Gas prices are going up fast

[GenXguy]

Illinois has been busy with fuel tax increases lately.

For sure - they really stick it to us.

 

[jim584672]

Since I retired I hardly use any gas with no commuting. Take a small trip every week to keep the car in shape.

 

[GenXguy]

Since I retired I hardly use any gas with no commuting. Take a small trip every week to keep the car in shape.

Don't worry - you'll still be paying for it through even higher prices on everything else.

 

[jim584672]

Don't worry - you'll still be paying for it through even higher prices on everything else.

True. Not too worried. Tons of places are begging for workers and we have a $15 min wage so I could always pick up a PT job if I had to.

 

[GenXguy]

I know you need the higher octane for some engines to get maximum performance. Unless the car is older, you can usually get away with using lower octane because the car senses detonation and retards the ignition (lowering performance, of course.) Just a thought as YMMV.

My car is older than most (bought brand new in summer 2006), and it recommends 87 octane, so pretty standard for regular unleaded. I've never put the higher grades / premium in it.

 

[Amethyst]

Oh, my Dad had stories of black-market ration stamp books, especially for gas (which was a particular thorn in his side).

That old generation wasn't nearly as saintly as everyone now likes to claim (now that they are all dead). After all, that was the same generation that went to speakeasies and made gin in the bathtub! (Dad had stories about that too).

I thought they tried it during WW2. I don't know how it worked because that was before my time. I would have guessed there could have been grey market trading of stamps, but a quick search suggests that the ration books had identification markings so you couldn't use other people's stamps.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/s...search-starters/take-closer-look-ration-books

 

[Car-Guy]

I'm currently driving a minimum of 130 miles a day and filling up every other day. When I fueled up today, I noticed all the stations in town were selling regular for $3.98. That's up from $3.39 a week ago. Premium was $4.99. I think I saw diesel for $4.79. At least there are no lines at any of the stations. Matter of fact, it "appeared" that only about 25% of the pumps were in use.

 

[pb4uski]

Paid $3.899 at BJs Wholesale tonight. Paid $3.299 at BJs on 2/20.

 

[NW-Bound]

With Russian oil getting banned, Brent crude is now at $131.35/barrel.

Gas at my nearest Costco is now $4.09. Other stores are selling at $4.29 to $4.39.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We are slightly over 5/gallon. Luckily I only use one tank per month.

 

[11522914]

I didn't think it was possible to do that? At least, I'd always heard that they made the fuel nozzle for Diesel a different shape, to keep people from doing just that?

That was my understanding too. But apparently she was able to do it but complained it only filled up 3/4 of the tank.

Drove it a half a mile then it died. What a mess it was to fix. Had to get the tank completely drained and all the spark plugs replaced.

At least we didn't have to replace the engine.

 

[Music Lover]

The US went from energy independence to talk of rationing in a little over a year and everyone is acting like it couldn't be prevented. The current situation is not an accident, it happened by design.

 

[Pellice]

I haven't read this entire thread, but I think we are in a serious situation that does call for some resolve from ourselves. Luckily I am retired, but I am going to think harder about how to combine trips, etc. I know that high prices will effect that result as well, but I'd like to see what we were calling "essential workers" during the pandemic supported financially in their fuel purchases. I don't want to see minimum-wage workers bear the brunt of these prices.

It looks as though Russia is threatening actions that will send oil prices still higher. OK, I will take it in the interest of ending this threat. I know that another end result will probably be wider license for drilling, but keep in mind that dire UN emissions warning from last week. Again in my opinion, we have waited too long, and that will bring equally bad results.

I'm not an expert, and I know others have different opinions. But I feel the gravity of this historical moment. Mods, you can delete this if it's too political.

 

[Zathras]

There will always be geo-political crisis.
We have had them before, currently, and will have them in the future.

Planning for these is very similar to planning for retirement.
You may not know the exact nature of a future crisis, but you can take steps to make your plan resilient on a personal level.

Oil is fungible. What affects the supply in one part of the world can change the prices worldwide.

Decentralizing energy production on a large scale won’t eliminate these issues, but it will mitigate them.
Similar to how allocating investments across a number of tools won’t make your portfolio bulletproof, but it will make it much safer.

 

[JoeWras]

I didn't think it was possible to do that? At least, I'd always heard that they made the fuel nozzle for Diesel a different shape, to keep people from doing just that?

That was my understanding too. But apparently she was able to do it but complained it only filled up 3/4 of the tank.

Drove it a half a mile then it died. What a mess it was to fix. Had to get the tank completely drained and all the spark plugs replaced.

At least we didn't have to replace the engine.

I got an answer for you.

Last month I was pumping gas and there was a patron on the pump next to me banging the nozzle against the spout, making a bunch of noise. I just figured they were having a hard time with the weight of the device.

She stopped for a second and yelled over and asked me if the station changed something. I walked over and was perplexed, then it hit me like a hammer, it was the ONLY dual pump at this station, and the diesel spout was in her hand! I said "stop!" and literally as the "s" came out, she had the same reckoning. The blood ran out of her face and gave her thanks. She said she just figured maintenance put the wrong nozzle on and she was about to start pumping with the nozzle not fully inserted, just against the hole at the top of the spout.

Close call! The only way the diesel would have gotten in would be to place it against the hole and not insert it fully. This is possible to do.

 

[scrabbler1]

I got an answer for you.

Last month I was pumping gas and there was a patron on the pump next to me banging the nozzle against the spout, making a bunch of noise. I just figured they were having a hard time with the weight of the device.

