Craig Irwin Posted May 30, 2014 Posted May 30, 2014 Gas went up because it was Memorial Day. It's a travel holiday, and the beginning of the infamous "Summer Driving Season". Not to mention when a lot of places have to switch over to those stupid "summer blend" gasoline formulations. It went up after Memorial day.
disabled modeler Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 Here gas goes up in price for any reason that can be thought of....while at the same time every place around my town is cheaper...hum?
High octane Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 That's why I buy my gas elsewhere Mark, as the taxes on the fuel where I live is outrageous!
Craig Irwin Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 It's the same here, in the middle of the rust belt I can drive 20 miles in any direction and gas is 20 cents cheaper. We had one small chain that was always the cheapest in town until a few months ago, when the largest local chain bought them out and closed them all.
Joe Handley Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 You guys ever hear about some town here in Illinois that has all the gas stations collude on raising the prices, and then the mayor disovered what they were up to he started asking why and was told something to the effect of, "Because we can." ? Apparently he was so pissed by that that he got in touch with the local media sources and through them told everybody in town what was going on and buy gas in neighboring cities! Apparently these station owners were not amused, but it forced them to lower their prices!
High octane Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 What irked me this afternoon is spending 15 minutes waiting to get thru an intersection. The area where the intersection is located is supposed to be an "Historical Town" and they want to preserve it. They already have dilapidated houses and traffic is horrific as they won't use the shoulder lane to move traffic or use for a turn lane, and visa versa at the next stoplight as well. It's not "rocket science" to see how to move traffic, and this can be done just by a few new lane markings on the pavement and a few new signs. I thought that I was a dinosaur, and yet in that town, I think that some folks believe that horse & buggy's are still being used. What a joke!
Tom Geiger Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 Gas is cheaper and more expensive state by state due to the taxes on it. Google 'state gas tax' and charts will come up. For instance New Jersey has some of the lowest taxes. Even with attendants pumping the gas for you, their gas is still the cheapest in the region. Back when I lived in NJ I worked in Pearl River, NY which is the border town with NJ. A favorite lunch time pastime for the New Yorkers was "Going to Jersey for gas... wanna come?" because the gas was literally 50-60 cents cheaper in NJ. And the funny part was that the gas in those NJ border towns was 10-20 cents more expensive than in my town, about 50 miles south. So I'd always fill up in my town, only up there when necessary. Now I live in PA and work in NJ. So I get my gas in NJ because again, it's 20-30 cents cheaper than PA. As far as collusion on gas prices in a specific area, it depends on if there are company owned stores, branded dealers or non-branded independents. They all get their gas through different channels. There are times that the companies are charging their branded dealers more than they have the gas for sale at their company stores just to stick it to them. The independents spot buy what ever gas is surplus in the area that week and can get a good deal. Other weeks when there is a tight supply, they don't do as well. Back when my family owned the Getty station there were a couple of other gas stations we watched. Every morning on his way in my brother in law passed those stations and noted the prices. Then he'd call the Getty rep and they'd price the gas for the day, usually a penny under the others. There wasn't any more science to it than that 15 years ago. BTW, in those days we had a choice with our Getty dealership. Getty owned the property and we owned the business. We had a choice of either buying the fuel and pricing it ourselves, or having them own the fuel and getting paid a nickel a gallon to sell it. The nickel was the better deal since prices swung wildly and sometimes you'd be selling gas at a loss if you owned it.
High octane Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 I'll be buying my gas "out of state" later today. Sometimes, I save $10+ when I fill up.
Pete J. Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 (edited) You guys have it easy! Here on the left coast gas makes wild swings for no apparent reason. Last week regular was $4.35 average and now it is down to $4.05. No reason, it just is and it does this on a regular basis. Lord help us if the "refinery" has to close for repairs! We are looking at a $.50 swing for months. The really weird thing is that California and Southern California in particular we have large oil reserves. In fact, California is third right behind Texas and Alaska and is poised to move ahead of Texas when a new oil shale deposit is opened in the next few years. The Los Angeles basin has a lot of oil wells pumping the stuff. Remember the La Brea tar pits? Yup, same oil field. Oil just oozing out of the ground. You can't get any closer to the source and we have some of the highest gas prices in the nation. I guess what really gets my underwear bunched up is that we are paying through the nose and the oil companies have been posting record profits. I can just see the oil executives in the back room, rubbing their greedy hands and chuckling. Kind of like the bankers, but that is another rant altogether. Edited May 31, 2014 by Pete J.
Modelbuilder Mark Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 Me. Lately when I sit down at the bench, frequently I can not get my hands to create what I see in my mind. At times it makes it hard to get motivated or move on to some other aspect of the project etc. It makes the progress really slow sometimes.
