OT: Gas prices in your area?

[sadie65]

$3.79 here in Southern Illinois. And climbing I'm sure.

Try living up here in Cook (Crook) County where it was $3.99 this morning and they tax you up the wazoo (and i'm not even IN Chicago)

Robin

Yeah I know. In that regard...I am not looking forward to driving up there this weekend.

[tj]

A 150% increase on the biggest staple in America is too much of a shock for an economy that isn't healthy already.

I agree. The issue to me is not the profit of the oil companies. It is how quickly gas prices (and therefore food, etc.) have risen in the past 3 - 4 years.

If gas prices had risen steadily with inflation over the past 30 years, we would be paying about what we are now. We wouldn't be complaining too much, though, because we would have gradually adjusted to it over the years.

Same thing has happened with health care and college tuition. The increases from year over year, then compounded for several years, really hits hard.

I drive a van that gets 15mpg. Gas prices are killing me.[/quote]

[Rick]

A 150% increase on the biggest staple in America is too much of a shock for an economy that isn't healthy already.

I agree. The issue to me is not the profit of the oil companies. It is how quickly gas prices (and therefore food, etc.) have risen in the past 3 - 4 years.

If gas prices had risen steadily with inflation over the past 30 years, we would be paying about what we are now. We wouldn't be complaining too much, though, because we would have gradually adjusted to it over the years.

Same thing has happened with health care and college tuition. The increases from year over year, then compounded for several years, really hits hard.

I drive a van that gets 15mpg. Gas prices are killing me.

Ouch!

[4ever4Steve]

..here on Long Island, it is up to $4.04 today!
This is not just a case of someone charging $100. for a candle in a blackout, because this oil nonsense has affected every aspect of our lives. Food prices have gone through the roof, because of the cost of transporting it to the markets..along with every other consumer commodity. Our electric bills have doubled due to the "fuel adjustment" charge added to the actual electric used.
I am lucky, I am retired...a tank of gas lasts me a month in my little 4cyl. Saturn. But my heart goes out to all you folks who must drive to get to work. It makes me so angry...we must demand that the 'oil reserves' are tapped into and every available oilfield in these United States be utilized. I don't care if it bothers the "ring tailed piper sparrows", or whateve hell they are..people are more important...this is going to be the "death" of this country unless SOMEONE wakes
up and smells the disaster looming before us!

Peace out.
Anne

[lights1961]

psid 3.77 tonight for 87 grade half a tank and it was 26.00...

china and india have as much to do with this as anything...they are eating into supplies like we are.

[Triple S]

128.9/litre, which I believe is 4.87/US gallon

Good thing I only have a 5 minute drive to work and a great liitle car - I'd walk or bike but it's downhill all the way there and (a very steep) uphill all the way back. It'd take me about 10 minutes to get there in the morning but about an hour to get home at night

[LazzMan]

You're totally missing my point or I'm just not making it clear enough. What I'm TRYING to say is that the oil companies do not deserve as much blame as they get. Could they be colluding to drive prices up? Yeah, possibly but I don't think it plays as big a part as other factors. Everyone just always gets up in arms about BIG OIL...OOOOOH....AAAAAHHHHH. There are many other factors, some of which you mentioned that play a role.

While I see your point, I don't think they are as blameless as you may think. They most definitely strategize....do they collude? no...but they dont have to. They've benefited from external factors that have dropped right into their lap.....and some of those external factors happen to be caused by highly placed people sympathetic to their goals. They can drive prices up by limiting production, shifting schedules, delaying deliveries....then you add on the hedging, the foreign policy and the various other 'blunders' from Bush....and you get a perfect picture of massive profits...

Didn't the CEO of Exxon Mobile get a $400M stock option bonus last year. $400M does seem a bit steep, even for a CEO.

[stevew2]

They almost make as much $$ as Journey, Aint that right SJ???

[MarcelJordan]

US$6+ here in Oz.

