I am 17 years old and these gas prices are ripping a hole through my wallet. I think it is ridiculous that gas has gone from $1.89 to $2.45 in these past couple of months. The prices are skyrocketing as much as 10 cents every couple days. I believe this problem will only get worse unless the public actually takes some action. I have heard that if no one buys any gas on one day the oil companies could lose a lot of money. So I suggest that we should avoid gas stations on Mondays. This loss of income just might be enough for the convenient stores and oil companies to realize we are not willing to pay this much for gas and maybe they will decide that the loss of income is not worth those tremendous profit margins. If all goes well and everyone works together the gas prices might just drop to something more reasonable. So spread the word and DON'T BUY GAS ON MONDAYS. Let's work together to do something about these gas prices. It's about time!

This is a little old reference, but I think it applies here.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/nogas.asp

Though I certainly agree, Quarp, something needs to be done. Whatever "something" is.

BTW, welcome youngin'. Don't let us old pharts scare ya' off.

Ok I see your point but instead of just saying that won't work, maybe you can help me come up with some idea that will work because I am going to have to start walking everywhere I go soon. And those reports you showed me were nation wide things that were only one day. I am talking about a washington county or maybe even a maryland thing that takes place once a week. I was hoping that if it was more local the boycott would get more support. And also our area needs it with some of the higher gas prices in the nation. I know there is a web site to support this information but I cannot remember the address. I also think it's not just the oil companies that take a hit but the convenient stores that sell the gas. When people come and pump gas they might buy a soda or something else. So if for one day out of every week everyone avoided gas stations completely, wouldn't that make the total loss of profits make one company or the other think? And if convenient stores are hurting then won't they want the gas prices to go down? I just think that the boycott hurts more then just the oil companies and the people selling the fuel have more power then the people buying it. Maybe they will be able to change it.

I'm not exactly sure what will work, Quarp. I really think it has to be attacked at the federal level; or perhaps the international level. I'm not sure where we get our petroleum from; though I've heard a lot comes from Venezuala, more comes from the OPEC arab states. Probably very little comes from domestic sources.

We can blame two things for the rise in oil, I think. The increased demand by the Chinese and the lack of the American people to recognize the warnings as far back as the 1974 oil embargo.

A lot of us are driving around in vehicles that get 12-15 miles per gallon, instead of vehicles that get over 30 miles per gallon. I blame that on selfishness.

The answer? Don't know.

There are all sorts of options, but they all have very significant down sides to them.

It just won't work. You'll still spend the same amount of money on gas, just on a different day.

Oil companies run their inventories on a weekly basis, and since the "gas out" scheme doesn't call on people to buy less gasoline but simply to shift their date of purchase by one day, oil company stockpiles won't be affected at all.

The best thing to do, is to get a lot of people to stop buying gasoline; carpool, use public transportation, walk, ride a bike, etc., for an extended period of time.

I wish that business would allow more telecommuting, so their employee's could save money.

GASP! Oh no! We can't let THAT happen!

Sorry,couldn't let that pass. I DID have to walk everywhere I had to go at age 17! Might do ya some good.

Nothing is going to be done about the gas prices until theres a more efficient fuel put on the market.Right now,gas IS the only product we have.

I was in Bowie today and paid $2.89 per gallon... I love having a car that gets 30-40 mpg and that can go 450 miles on a tank of gas.

I think we're all going to have to accept the high prices unfortunately. European customers have been paying double to triple what we pay for gasoline, so I'm not to the point of complaining yet. If I had a Suburban or Excursion or needed a truck, I would be furious.

Just maybe some of the downsides are worth the prices dropping to a reasonable level. Put some of the ideas out there and we can try and find the best one that might actually work.

To figure out how to lower gas prices, you have to keep in mind how gas pricing works and you have to understand the all-important "last gallon" dynamic.

Gas, when it comes right down to it, is just like any other commodity. Some gas is fairly cheap to supply--light crude pumped from shallow, high-pressure wells and refined under a simple process (e.g., Saudi light crude). Other gas is much more expensive to supply--heavy crude force-pumped from low-pressure, deep wells that then has to be cracked repeatedly under intense refining (e.g., Venezuelan dark crude).

All of that gas--the cheap-to-make stuff and the costly-to-make stuff--is then sold at market price. Gas companies, being smart, will sell the cheap-to-make stuff first (because that's the best profit margin), and only dip into the expensive-to-make stuff when prices are high and they can make a profit off of it.