She stopped for a second and yelled over and asked me if the station changed something. I walked over and was perplexed, then it hit me like a hammer, it was the ONLY dual pump at this station, and the diesel spout was in her hand! I said "stop!" and literally as the "s" came out, she had the same reckoning. The blood ran out of her face and gave her thanks. She said she just figured maintenance put the wrong nozzle on and she was about to start pumping with the nozzle not fully inserted, just against the hole at the top of the spout.

Close call! The only way the diesel would have gotten in would be to place it against the hole and not insert it fully. This is possible to do.

I had a similar experience back in the late 1980s. By then, it was very rare to find any gas stations still carrying leaded gas, as unleaded had become the norm years earlier. To prevent users from accidentally pumping leaded gas into a car which takes only unleaded, the nozzles on leaded gas pumps were larger (or the holes in the car's gas tubes were smaller). However, I still tried to pump leaded gas into my car by mistake even though the nozzle was too big for the tube. I pumped a few cents worth of that wrong gas into my car, not enough to cause any damage, before I realized what I was doing and switched to the correct type.

JoeWras, all the pumps at my local gas station are dual pumps. But the diesel pump has a green covering on the handle, making it stand out from the other one which is red.

 

[JoeWras]

JoeWras, all the pumps at my local gas station are dual pumps. But the diesel pump has a green covering on the handle, making it stand out from the other one which is red.

Yes, same here. In retrospect, it was obvious. The reckoning hit her like a shot.

But you know how it is sometimes? We're distracted, thinking about other stuff, and somehow our mind always goes to some weird place to explain a problem.

For example, who hasn't accidentally gone up to the wrong car, can't open it, and wonder why someone broke in and put a jacket and a bunch of junk in your car. Then it hits you. Not my car! (This may not happen anymore in the age of wireless keys.)

 

[Aerides]

When I was working in 2008 with prices about where they are now, my daily commute with gas/tolls was $20 a day. I'd fill up around 3.5 days into the work week (to get home on a thursday, after being full on sunday).

So I have that perspective, and now a fill up lasts me 2-3 weeks. So I am not too worried what I pay at the pump, though of course consumer goods will continue to be impacted.

 

[SecondCor521]

I find it notable not because it's the same price now as it was 15 years ago, but because it has gone up over 10% in a week. If my food, college, utilities, medical care, or any other mostly required category went up that fast, I'd note that as well.

Now it's up about 20% over less than 2 weeks. We went from roughly $3.50 a gallon to $4.20 a gallon here.

 

[scrabbler1]

I drive very little, at most 3,000 miles per year but this year probably in the 2,000 mile range. My car, a Corolla, gets about 25 mpg, so I buy gas once a month to fill up the ~11-gallon tank. So, 80 gallons per year at $4 per gallon is $320, barely a blip in my budget.

My local gas station was at $3.97 per gallon for a few weeks before his price shot up to $4.35, still below what I recall paying back in the spring of 2008 when it was $4.40. Back then, I recall lots of people trading in their gas-guzzling SUVs for more economical cars, filling up the dealer's lots. For a while, it was nice driving around and not being behind one of those view-blocking vehicles as much, whose mere presence was a hazard to my safe driving.

Nearly all of my trips are very short, maybe 5 miles round-trip. Very rarely do I have to drive more than 40 miles in one day.

My local gas station, who usually changes his gas prices on Thursdays, didn't wait for this Thursday to raise his price again. At $3.97 early last week and $4.35 last Saturday, he had already raised it to $4.69 when I drove by there this morning. He is now higher than he was back in May of 2008. Ouch!

 

[SecondCor521]

We have a lot of big trucks and SUVs here in the Boise area. I remember noticing them disappear from the active roadways back when gas went over $4 a gallon last time (2008-ish?). It was notable because it seemed to happen nearly overnight.

I'll be interested to see what happens this time around.

 

[Sojourner]

We have a lot of big trucks and SUVs here in the Boise area. I remember noticing them disappear from the active roadways back when gas went over $4 a gallon last time (2008-ish?). It was notable because it seemed to happen nearly overnight.

I'll be interested to see what happens this time around.

Yeah, it'll be quite interesting to find out at what level people start to really "feel" it and cut back on driving somewhat. I'm guessing it'll be around $4.50/gal here in metro Atlanta, or maybe $4.75. Definitely don't see it happening much below that.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

JoeWras, all the pumps at my local gas station are dual pumps. But the diesel pump has a green covering on the handle, making it stand out from the other one which is red.

Our state makes it even more confusing. Most stations sell a no-ethanol fuel in addition to regular gas and diesel...so you sometimes have to pick from 3 handles.

I have also heard many stories of a student pilot filling up a small airplane with jet fuel instead of avgas...that's a costly mistake.

Demand for gas here doesn't seem too crazy. I went by 3 large stations yesterday afternoon and it looked like normal business, no lines and some open pumps. Oh, and still PLENTY of full size and super duty trucks on the road.

 

[Midpack]

DW and I just filled up both our cars, using a $0.20/gal discount, and it came to $80 and change!!! Our previous all time record was $60 and change.

All kidding aside, I don't like the high prices, but it's worth the sacrifice IMO.

 

[NW-Bound]

We have a lot of big trucks and SUVs here in the Boise area. I remember noticing them disappear from the active roadways back when gas went over $4 a gallon last time (2008-ish?). It was notable because it seemed to happen nearly overnight.

I'll be interested to see what happens this time around.

The saving grace is that new vehicles get much better fuel mileage than the old ones.

Out of curiosity, I just checked to see that a 2021 F-150 crewcab pickup with a V8 5.0L engine can get 17 City / 24 Highway. This is as good as an old minivan with a 3.0L engine that I had, which was lighter and more aerodynamic.