Gas Lines, Prices, and Me

The "Big City" in our area is Traverse City and is 25 miles south of where I live. All major shopping expeditions involve a trip to Traverse, so we usually buy gas when there. My typical gas buying experience goes something like this:

1) Drive to Traverse to go to the dentist.

2) Pass several gas stations on the way into town, but plan on getting gas on the way out due to schedule constraints.

3) Go to my dentist appointment, run some errands, and head out.

4) Stop for gas and discover gas prices went up 12 cents a gallon since I passed them on the way in. Bah.

Our area also has a large tourist economy, so gas prices reflect that. Prices always go up around Thursday and possibly come back down after the weekend. I only need gas on weekends. I know that's not true, but it sure feels that way.

Another odd thing about tourist economies: our gasoline comes in by tanker ship. A whole ship of petroleum products comes into port and pumps over to the tank farms. From there it is trucked to neighboring cities and gas stations. Our shipping costs should be about as low as you can get, so why is the gasoline cheaper inland? It's the lack of tourists. Even though costs are higher, prices are lower. It's all about what the market will bear, and tourists will bear a lot.

Tom

 

Lets run the math for a second...

assuming that your mpg is an above-average 60mpg from your stop at BJ's to the other gas station AND that the other gas station is 3 miles away.

that equates to .05 gallon of gas used to move you 3 miles.
.05 gallon equates to about 18 cents of gas.

gas savings assuming you can fit an above-average 7 gallons of gas in your tank (since you had 3 pips left).
Gas savings per gallon from BJ and the cheapest street price: 3 cents.
total tank savings: 21 cents.

difference between staying at the station and moving to another cheap one = 3 cents cheaper.

Fine and dandy in a prius, but its usually not worth it in a normal car.

Prius wins this round... by 3 cents... IF you were searching for a gas station, but in this case, since the station is on the way to your house, you saved 21 cents.

I have to note... I'm not sure if BJ's lists the "member price" or the regular price... the member price after you scan your card may be even cheaper....

 

Your math is okay, but your premise is incorrect. She stopped at another station on the way home, so no extra driving was required.

Tom

 

ah yes... Northern Michigan economics... know it well, had relatives in Interlochen so very familiar with the area...

think about the prices WE pay when you are buying fruit this summer...especially cherries... that should make you feel a little better (ps... although i live in a farming state, they run around $3.00 a POUND here

 

I usually put some gas in at a couple of pips. But every day I wait it seems to go up another few cents so I filled yesterday even at half tank almost.

So Im filling and a man walks up to me to ask about the car. He is polite and asks about the batteries, the explosion thing, and electrocution hazard stuff the idots talk about. I explain it all kindly and he asks my real mileage.

I tell him the odometer has 300 miles. and let him look at the pump when I clicked off the second time: 5.5 gallons. Thats around 54mpg.


Right then a light visibly went off on his face. He got it. or at least part of it. I told him about the almost zero emissions and the low carbon footprint and the low maintenance needs.


He went away a convert I think! at least he know understands why I would buy such a vehicle. Thats the battle- one person at a time.

 

Looks like I may have hit a nerve.

Tom

 

funny to watch rush hour gas lines. There is a AM/PM citco? and a chevron across the street near my home. Normally AM/PM is about 6 cent's cheaper..every time I drive by it's packed, while the chevron is empty, except for anyone filling diesel, which the AMPM doesnt pump out. crazy

can't imagine the chaos when and if it hits 5 bucks a gallon

 

i think gas price fluctuation is a lot worse during hunting season... i remember when i was a kid, gas was 50 cents a gallon and price used to jump 5-10 cents per gallon just in time for the hunters to hit town... because of distances, you could not make it without getting gas to get home...

know many many penny pinchers who would study the map to see where the last cheap station was (quite far actually, usually as far as grand rapids area) or how many 5 gallon gas cans they needed to make it...

 

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i live in upstate SC but work in Charlotte, NC...my commute to work is about 32 miles one way...SC has the lowest gas prices in the US due to low taxes...there can be $.20 - .30 per gallon difference between the gas prices in NC and SC....everyday i go by a few gas stations that are just across the NC/SC border on the SC side..they stations stay extremely busy with NC drivers waiting in line to take advantage of the lower SC gas prices....today i filled up and the price was $3.36 /gal but it can be found cheaper in other parts of SC...

 

My favorite is all the people who wait in line at their favorite discount gas retailer (the prevalent one here in California is Costco) with their engine running.

So they'll go through all the effort of waiting 5-15 minutes to fill up with the cheapest gas in the area, but then leave the engine running the whole time so they don't have to bother stop/starting the engine and leave their precious A/C on (even when it's not hot out!).

Seriously - probably less than a quarter of the people waiting in line bother to turn off their engine while waiting - just another reason why auto stop/start / anti-idling technology aka mild hybrids should be mandated.

I wonder how much fuel is wasted by people sitting idling in their cars when they could be off...

 

Probably wishful thinking on my part.

Tom