Just wondering.....

Interesting! One thing I read a while ago was that the gas stations priced gas based not on what the gas in the ground cost, but at what they expected to have to pay to replace it when the tanks emptied. So, if a tank cost $2.75 a gallon and the outlook said prices were going up, they charged $2.80. Using the same model, last week they paid $2.75 a gallon for what's in the ground and they are selling it for less than $2.50.
Serves them right! (whoever them may be).

Don't get me wrong, I am overjoyed at the latest prices. Even after I filled up (40 gal tank) the tow vehicle (Mr. Gas Sucker) that gets 10 MPG when prices dropped to $2.75 (how could it ever get lower than that!!!!).

In the immortal words of Pogo "We have met the enemy, and he is us!!!!" I just like to use that quote every once in a while!
 
When I worked at a gas station (full serve, remember that?) the manager based his price on the price of the competition.
 
Tom: Full Service!!!!!! Don't get me started! When I was in the Army, I took a 3 week course in auto mechanics that was taught at a local service station in Pemberton, NJ (as I remember). The service station owner there taught his employees to RUN ( not walk) out to the pump to greet the customer, and how to wipe off the blade of the squeege with a clean rag after each stroke when cleaning the windows!

:cavallo:
 
You want full serve? Stop in Jersey where it's the law. I treat all full serve stations like plague harboring disease centers....

Best way to ding my car I know.
 
I know I'm showing my age, but what the heck. I can remember when the stations in my home town used to have gas wars. The price would go down to 25-28 cents per gallon. When I was in college, a fraternity brother of mine told me that if gas got up to 44 cents, he was going to sell his car and buy a motor cycle.

If a local station dropped the price to $2.39 down here, they would be closed in an hour due to the traffic rush!

It's good that I still have my memory, because that's as close as I'm ever going to see gas at those prices again.
 
I was in NJ about this time last year. When I got out of my car to fill up a guy came up to me asking for my credit card. I told him no way and he better back off. Then he asked me if I was from out of state and explained the NJ law. I felt like a dumb ass.

There have not been any full service stations around here for decades. What did you mean about dinging your car?
 
Seems like every other time I get the car filled by a "pro"...(and I actually managed a station for $ in college, so I can say this, LOL) I have a new scuff or nick or mark near the fill from the nozzle...

(I can damage my own car quite nicely thanks, I really don't need help in THAT department! ;) )
 
Went to $2.32 today in the Northern 'burbs of Cincinnati. On the news this evening, they were saying that we should expect it to be $1.99 by Thanksgiving, just in time for me to gas up the 8 mpg guzzler and make my annual 1250 mile hiatus. I wish me a merry Christmas.........
 
What?!?!?! :119:

Is this a union thing or what?
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I highly doubt it as it's also the law in Oregon too. I think it's to protect a very vulnerable entry level job base. I also doubt that gas will ever be much below $3.00/ out here. There used to be a 10-20 cent difference between the Eastern Serria and the San Jauqine valley, now it pretty much $3.20/ everywhere. Except on our last trip North we did notice lower prices around Sacramento and the Bay Area, which used to be higher than down here. It's like the high gas prices are following me or something :wacko:
 
What?!?!?! :119:

Is this a union thing or what?
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Nope. New Jersey banned self-service way back in 1949. At the time, legislators felt it was "too dangerous to have untrained people dispensing such a flammable liquid"...

There have been recent efforts to dispense (har-de-har) with the ban, claiming it would reduce retail fuel prices, but the idea has opposition. Some say self-service gasoline would inconvenience the elderly and ill and force people into inclement weather; gasoline retailers like the ban on self-service because their costs of insurance are significantly lower. The latter is a very good point, as these reduced insurance costs are reflected in the retail prices: despite the fact that retailers have to pay people (young adults, mostly) to pump the gasoline, New Jersey continues to offer the lowest retail fuel prices in the region. Anyone that lives near Jersey will typically wait until they're in the state to buy gasoline (I certainly do).

I'm perfectly content letting them pump the gas, just as long as the prices stay lower then everywhere nearby... - GA
 
There have been recent efforts to dispense (har-de-har) with the ban, claiming it would reduce retail fuel prices, but the idea has opposition. Some say self-service gasoline would inconvenience the elderly and ill and force people into inclement weather;


I can't remember when I last saw a full serve station up here in NH, but my Mom, when she was alive and still driving, used to drive up to the pumps at a self serve and honk the horn like crazy til someone came out to help her. God rest her soul, she actually got known at one station and I was with her one day when she did this and went to jump out when pump the gas when someone came out and said, "Hello Dolores, what'll it be?" I was both shocked and embarrased at first. But it worked! :happy204
 
I know I'm showing my age, but what the heck. I can remember when the stations in my home town used to have gas wars. The price would go down to 25-28 cents per gallon[/b]

Growing up I spent part of my teen years in the New Orleans area. At the time there were no taxes on gasoline in Louisiana and the going rate at the local station (where the owner drove a 59 vette which was not yet 10 yrs old) was 13 cents per gallon for regular.

In Phoenix this week, regular varies between $2.63 and $2.75 per gallon.
 
Nope. New Jersey banned self-service way back in 1949. At the time, legislators felt it was "too dangerous to have untrained people dispensing such a flammable liquid"...

There have been recent efforts to dispense (har-de-har) with the ban, claiming it would reduce retail fuel prices, but the idea has opposition. Some say self-service gasoline would inconvenience the elderly and ill and force people into inclement weather; gasoline retailers like the ban on self-service because their costs of insurance are significantly lower. The latter is a very good point, as these reduced insurance costs are reflected in the retail prices: despite the fact that retailers have to pay people (young adults, mostly) to pump the gasoline, New Jersey continues to offer the lowest retail fuel prices in the region. Anyone that lives near Jersey will typically wait until they're in the state to buy gasoline (I certainly do).

