The price of gasoline

[john in la]

Can someone explain to me what it is about the price of gasoline and or diesel that just drives some crazy?

I went by a no name station today where the price was $3.019 this station only has 1 island with 2 pumps. There was a line for each pump 4 cars long. (1 at pump and 3 waiting)
One city block down the road there is a no name station with a price of $3.029 and a branded station priced $3.049 Both of these stations have many pumps with no waiting.

So who would wait in a line that long to save 20 to 80 cents? I just do not understand this.

On the other hand people are always complaining about how high the price of gasoline is. It even makes the 6 pm news.
But people will spend money on fancy cell phones with all the bells or buy a house or car way bigger than they really need and think nothing of it. They have so much junk they have to rent a mini storage to store all of it. But let gasoline go up a dollar a gallon (about $20 a week for most) and all he!! breaks loose.

So is it you really can not afford gasoline prices? I think not considering all the luxury items people own today.

Or is it you can not just stand some company making so much money? If so you need to consider the liability involved.

Just wondering???

 

[Royse]

Beats me John, doesn't make sense to me either.
Most of the time I choose the station on the right hand side of the road.
No left turns to hassle with either.
Ever price a gallon of Nyquil? LOL

 

[Ray]

I don't know,the day after thanksgiving people were lined up to get into the local menards lumber yard at 4:30 am.They did 64000 dollars in sales in that one day.

 

[Dalet]

Just remember, fuel going up a dollar a gallon costs you more than 20/weekly unless you are dead.

 

[MSD]

How about all the bottles of water that people buy.

 

[JerryS]

I have long marveled at how people can exercise such selective outrage at the prices of various things. They're quite happy posing in a pair of $175 tattered designer jeans, hiding behind a $250 pair of Calvin Klein sunglasses and sucking on an $8 concoction from Starbuck's, but let the price of jug of milk go up 50 cents and there's hell to pay. (Having grown up on a dairy farm that's always been a pet peeve of mine.)

 

[Walt Davies]

Yea! And I bet they also laughted at Ginrich when he said he could get gas down to $2.50.
Bummer
Walt

 

[Jeff B.]

He's right... a gallon of lots of things might scare you. Gas is cheap. I don't get it either. I've seen people drive 5 miles or more to save a nickel a gallon, when a 20 gallon tank would only cost a dollar more with a 5c price difference. Granted, it bites a little more when it ramps up, but overall, gas is a rather cheap fluid. How much is a gallon of motor oil or maybe your favorite whiskey?

 

[Buckeye Oliver collector]

I guess none of you guys will mind when its $7 a gallon someday either. Maybe that is cheap if you make $100 an hour. I was content with 2.50 but I just drive that much less now so I don't have to fill up as often.

 

[Billy Shafer]

I am on disability so money is tight. I get the cheapest gas price I can. But I wouldn't stand in line for it. Did enough of that in the Navy.

 

[Fawteen]

My car has a 12 gallon tank. Figure a fill up is 10 gallons.

At 20¢ a gallon "savings" that's a whopping $2.00. If the two stations were right next to each other, yes. Drive down the block or wait in line? Not hardly.

Even with my truck and a 30 gallon fill up, we're talking about $6.00 which wouldn't even buy a pack of smokes around here.

Yet I know people that will go 10 miles out of their way to save a nickel a gallon. And with the vehicles they're driving, they're burning more gas than they could buy with the money they "save".

Punishment for not paying attention in 4th grade math I guess...

 

[Spook]

I used to have that converstation with my neighbor, the local IGA has milk @2.99. Aldi's, 6 miles down the road, has it for 1.99. Yeah, it's a buck cheaoer, but if that is all your going to buy, that 12 extra miles cost you something.

 

[Vito]

Won't go out of my way to save a couple dollars but if I know I am going past a cheaper station I will plan accordingly.A lot of people are penny wise and dollar foolish instead of the other way around.

Vito

 

[DanR]

BTW The difference between $3.049 and $3.019 is a whopping 3 cents.

 

[Wheat Farmer]

Things are a little more craze here in CO. Fuel within a mile. G3.48 D4.17 mile away G3.56 D4.25. One Montain town D 4.49. Brand name stations. $100 to fill up pickup.

 

[john in la]

Yes I sould have left the 9/10 off the end. Would have made it eaiser to read.

So who waits in a three car line for 1 to 3 cents a gallon or 20 to 80 cents a tank full.

But like others have said they will pay for a bottle of water or a starbucks coffee but a gallon of milk goes up and it is big news.

 

[MisterT]

There is absolutely no reason other than greed and the EPA that gasoline should be priced at anymore than $1.00 per gallon, and diesel fuel should be priced even lower.

 

[john in la]

The oil they make gasoline and diesel out of cost over $2 a gallon but you think gas and diesel should be less than $1 a gallon.

You must not own a business.

 

[JayinNY]

It's the moral degradation of society! I can't figure people out either.

 

[hd6gtom]

I spent 14.5 years in the oil industry, there is no reason for gasoline to be over 2.00 per gallon today.
The people I hired, who are still in the industry, and I get together every year in July for a barbeque. We talk about old and current times. The oil company"s are laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[mb58]

We complain because they are taking advantage of the American people! It's not free-market pricing. It's a captive audience market. A few years ago the oil companies done a survay and asked the public, "What is a fair price to pay for gasoline?" And the stupid public said,"$3.00 a gallon." So what are we paying now?

