Just around the Seattle area, we have a over a .50 variance on the price of gas. There are even a few stations that are gouging higher than that. I found this website that is really cool as you can look up the price of gas in your neighborhood or along the route to your destination. Pretty handy.
Have you ever gassed up a dual tank pickup only to find gas .20 cheaper 10 miles down the road? Or this could be handy to put a number on the cost of fuel for a long trip. If you click in on an area, it will give you the gas station and it's address. This would be real handy on the smart phone.
www.gasbuddy.com
The map is here:
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx
The trip calculator is here:
http://www.gasbuddy.com/Trip_Calculator.aspx
Prices have been going down for a few weeks around here...usually we are higher than in Minnesota, just across the River, by at least 5c...and usually about 10c more than Iowa. As of today, reg. is $2.85.9. On the way back from Drift-In, in August, I bought gas in Indiana at the price of $2.89.9 Only town in the area with a price like that...Didn't need much, but I got some ANYWAY!!!
Just so you don't feel bad, gas today in Vancouver is about 1.22/l, that almost $5 CDN for a US gallon - and that's quite low compared to recent prices. In the summer I was paying more than $1.60/l for premium.
Ever notice that when the price per barrel of oil goes up, the price of pump gas goes up immediately to match the increase, but when the price per barrel goes down, it takes months for the price of pump gas to go down.
I topped off my work truck today for $2.49 / gallon. That's regular unleaded 87 octane. That is the cheapest I've seen so far, but I like it!
Petrol in Britain is about $9 per gallon..
That should make you feel a bit better about your prices..
John.
Quote from: John Hopkins on November 20, 2014, 20:46:16 PM
Petrol in Britain is about $9 per gallon..
That should make you feel a bit better about your prices..
John.
Yep, it has always been about 3x the price of the USA. Even back when I lived in Scotland it was high ($3?) - even with North Sea oil coming in . Bus rides were 10p, taxi's and ferrys were cheap and plentiful. I could step out almost anywhere and get a cab within 5 minutes. Even in Dunoon there were bus stops everywhere. Shops were local and people rode bikes and walked.
In the USA, no where is close - cabs take 30 minutes and are expensive, buses are only in the cities. Bikes are dangerous and we don't build sidewalks anymore. USA is not the same environment as the UK in this regard. We truly depend upon our personal motorized transport!
.
This will date me some, but I remember regular gas at .25 per gallon during a gas war. 1970 before the oil embargo. I thought the world was going to end when they changed to pumps to show more than .99 a gallon. Our pumps could not go higher than that.
Quote from: John Hopkins on November 20, 2014, 20:46:16 PM
Petrol in Britain is about $9 per gallon....
Ya, but the gallons are bigger :P
Quote from: LarryInSeattle on November 24, 2014, 01:37:54 AM
This will date me some, but I remember regular gas at .25 per gallon during a gas war. 1970 before the oil embargo. I thought the world was going to end when they changed to pumps to show more than .99 a gallon. Our pumps could not go higher than that.
Since I'm a "bit" older than you, I can remember gas prices being down to 11.9 during those "gas wars" waged by stations across the street from each other. When I got into the auto business, the price that was pretty much the standard, at least in the NYC area was 28.9 for regular and 33.9 for premium. I remember when the towlheads shut off the oil the first time...price went up to 61.9 for regular....The day after 9-11, the local price here at a well known monopoly conglomerate went up to $2.00 but that was only for a day or so, since public outrage actually shamed them into changing it back to what it was, and REFUNDING people the difference....No such luck now...they manipulate the prices in the area like some kind of puppet master....If I'm going that way, I buy my fuel at one of the last remaining Sinclair stations. They are in Minnesota, and give you a lower price to start with, and 4 cents off for paying cash...
Our government periodically says they are going to "investigate" the reason for the high price of gasoline and diesel; I expect what they are "investigating" is how THEY can get a bigger cut.....
I remember 13 cents a gallon way back when, but the part I don't get is that until maybe 8 or 10 years ago, gas prices changed once a week. We had large gas reserves that stabilized those prices. After Katrina some of those reserves were lost, and so prices began fluctuating bi-weekly at first, and then daily.......I get that. Now, all of those reserves are back in place, more or less, yet we still fluctuate daily, and sometimes hourly (I've seen stations change their prices more then once a day on occasion). I've inquired about this, and the answer I get is that they seek to give us the lowest price, and that causes fluctuation based on crude prices, but since we have reserves now, shouldn't that flatten the crude price fluctuations more then what it is? Something just smells fishy here. I mean, it worked that way before, so how come not now?
Here, in wonderful wisco, it's illegal to change the fuel price more than once in 24 hours....and we have one of the stupidest laws EVER written. It's the minimum mark-up law. Simply states that NOBODY can sell ANYTHING for less than a 6% mark-up over cost. The idea was so that the "BIG CHAIN" stores couldn't undercut the prices of Mom and Pop and run them out of business. Reality is it makes the competition go away...and one BIG GUY will literally dictate the price, since everyone is required to follow in lock step!
What I am about to say is an accepted fact in Britain, although we are a producer of North sea oil and we have refineries in Britain we buy most of our oil from the Arabs.. The oil tankers fill up and then sit outside the dock waiting for the price to increase before unloading, once they unload they are subject to very heavy British taxes, once the oil is refined it is subject to even more taxes and when it gets to the pumps it is taxed again.
An aerial photograph of the British coast will alway show a group of giant tankers waiting for the right price before landing.
John
Quote from: John Hopkins on November 24, 2014, 12:27:39 PM
What I am about to say is an accepted fact in Britain, although we are a producer of North sea oil and we have refineries in Britain we buy most of our oil from the Arabs.. The oil tankers fill up and then sit outside the dock waiting for the price to increase before unloading, once they unload they are subject to very heavy British taxes, once the oil is refined it is subject to even more taxes and when it gets to the pumps it is taxed again.
An aerial photograph of the British coast will alway show a group of giant tankers waiting for the right price before landing.
John
Theoretically, massive storage facilities on shore should eliminate that fluctuation to a large extent, but people will always try to subvert the system.