

    110.9 a litre here in Edmonton AB

  • cynic
    11 years ago

    $3.42-$3.99 now. Not much difference in the past week. Immediate area $3.42 the lowest and most are $3.49-$3.55.

  • susanjf_gw
    11 years ago

    thanks be my cotco still runs less than local stations, and i go at certain times to avoid (the longest 20 mins) waits...

    and i have seen close up and personal the damage that oil pipelines can do..ask the people in marshall mi, what they think..they still have workers or something after 2-3 years! that oil was one step away from hitting the great lakes....i've been sick for a couple of weeks so don't have a clue what the price is...(it was under $3.63)