Just bought gas for under $3

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hepcat
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by hepcat »

Isgrimnur wrote:
Jeff V wrote:It dropped to $2.12 yesterday moments after I refilled my wife's car at $2.16 :grund:
So you're out fewer than 80 cents. How ever will you cope?
i'm just surprised he's paying under 30 dollars a gallon. He uses special gas, you know. :P
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Smoove_B »

I think I have it figured out. He's actually paying $1.75 a gallon, but he reports that it's $2.10+ every time. In this way he's able to take those quarters and dimes and squirrel them away for 18% ABV beer -- and no one is the wiser.

I saw a local station selling gas at $1.71 a gallon last Friday and did a double take. 2+ years after putting in my wood-burning stove to help offset the cost of home heating oil and prices are still at a record low. You're all welcome.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

Smoove_B wrote:I think I have it figured out. He's actually paying $1.75 a gallon, but he reports that it's $2.10+ every time. In this way he's able to take those quarters and dimes and squirrel them away for 18% ABV beer -- and no one is the wiser.

I saw a local station selling gas at $1.71 a gallon last Friday and did a double take. 2+ years after putting in my wood-burning stove to help offset the cost of home heating oil and prices are still at a record low. You're all welcome.
If the gas itself were free here, it would still be more than $1.75 per gallon after tax.

Usually I get gas in the afternoon after it has increased since morning. Seldom do things ever work out in my favor -- either prices drop after I pay more, or they increase just as I need to buy. I figure it's associated with the same mechanism that causes traffic lights to change red as I approach (once, I kept track and was stopped by 43 of 46 traffic lights on my way to work).
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

Happened again yesterday. On the way to work - $2.07. After work: $2.40. Guess when I needed to buy gas?
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Moliere »

$1.87 at the local QT. :dance:
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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$1.76 at a local Wawa and $1.77 at a local QuickCheck.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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$1.88 at the local store. 10 cents cheaper in Springdale (20 miles north).
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by rshetts2 »

Jeff V wrote:Happened again yesterday. On the way to work - $2.07. After work: $2.40. Guess when I needed to buy gas?
If you needed to buy gas after work, you could have bought it before.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Isgrimnur »

rshetts2 wrote:
Jeff V wrote:Happened again yesterday. On the way to work - $2.07. After work: $2.40. Guess when I needed to buy gas?
If you needed to buy gas after work, you could have bought it before.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

rshetts2 wrote:
Jeff V wrote:Happened again yesterday. On the way to work - $2.07. After work: $2.40. Guess when I needed to buy gas?
If you needed to buy gas after work, you could have bought it before.
I would have, if they told me it was going up almost 14%. Two days earlier, I did just that, and it was the wrong move, gas went down that afternoon.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by disarm »

We've been vacationing in Myrtle Beach for the past week and prices have held steady at $1.77

I don't know if I've ever paid less than $2 during the ten years that I've lived in Connecticut thanks to some of the highest gas taxes in the country...lowest I've seen recently was around $2.10
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Kraken »

Even though I only buy 10 gallons every 4-6 weeks, I'm a cheap SOB, so I go to the Shell station where I can redeem my grocery store rewards. After the discount it's a dime or so cheaper than the discount stations. I think I paid about $2.10 last time for the 89 octane stuff.

The last tank I bought from them not only intermittently set off my Check Engine light, but my ABS light, too. How bad gas can upset my brake system computer eludes me, but as soon as I burned off that tank and refilled at the cheapo station, the idiot lights behaved themselves again.

That's the second time I've gotten bad gas at that Shell. As much as it pains me to forfeit those grocery rewards, I won't be going back. Saving a buck every 4-6 weeks isn't worth it.

The cheapo station currently has 87 octane for $2.10 or $2 if you use their store-brand credit card. I imagine 89 must be around $2.50.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by TheMix »

I found out that my Miata Check Engine light will come on if the gas cap isn't firmly tightened. I used to just turn it for one or two clicks. Now I crank that sucker around.

No idea on the ABS light, though.

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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Kraken »

TheMix wrote:I found out that my Miata Check Engine light will come on if the gas cap isn't firmly tightened. I used to just turn it for one or two clicks. Now I crank that sucker around.