I'm perfectly content letting them pump the gas, just as long as the prices stay lower then everywhere nearby... - GA
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It's pretty amazing how many things stay status quo, even when there is more than substantial evidence that the reasoning behind such a law is completely false. What's next.....you must pay to have your lawn mowed so we don't have people operating dangerous lawnmowers.....or you must pay to have your oil changed because we don't trust you to do it/dispose of it properly.....you must pay to have your face shaved because we can't trust you to use a dangerous razor so close to your face?

From a purely capitalistic standpoint, this is a farce. Why don't all the other states in the Northeast have similar laws, and since they don't, why are they not having the same problems mentioned (i.e. inconvenience the elderly, force people into inclement weather)? And why isn't the rest of the country experiencing frequent catastrophic gas station fires if it is such a danger to allow self-service? This is purely a government sticking its nose somewhere it absolutely doesn't belong. Too much government just gets in the way, it doesn't necessarily make it better. Stations could still offer full serve if they wanted the insurance break and wanted to serve that segment of the market. Meanwhile stations that wanted to could forego the cheap labor and put that savings toward any increase in insurance rates if they so desired. The point is to let the businesses, and more broadly the market place, decide what is best. As is so often the case, government rarely knows best.

Sidebar: Having spent the first half of my life growing up in the Northeast and the second half in the South, it is a study in contrasts as to how much the government injects itself into people's everyday lives. My family still lives in New York so I hear all the time how much more they pay in income taxes (we have no state tax in FL), annual vehicle inspections (none in FL), state sales taxes are higher (by more than 2% in most cases), and yet New York is going broke slowly while Florida has a $1.7B budget surplus and another $1.5B forcasted for 2006-07.

As far as gas goes, we are not yet reaping the benefits of a light hurricane season this year. The lowest I have seen in the last week is $2.76 which is only $.06 better than I paid 2 weeks ago. I'm sure it's coming though.

(Afterthought I: I wonder if the lower prices in NJ are a reflection of slighly lower state gas taxes, since most retailers would pay just about the same wholesale price for their gasoline. I also wonder if NJ is keeping the gas tax slightly low on purpose since they have a guaranteed workforce in gas attendants that will then contribute back to the state via their state income tax to make up the shortfall. Any thoughts?)

(Afterthougt II: NJ could be playing a scam here since by keeping its prices artificially, and slightly, lower than surrounding states, they are pulling that extra revenue into NJ that might otherwise be spent outside the state. This, coupled with Afterthought I, could very well be a boon in tax revenue for the state. Again, thoughts?)
 
I follow stuff like this very carefullly....NOT! LOL...but I DID hear a recent bit on NJ on NPR, and it had to do with many people and businesses leaving the state (at a higher rate than nearly any other state) recently due to what was stated as "Nearly the highest taxes (sales/property and income, I guess) in the nation"...yet the government is broke.

I at first figured it was because it was an industrial wasteland, but hey, it's been like that for years, so maybe they're onto something...;)
 
The point is to let the businesses, and more broadly the market place, decide what is best. As is so often the case, government rarely knows best.

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And special interest groups use the government to give themselves an advantage. In Massachusetts a bout 15 years ago they tried to put a 5-cent deposit on a quart of motor oil. It was to be like a bottle bill. You would pay the deposit and the only way to get the money back was to return the drain oil I the original bottle. The only way to avoid the deposit was to add the oil on site. This was supposed to prevent illegal dumping of waste oil. I was selling oil at the time and got involved in fighting this and it turned out the environmental group proposing this was funded by Jiffy Lube. They knew it would help their business if it cost more to change your own oil. I felt betrayed by another capitalist.
 
LOL, I bet it wasn't the first, or the last time you've had that happen, Dick! I remeber 3 or so years ago reading about the money poured into new speed radar gun research, and the hundreds of guns given to Police units across the country, by a little company called Geico.

The oil deposit thing...what a joke!! For 5 cents I can't be bothered schlepping those stupid soada, etc cans back as it is! I can tell you with 100% certainty that I would NOT be sitting there with a freakin funnel pouring the old skanky oil back in the tiny original jar for a nickle! har har har!

What a farce!!!!!!!!!!
 
But the GOOD thing about such dealings is that - especially with the Interweb - these latent agenda are typically uncovered. Once revealed, it allows "the masses" to make an informed decision.

As an example, Geico has never lived down those back-door dealings in regards to buying RADAR guns; to this day they continue to deny it, despite the evidence to the contrary. Those informed such as myself will usually refuse to pay them for insurance (and my accident/ticket records is virtually spotless -- on the street anyway...) Every time I get a call from someone trying to sell me GEICO insurance they get an earfull about those prior tactics, up to the point they choose to hang up on me. GEICO will never get a dime from me, ever, no matter how cheap their insurance may be.

By the same token, I'm wagering our buddy Dickita Banana won't ever spend a dime at Jiffy Lube, even with someone else's money... - GA
 
You always here the arguement in NJ that self-serve will lower the gas prices. I just made a trip to Westchester, Pa the other day, and didn't find one station that wasn't at least $0.15/gallon more than the local station I buy at here in NJ. The other thing I noticed was that diesel was ~$0.10 more per gallon than premium. Here in NJ, it is running between regular and mid-grade, in terms of pricing.
 
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