Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

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wabbott
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by wabbott »

Patrick De Haan

@GasBuddyGuy

Market explainer- we're all watching oil plummet today, but only once the market closes do we see the first step of trickle down. Later today, racks, where stations buy fuel, will adjust their prices down based on what happened on markets today.


10:16 AM · Jun 17, 2022·Twitter Web App
criticalmass
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Re: GasBuddy App Location Privacy Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by criticalmass »

Church Lady wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:17 am
criticalmass wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 9:25 am If you use the Gasbuddy app, consider that they track your location and movements very closely and sell your location data to an aggregator (recently changed to Foursquare) who sells it to whoever is interested upon matching it to other facts about you. You don’t to sign up for an account with Gasbuddy or give them your name to track you closely, as the data matches with other information from your device.

You can (supposedly) turn off this practice in the Settings (Privacy). Apple also allows you to turn off precise location permissions, so the App only knows your approximate location, which is good enough to find gas stations nearby.

Lots of apps do this, but Gasbuddy is one of the most consistent about selling your location history to many others.
I use www.gasbuddy.com from my laptop, through a VPN. Does this outwit the tracking algorithm? Certainly they know a VPN user is investigating gas along a certain road or in a certain zip code.
Not really because the app has the device ID, possibly your phone number (if your device has a phone number), and your location. VPN might obscure your ISP, but I doubt they care about who your ISP is or where your IP address is domiciled----they have your active location data straight from your phone.
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wabbott
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by wabbott »

Reckon maybe this had something to do with tight supplies of refined gasoline?

Laura Sanicola
@LauraSanicola
FACTS: Which U.S. refineries have shut since the global pandemic, and why?

Since the onset of the global pandemic, the US has lost nearly 1 million barrels per day of oil refining capacity, with more set to be shuttered in the next few years.
These are the plants:
3:04 PM · Jun 17, 2022·Twitter Web App
Valuethinker
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

toddthebod wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:59 am
wabbott wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:04 pm This is off topic, but related. For the past two months, I've been very carefully watching my driving habits. No jackrabbit starts, trying to time red lights, watching the vehicles tachometer more than the speedometer (try to stay under 1800 rpm or so). It appears to make a big difference.
I used to drive 75+ on the freeway everywhere. Now I set my cruise control to 65. My gas mileage improved 15-20%.

I also only go to Costco (~10% cheaper than everyone else) and use the Costco Visa card (4% back), so my $6/gallon fill-up feels more like $4.50/gallon.
I think the majority of drivers are unaware of just how dramatic the mileage improvements can be.

Cars are optimized in terms of air resistance (and other factors) for driving around 60-65 mph. Above that speed gets expensive.

Unfortunately besides having big engines and being heavy, large vehicles also probably have higher air resistance.

I remember reading the average car has a drag coefficient of something like 0.32? And Toyota carefully engineered the Prius down to about 0.28.

People complain about our prices of gas (getting on for c USD 8.40/gallon according to Google & I think that is a US Gallon not an Imperial one). But I still see lots of people sitting in their cars, engines idling. (With diesel engined vehicles, that's not a high fuel cost activity).
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Re: GasBuddy App Location Privacy Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Church Lady »

criticalmass wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:16 am
Church Lady wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:17 am
criticalmass wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 9:25 am If you use the Gasbuddy app, consider that they track your location and movements very closely and sell your location data to an aggregator (recently changed to Foursquare) who sells it to whoever is interested upon matching it to other facts about you. You don’t to sign up for an account with Gasbuddy or give them your name to track you closely, as the data matches with other information from your device.

You can (supposedly) turn off this practice in the Settings (Privacy). Apple also allows you to turn off precise location permissions, so the App only knows your approximate location, which is good enough to find gas stations nearby.

