Fuel prices....again!

[wh]

Yet here we all are, reading and commenting

I quit after 2 lines. If it takes you 30000 words to say something, you used 29500 words to many.

 

[ss55]

Filled my house propane tanks yesterday....$2.75 delivered.....was pleasantly surprised. September is the cheapest month to fill up around here. Farm diesel (30 cent road tax eliminated) was $5.19. I was reading new sources yesterday and apparently crude oil from the Middle East is easier to refine into diesel, whereas light crude from around here makes the best gasoline.....maybe that's the reason for disparity between the two fuels...around $2 more for a gallon of diesel.

Does anyone remember the 1960s gas wars where local gas stations in bigger towns would try to undercut each others prices until one blinked and prices shot back up well above normal for a few days? The lowest I ever bought at was 15 cents when the normal was 32 cents, but prices could go a lot lower for a few hours at a time. Gas stations also gave away promotional glassware and other things with purchases. Describe that to young people now and they think you are either joking or hallucinating.

 

[ss55]

Filled my house propane tanks yesterday....$2.75 delivered.....was pleasantly surprised. September is the cheapest month to fill up around here. Farm diesel (30 cent road tax eliminated) was $5.19. I was reading new sources yesterday and apparently crude oil from the Middle East is easier to refine into diesel, whereas light crude from around here makes the best gasoline.....maybe that's the reason for disparity between the two fuels...around $2 more for a gallon of diesel.

Lets hope corn gets dried down before combining this fall so drying costs will stay manageable.

 

[Ericp351]

Somebody has way too much time on their hands.

Be nice, the elderly get confused. Happens. Like the possibly nice guy who posts about a scrap French car under Tools , or such. Live and let live!

 

[hurleyjd]

Fuel crisis 1973 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/25/this-day-in-politics-november-25-1009483

 

[wh]

Paid $2:45 here in north Alabama for home propane for winter. Same as last year. Strangely enough there is no shortage of fuel. Pull up to pumps and get all you want (or can afford). Oil companies reporting record profits. Makes a person wish they had stock in them. Unfortunately I am too busy paying the electric company, the grocery store, the gas store to have anything left to buy stock. Really not anything the little man can do about it. Either pay the price or do without. Simple as that.

 

[38 Sears Roebuck]

$6.20 /gallon here. Just fueled up my tank trucks saddle tank here in Robesonia PA.

 

[Brown David]

I quit after 2 lines. If it takes you 30000 words to say something, you used 29500 words to many.

Someone should introduce him to the concept of paragraphs.

I tried previously with no effect.

 

[joeysmith]

Lets hope corn gets dried down before combining this fall so drying costs will stay manageable.

It did here
But it always does down this way
There are a few relic dryers at a couple coops but I have no idea the last time they were used

 

[Texasmark]

North Texas area (north of Dallas) propane fill price was $2.45. I filled and did a pre-buy for more later, expecting prices will be higher by the time I need more. I haven't found a reason why propane has such a wide price range all over the US. I've heard (not confirmed) that most of our propane actually comes from Canada, so South Dakota being closer to Canada than Texas might explain some price difference, but then I've seen prices vary so widely that don't fit that pattern.
My extended family all had propane tractors (father, uncle, cousins, etc.) in the 60s-70s-80s. My father finally got a Diesel tractor in the early 2000s, but still has the JD 4020 propane tractor, and I got the JD 730 propane tractor. We sold the JD 50 propane tractor some years ago... 3rd gear had a chipped tooth and it didn't have live PTO nor a 3-point hitch. It was a lot cheaper running propane back then... looks like a lot cheaper now too with Diesel getting so high.

I had a propane JD 4020, my first decent sized tractor, and my first and last JD, and propane fueled machine. That thing was an experience for several reasons besides the fueling issues......purchasing was a king sized mistake on my part.......but you have to get your education somewhere.....when you ("Lust in your heart....." Jimmy Carter announcement once) your mind sometimes wanders......engine had to be completely rebuilt after I found out what it meant for the "weep holes" on the side of the cylinders to drip AF or oil...........well that's ok but how about a cheaper price tag for a "Norman New Guy" to the farming experience!!!!!!

 

[Texasmark]

Somebody has way too much time on their hands.

That's my problem currently.....everything is done, nothing to do in the field, nothing needing fixing, don't want to stay in the house unless absolutely necessary, sit out in the field and watch airplanes fly into DFW airport.

 

[NDIHC]

Does anyone remember the 1960s gas wars where local gas stations in bigger towns would try to undercut each others prices until one blinked and prices shot back up well above normal for a few days? The lowest I ever bought at was 15 cents when the normal was 32 cents, but prices could go a lot lower for a few hours at a time. Gas stations also gave away promotional glassware and other things with purchases. Describe that to young people now and they think you are either joking or hallucinating.