 

[Rollie NE PA]

Gas in my area is 3.53 gal.
I heard on the news that some people in congress are looking into whether some refineries were up and running when the oil companies claimed they were shut down for repairs, thus causing the price of gas to rise.

 

[samn40]

£1.83 per litre over here....£1=$1.69...you do the maths!!!!
Sam

 

[gbs]

some one mentioned about oil costing 2 dollars a gallon,can someone explain how many gallons are in a barrel and how much that gallon of oil is worth once it been totally refined,funny thing about fuel prices is any thing can and does drive up the price, they try to make it look as if fuel is refined on a minute to minute use basis if that be the case there would be no need for all the fuel storage facilities and accompanying infrastructure in the country

 

[john in la]

A barrel of oil is 42 gallons. Oil has been selling for $87 to $89 the past few weeks. That is $2.09 a gallon for the raw product. Then you must refine it; store it; and transport it before it ever gets to the pump.
So tell me how could you stay in business and sell it for $1.00

 

[Dalet]

My earlier point about spending 20/weekly on gas referred to the groceries and other things you buy. They are priced higher since diesel is around 4 a gallon.
People think that just because they aren't driving much they don't pay the price. Your groceries are delivered, your Walmart goods are delivered, your clothes are delivered, etc. To a store near you.

 

[MisterT]

(quoted from post at 04:05:55 12/02/12) A barrel of oil is 42 gallons. Oil has been selling for $87 to $89 the past few weeks. That is $2.09 a gallon for the raw product. Then you must refine it; store it; and transport it before it ever gets to the pump.
So tell me how could you stay in business and sell it for $1.00

Why does a gallon of crude cost $2.09?
How many gallons per minute are being pumped out of the ground?


And for what it's worth, yes, I am in business for myself, but if I gouged my customers like the oil companies do, I would NOT be in business for very long. If we could just get the oil companies to actually compete like they did back in the '60s and '70s, We would have $1.00 per gallon gasoline and $0.80 per gallon diesel fuel.

 

[john in la]

I can agree to that Dalet.
Fuel cost is the biggest cost in most every item we buy. If it be fuel to run a tractor on a farm or a factory machine. Then we add trucking cost and it all adds up.

Our next day mentality adds big time to this cost also. Trains can move items for less cost than trucks over great distance but they can not do it next day. Yes you still need trucks for local deliveries but we are more about got to have it next day.

 

[john in la]

I am not trying to say that gasoline is not over priced. But their are many hands in the pot to please.

Crude oil on the other hand is WAY over priced. BP just got the biggest fine in history of over 4 billion dollars. They will make over this in one quarter and have it paid off.
But big liability needs big profits.

So why is crude oil $2.09
Because you will pay it. Might be the simple answer but it is true.
Oil is one of those items we figure we must have at any cost and the big players in the game know it.
You would do the same in your business if put in the same boat.

But my whole point was we will stand in line 4 cars deep; we will kick and scream about the price of gasoline; to save a few cents.
I do not think gasoline could ever be $1.00 again. Production cost are to high. But if gas went to $2.00 instead of $3.00 What would that save you $20.00 a week for a tank of gas. With all the luxury items people have today I do not see this $20.00 making that big a difference.

Then you watch the way people drive. They go from the entrance ramp to the left lane when getting on the interstate because the car in front of them is not speeding up fast enough. This kills over all gas mileage.
And these same people will be in the break room at work complaining about the price of gasoline.

To summarize........
These people were waiting in line to save .01 cent a gallon but when leaving the station they will tear out of it like they were going to the hospital burning up any savings they just got in wasted gasoline.
So tell me; how does that make any sense to any logical person that can see and think past the end of their nose.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

The federal administrators are about to slap another 9 cent federal tax on each gallon of gasoline. In the meantime, they're also straining at the leash to get the last little micro gram of sulphur out of gasoline, the same as they required of diesel several years ago, which will add more $ to the cost of gasoline. They're bound and determined to get the price of fuel up as high as they can to try to cut down on its use and associated pollution. This will continue almost unabated as long as the majority vote the way they do.

 

[cannonball]

They refine the 42 gallons and get 44 gallons of product from it....
Untitled URL Link

 

[john in la]

They refine 42 gallons and get 44 gallons because they add 2 gallons of refining solution in the mix that cost more than the oil did.

 

[cannonball]

true but they do not get 42 gal of gasoline from each barrel...

 

[Flewster]

At wholesale prices that adds up to over $110 per barrel for the oil company for a profit of $20 a barrel.

No wonder their last quarter earnings were 35 billion dollars

 

[Dalet]

Fuel isn't supply and demand. There are only a few suppliers and it is a product that the US cannot live without. If fuel wasn't available, in a very short time the economy and the world as we know it would collapse.
The fat suits in the big offices buy off the politicians to ensure that doesn't happen.

There are many skeletons in our past, most of them involve fuel and politicians. Ultimately, the US Economy is based on transportation, since we decided to quit manufacturing products. We have most of the coal in the world, and have cheap sources of other raw materials but have decided to become dependent on other countries for our greedy selves. We could have cheap diesel if we allowed production of diesel from coal. Everyone wants to be the first person to build the second plant in that industry. There are too many PAC dollars thrown around to ensure that doesn't happen.

Sorry for the long post. It grinds my gears.

:twisted: