Don't Look Now...
 

...but gasoline and diesel prices are creeping up on $3/gallon again.

Hmm...

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petro...ogas_chart.gif

Source: U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices

Shows that current US average price is equivalent to the summer peaks, which is unusual. All else being equal, I thought prices usually slumped after the summer.

Looks like we'll be seeing quite a few more members on the forums!

We'll see!

I think prices have to top 3 bucks - big psychological price point - in the US before we'll see any noticeable change in the amount of people around here.

Traffic has been remarkably steady spring, summer and fall. (Even with the price of gas having gone up from about $2/gal since April.)

Where the heck did they have sub-$2 gas? Not in these parts...

Last winter it dropped to $1.39 a gallon here.

regards
Mech

I do believe that the general populous is desensitized to gas prices again and you're right in the fact that $3 might be the new panic marker, or even $4 per gallon :eek:

I remember when people :eek:'ed out over $2 per gallon gasoline... :turtle:

I agree with Tom. I don't think we'll even hear much when it hits $3 again.

Usually, but they've always got some lame excuse. They said in the paper today that it is because the holidays are approaching.

well that aint gonna fix the leak in my gas tank.

See what happens when "hyper" miling goes too far? .. even the gas tank fails. :rolleyes:

When folks start hurting and ask us about MPG, let's not shuck them with "tune-up" cliches.

Wanna bet? :)

I think the mainstream media will be all over it when it passes the 3 buck threshold again. Anything for a story.

The recreational drivers/mud truck commuters/suv moms won't even blink at $3 gas, I guarantee it.

The FIRST time it hit $3 they freaked... for a week or two. Then it was business as usual. Subsequent $3 prices, when "revisited", aroused nothing.

Then the first time it hit $4 they freaked... for maybe a week. Then it was business as usual.

Might not even have another freak-out 'til $4.50 or $5 next time.

Metro is right tho', the media is always on the lookout for the next thing to over-dramatize so they will be all over it.

Perhaps a group hug would be better?

Agree that $3 won't phase folks. The freakout threshhold isn't $/gallon, it's $/fillup. When the guzzlers started paying $100+ to fill their tanks, they started parking their behemoths. That might happen sooner in this economy, but I wouldn't bet my money on it.

Do people even notice the cost of fill-ups? I mean, there's me and 2 other guys left in the U.S.A. that don't use plastic to pay, so us three notice right then and there what it costs, not at the end of the month.

Reminds me of something else too: I wonder how many people really do "fill up"? Cuz I know legions and legions of guys that through some strange twisted logic prefer to continually pull into stations to put on $5 or $10 worth. Yup- logic has no sway over this irrational behavior. :rolleyes:

Frank -

You and 3 other guys!

CarloSW2

The sword of Damocles is hanging over their heads (meaning the threat of $4+ per gallon).

Every time the price jumps dramatically there is a panic reaction, and you can see the change in what is on the roads.

Then prices drop and they resort to the same old behaviour.

I think many are getting the picture, which was represented in the vehicles bought with the C4C deal.

I have noticed some of the other drivers seem content to follow me at 47 in a 55 zone lately, but most just keep on flying down the road.

Every time the price spikes upward some just get more desensitized to generally higher prices.

However if you are driving one of those twin tank 60 gallons per fill trucks, you are looking at over $100 for a fill, even at $250.

Maybe Frank is right about the credit cards, but the bill at the end of the month grabs you by the wallet big time. At 60 gallons per fill you are carrying almost 375 pounds of extra weight, which might explain the partial fills, other than the shock effect of the cost of a total fill up.

Our average consumption is about 15 gallons a week, and we pay off all credit cards when we get the bill.

regards
Mech

I do agree that most are desensitized. The excuse used to be supply and demand. So drive less, drive more efficiently when you do drive, and everyone can help keep prices down. Now I think they've realized that the barons controlling prices are going to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Election coming up, lower prices. Crude oil goes down, raise prices anyway. Summer driving season over, raise prices anyway. Speculators buying into oil, crude oil not rising, raise prices anyway.

The only time I noticed a drop in traffic was after Katrina, there were noticeably fewer at the bridge walk, gas was $3.55 here. Other than that, it didn't seem to matter. The rich tourists who crowd this part of the state are going to do what they want regardless of fuel price. Fly up here at 80 mph in their SUVs, hauling boats, campers, ATVs, cartop carriers, dirt bikes...gas up all the toys, go blow a bunch of money at ritzy resorts and casinos, then fly back home.

I think it's mostly the local worker who is going to show up here.

I'm going by anecdotal evidence, but there was a fair bit of it back in the price spike of Aught Eight. A lot of newspaper articles about people who had been routinely spending $60 or $70 to fill up their duallie pickups but could not bear the thought of going into the triple digits. They took to partially filling the tank and/or parking the beasties. Also a bunch of stories about old pumps that either could not handle triple digits or else could not handle $4/gallon.

Google "$100 fillup" for a...

...fillup of stories.

I saw a guy put 3 dollars of gas into a H2.

Here's a fun infographic and some DOE data, both of which show that gasoline consumption is on the decline.

People do change their gas consumption habits over time, when faced with sustained high prices. Unfortunately, when someone buys a new SUV or pickup truck, it will take over a decade to get it out of our fleet. When someone builds a new house in the exurbs, it'll be there, and probably occupied, for the better part of a century. It takes a very long time for our society as a whole to respond to energy prices.

Takes extra long when a million of the locals ran out and bought new Silveradopes, Subdivisions, and Yuck-ons in the last two years. :mad:

The scary part isn't the oil industry bracing for a drop in consumption...

it's the gummint dreaming up new ways to screw the motorist, likely via mileage-based taxation. :mad: :mad: :mad:
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This guy is an idiot. Look at the many policies/programs that favor unfettered reproduction and immigration, as well as policies that promote sprawl.

"Only"? "ONLY"?!? :mad:

Do the Palins and Joe Plumbers of America know about this? (The Ultimate Solution To Everything: Drill!, Baby, Drill!!!; and put up more refineries while yer at it!!!) Not. :rolleyes:

In my area gas just went up 10 cents overnight from $2.59 to $2.69

I'm sure its not done going up either.

It was at $2.66 for ever then went down to $2.59 a week ago.

I have been getting a bunch of heat from my local friends saying what are you doing building a car that's more fuel efficient for?

I feel like a Noah building and ark and its just starting to rain.LOL

It's just starting to sprinkle. ;) Oh, let me get on. :turtle:

There was a little station near the small town of Vanderbilt (about 15 miles from me) whose pumps could apparently not handle over $3/gallon. This was after Katrina. They had a note on the pump that they had set the price to half, they will double it at the register. Problem was double the pump price didn't jell with what the sign said, so I went somewhere I could trust.

I wonder if people who don't fill the tank realize that it wastes fuel every time you stop somewhere, including the gas station. But I guess if you're in an area with a lot of gas theft, you won't be out as much if they hit you.

I was just thinking about the trends of the past 6 years...

The crude oil price directly reflects gasoline prices at the pump, obviously. Over the past 6 years, there were a few times when the average US price of gasoline at the pump was as high as 6% the cost of a barrel of crude oil. This was when the price of crude was very low, around 32-36$/barrel, but has happened a few other times as well. The lowest margin seems to be about 3%, when prices were high.

I think the high margin at low prices has something to do with the national average $0.45/gal in taxes included in the price (from what i understand, these are taxes that don't fluctuate... IE: its not a %?). So if the price is low, the tax cost becomes more of a % of the total price, and opposite for higher prices.

http://www.GasBuddy.com/gb_retail_pr...me=48&units=us