No idea on the ABS light, though.
Both of my Check Engine incidents (a cylinder cough) happened after I filled up at the same station, and when my mechanic checked out the first one he declared bad gas. So that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

The ABS light was just plain freaky. Freaky things are usually electrical. I don't understand how bad gas makes an electrical gremlin but I'm glad it went away.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

So, last week, gas prices jacked up to $2.50 per gallon for the cheap stuff. Fortunately, I didn't need gas for once. The prices started coming down a little bit, then last weekend I noticed the Shell near my house was selling for $2.00! This was about .35 cheaper than anyone else in the 'hood. I thought maybe some sort of promotion was going on, but if there was, I didn't see anything.

I drove past a Shell out of my 'hood yesterday (a few miles away in Naperville) and gas was $2.45. But when I drove past the Shell by my house, it was down to $1.97. I had topped it off on Sunday though when I was able to squeeze in to a pump without waiting...there were lines elsewhere in the station and another Shell off the expressway had a line about a block long (so you waste whatever you save standing in line). Still not sure what's up with them.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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Do you have a blog where I can follow your adventures in greater detail?
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Isgrimnur »

If you're going to be sitting more than ~10 seconds, you turn the engine off.
At first, the Lantern figured the 10-second rule couldn't possibly be legit—surely it's an invention of auto-parts companies for whom worn engines are a boon. But he's slowly come around to buying it, in large part because of this field experiment by the Florida section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The researchers concluded that restarting a six-cylinder engine—with the air conditioner switched on—uses as much gas as idling the same car for just six seconds.

Idling is similarly wasteful in frigid temperatures. Contrary to popular belief, cold-weather drivers needn't warm up their cars for longer than 30 seconds. The best way to raise an engine's temperature to optimal levels is to drive it almost immediately after startup; according to a study by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, a car driven for 12 minutes in 14-degree-Fahrenheit weather will achieve the same temperature as one that idles for 30 minutes. (However, it's best to avoid rapid acceleration during that 12-minute warm-up drive.)
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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Starters and batteries and solenoids would have to be a whole lot better today then they were when I worked on my old beat up cars to keep them working.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Isgrimnur »

Frequent restarting does create some extra stress on your battery and ignition mechanisms, though probably not as much as you'd think. According to a study by Natural Resources Canada, obeying the 10-second rule will add roughly $10 to a driver's annual maintenance bill. How does that tab stack up against your fuel savings? Well, let's go with the conservative estimate of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, which states that the average idling car consumes about 0.156 gallons of gas per hour. (The Lantern has seen other much higher estimates but can't vouch for their veracity.) If you're able to cut out 10 minutes' worth of idling per day, and you need to restart your car an additional four times per day as a result, then you should save around 8.9 gallons of gas a year. At today's gas prices, that amounts to $33.74 annually, leaving you with well in excess of a double sawbuck.
Gas price at writing would have been $3.79
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

That's an awful lot of diligence for an awfully small return.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Isgrimnur »

Jeff V wrote:That's an awful lot of diligence for an awfully small return.
I would figure that you would know more than a few engineers.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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I was referring to the burden of constantly turning the car off and on every time idle is anticipated to be less than 10 seconds. For a net gain of $20 per year, no thank you. I'll gladly squander that half tank of gas.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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So not really a gas thing but I had to replace the battery in my daughters Hyundai last Saturday. I got it out, only snapped off two of the three bolt holding it down, and bought a new one for $140. It only came with a 2 year warranty. A 2 year battery, WTF?
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by LordMortis »

Scuzz wrote:So not really a gas thing but I had to replace the battery in my daughters Hyundai last Saturday. I got it out, only snapped off two of the three bolt holding it down, and bought a new one for $140. It only came with a 2 year warranty. A 2 year battery, WTF?
Mine was $150 earlier this year, and I was $150 battery, WTF? The last battery I bought was $30, maybe 10 or slightly more years ago.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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Well this should be fun.
A leak has caused the closure of a crucial pipeline that carries gasoline to the eastern United States, a disruption that threatens to drive up prices and leave service stations without fuel to sell.

A section of the Colonial Pipeline, which runs from Houston to New York, has been closed since Sept. 9 after a spill of roughly 6,000 barrels of gasoline was discovered in rural Shelby County, Ala.

The major pipeline, one pipe of which has been severed, provides gasoline for an estimated 50 million people on the East Coast each day, according to company estimates.