Lots of apps do this, but Gasbuddy is one of the most consistent about selling your location history to many others.
I use www.gasbuddy.com from my laptop, through a VPN. Does this outwit the tracking algorithm? Certainly they know a VPN user is investigating gas along a certain road or in a certain zip code.
Not really because the app has the device ID, possibly your phone number (if your device has a phone number), and your location. VPN might obscure your ISP, but I doubt they care about who your ISP is or where your IP address is domiciled----they have your active location data straight from your phone.
But I use it from my laptop, not my phone.

As for phones, theoretically you can turn the location service off.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by JackoC »

toddthebod wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:59 am
wabbott wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:04 pm This is off topic, but related. For the past two months, I've been very carefully watching my driving habits. No jackrabbit starts, trying to time red lights, watching the vehicles tachometer more than the speedometer (try to stay under 1800 rpm or so). It appears to make a big difference.
I used to drive 75+ on the freeway everywhere. Now I set my cruise control to 65. My gas mileage improved 15-20%.
75+ gives significantly less mpg in most cars than say 55-70. In the lower range it depends on car and/or source of info. You can find loads of mpg vs speed graphs on this thread:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread. ... 15182.html
but a lot of them seem to be homemade and I'm not sure trustworthy.

I also saw this article (though had to go to wayback machine to actually see it)
https://blog.automatic.com/the-cost-of- ... 8129899fec
The reason it was interesting is one car on the graph, BMW 328i is one where I also found, like that graph says, mpg was not appreciably different between around 45 and 70. Best mpg tanks I got with it (~40mpg, v EPA rating 33 highway) were always 70mph-ish on Eastern/Midwestern Interstates, in warm weather (that helps) with speed limits 65-70. Roads where'd I do 55-60 mpg would be lower, though all else is never equal, not the exact same roads (I have the patience to go 70 on a 65/70 mph limit road with most people passing me but I admit I do not have the patience to go 55 or 60 on a such a road for hours, and going too much slower than the flow of traffic becomes unsafe also). The article gives possible explanations for some of the odd humps in the various graphs. Again many of the ones in first source are very steep drops from mpg at say 55 to even 70, but that's not my experience with some recent cars. Going 80 (the speed limit on many Interstates segments in the Mountain West) yeah you're going to get noticeably less mpg in just about any car. I recall reading the Bugatti Veyron gets around 3 mpg at 250mph. :happy Eventually air resistance, proportional to speed^2, is going to dominate.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

JackoC wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 5:15 pm I recall reading the Bugatti Veyron gets around 3 mpg at 250mph. :happy Eventually air resistance, proportional to speed^2, is going to dominate.
Thank you for those references. Not surprised (given the autobahn) that a BMW is efficient at high speeds.

Wonderful documentary about the women who flew as auxiliary flyers for the Royal Air Force in WW2 - delivering planes. All "head girls or debutantes".

One of the women died quite recently. See below re Ettore Bugatti. She was clearly one of the debutantes ;-).

There were also questions raised in Parliament when her new husband and she flew, almost wingtip to wingtip, in Spitfires from Britain to newly liberated Brussels for their honeymoon. The newspapers got hold of the story.

She had 2 husbands. RAF Spitfire pilots. None survived the war. She never again married.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/may ... ary.gender.
There was one more treat before she signed up as an "Atagirl", an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot. For her 21st birthday, her father and his mistress swept her off for dinner at the Ritz in Paris. The next morning her father opened the curtains of her windows to reveal a brand new Talbot-Darracq on the street below. "Happy birthday, darling," he said. Father and daughter went for a spin, but Barnato Walker, unfamiliar with the car's pre-selector gearbox, burned out the clutch climbing Montmartre.

"Father wasn't at all upset," she said. "He simply telephoned his friend, Ettore, who had the car returned to the Ritz as good as new in the evening. That was Ettore Bugatti, a charming man. I think I was rather spoiled
." The Talbot-Darracq, however, was quickly replaced by a dove grey 4.25-litre Bentley.

