GASOLINE PRICES DIP BELOW DOLLAR IN CAPE

Gasoline is selling below a dollar in Cape Girardeau for the first time in at least five years, and some drivers find it hard to believe.

When the price for regular gasoline was lowered to 99.9 cents at a cash-only station at 2012 William St., one man asked the manager to pinch him.

"Then he wanted the cashier to pinch him, too," said Cassandra Mills, manager of the former Coastal station that was reopened by Pajco Inc. in May.

Jim Maurer, general manager of Rhodes 101 Stops, finds the switch in price trends hard to believe himself.

"Two months ago, trade magazines and the media were saying there were no inventories," Maurer said. "Now we hear inventories are higher than they've ever been."

High crude oil prices last spring had led to predictions of lower inventories and correspondingly higher summer gasoline costs, Maurer said.

"I don't know if they're bringing refined product over from the Far East or what, but I know wholesale prices are cheaper," he said.

All that gasoline station owners can do is watch the changing sale prices at petroleum terminals and adjust their retail sales accordingly, he said.

Adjusting prices isn't easy. Mills said she had some difficulty figuring out how to set the gas pumps below a dollar.

When Isaac Johnson of Cape Girardeau saw the low price Thursday, he told his wife they were going to the station in separate vehicles. She drove the 1994 Ford Taurus, while he took his new motorcycle. He said he was able to fill up both vehicles for $15.50.

"I bought this because I thought gas prices were going higher," he said.

If low prices hold steady in Cape Girardeau, Johnson said he won't need to continue his habit of trips to Jackson, Mo., for cheap gas.