$10 a gallon gas is here.

[y_p_w]

There was this one independent gas station where the owner was just raising prices to troll everyone. It went over $8/gallon at a time when typical prices were half that. Even the Shell station a half mile away was cheaper.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/sausalito-gas-station-charging-nearly-8-a-gallon-for-gas.amp

 

[Patman]

They don't have many other vehicles to sell. Self inflicted pain.

Car makers are probably wishing they didn’t stop making small lightweight hatchbacks right about now

 

[4wd]

That’s where they are likely making most of their profit. Not that they aren’t making money on fuel, but the profit margins on the convenience items inside the store are huge, and they know that truck drivers will still buy them even if they are marked up.

I was an OTR truck driver, and when you are living out of a truck for weeks at a time, it’s not like you can just pull into a grocery store or a Target or Walmart and go buy what you need. For one, there’s usually nowhere to park, oftentimes the roads leading in and out aren’t truck friendly and when you are in an unfamiliar area, you don’t want to chance it and risk getting yourself stuck somewhere, and more than that, you just don’t have the time to go out of your way for a supplies stop. So you overpay because you know you can get in and out of the place easily, have a place to park, top off your fuel and check your tires while you are there, and it’s right along the highway. If you’re smart and plan and pack well, you can avoid spending half of your paycheck at the Flying J, but inevitably you’re gonna need it at some point.

There’s lots of reasons to dislike truck stops besides the prices, but most of them have to do with other truck drivers.

Anyways, just my .02.

And the best place to get heavy duty and long charger cords !

 

[4wd]

Car makers are probably wishing they didn’t stop making small lightweight hatchbacks right about now

Once the Korean cars were given the red carpet - was not worth it …

 

[gfh77665]

Commodity prices rise everywhere. Not sure chest thumping about >$3 gas is prudent.

He’s in relatively remote desert where prices are always high, beyond the ca markups.

If on extreme is presented, then for the sake of balance other data points should be welcomed too. Its not "chest thumping", its "comparing". Seems to me the commodity pricing to final pricing is handled much differently geographically. Sorry if you were bothered by the factual data.

I think many would celebrate to readily buy gas at $3.29.

 

[Number_35]

In California they are most likely going to start charging by the quart (or liter) so that they don't have to add a digit on the sign.

That brings back an ancient memory.

I worked part-time for a newspaper while in college c. 1976-77. This was in a town in the interior of British Columbia.

Gasoline was still sold in Imperial gallons, and was running around C$0.75 - $0.85/gallon.

One of the reporters came back from a trip north to cover a story, and told us, incredulously, that up in (Williams Lake? Quesnel? Prince George?), gas was so expensive they were selling it by the half gallon because the pumps only went up to 99.9¢.

53¢ for half a gallon? Over a buck a gallon??? NOOOO! Shock and awe ...

 

[JHZR2]

Virtually all commercial vehicles that fuel with diesel have discount cards. Some discount the fuel up to $1/gallon depending on wholesale prices vs. local markup. I think the truck stops figure they will make better margin on the fuel they sell in the retail pumps to make up for the lower margins in the commercial lanes.

Yeah but what diesel buyer in their right mind would pay that when a million other stations have diesel for $1+/gal less?

Especially in the day and age of apps that tell prices.

If the premise is easy in and out for heavy trucks, that’s a convenience the retail buyer doesn’t need. Maybe the occasional person hauling a trailer or RV, but that’s not big volume anyplace around here.

This was the location that I saw the obnoxiously priced truckstop:

But they all tend to be.

The $5.95 is a Pilot or Flying J. So that alone is a big premium over the other stations like the Wawa which is $5.79, and tends to be 20-60¢/gal higher than regular stations.

 

[JHZR2]

Once again, the established and familiar business model may have been changed without consulting you (us).

Truck stops can be "serious" but gas stations must be "pretty" and sell a variety of unhealthy food and stuffed toys.

What does that have to do with anything being discussed?

If the answer is that the truck stop is giving away a free shower and meal with their up-priced fuel, ok. I’ve seen no such comment.

If anything, the stations that have stores have a far bigger profit center. It’s why around in most any area Wawa, Royal Farms, Sheetz, QuickCheck, QT, etc are all buying up properties and only opening store formats that have gas and food. And, after they wipe out most small stations, the pricing on fuel isn’t particularly competitive either!

But none of that explains the premium on truckstop diesel. Just completely unrelated.

 

[JHZR2]

If on extreme is presented, then for the sake of balance other data points should be welcomed too. Its not "chest thumping", its "comparing". Seems to me the commodity pricing to final pricing is handled much differently geographically. Sorry if you were bothered by the factual data.

I think many would celebrate to readily buy gas at $3.29.

Again, OP was interesting because he lives in an extreme area of the country where politics asides fuel is expensive. Always was.

$3.29 is still pretty high compared to where things were a few weeks ago. And the folks who get hurt by $5 or $10 fuel also get hurt by $3.29 fuel.

To the person in TX barely getting by when fuel was $2.xy, do you really think it’s a consolation that they’re “only” paying $3.29 now?!?

 

[doitmyself]

I can't see what is in California worth living there???

Come on man. It's those girls........................

 

[JHZR2]

That’s where they are likely making most of their profit. Not that they aren’t making money on fuel, but the profit margins on the convenience items inside the store are huge, and they know that truck drivers will still buy them even if they are marked up.

I was an OTR truck driver, and when you are living out of a truck for weeks at a time, it’s not like you can just pull into a grocery store or a Target or Walmart and go buy what you need. For one, there’s usually nowhere to park, oftentimes the roads leading in and out aren’t truck friendly and when you are in an unfamiliar area, you don’t want to chance it and risk getting yourself stuck somewhere, and more than that, you just don’t have the time to go out of your way for a supplies stop. So you overpay because you know you can get in and out of the place easily, have a place to park, top off your fuel and check your tires while you are there, and it’s right along the highway. If you’re smart and plan and pack well, you can avoid spending half of your paycheck at the Flying J, but inevitably you’re gonna need it at some point.

