Summer travel (rocketry or otherwise), a new "wrinkle" on gas prices

[prfesser]

I usually fill up at Kroger for several reasons but this morning I filled up Geniece's car at Casey's General store. Almost got taken for about 80 cents a gallon...

Most gas pumps I've seen have three gas grades---regular, "plus", and premium---and usually a diesel hose as well. Casey's has four gas grades; may not be news to you but it is to me. Normally my brain (and those of a lot of people) is on autopilot when I gas up. I just push the leftmost gasoline button, which is regular---but not at ourCasey's, where it's now Super Premium and 86 cents a gallon higher. ["Surely they're not trying to chisel you!" "Yes they are, and don't call me Shirley!"]. If you're filling a 40 gallon tank, the difference would be in the neighborhood of $35. That's an H reload, maybe an I.

As you gas up on your way to LDRS or wherever, glance to make sure you're getting the grade of gas you want and need.

 

[tsmith1315]

I just push the leftmost gasoline button, which is regular---but not at ourCasey's, where it's now Super Premium and 86 cents a gallon higher

Yep, my wife had that happen once. She came home griping about how much it cost to fill up. I ran the #'s and it didn't work out for 87 octane.

Sneaky.

 

[bjphoenix]

I usually fill up at Kroger for several reasons but this morning I filled up Geniece's car at Casey's General store. Almost got taken for about 80 cents a gallon...

Most gas pumps I've seen have three gas grades---regular, "plus", and premium---and usually a diesel hose as well. Casey's has four gas grades; may not be news to you but it is to me. Normally my brain (and those of a lot of people) is on autopilot when I gas up. I just push the leftmost gasoline button, which is regular---but not at ourCasey's, where it's now Super Premium and 86 cents a gallon higher. ["Surely they're not trying to chisel you!" "Yes they are, and don't call me Shirley!"]. If you're filling a 40 gallon tank, the difference would be in the neighborhood of $35. That's an H reload, maybe an I.

As you gas up on your way to LDRS or wherever, glance to make sure you're getting the grade of gas you want and need.

I do a lot of traveling to Utah one direction and Arkansas the other, I've seen lots of different pumps. The most complicated pumps I've seen in the Denver area, with a couple of E85 grades in addition to the other 3-5 varieties.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Sheesh. Around these parts, either Giant Eagle or Club Cohen advertise their lower price for hooking your checking account up to your rewards card, with the regular price below it - and about $0.20/gal higher. I don't like giving them a direct needle to my jugular, so they can pound salt. But it's sneaky.

Another place will sell you ethanol-free gas for about $1.00/gal more. No way that is justified.

The customer used to be someone to be taken care of, not set up and ripped off. </rant off>

 

[Hobie1dog]

They had a new segment a couple of days ago about companies raising the prices for the summer months and if you look at the profits from these companies it's higher than it's ever been, simple greed. The bigger the company, the bigger the greed.

 

[cwbullet]

They had a new segment a couple of days ago about companies raising the prices for the summer months and if you look at the profits from these companies it's higher than it's ever been, simple greed. The bigger the company, the bigger the greed.

To some extent, It is called supply and demand. Demand goes up - supply is set, so up goes the prices. With gas, it is more complicated because the blend is different but it is still somewhat the same.

 

[SolarYellow]

Gas is also subject to speculative buying/selling in commodities trading markets. The runup to the 2007 crash was triggered by commodities trading that drove the price of 87 octane gas from ~$2.80/gal to ~$4.80/gal where I lived at the time in the space of a month, around the March-April time frame. There was no supply/demand relationship change that drove the increase, it just went crazy all of a sudden. This led to "carpocalypse," when everyone stopped buying trucks and wanted a Prius, and over the course of three or four months, households running short on cash (after feeding their formerly manageable SUVs to get to work) to pay their mortgages. It wasn't even the eeeviil oil companies doing it, it was a subset of Wall Street doing it, for reasons I've still never seen explained.

 

[mh9162013]

I never worry about accidentally putting a higher grade of gas in my car. But I do worry about accidentally putting diesel in it (apparently that's a very expensive mistake to make).

 

[SolarYellow]

I never worry about accidentally putting a higher grade of gas in my car. But I do worry about accidentally putting diesel in it (apparently that's a very expensive mistake to make).

Not as expensive as putting gas in a diesel.

 

[Tyeeking]

I never worry about accidentally putting a higher grade of gas in my car. But I do worry about accidentally putting diesel in it (apparently that's a very expensive mistake to make).

The nozzle on a diesel pump is larger than a gas nozzle just so you won’t make that mistake.

 

[bjphoenix]

To some extent, It is called supply and demand. Demand goes up - supply is set, so up goes the prices. With gas, it is more complicated because the blend is different but it is still somewhat the same.

I've read that the blends vary by season and when it is nearing the calendar point to change from one to another there can be spot shortages or gluts that can affect the price for a short period of time.

Otherwise I've always said that they push the prices as high as they can without the masses of people showing up at their door with torches and pitchforks.

 

[Peartree]

On top of everything else, the war in Ukraine is a contributing factor as well. Since the Ukrainians started drone bombing Russian refineries, they've taken at least 25% of Russia's refining capacity offline. That means that now Russia needs to buy refined oil products, and that ripples through the system driving prices higher.

 

[Bravo52]

It's the so-called "climate change"... The only real thing about "climate change" is the redistribution of wealth. You may be thinking; "How does that relate to gas prices?" Well, in one state, the cost of gas went up $.50 just because of a frivolous "Clean Fuel Standard" gas tax. This along with normal seasonal blend changes and the impacts of the Inflation Production Act, caused the average gas price to go up this year.