When war broke out, Barnato Walker hoped to be a fighter pilot. However, women were barred from taking to the air in anger. "I think we would have been perfectly decent fighter pilots," she said. "But it was assumed that war was men's business. We had a duty to back them up. We could hardly sit about looking pretty and doing nothing, could we?"

She matured rapidly as she joined the fray. She did, however, refuse to fly unless she was well turned-out, always combing her hair and putting on makeup when she landed. The combat pilots loved her, of course
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

Earlier, I talked about the Stop & Shop gas points. Note that Giant does the same thing. Last and this week, they are giving 6 times points for most gift cards. I've been buying Shell gas gift cards which quickly adds up to $1.50 off per gallon, then with my linked Shell rewards program card, another 5 cents. During this period, I hook up my trailer hitch rack with gas cans to guaranty I can get 20 gallons. The closest Shell station is all of 100 feet farther than the absolute closest gas station, so I'm not going out of my way. I stop on my way back from other errands and fill up with 20 gallons at $1.55 discount per gallon. Of course, I'm using a credit card that gives me back the most. This quarter I'm a selected recipient of Citi Sears thank you points at a rate of 10% of purchase (in the form of gift cards) for gas along with grocery and restaurants.

I don't use a ton of gas these days so have used this discount to buy diesel which can LEGALLY be used for home heating oil because the taxes paid are included in motor fuel.
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Valuethinker
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

Jack FFR1846 wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:28 am Earlier, I talked about the Stop & Shop gas points. Note that Giant does the same thing. Last and this week, they are giving 6 times points for most gift cards. I've been buying Shell gas gift cards which quickly adds up to $1.50 off per gallon, then with my linked Shell rewards program card, another 5 cents. During this period, I hook up my trailer hitch rack with gas cans to guaranty I can get 20 gallons. The closest Shell station is all of 100 feet farther than the absolute closest gas station, so I'm not going out of my way. I stop on my way back from other errands and fill up with 20 gallons at $1.55 discount per gallon. Of course, I'm using a credit card that gives me back the most. This quarter I'm a selected recipient of Citi Sears thank you points at a rate of 10% of purchase (in the form of gift cards) for gas along with grocery and restaurants.

I don't use a ton of gas these days so have used this discount to buy diesel which can LEGALLY be used for home heating oil because the taxes paid are included in motor fuel.
Is there not a big discrepancy in price?

Last time I ordered heating oil for my aunt, it was something like USD 5/gal equivalent. Diesel for cars is now over $8.

Here in England you have "red diesel" - for off-road farm or construction uses. Special dye marker so it would leave a mark in your tank. Criminal offence to use it in a road vehicle.

(I do know at least one "farming family" that does stick it in their Land Rover. However they own substantial chunks of an English county, so I guess the old order of the ancien regime still ruleth fair Albion ;-)).
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by ekid »

"If we live now it is because we sit upon the shoulders of giants."

"There were giants in the land, in those days".
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by stoptothink »

wabbott wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:44 pm Patrick De Haan

@GasBuddyGuy

Market explainer- we're all watching oil plummet today, but only once the market closes do we see the first step of trickle down. Later today, racks, where stations buy fuel, will adjust their prices down based on what happened on markets today.


10:16 AM · Jun 17, 2022·Twitter Web App
Noticed again this morning that gas went up another $.10/gallon. While there are reports that it is slowly trickling down, it's actually going up here - another ~$.30/gallon here in Utah in the last week.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by lazydavid »

I did some math this morning and determined that, while we've owned our newest car for 45 months (1370 days), approximately 1/12th of its lifetime fuel cost has been racked up in the past 10 days. All fill-ups were done outside of my home state of Illinois, so we were paying approximately 30 cents/gallon less for premium than local stations charge for regular, or just shy of a buck cheaper per gallon when comparing the same grade.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Whakamole »

Valuethinker wrote: Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:57 am
wabbott wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:46 am
willthrill81 wrote: Sat Jun 11, 2022 6:40 pm The silver lining to higher gas prices for us is that it's clearly reduced the number of travelers out there. Yellowstone NP recently reported visitor attendance being down 30% compared to the same time last year.
[ quote fixed by admin LadyGeek]

Here's the numbers for Memorial Day Weekend.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/220608.htm

News Release Date: June 8, 2022

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY – Parkwide vehicle entries over the Memorial Day weekend in 2022 showed a 34% decrease over the same weekend in 2021.

