Half Price Gas — What a Concept
It’s no secret money doesn’t buy what it used to, and who doesn’t feel the pinch at the pump? Although astounding, it appears that the pump is feeling it too. You may be surprised to learn that many small town gas stations’ pumps don’t have the ability to charge you the full price for a gallon of gasoline. According to a recent Associated Press story, 8,500 of the nation’s 170,000 gas stations can’t register more than $3.99 on the mechanical-style dials of their pumps. This is causing some station owners to change the pump so it instead displays the price of 1/2–gallon. Then the cashier doubles the price when consumers go in to settle up.
North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Washington are among the states examining what legislative changes will need to be made to legally allow the 1/2–gallon pricing. Some states have already told gas stations to display the 1/2–gallon price and charge double until a solution can be found.
For many small gas station owners, the price to upgrade the mechanical dial pumps to a digital counter version is just too expensive — $10,000 to $15,000 each. It seems that despite record prices for gas, the station’s margin is relatively small. An upgrade for the old-style pumps is available but the computer in the pump was never designed to handle prices this high. This causes the pump to wear out rather quickly with the upgrade.
Is gas the beginning of the “double the sticker price” concept? It seems all those years of arithmetic in school will be needed after all as we calculate exactly what it costs to fill our tanks.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:47 am
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May 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
They can package their gas any way they want. It makes no difference to me at all. I look at the price before I pull into the station and again when the pump shuts off. I’m like every one else - I’d rather pay $60.00 to fill my truck than $100.00 but the “package” size won’t change the bottom line.
The mass media is going to put a negative spin on whichever way the gas sellers go.
OPEC sells barrels of oil by the dollar. If the dollars’ value goes down, OPEC wants more of them for a barrel. Our oil companies make a profit of about 8 cents a gallon. When the dollar becomes worth less, so does their profit. The dollars that you and I earn are worth less so we don’t get the same amount of gas, food, clothes or shelter that we once did. The government takes almost 50 cents tax per gallon. When the dollar goes down, they simply raise the tax. That and greed is what got the tax so high to begin with but you don’t see or hear the liberal press beating up our liberal congress.At least the oil companies DID somthing for their profits.
All of that brings us to the discussion of why is the dollar receeding in value?. I think one of the biggest reasons is that the rest of the world does not believe we have the ability to pay our national debt without printing more and more money. They have no faith in the strength of the dollar. Can’t really put up much of an argument against that.
The standard offering from big oil and OPEC is that emerging nations like China are upping the demand for crude and while that is probably true, I think it stretches the imagination to believe that such a drastic increase in the price per gallon in the last year or so can be laid at the feet of that hypothesis. Demand is increasing but not two-fold in the last two to three years.
The curtailment of exploration,restrictions on drilling known reserves and prohibition on building new refineries has had a drastic effect on our ability to keep pace with the rising demand for petrolium for sure, but it also is hastening the inevitable - the worldwide change from dependence on the non-renewable petrolium to clean limitless hydrogen.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Every other product is going this way- the “1 pound of coffee” is down to 10 ounces- back when gas hit $1/gallon, many stations set their pumps to dispense liters (or litres ;)). Maybe they can come up with a “gas gallon”, that’s 25% smaller than a “water gallon”.
I hate to be contrarian, but I believe that high energy prices are here to stay- we have exported so many of our jobs that we have raised the living standard of much of the rest of the world. Guess what- they want some of the same stuff that we enjoy, and are ready, willing and able to pay for it. We are competing with them for commodities, and the free market is working.
We cannot drill our way out of this- we need to develop new technologies, which we are easily capable of (but there’s going to be some pain before that).
May 21st, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Not to sound like a broken record but to reiterate what Bill Mille says enough people are going to have to get mad and scream at these willy nilly politicians who don’t have to live like the rest of us. The enviromentalist have had their day it’s time to put “people back at the top of the food chain”. We can become energy independent by merely tapping the vast oil reserves all around us while working on nuclear, wind, hydro and solar energy sources. And we can do all this and still be cognizant of our environment. Just not at the expense of people who are starving or homeless because of this $130.00 per barrel oil fiasco.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:08 am
I believe there needs to be something done about the futures markets speculation and greed. The current run-up in prices will probably cripple our economy in many sectors including the leisure industry.
In my opinion, the energy markets (and the politicians) are controlled by the very rich and people of power. The current energy prices have little effect on these folks and actually provide economic gain to many.
The people of money and power have little care for the average working class American as long as they work, spend their money, and keep quiet. What developed as a large middle class sector after WWII will likely drastically shrink in size in the near term.
Of the vast sums being spent on so call “Homeland Security” programs, most is being spent to keep track and control our legal population who, at some point in the future, just might get fed up with the current status and revolt.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
With the price of a barrel of oil hitting $129.00 today, what is it going to take for the people of this country to wise up and quit being afraid of our elected officials. it is time America, to get in touch with our state Reps to see that they force our oil companys into buying oil from our neighboring country (Canada) has hit 2 oil fields (Oil Sand) they are extracting more than 400,000 barrels of oil a day from this sand. they say there is enough oil in 1 of their fields which will last for over 4000 years. they have offered to sell the United States oil companies oil for $50.00 a barrel. and they turned it down. Americas oil industries don’t want to stop a good thing, importing oil from abroad is keeping their profits in the billions every Quarter, at the expense of the American People. I think Congress should step in and break up these oil companies, like they did to the phone companys years ago. This country can put a man on the moon, but they can’t remove the sulphur from the oil coming from the Alaskan pipeline. not one drop of the oil from alaska has hit the United States. it is being sold abroad, again, wise up America, the oil companys are bankrupting this country, and they don’t care.
May 20th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
In 1985, the production of oil from U.S. lands was 9 million barrels per day. At present, it is 5 million barrels per day. The combination of ultra-greenies lawsuits stopping new refineries and the inability to drill or re-open existing capped wells has us “over a barrel”. There is a segment of the population using lawsuits in an attempt to cripple the U.S. We have the means to be more self sufficient, without having everyone drive an econo-box. We can and should use our own oil while pursuing non-petroleum technology. I also favor the use of our food growing capacity and price structures as a direct reflection of foreign oil prices. I don’t believe oil makes a tasty loaf of bread or a descent omelette. I’d like to see the price of wheat (as an example) tied to the price of a barrel of foreign oil.
This country has ways to combat this war….unfortunately
we don’t have leaders with enough backbone, initiative, or fortitude to accomplish the task. As I stop to think about it….it is the apathy among many that allows this to occur. How many take the time to write, call or email their legislators? Take the challenge, America.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Perhaps this could start something else new, volume pricing. The more you buy at a time, the more you save. Same concept as milk, when you buy a gallon it costs less than if you buy two half gallons. It would certianly encourage customers to fill their tanks rather than just put in 10 or 20 dollars at a time.