[MarcelJordan]

[strangegrey]

Not trying to be a pain in the whatever, but help me understand then. If retail gas prices drop, yet the cost of goods sold stays the same, doesn't that mean that the profit margin decreases? If so, then to Dave's point, oil companies would not be earning as much as other industries. Their boards would be negligent in not seeking the maximum return for their shareholders.

I don't like high gas prices, diesel is over $4 per gallon here. That said, my divorced mother in law, whose retirement has been significantly invested in oil stocks for decades, is doing well at the moment. When anyone's 401K, mutual fund, stock,or whatever goes up in price, it is because someone else is paying that higher price. The raises you get in your job, the increase in your retirement account, all come from someone paying more than what was being paid when you started them.

The cost of goods is not staying the same. Thats part of the problem. It's rising in tandem with increased revenues. That's how you can get a 9% profit margin and an some constant cost margin....Which is why I admit this problem is not entirely the oil company's fault.

However, like I've already said, they're not making this money with an increased profit margin. Some people refuse to accept the possibility that there's other ways to increase the bottom line. It's not just increasing profit margins or reducing cost margins.

You can do it by driving up revenue.

If you make $9 dollars profit for selling a $100 item (meaning cost of goods sold is $91), how do you double your profits?

You can do 3 things:
1) raise the price of your product to $109
2) cut corners in production so that it costs of goods is $82, not $91.
3) sell 2 items

The problem here is that most short sighted people can't see beyond 1 or 2. They assume big oil has either raised prices to gouge the public or cut corners and raised their profit margin. Not so in either case.

What they've done, is increase revenues to create a larger base to draw their 9% of margin from.

Now keep in mind, the trick is being able to sell 2 items. There's the problem. The oil companys have most definitely colluded to raise *demand*....which has a directly positive effect on revenue. This is without question. Bush is a guilty participant as well...in several ways.

Are some demand drivers normal and beyond their control? Sure....absolutely. China and India are buying more oil....but this was not only foreseeable, but manageable, given oil reserves.



Then.....lets not forget about what Lazzman said. The corporate bonus's of big oil execs is downright disgraceful, given the fact that we are literally getting murdered at the pumps to the tune of $4 a gallon.

[Pelata]

This morning, low-test gas was $3.71 at the station by my house...

[strangegrey]

Man, I'd kill for gas like that. The station I go to raised prices to $4.09 for low test last night.

[NealIsGod]

Man, I'd kill for gas like that. The station I go to raised prices to $4.09 for low test last night.

$3.69 is the best price near my house.

[X factor]

$3.85 as of yesterday afternoon....BASTARDS!!!

[bluejeangirl76]

$3.57 in the Atlantic City area, but that probably changed in the time I typed this.

That avatar is hilarious.

I had to go back to look, didn't notice the 1st time. Well done Moose.

We're hovering well over 4.00

Usually whenever gas prices would jump in Chicago, folks would flock to the 'burbs to fill up.
That no longer works. Everyone is now screwed equally.

[conversationpc]

The price dropped a whole 2 cents since yesterday...$3.93.

WOOHOO!!!!!

[The Sushi Hunter]

They are well over $4.00 a gallon where I am. It depends on the grade and place you go though. AM/PM is about the cheapest and they're prices per gallon are $3.98 for 87, $4.12 for 89, and $4.21 for 91. Now places like Shell, Cheveron, and 76 charge about 25 cents per gallon more for everything across the entire board.

My solution is walking to work, I live only a mile and a half from there. Before I worked there I took the train for 9 years at my last job. I would ride my skateboard to and from the train station on both ends, roughly 3.5 miles daily.

[conversationpc]

Then.....lets not forget about what Lazzman said. The corporate bonus's of big oil execs is downright disgraceful, given the fact that we are literally getting murdered at the pumps to the tune of $4 a gallon.

That brings up another issue...I am all for people being able to get whatever salary and/or bonuses they can. That's part of the free market. However, it just burns me up that they do so and, at the same time, lay off employees and/or lower benefits.