Visitation statistics (*vehicle entries) per day for May 27-30, 2022, compared to May 28-31, 2021, are listed below.
Are there other factors such as weather which might have affected this?

In addition in 2021 widespread Covid restrictions were still in place? That might have encouraged more "outdoor type" holidays as opposed to flying, staying in hotels etc?

Best like-for-like is probably something like 2019?
2021 over 2019 numbers are here: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/21014.htm

2019 numbers (over a four day weekend that year) were 28,890 vs. 22,964 for 2022. That's a 20% decrease.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by wabbott »

stoptothink
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by stoptothink »

wabbott wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:05 pm https://www.gasbuddy.com/charts

Some relief.
I wonder if others are seeing a decrease, certainly aren't here in Utah. But, at least prices remained flat this past week after going up another ~$.30/gallon the week before (currently $5.29/gallon for regular around me).
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wabbott
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by wabbott »

stoptothink wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:32 pm
wabbott wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:05 pm https://www.gasbuddy.com/charts

Some relief.
I wonder if others are seeing a decrease, certainly aren't here in Utah. But, at least prices remained flat this past week after going up another ~$.30/gallon the week before (currently $5.29/gallon for regular around me).
We have seen a significant decrease over the past month. The highest price here (Ruston, Louisiana) about a month ago was about $4.59, and is now 4.08. The best way to see what retail prices are about to do is to follow the RBOB price.

https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/energy ... oline.html
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Midpack »

We use GasBuddy to check prices, but we know which stations are typically cheapest - Costco & BP w fuel points for us. We get 5% back on our Citi card. We've always consolidated trips, but now more so.

We also get fuel points at our local grocery store, and they're offering double points all summer. So where we used to get 0.20-0.30¢ per gal off, we're now getting 0.50-0.70¢ off (grocery prices are up too). We fill both cars at the same time to take advantage of fuel points, only limit is 35 gallons which is more than our two cars can hold. Every little bit helps...

Gas peaked at $4.599/gal here and has steadily declined since, was $4.359/gal today here.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by willthrill81 »

Midpack wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 3:12 pm We also get fuel points at our local grocery store, and they're offering double points all summer. So where we used to get 0.20-0.30¢ per gal off, we're now getting 0.50-0.70¢ off (grocery prices are up too). We fill both cars at the same time to take advantage of fuel points, only limit is 35 gallons which is more than our two cars can hold. Every little bit helps...
I'm guessing that you're referring to the Kroger family of grocery stores. We've been getting $1 off/gallon off nearly all our gasoline except some bought on trips for years now. You can get 4x fuel points on gift cards, so we buy gift cards for places where we know we're going to spend money anyway. Doing this for Amazon in particular is very easy. $250 of gift cards in a single month alone is enough to get 1,000 fuel points, which is $1 off/gallon. We typically only fill up one vehicle, but I also store some gasoline for our generator and vehicles in metal jerry cans, and I regularly move gasoline from the cans to our vehicles. This way, I'm rotating the gasoline and can also buy up to 35 gallons of fuel with the discount at one time. Win, win.
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Valuethinker
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

