Speak Out: Gas Prices: Does the rise and fall impact your driving habits?

Posted by semoangel70 on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 9:14 AM:

With work and a kid that plays traveling softball i am driving more than ever.

If you have to do a lot of driving just keep your car tuned up and keep check on tires to get the best mileage!

Replies (24)

  • Gas prices scheduled to go $5.00 per gallon which will also increase food even higher. The high gas prices could very well place us back on the road to a financial collaspe as people will do less shopping and traveling and the unemployment rate will go up from it's current rate businesses will not hire. This is a very serious issue facing us over the next six months it could make or break us I can tell you right now people will shut it down if these prices reach the $5.00 per gallon many of them are not making it now.

    -- Posted by swampeastmissouri on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 9:14 AM
  • The price of gas along with low interest on investments stopped our Vacation travel. We just stay home and go where we need to. Haven't made a long trip since 2007.

    -- Posted by Retired93 on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 9:24 AM
  • FWIW - gasoline seems to be currently wholesaling for about $3.00 per gallon, a jump from the $2.60-$2.70 range that it had been in for the latter part of last year. Add in about $0.60 for fuel tax, delivery, profit, overhead, etc. - guessing $3.60 fuel is coming soon. http://www.oilnergy.com/

    Looking at one source of futures - http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/refined-products/rbob-gasoline.html, appears ugliest through the spring with $3.60-$4.00 fuel suggested, tapering off a bit going into summer??? This decline might just be the futures effect and not what will really happen as time between the given future and the current present get closer...

    As for me, the have-to miles are just grit-n-bear it, the discretionary miles for shopping and lookin'-n-gawkin' will be compressed as possible.

    Suggest one of the best things a person can do towards immediately improving their fuel economy deals with controlling the excitability of the right foot. :-)~

    -- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 9:47 AM
  • swamp: What schedule was that on for gas to reach $5 per gallon? I would be interested in seeing it so I can plan accordingly.

    -- Posted by howdydoody on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 9:49 AM
  • Thank you, Rick (swamp).

    -- Posted by howdydoody on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 10:03 AM
  • MeL - FWIW - yep, well, that's what I was intending anyways.

    Getting more difficult keeping up with being 'en vogue' and 'all that', however, if it's hip to be square, I figure to be one up on that - a cubic's rube, if you will :-)~

    -- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 11:36 AM
  • Why doesn't the Dept. of Energy demand more stay here to lower prices instead of sending the refined gas World Wide ? How can they blame the cost of crude oil when they have the final step and control the flow ?

    -- Posted by ~~Rick on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 9:33 AM

    The Gulf has the refineries that can do the job and that means jobs. Otherwise it goes across to Mexico. We do not have a lack of gas nor is it causing the price increase. If we cannot send gas overseas it will cause a glut and shut down refineries. Prices would go down for short term but will most likely rise much higher afterwards since we only would produce our own and not have a overflow. Right now we have a way to get rid of the excess and still stay with levels we need.

    We have to use gas as it is being made since refineries cannot be turned on and off. Trying to store it will cause heavy fluctuations in prices.

    -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 12:45 PM
  • Thank you, Rick (swamp).

    -- Posted by howdydoody on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 10:03 AM

    Howdy - still obsessed with posters and their avatars? Is this a hobby?

    This might be the one campaign promise Obama will deliver. His desire for $5/gallon gas.

    High prices don't affect my driving but it does affect spending on other things.

    -- Posted by not_sorry on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 2:07 PM
  • Rick, I think other countries send their crude or oil they have purchased to U.S. refineries. It's not as if we have it. Yes those refineries and U.S. crude producers could deal only in American oil intended only for American markets but that would be like saying all food grown and processed in the U.S. had to stay here. When other countries are willing to pay more than Americans for fuel it will be sold to other countries. That's just the way it works.

    The best thing would be to allow more oil to be produced here with a tax structure that would encourage companies to produce more instead of penalizing them in the name of windfall taxes and excessive drilling/exploration restrictions with inflated costs of compliance. IMO

    -- Posted by Old John on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 6:57 PM
  • Rick

    The problem is the production and use of fuel have to coincide with each other. There is storage up and down the pipelines to take up the slack but when they have to shut down a refinery it takes a long time and money to crank it back up. There is immediate storage available but not as much as expected.

    The unstable fuel availability will look similar to the 70's gas crisis with areas running out of fuel at times.

    -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Sun, Feb 19, 2012, at 7:06 PM
  • Our ineffective government and lack of concern and attention has allowed the oil industries to run wild.

    -- Posted by Dexterite1 on Mon, Feb 20, 2012, at 6:16 AM
  • I'm with Dug on this one. Short of trying to sell my house and move closer, there's nothing I can do about driving costs. I've even worked the numbers on buying a hybrid and in the end, I'm better off keeping my truck because the 4 year cost is about the same (truck paid off) and at the end of that period I have a hybrid that needs a battery or other major work. Other things suffer when fuel prices go up. Been stock piling food just for this problem because you know that those prices necessarily follow the fuel prices and have already gone up a lot. With 9 mouths to feed, it costs a lot.

