Tag: gas prices

gas boycott on tuesday — what’s the point?

Go ahead and don’t buy gas on Tuesday, but it’s not going to lower the price per gallon.

It appears that the perennial gas boycott has reared its ugly head again, this time setting next Tuesday, May 15th as the day to not fill up your vehicle’s gas tank. This time around it is protesting the recent price per gallon increases to an average above $3, but will it be effective? Probably not.

This has been tried before over the past decade or more, with no visible effect on gas prices. Usually, folks who participate in the protest simply buy their gas on other days. In no way do most reduce the amount of gas they use, so as far as the filling stations are concerned, it’s simply a small blip in daily sales.

What will really send a message is to drastically reduce your gas use. Walk or bike instead of driving, or use public transportation or a carpool if you have those options. Do all of these things every day, and not just on next Tuesday. Of course, these things may not lower the pump prices in the short run, but they certainly will have less of an impact on your wallet.

Gas prices are on the rise, and we would be foolish to think that oil companies are going to lower them for any reason since there hasn’t been a real backlash against them. Americans are still buying big gas guzzling vehicles, and even if we feel the squeeze at the pump, we are willing to pay for it. Oil companies have us over the barrel, and they know it.

more on gas prices

Gas prices in Richmond have caught up with the rest of the country by going over $2/gal.

They did it again. Richmond area gas prices have stayed at a constant $1.89 ever since the jump from $1.84 to $1.99 and then fall back to $1.89 last week. When I was in Lexington on Monday, I noticed their gas prices had gone down to as low as $1.81, which I saw as a sure sign that ours would be inching down again soon. So, I wasn’t surprised when the usual cheaper places began lowering their prices by a cent every other day. This morning on my drive in, I was pleased to see that my favorite station had gone down to $1.87. Not much of a difference, but I figured it was just the beginning of a trend. Sadly, this was not the case. On my way home this evening, I nearly hit the roof when I saw station after station brazenly displaying $2.05 for regular unleaded — only $0.04 less than what the premium had cost at 7:30 this morning. Tell me again why this is good business practice?

gas prices, part two

We had another over night flip-flop and now most of the gas stations in town are advertising their $1.89/gal prices.

We had another over night flip-flop and now most of the gas stations in town are advertising their $1.89/gal prices. Meanwhile, a mile or two from the edge of town but still in the same zip code, there are two gas stations that have remained at $1.84/gal through all of this. Go figure.

I need to fill up soon, but I think I’ll wait another day or two to see what they’ll do next.

gas prices

Anna rants about gas prices.

I’m starting to get really pissed about gas prices these days. Yesterday, most of the gas stations in town were at $1.84/gal for regular unleaded, which was about average for the state. It’s more than I’d like to be paying, but considering how little pump prices have increased over the past few decades, I’m not going to complain to loudly. However, this morning I woke up to $1.99/gal at just about every station in town and my wallet whimpered. It was at that point that I began to seriously consider advocating for federal (or state) regulation of gas pricing.

I understand that businesses need to stay flexible in order to compete in the market. I’m all for giving business owners the freedom to make decisions regarding their product and sales. I’m even willing to pay more for gas, if that’s what the market requires. However, I’d like to see some consistency in pump prices. The oil market jumps around, and that’s to be expected. But it’s a long process to go from crude to the stuff that’s in my car tank, and there should be a number of factors going into that which would level the pricing and make it more consistent across markets.

The kind of regulation that I’d like to see would affect changes in the pump prices. There would be a percentage increase/decrease limit per day that all gas stations would be required to stick by. For instance, a 2% limit would mean that the local stations who increased their prices over night could not increase (or decrease, but that’s not likely) them again by more than $0.04 in the next 24 hours. If it’s a gradual thing, like the markets over, then I’m more willing to accept that it is a necessary business practice. This overnight price increase of 27% is absurd.

Why is it that we accept that gas prices are going to go up and down daily, sometimes throughout the day? Would we be so accepting of the same for the price of eggs, milk, bread, or other staples of life? I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time in my car. There is no public transportation here in Middle America that will take me from home in the county to work in town, or from town to the city, or to even more rural areas that I frequent. Therefore, if I’m going to get where I need to go, I have to drive my car. Thankfully, the old girl still gets 35-41 MPG.

So, inspired by the Librarian in Black, here’s my ransom note:
Lower your gas prices NOW or I will buy an electric car.

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