The pipeline's operator has said full service will not be restored until at least next week. The closure has set off an industry-wide scramble as suppliers seek alternative ways to transport gasoline to the East Coast.
...
The pipeline operator said that based on its current projections, parts of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina will be the first markets to suffer potential disruptions in supply.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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The nice part is that prices will go up on the West Coast in sympathy because reasons.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by LordMortis »

Biyobi wrote:The nice part is that prices will go up on the West Coast in sympathy because reasons.
And in the Great Lakes region. Our prices go up anytime something happens anywhere in the US that affects the petrol supply chain. And they shoot up but only trickle down. That said, I get 35+ MPG and don't drive much more than to work and home again, so paying $3 or even $4 a gallon doesn't hurt me so much.

I feel worse for the inhabitants of river area than I do for my pocket book and am surprised this isn't giving more press to the Dakota pipeline protests.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

LordMortis wrote:
And in the Great Lakes region. Our prices go up anytime something happens anywhere in the US world that affects the petrol supply chain.
Fixed.

Even before this happened, prices have been bouncing wildly here. Last weekend, I paid $1.89. The next day it was $2.49. Today, $2.09. Methinks the gas pricing people are on a coke binge.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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Some places around here have jacked their prices up 20 cents a gallon tonight.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Daehawk »

Got gas at Walmart today for $1.99 gal. All they had was some unleaded left....mid and super were empty. Its sorta like the 70s again. I felt smug seeing SUVs pull in to fill up.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Smoove_B »

So, how are we all doing now?
Crude prices have jumped thanks to continuing production cuts by major exporters. As a result, gasoline is also becoming more expensive. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, average regular retail gas prices reached $2.70 a gallon last week—the highest level since 2015.
I've noticed the price hikes around here. Not amused, particularly if this is headed to $3+ a gallon again.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Kraken »

I paid $2.98 for 93 octane today. But I only needed 9 gallons and it was my first fill-up since February. I'll cope.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by storz »

Smoove_B wrote: Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:17 pm So, how are we all doing

I've noticed the price hikes around here. Not amused, particularly if this is headed to $3+ a gallon again.
Here in the sunny Southern California, it is approaching $4 (last week I paid @ $3.75/gal). Definitely not amused. :grund:
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

Kraken wrote: Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:35 pm I paid $2.98 for 93 octane today. But I only needed 9 gallons and it was my first fill-up since February. I'll cope.
Why do you even have a car? Methinks you can get by on Uber alone.

Both of my cars have to be filled at least weekly. Filled the Rogue before going out Friday and right now it's less than half full.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Zenn7 »

We were up to like $2.83 last weekend I think, but now we're down to $2.53 at the Kroger I go to usually (that's before their store loyalty discount).

Personally, I'm beyond ready for transporter beam technology. "Beam me to work Scotty!" And let's face it, if you're going to get mucked up in some freak transporter accident (every notice how they are all freak, none of them are standard transporter accidents), you'll have a good excuse for being late/never showing up again to work!
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Kraken »

Jeff V wrote: Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:10 pm
Kraken wrote: Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:35 pm I paid $2.98 for 93 octane today. But I only needed 9 gallons and it was my first fill-up since February. I'll cope.
Why do you even have a car? Methinks you can get by on Uber alone.
It's a luxury, not a necessity. Wife and I can't share a car because we have opposite philosophies -- I keep mine as immaculate as I can; hers is a scratch-and-dent pigsty. Between us we have a nice fun car and a boring workhorse...and since she started commuting by T, hers doesn't get much use, either.

I've had mine since last August, and it just rolled 1800 miles. My body will give out before this car does.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

Zenn7 wrote: Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:52 pm Personally, I'm beyond ready for transporter beam technology. "Beam me to work Scotty!" And let's face it, if you're going to get mucked up in some freak transporter accident (every notice how they are all freak, none of them are standard transporter accidents), you'll have a good excuse for being late/never showing up again to work!
Of course, like self-driving cars, transporter technology is perfectly safe. It takes something freaky to create an accident.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

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Paid $2.33/gallon filling up this morning. It had been hovering between $2.05-2.15 before the recent increase.
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by LordMortis »

stessier wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:57 pm Paid $2.33/gallon filling up this morning. It had been hovering between $2.05-2.15 before the recent increase.
Paid 2.41 on on Saturday and that was cheaper than usual. I guess I should be thankful?
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Re: Just bought gas for under $3

Post by Jeff V »

$2.85 on Friday.
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