This creates the "last gallon" dynamic. If the gas companies' accountants are good (and they are), then the companies will produce no gas that costs more to make than the price that they sell it at. In other words, the oil companies make no profit on the last gallon of gas they supply--their profit comes from the fact that all the rest of the gas they supply also sells at the price of that most expensive gallon--even though all of the rest of the gas was cheaper to supply. That's why gas company profits are so enormous when there is a price spike--there's a huge price discrepancy between the cheapest-to-make gallon and the more-expensive "last gallon" that is supplied.

By definition, this isn't price gouging (price gouging would be selling the "last gallon" at a huge mark-up) but instead is simply the product of a market that has scarcity. Because of that, government policies implemented to combat price gounging usually result in huge problems, because it's not price gouging that's causing the problem--it's scarcity.

The classic example of this error is 1974. Yoss commits a common error in attributing the 1974 gas lines to the Arab oil embargo. But it's long been recognized by both economists and OPEC itself that the embargo was a failure; what created the gas lines was government response to the embargo. The Nixon administration set a price cap on gas, which froze the price of the most expensive gallon. The result: oil companies didn't supply any gas that cost more to supply than the government-mandated price. Viola--a supply shortage and gas lines.

The only real way to lower the price of gas is to reduce the supply cost of that "last gallon" of gas by either bringing less-costly production on the market (e.g., expand drilling) or by reducing market demand (e.g., more fuel efficient cars, people shifting their travel habits away from gas-powered vehicles). Gimmicks like boycotts have absolutely no effect on the "last gallon" dynamic and thus won't do squat to change price.

If you have intense demand for a scarce resource, you're going to have high prices--regardless of whether it's gold or gas or guacamole.

Maybe so, but they're all a matter of pretty strong opinion. Nobody knows for sure wehat will work best, or it would have been done already.

I don't have time to rehash all of the possibilities here. Many others have suggested them and they've all been considered and reconsidered many times over. I don't know of anything that has changed that would open up any new possbilities or argue for any of the options persuasively.

For the moment, I really think there's nothing to do but bend over and take it...

$2.59 this morning at AC&T

CNN radio news said this morning that the average national price for regular unleaded is $2.50, and it's expected to level out here and perhaps start going down.

I think I saw reports from California where it's already at $3.25 in some places.

And Hawaii? Ferget about it.....

We'll see....

Gas was $2.39 at the Shell station at the Mart. Mall yesterday MORNING.I have no idea what it is now.
Needless to say that at 10 am it was a steady flow.And there seemed to be a number of Md. plates there for some reason.
We went all the way up to the Ren Faire and back with ac on and it only took 1/2 a tank.I think thats pretty good.We also stayed in the speed limit.I don't know how folks can speed like they do.*head shaking smilie here*
It seems that people want to @itch about the prices but they don't want to actually do anything to help themselves. Keep the tires inflated right,tune up the car,slow down(unless someone's dying).It all adds up people. Buy a more fuel efficient car.Come on! Think.

Ah, WVD the voice of reason.

I wish many would read your statements and TRY to comply.


I think I'll go out and hope in my 8 cylinder gas guzzler and drive 100mph down 81 to the station you reference.

You wouldn't be alone hun!Believe me.

no doubt

If y'all haven't discovered it yet: www.marylandgasprices.com

nice site, Tom. I hadn't heard about that one.
Thanks for posting it!

When pricing gas remember that all gas is not equal. I'd imagine some of the cheapy places use minimal amounts of detergents in their gas and this can result in dirty fuel systems, which can cost you mileage and performance. So, all else being equal, steer toward brand name gas.

Interesting point Snoopy.

go to ask Jeeves, www.ask.com and type in the search field "is all gasoline the same".

here's one site that pops up:

http://www.jsonline.com/wheels/peak/feb03/119491.asp

Though a careful personal study I did some time ago between Exxon and Shell, where I used Shell for a month and then Exxon for a month, just out of curiosity. Not scientific by any means and I did it in the middle of a season. I found a 3-4 mpg difference between the two brands. Shell gave me the better milage figures.

I've never seen a big MPG difference between brands. However, my gut and engineering sense tells me that the brand-names' additives, which everyone admits costs more, must do a better job than the minimum. To each his/her own, but most gas I purchase is brand-name for that reason. I've run a couple trucks to over 100K miles with never a need for injector or intake cleaning etc. and consistent gas mileage. Maybe other folks have the same luck with cheapo gas and I've been suckered by the marketing pictures of dirty intake valves. But until I see someone run an independent test of fuel sysyem/combustion chamber cleanliness vs. gas I'll stick with the brand-name stuff. JMO.

I agree with ya' Snoop. I run Shell exclusively in my vehicles. I'm even afraid to use AC&T or Liberty or Sheetz. Not that there's anything wrong with their formulations, I guess I'm just a "brand loyalist".