There’s lots of reasons to dislike truck stops besides the prices, but most of them have to do with other truck drivers.

Anyways, just my .02.

But you’re making my point.

Used to be that truckstops had the best prices. High volume, less profit per gallon, good prices. Convenience for the driver or families traveling, and they tended to sell junk in the stores that wasn’t priced great, so they made $$ on that convenience.

Fuel was the loss leader.

Now fuel is excessively priced compared to the other options.

Similar to when Wawa started changing format to gas plus store from store only. Originally they sold lower price fuel, undercutting local competition. They actually ran their pumps slower with folks at the stations explaining it was to entice folks to go in and buy coffee and food as the major profit centers.

Now that they run the smaller stations independently competing out, they control pricing monolithically (not many options to shop around), and their prices have gotten worse.

Not competition to benefit the consumer.

OP is in a remote area where there is no competition. Not many options. If you need it, you need it, at your own peril. So they too can charge what they want.

 

[wwillson]

Yeah but what diesel buyer in their right mind would pay that when a million other stations have diesel for $1+/gal less?

It doesn't make sense to me, but when a truck stop like Loves is at the interstate exit and there is diesel for $0.50/gallon less 1/2 mile away from the interstate, many people will pay the premium prices at Loves as a convenience.

 

[4wd]

It doesn't make sense to me, but when a truck stop like Loves is at the interstate exit and there is diesel for $0.50/gallon less 1/2 mile away from the interstate, many people will pay the premium prices at Loves as a convenience.

Or Buc-ee’s - with so many pumps - those towing can do a pass through away from the main building - and has DEF …

 

[whizbyu]

Goffs was a water stop for the steam trains. Those trains had to stop about every 10 miles for water.

Goffs is on I-40 about 80 miles east of barstow,ca. It's almost always higher priced than any other place in Ca. Occasionally the station in Death Valley out prices Goffs.

The trains had sidings they would stop for water and those were in alphabetical order.

I don't know all the names but a west bound train would stop @ Goffs,Fenner,essex, danby,cadiz,Bristol then Amboy.

Then the A,B,C names would start over again .

Then route66 came through and roughly followed the train tracks. When diesel trains came about many of these small sidings died off as the diesels did not have to stop.

Today just a few small " Towns" exist. Goffs and Amboy being the 2 largest in this area.

Amboy is slowly being restored and gas is available there today.

The town of Ludlow on I-40 is about 50 miles east of Barstow. It's also got very high prices but their price was not posted on gas buddy as of last night. There is a DQ there and a pretty decent restaurant in Ludlow today.

View attachment 330544

That picture looks like the gas station in the movie where the question was asked, "What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?"

 

[Snagglefoot]

The last day of the first quarter earnings is here. Mods, I took a screen shot of the oil price graph from Oilprice.com and added two arrows to show the average price across the months. The average price for WTI for January and February is just above $60 per bbl. The average price for March is just below $90 per bbl.

The amount of earnings any oil company makes will be highly dependant on their hedging situation. Very few oil companies take the spot price for 100 % of their production so most will be unable to take full advantage of the $90 per bbl price. I would expect the first quarter earnings to look mediocre at best. I’ll be watching Exxon Mobil when their results come out.

 

[gfh77665]

Again, OP was interesting because he lives in an extreme area of the country where politics asides fuel is expensive. Always was.

$3.29 is still pretty high compared to where things were a few weeks ago. And the folks who get hurt by $5 or $10 fuel also get hurt by $3.29 fuel.

To the person in TX barely getting by when fuel was $2.xy, do you really think it’s a consolation that they’re “only” paying $3.29 now?!?

Yes. 100%. They see the prices in places like CA on TV all the time. Most every Texan thanks God we don't ever have to pay CA prices.

 

[Ronsant]

$3.89 today for E10 87 octane.
Could be worse I guess……

 

[Lubener]

Weather, high paying jobs and cheap avocado

The higher paying jobs are offset by the extremely high cost of living. It's all relative. Nice weather? Unless you are talking San Diego .

 

[ProbeGT]

Let's put things in perspective. Between January 2011 and July 2014 (3.5 years, under Obama), oil prices averaged between $90-$110, right about where they are now. Prices of houses, cars, food, and just about everything else are now double/triple/quadruple of where they were 15-13 years ago. So relatively speaking, oil is cheap. It doesn't bother me at all. I wish everything else was that cheap.

What does bother me is gas prices relative to oil prices. Back in 2011-2014, with oil price where it is today, gas prices were significantly lower than today. Now, on average, taxes on gas have not increased. For example, in Texas, taxes have been unchanged since 1991. So who is pocketing the difference? Producers or distributors? Someone is lining their pockets. Cartel agreements in play?

 

[SC Maintenance]

The last day of the first quarter earnings is here. Mods, I took a screen shot of the oil price graph from Oilprice.com and added two arrows to show the average price across the months. The average price for WTI for January and February is just above $60 per bbl. The average price for March is just below $90 per bbl.

The amount of earnings any oil company makes will be highly dependant on their hedging situation. Very few oil companies take the spot price for 100 % of their production so most will be unable to take full advantage of the $90 per bbl price. I would expect the first quarter earnings to look mediocre at best. I’ll be watching Exxon Mobil when their results come out.

View attachment 330719

Still below 2022 nominally and way below in real terms.

Not saying I like it but all geopolitical things considered it’s really not gone up that much.