Originally Posted by
Kent A Bathurst
However, off Peachtree, 4 - 5 miles away, are 3 stations staring at each other across an intersection. Their prices are a penny or so different, and all are 25 cents less - maybe more - than the 2 on Peachtree Street.
Rent on Peachtree is probably staggering. There are no other stations nearby. Gonna run 5 miles for 10 - 15 gallons cheaper? Many of us would. Many people are in a rush and don't.
Wow! We often see the price difference between places in high-rent areas, or busy or convenient places on main thoroughfares or interstate exits and places a bit further out, but around here, I don't remember ever seeing it 25 cents cheaper!
If I'm buying 10 gallons of gas, 25 cents cheaper saves me two and a half bucks. 5 miles probably costs me 70 or 75 cents depending on how much the fuel in my tank cost me, but I get about 26 MPG. Depending on other factors then, that extra time might be worth it. Certainly for 25 cents cheaper, it could be, especially if I was driving that way anyway, but the savings goes down if I'm not buying a full tank. If I was getting considerably less MPG, it might be less appealing - if I was running a less fuel-efficient car that got, say, 14 MPG, and that 5 miles costs me $1.30, it changes the price saved, but of course, it depends on how much fuel I'm buying.
I get a feeling, though, that I'm probably an out-lier here, as I have a relatively small tank. If you're putting 25 gallons in a big truck tank, the math changes.
I used to have a coworker that would drive way out of her way to save 2 cents on gas - that I always found ridiculous, especially since she was only putting 7 or 8 gallons in at a time.
It made me think of this comic:
http://xkcd.com/951/
The roll-over text on that alludes to it - on a lot of cars and situations, you can actually spend more getting to the cheaper gas than you save on it. But man, 25 cents throws that out the window.
I just find this silly math stuff fun - there's actually a website here:
http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/...alculator.aspx
That helps you calculate the actual savings (or cost penalty) of hunting for cheaper gas. It assumes that you're putting in a full tank (or whatever amount you're punching into the "capacity of your cars gas tank" field.) Playing around with it is neat, to see how different things change the savings.
" Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice