LAist: Gas Prices Drop 20-Cents in a Week

GarySe7en

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:11:57 -0800

I've spent zero dollars on zero tanks of gas in the past month since I decided to get rid of the car entirely. I'm so happy to have no more paying for gas (which had become rare as I biked more), no more parking tickets, no more insurance payments. Need to start figuring out what I will do with all this extra money. Maybe I will start putting some in my mattress in case my bank collapses.

BitterB

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:08:47 -0800

I just paid $2.75 a gallon.... in Tacoma, Washington. That's right- a tank of gas for $42.00. I can't stop smiling.

jrb

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:33:07 -0800

"...where is my extra 20%?" LOL! That's a rhetorical question, right? "This is just the oil companies trying to make a few more billion on our backs." And keep their billions in R&D subsidies too!

BingosDingo

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:52:55 -0800

> why is the price per gallon not dropping further quicker? If prices are driven by the price of a barrel of oil, as demonstrated when barrel prices began to rise last summer, then ven rn is right, they should be much lower. This is just the oil companies trying to make a few more billion on our backs.

Linkracer

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:24:41 -0800

Ven NM - your extra 20% is at Exxon, etc. Consumer prices are much stickier than Input prices. Doesn't matter how "low" oil prices (inputs) get, when gas prices fall, they are stickier because they are localized to local competition - not to the world market, and Exxon will only lower their Gas prices when the BP across the street lowers theirs. In places where there is more competition (in general, cities), prices will lower more quickly than in locations where there is less. Look for corners with 3 gas stations on different corners of the intersection. In short - your 20% is at Exxon, BP, etc.

ven_nm

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:07:01 -0800

why is the price per gallon not dropping further quicker? price per barrel of oil spiked at around $150 last summer - price per gallon spiked at roughly $4.50ish. price per barrel is about $68 - or more than 50% decline. why isn't gas at $2.25 a gallon? at $3.25 we have only a 30% decline - where is my extra 20%?

Linkracer

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:46:20 -0800

Argggg! I refilled last Thursday!