Joe Handley Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 I stopped at a 7-11 on the way home from and followed a Yukon Denali XL (tarted up Suburban) into their lot, and the soccermom driving that great pearl white whale swung it into the spot next to the handicap spot.........and had 1 foot of the entire driverside over the line and in the handicap spot, then ran it to get a bag of ice with it sitting there! She ended up running back to get something else in as I left, and the only reason it was almost fully in the regular spot by the is that she remembered what ever it was before getting too far out of it!
Guest Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 Me. Lately when I sit down at the bench, frequently I can not get my hands to create what I see in my mind. At times it makes it hard to get motivated or move on to some other aspect of the project etc. It makes the progress really slow sometimes. Maybe you need to do something out of the norm Mark. I've found that a change of genre is good for the creative juices. Around a month ago, I finished up a traditional hot rod. Before that, it was customs. This month, I'm working on a bagged and body dropped '62 F-100. I'm doing a lot of scratch building on it and for the first time in many years, I feel like I'm back in the groove. I actually look forward to getting to the bench now when I used to not care if I got to it or not. It's hard to accomplish anything when you're heart and mind's not in it.
High octane Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 I paid $4.38 a gallon today for ethanol free 91 Octane. Wow, that's high.
Joe Handley Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 (edited) I paid $4.38 a gallon today for ethanol free 91 Octane. Wow, that's high. Where did you find ethanol free here in Illinois? Oh, that's still not too bad, 93 octane with 10% ethanol around here is closer to $4.50/gal, probably would be even worse if it was E0. I paid $2.99 for E85 yesterday, seeing that price variation makes me wish my Sister could run the stuff in that new Challenger of her's too instead of just gas. Edited June 1, 2014 by Joe Handley
High octane Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 Ethanol free gas in "cheeseland", in the southern part of the state. And regular was only $3.72 per gallon.
High octane Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 Lately I've been buying most all of my gas for all of our vehicles in "cheeseland." Illinois gas stations and lawmakers can keep their "high priced" and over taxed gas, as far as I'm concerned.
Joe Handley Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 Ever bought around Road America? IIRC, it was nearly as bad as here!
Agent G Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 Gas is averaging $3.75 a gallon here in southern Nevada. Gas is over $5.00 a gallon in northern Nevada and northern California. G
Tom Geiger Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 This one irked me! We were on Long Island, NY for a funeral this weekend. Check the difference between cash and credit! At NJ stations you'll see a 5-10 cent a gallon difference, and I will only buy gas at those that charge the same price for cash or credit. I always put it on my card for record keeping. But a friggin dollar upcharge?? I paid cash and got the heck outta there. A station that goes so far to only collect cash must be playing games with the IRS. I asked the kid behind the counter how the heck...? He leaned forward and whispered, yea the owner is nuts. And he takes a lot of grief on his behalf!
charlie8575 Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 This one irked me! We were on Long Island, NY for a funeral this weekend. Check the difference between cash and credit! At NJ stations you'll see a 5-10 cent a gallon difference, and I will only buy gas at those that charge the same price for cash or credit. I always put it on my card for record keeping. But a friggin dollar upcharge?? I paid cash and got the heck outta there. A station that goes so far to only collect cash must be playing games with the IRS. I asked the kid behind the counter how the heck...? He leaned forward and whispered, yea the owner is nuts. And he takes a lot of grief on his behalf! From what I understand, a difference in price is also a violation of the merchant agreements with the credit card companies, unless that's changed. Here, some stations will have a difference, never more than about ten cents. Charlie Larkin
Tom Geiger Posted June 3, 2014 Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) From what I understand, a difference in price is also a violation of the merchant agreements with the credit card companies, unless that's changed. Here, some stations will have a difference, never more than about ten cents. Charlie Larkin Yup, this was a Sunoco branded station in Smithtown, NY. Somebody needs to send Sunoco a letter. And if a station owner is so against taking credit cards, which are actually an easier transaction than cash, then he's up to no good tax wise. A call to the local IRS should get a severe audit on the boy! Okay, I just complained on the Sunoco company website and included a link to my photo. They say they respond within two business days. I gave them both my email and phone number. Let's see what they say. Edited June 3, 2014 by Tom Geiger
Tom Geiger Posted June 3, 2014 Posted June 3, 2014 Who actually pays cash for anything these days? :blink:I Exactly! I charge nearly everything since I'm a consultant and can expense a lot of my charges, so all my gas goes on the card. Also, with a fill up being $40-60, who wants to carry a lot of cash around? I did some further web investigating and found a Long Island News Day article that a bunch of stations in that area are pulling that $1 upcharge. There is a NY state law against upcharges, BUT there is no law against discounting a product for cash. The article says the state investigators cannot determine whether the stations are upcharging, or discounting, so they haven't been able to prosecute (DUH!). Governor Cuomo was quoted as saying about a third of gas stations on Long Island are involved in deceptive practices. Great place!
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