How are Gas Prices affecting you?

[Lee Schierer]

My foot has gotten lighter.

My son was just relating on his blog, that he has discovered that he can get 15% better mileage by driving the speed limit, limiting acceleration to nominal increases and anticipating stops by letting his foot off the gas a couple of seconds sooner and not speeding up to the stop light or sign. He also noted that he generally has a string of cars behind him waiting to pass at every opportunity. I've been doing the same and have also noted increased mileage between fillups. Still it is shocking to put over $40 into my '95 Miata when I used to fill it for under $20.

For some reason several stations in our area have elected not to cross the $4 per gallon mark and have stayed just below that for two weeks now! The stations that advertise their gas is all American is higher priced.

[Joe Pelonio]

I'm happy to report that our gas has actually dropped some, was up to $4.46 and yesterday was $4.39. I'm so glad I moved the shop to the house, the commute was 25 minutes in the morning, over an hour coming home (11 miles) sitting in stop-go traffic wasting gas. I do still make deliveries and pick up materials but combine trips and rarely go more than 1-2 times a week,
avoiding commute times, which is saving me a lot of gas. Normally we drive down to Portland 3-4 times a year, this year we have yet to go and may not.

[Lee DeRaud]

Latest stats is that by the end of July 2008, Texas will have over 60,000 new motorcycle/scooter owners/riders. Here in Conway, the trooper stated that they are licensing 10-15 motorcyclists per day of class. For a town of around 50,000 people, that's a lot of new bikers/scooter riders on the road each week.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

(Yeah, I know: everybody was a newbie once. But I remember the same thing happened around here in '79, and it wasn't pretty.)

[Butch Edwards]

It is indeed interesting times we live in. I'm not sure when or where the breaking point may be, but I've got to think that we are closer to it than ever before.

Some of the effects of these prices will take awhile to show up in tangible ways that all of us will notice. I think most people are still trying to make what they hope to be temporary adjustments.

It is relatively painless to curtail discretionary spending for a while. Hard to say what the general mood becomes if we end up with gas prices permanently pinned above $4/gallon.

Heating oil and diesel fuel have even less wiggle room. At least with gas, people usually have options (walk, bike, mass transit, car pool, maximize trips). People need oil for heat and farmers, truckers and railroads need diesel in order to put food on our tables.

I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. And I fear my over active imagination can not fully appreciate just how interesting the times could get.

I agree with this post... times WILL be getting tougher...WAAAAAY tougher. and no candidate can stop the snowball effect...like my GrandDaddy used to say" if ya wanna dance, ya gotta pay the fiddler"....and the fiddler has his hand out.

[Rob Russell]

I get pretty good gas mileage on this, especially if the baked beans for last night's supper had chili. My commute is 8-9 miles (different routes in vs. going home). I can't ride every day, but it does make a difference in how often I have to fill up.

[Tim Thomas]

I was spending the equivalent of a new car payment every month to keep gas in my 1984 Dodge Ram pickup, so about a month ago I bought a Honda Civic. Now my pickup sits in the driveway and only gets driven for woodworking/home improvement related shopping trips. (Thankfully that is not often, nor very far to go when I do.) Of course, my wife is driving the new Civic and I'm in the Mitsubishi Endeavor, but overall we are still saving enough on gas that it is basically paying for the Civic. Fortunately the pickup is owned outright and the insurance and taxes on it are very low, so it isn't costing me much to have 3 cars when I really only need 2. I feel bad for anybody that is stuck with a big new truck or SUV and either can't get out of it or needs it for work. I just don't see anything on the horizon that would help gas prices to trend back downward in a significant way.

[Michael Schumacher]

We've changed things. I drive a 2002 Dodge Diesel truck - so the price is worse, but comparable to some of those on either coast. Anyway, I'm 4.2 miles from work, so I ride my bicycle as much as possible, but the last 3 weeks, I've been fighting a bad cough, so driving to work I had to do. Going home to my in-laws or my folks, we've dropped 10mpg below the speed limit on the interstate (60 and 65) and get passed quite often, but I think many have quit speeding. My wife and I try to get things all done in a trip and combine things together - we still need to work on that, but we are getting better. In my truck, I've developed a VERY light foot. Another thing I've done is coasting down hills, I pop it out of gear and just coast as much as possible. By doing this, I've added 1.6mpg to the current tank I've got - which is a significant increase if you figure I normally get 16-18mpg around town. I'm not really looking forward to winter - I think things are going to get really hard this winter. All prices are going up - the water/gas bill came and it's double of what I thought it would be...winter is going to be TOUGH...unless we can burn wood in the fireplace this year.