    -- Posted by Knoblickian on Mon, Feb 20, 2012, at 8:01 AM
  • Yes.

    -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Mon, Feb 20, 2012, at 8:53 AM
  • Noticed the price of hamburger meat per pound is higher than a gallon of gas. I saw it the other day for 4 bucks a pound and thought Holy Cow! Then maybe thats what it was> LOL

    -- Posted by mightymo on Sat, Feb 25, 2012, at 4:47 PM
  • Mo.

    I am pretty far removed from the agricultural scene at this time, but was told last night by someone who is active that just recently he had seen a report where beef was selling for $2 per pound on the hoof. Using a 50% factor of meat to the inedible part of the beef when butchered, that puts the cost of the edible beef at $4 when butchered, before costs and any profits are added in. I think we will see more low income people eating pork if they can even afford that in the future. We raised a little beef when I was growing up and couldn't afford to eat it. We sold it to buy other necessities.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 25, 2012, at 7:31 PM
  • I filled up this evening. Regular unleaded was $3.599 at one station and a mile down the road where I normally fill up it was $3.559. I saw Diesel at $3.999 somewhere here this afternoon.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 25, 2012, at 9:37 PM
  • I don't understand why but it seems our gasoline prices are influenced by Bent crude instead of Texas crude. Some fuels blends required by government are made from imported crudes because it costs less to refine that type oil into gasoline and we are exporting American crude for a lesser price.

    Quantitative easing required congressional approval and QE2 has expired?

    Back to the petro dollar failing as the reason for expected higher prices?

    Wheels, I think a lot more than 50% of todays cattle are edible now. Parts we threw away are now in a lot of processed meats.

    -- Posted by Old John on Sat, Feb 25, 2012, at 11:01 PM
  • BC,

    I think we will see the higher prices. If we are to see $5 per gallon gasoline... I hope it happens the Monday before the November election. It would be worth it in my opinion, because I do not think Obamy could survive it.

    And yes I know, we are not likely to get much better, but I am willing to take the chance it will get a little better.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 12:41 AM
  • Wheels, I think a lot more than 50% of todays cattle are edible now. Parts we threw away are now in a lot of processed meats.

    -- Posted by Old John on Sat, Feb 25, 2012, at 11:01 PM

    That in itself is a bit of a scarey thought. But, I can remember sitting at the little country store snacking on a can of Potted Meat and some crackers when an uncle read the label and told me what I was eating. It was something I didn't really want to know.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 12:45 AM
  • Wheels I have also noticed the price of taters as I call them being so high. Eggs are almost 2 bucks a dozen, taters run almost 4 bucks for 10 pounds sometimes even more. The ones that go on sale dont last long due to most being bad already. Bacon even at Aldis is high. Again it all comes down to the cost of fuel. I say the government should step in and freeze prices on fuel. A lot of cities are hurting due to people spending less therefore less tax revenues. Then you figure how much it costs to run the police cars and fire trucks.

    I know for a fact that a major employer in this area that is a DC ( Distribution Center ) and they have 5 of those nationwide spent at just one of those DC's a MILLION dollars MORE just last year on diesel fuel alone. Their VP of operations told me that face to face. This company has been around for over 160 years and they dont know what to think of this market.

    I hate to see government involvement but something has got to be done. When it cost me almost 20 bucks to fill my tank up on my motorcycle I thought back to when my pickup wouldnt cost that much to fill up.

    The bottom line is big oil can do what they want and we are at their mercy. Their list of reasons the prices are going up is endless.

    -- Posted by mightymo on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 7:48 AM
  • What authority does the US gov't have to freeze the price of OPEC's oil?

    -- Posted by FreedomFadingFast on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 8:20 AM
  • The bottom line is big oil can do what they want and we are at their mercy. Their list of reasons the prices are going up is endless.

    -- Posted by mightymo on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 7:48 AM

    MO,

    Maybe we need to go back and look at what was happening in the 50s where fuel was a lot of times under $0.30 per gallon and the oil companies were giving things away to get you to buy it.

    Yes demand was less but I think there were other things at play that made gasoline more of a commodity in those days. What part was government playing then compared to now?

    Since 'Green Energy' is nowhere near ready to market as an economical way to go, government feels the need to mismanage the market to drive the cost of fossil fuel up and the price of 'Green' down.

    -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 8:37 AM
  • Higher diesel prices will impact the independent truckers first and the long term effect could be favorable to barge and rail transportation. I'm thinking the big boys like Walmart etc can afford to purchase box car, barge, and truck loads, the smaller retailers will pay more for shipping less sizable orders making them even less competitive.

    A friend with work that takes him to rail yards and river ports says business is growing there.

    -- Posted by Old John on Sun, Feb 26, 2012, at 10:41 AM
  • Gas prices do not impact directly. There is an indirect cost.

    I do not drive for fun. I drive for need. I need to go to the grocery store. I need to go to work.

    I am a planner. I budget for everything. Vacation, ball games, etc. I calcuate gas into the cost. So I just ahve to save a bit more, which may cause me to go less frequently.

    -- Posted by lumbrgfktr on Mon, Feb 27, 2012, at 4:39 PM

Respond to this thread