[epresley]

$3.65 when I got gas yesterday. I'm sure it went up a dime over night.

[conversationpc]

$3.65 when I got gas yesterday. I'm sure it went up a dime over night.

That's nothing...Twice in the last month here, it's gone up 30 cents overnight.

[epresley]

$3.65 when I got gas yesterday. I'm sure it went up a dime over night.

That's nothing...Twice in the last month here, it's gone up 30 cents overnight.

You know what, that's crap. There nothing in the market that could happen short of a world war to drive up prices that much overnight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rhiannon]

$4.11

Just in time to move farther away from work.

[conversationpc]

$3.65 when I got gas yesterday. I'm sure it went up a dime over night.

That's nothing...Twice in the last month here, it's gone up 30 cents overnight.

You know what, that's crap. There nothing in the market that could happen short of a world war to drive up prices that much overnight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then they always lower by about 5 cents the next morning. Wow, big savings there, huh?

[NealIsGod]

Now when I see a Hummer go by, I figure the drive must be wealthy. What a waste.

[Rhiannon]

Now when I see a Hummer go by, I figure the drive must be wealthy. What a waste.

When I see a Hummer go by I figure the driver must be a dumbass with a less than adequate genetalia complex that overrides common sensibility.

[MartyMoffatt]

According to official stats the average price per gallon of unleaded in the UK in April was £4.24 which equates to $8.25. The price for diesel was nearer $9.

Over 80% of that is tax.

We feel your pain in the US and the rate of increase you've had in the past few months is ridiculous, but we've been there already. It seems that once the price goes up it rarely comes back down again, so you're gonna have to start getting used to it.

Marty

[NealIsGod]

Now when I see a Hummer go by, I figure the drive must be wealthy. What a waste.

When I see a Hummer go by I figure the driver must be a dumbass with a less than adequate genetalia complex that overrides common sensibility.

Yeah, that, too.

[strangegrey]

That brings up another issue...I am all for people being able to get whatever salary and/or bonuses they can. That's part of the free market. However, it just burns me up that they do so and, at the same time, lay off employees and/or lower benefits.

I used to be a huge proponent of free market/capitalism, etc. and 99% of the time, i still am.

However, I don't feel that way about oil. I feel that oil needs to be extremely closely regulated...becuase the fact of the matter is that it is the single most significant driver of our economy. I can't think of a single other thing that could affect our cost of living more. If food prices go up, the only thing that gets affected is how we eat (restaurants, supermarkets, etc). If the price of communications go up, it may affect some of our luxury items, like tv, internet, etc.

However, gas/oil prices literally drive/affect *everything*...transportation, shipping, cummuting costs, food/sundry costs, product costs, energy costs, service costs.....etc...you name it.

There isn't a bloody thing that you spend your money on legally, that isn't directl affected by the cost of gas. I defy anyone to say the otherwise.


Which makes it even more offensive that the cost of fuel is not included in the CPI, because it is such a direct driver of prices that it's assinine to not include it. But, again....Bush wanted to keep the public perception/realization of inflation off our radar.


The fact that corporate mgrs are making massive bonuses in the oil industry simply adds insult to injury. The fact that an industry has been given free reign to run rampant, amidst a desperate need for some control/regulation and corporate governance is simply disgraceful. Add on the fact that these guys take home massive bonuses every year...and it's hard to see which end is up.

[jrnychick]

I paid $3.89 on Tuesday. I haven't been out yet today to know what it has changed to. I'm in the northwest burbs of Chicago in Lake County. It used to be that Lake County would be a bit cheaper than Cook County, but that doesn't seem to be the case any longer. It makes me really glad that I work from home now! My husband drives a pickup truck (has to for work), and he normally drives up to Milwaukee 3-4 times a week. It's a 60-mile drive each way. He is filling up at least twice a week at $85 a pop.