Michael

[Tyler Howell]

There are so many changes in my life style lately it is hard to determin impact.
The biggest would be the automatic pucker that takes places when the meter hits $80.00

[Rich Konopka]

There are so many changes in my life style lately it is hard to determin impact.
The biggest would be the automatic pucker that takes places when the meter hits $80.00

Tyler,

The consensus from the poll is that it is hitting everyone. The "Lucky" few who have not felt it with the gas fillups are feeling it other areas. For those of us who heat our homes with heating oil are going to feel the double whammy this winter. We checked with our oil company and we used 820 gallons of heating oil in the past year and it went from 2.69 gallon to 4.89 gallon. That is going cost us an additional $2000 this year and not to mention that our property taxes went up another $800 bucks. Ok I am done ranting.

[Greg Peterson]

Riddle me this: Why is heating oil and diesel fuel are more expensive than the refinery intensive process of producing gasoline?

I'm staying tuned to this same Bat Channel, awaiting an official Bat answer!

I feel sorry for the folks that are going to have to make some very hard choices this fall and winter.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Riddle me this: Why is heating oil and diesel fuel are more expensive than the refinery intensive process of producing gasoline?

I'm staying tuned to this same Bat Channel, awaiting an official Bat answer!

I feel sorry for the folks that are going to have to make some very hard choices this fall and winter.

Diesel, road use taxes. #2 oil, 'cause they can.

[John Schreiber]

It is indeed interesting times we live in. I'm not sure when or where the breaking point may be, but I've got to think that we are closer to it than ever before.
. . .
I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. And I fear my over active imagination can not fully appreciate just how interesting the times could get.

Very well put.

I think those of us alive now have lived in a unique period of human history. It has never been and probably never will be so easy to travel.

It makes me sad. We will spend more time in our couches and less in the big busy world and we will be different because of it.

[Tom Godley]

Europe has moved away from gasoline in favor of diesel (#2) as a road fuel - they actually have an excess supply of gasoline from the refineries. All last year much of this was being shipped to the USA.

The reverse is now the case with #2. With the USA now producing low sulfur #2 it has opened up opportunities to ship this product to Europe. Germany is a huge market for #2 for heating. This product, prior to the new refining process had a limited marked - so it stayed in the USA.

supply/ demand mixed with fear will drive this market -- until it doesn't

[Rod Sheridan]

Fuel prices have also risen in Canada, in Toronto I'm paying aproximately $1.39/litre.

I reduce consumption through better planning, and avoiding unnecessary trips.

I also ride my motorcycle March through October so that reduces consumption also.

I know many people are hurting due to high fuel prices, however in North America, we're basically energy pigs.

If we are to reduce consumption and clean up the environment, we have to get used to further increases in prices, as well as fuel costs that actually include the cost of environmental damages.

Fuel costs that are twice their current level, are probably realistic.

regards, Rod.

[John Sanford]

The increase in gasoline prices have had only a modest impact on me thus far, okay, that's not exactly true. Still, the heat (oh no, global warming , that or it could just be summertime in the Mojave desert ) has had far more impact on my willingness to go tooling about than gas prices.

I'm sick and tired of all the doom and gloom and whining about gas prices in the media. That's been the impact. I'm getting 35-45 mpg, run premium. I've been looking to get a new motorcycle for my daughter to use and also as a backup for my current ride. Unfortunately, "entry-level" motorcycles are very popular right now, so the bike I want can't even be found within 500 miles of me. Now, there's likely a downstream upside to this, but it'll be a year or more before many of the folks who are jumping onto motorcycles right now discover that they are not riders at heart, and the market becomes flooded with late model used motorcycles.

For those of you who are saddled with long solo commutes and large vehicles, you have my sympathy. Enjoy your A/C and tunes, and take heart in the fact that gasoline is still less expensive than Evian, Perrier, Deft, Minwax, and Budweiser and Jack!