There was a gas war in Bismarck ND in 1989. I was working at a gas station with both full and self service pumps. We got down to 63 or 65 cents a gallon. There was one gas station in town that was always a few cents lower than anyone else. So the other stations started meeting their price. Then they'd drop their price. And it just kept going on and on until another gas station owner shot the windows out of the one that kept dropping their price. The owner of the one I worked at said knew who did it but I don't think anyone was ever charged.

 

[dahlin]

I wonder how long it will be before the truckers will park there rigs and say they can't afford to run them.

 

[wh]

Current price in cullman Alabama is diesel from $5:79 to $6:30. Gas is $3:69 to $3:99

 

[rrlund]

If you don't know the difference between point source pollution and non point source pollution, look it up. This is a prime example of point source pollution.

 

[NY 986]

I wonder how long it will be before the truckers will park there rigs and say they can't afford to run them.

Most freight is moved by fleet carriers who have leverage with the companies that they transport goods for. Nothing will happen unless those companies decide they have had enough but for the time being the cost will be passed on to the consumer. Nobody can afford to conduct a unilateral protest via letting goods sit.

 

[Texasmark]

There was a gas war in Bismarck ND in 1989. I was working at a gas station with both full and self service pumps. We got down to 63 or 65 cents a gallon. There was one gas station in town that was always a few cents lower than anyone else. So the other stations started meeting their price. Then they'd drop their price. And it just kept going on and on until another gas station owner shot the windows out of the one that kept dropping their price. The owner of the one I worked at said knew who did it but I don't think anyone was ever charged.

When I was in high school we had gas wars in Pasadena, Tx. and across the Houston Ship Channel with Galena Park. A guy could take his date out for an evening with 2 gallons of 25 cent gas....I know I was pumping gas in the evenings after school then......Joe STUD would drive in with his sweetie all cuddled next to him (no seat belts back then and with a bench seat it was easy for her to slide over) and hand me a 50 cent piece.......said fill her up.......Ha Ha!!! The price war came and the price dropped to 19 cents before it was all over. This was about 1955....the thing across the channel went on for decades. Our school colors were green and white and mascot was the Bald Eagle.....we had a sculpture out in front of one of our school buildings. The guys across the channel were black and yellow...Yellow Jackets!! On one occasion they snuck over to our side and dumped 2 quarts of their colors on top of the head of our Eagle.....don't remember the resultant activity but it went on forever......looking back, great sport!!!!!

 

[john in la]

Most freight is moved by fleet carriers who have leverage with the companies that they transport goods for. Nothing will happen unless those companies decide they have had enough but for the time being the cost will be passed on to the consumer. Nobody can afford to conduct a unilateral protest via letting goods sit.

Every trucking company has fuel surcharge cost figured into the contract. The cost of fuel goes up the per mile rate automatically adjust on a floating scale.
If you were a manufacturer and needed your product shipped you would need a pretty big monopoly to effect consumer supply before effecting your bottom line so just shutting down is not an option.
The only real effect comes from people to stop buying. And that effects big ticket or really don’t need items long before it effects got to have items.

 

[rrlund]

The absolute dumbest one I ever heard about a gas war was when I was in junior high. One of the guys came to school looking exhausted. His dad drove truck and he called his wife and told her there was a gas war in Detroit (150 miles away) and told her to get down there with the pickup (3/4 ton Ford) and fill it up. He said she wanted him to ride down there with her. I said 'do you mean you guys drove 300 miles to fill up with gas?' He said "It's got two tanks". WTH? I've driven there and back with a 3/4 ton Chevy. I could barely make it there and back on two tanks.

 

[NDIHC]

The absolute dumbest one I ever heard about a gas war was when I was in junior high. One of the guys came to school looking exhausted. His dad drove truck and he called his wife and told her there was a gas war in Detroit (150 miles away) and told her to get down there with the pickup (3/4 ton Ford) and fill it up. He said she wanted him to ride down there with her. I said 'do you mean you guys drove 300 miles to fill up with gas?' He said "It's got two tanks". WTH? I've driven there and back with a 3/4 ton Chevy. I could barely make it there and back on two tanks.

A lot of people will drive 20 miles to save 2 cents per gallon. My dad will drive all over town to save 2 bucks on an air filter. He spent that 2 bucks on gas! He would drive 50 miles round trip to save $10 on a battery rather than buy it from our small town co-op. He used 2 gallons of gas, at almost $4 per gallon so he saves $2 for his hour to go get it. I suppose some of that is from being born in the 1930s and dirt poor when he was a kid.