willthrill81 wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 8:58 pm
Midpack wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 3:12 pm We also get fuel points at our local grocery store, and they're offering double points all summer. So where we used to get 0.20-0.30¢ per gal off, we're now getting 0.50-0.70¢ off (grocery prices are up too). We fill both cars at the same time to take advantage of fuel points, only limit is 35 gallons which is more than our two cars can hold. Every little bit helps...
I'm guessing that you're referring to the Kroger family of grocery stores. We've been getting $1 off/gallon off nearly all our gasoline except some bought on trips for years now. You can get 4x fuel points on gift cards, so we buy gift cards for places where we know we're going to spend money anyway. Doing this for Amazon in particular is very easy. $250 of gift cards in a single month alone is enough to get 1,000 fuel points, which is $1 off/gallon. We typically only fill up one vehicle, but I also store some gasoline for our generator and vehicles in metal jerry cans, and I regularly move gasoline from the cans to our vehicles. This way, I'm rotating the gasoline and can also buy up to 35 gallons of fuel with the discount at one time. Win, win.
Interested you store in metal cans not plastic? All the gasoline storage I have seen these days is in plastic containers.

What are the advantages of metal ones?

("jerrycan" - in the Western Desert during WW2, the German fuel cans were much superior to the British ones, to the point where the British would use captured German ones (I think they leaked less)-- so "Jerry's (ie German) fuel cannister"= "jerrrycan". As all fuel had to laboriously poured from tanker into cans, which were then taken by lorry out to far flung desert outposts, the logistics war was all important)
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by livesoft »

I noticed different octane gas in some places 87, 86, and 85. If a gas station had 8 to 10 cents per gallon lower prices it was often because the gas it was selling was lower octane.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by kd2008 »

I have 50 mile each way commute with sparse traffic. I WFH on Fridays. I still fill up my Camry about every 4-5 days. I dislike people who tail you and are driving at 85 mph in their big trucks. I am like, you will reach your destination precisely 1 min earlier than me but burn twice as much gas. Doh!

I am inclined to stay at the speed limit of 70 mph and let others pass me. I don't like having to change my cruise control.

All the way through the gas price increase, my cost went up about $100 a month or so. Noticeable but not crazy. 4-5% Cashback on fuel purchases helps a lot (discover or chase freedom or Costco credit card). If I can get additional discount even better. My employer offers $35c per gallon discount at their branded pumps but you have to use an app, a checking account find a particular pump yada yada, so none of the employees use it.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by neilpilot »

Valuethinker wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:03 am
Interested you store in metal cans not plastic? All the gasoline storage I have seen these days is in plastic containers.

What are the advantages of metal ones?

("jerrycan" - in the Western Desert during WW2, the German fuel cans were much superior to the British ones, to the point where the British would use captured German ones (I think they leaked less)-- so "Jerry's (ie German) fuel cannister"= "jerrrycan". As all fuel had to laboriously poured from tanker into cans, which were then taken by lorry out to far flung desert outposts, the logistics war was all important)
Metal cans can be electrically bonded. Plastic is more likely to build a static charge while pouring and result in vapor ignition.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by willthrill81 »

Valuethinker wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:03 am
willthrill81 wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 8:58 pm
Midpack wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 3:12 pm We also get fuel points at our local grocery store, and they're offering double points all summer. So where we used to get 0.20-0.30¢ per gal off, we're now getting 0.50-0.70¢ off (grocery prices are up too). We fill both cars at the same time to take advantage of fuel points, only limit is 35 gallons which is more than our two cars can hold. Every little bit helps...
I'm guessing that you're referring to the Kroger family of grocery stores. We've been getting $1 off/gallon off nearly all our gasoline except some bought on trips for years now. You can get 4x fuel points on gift cards, so we buy gift cards for places where we know we're going to spend money anyway. Doing this for Amazon in particular is very easy. $250 of gift cards in a single month alone is enough to get 1,000 fuel points, which is $1 off/gallon. We typically only fill up one vehicle, but I also store some gasoline for our generator and vehicles in metal jerry cans, and I regularly move gasoline from the cans to our vehicles. This way, I'm rotating the gasoline and can also buy up to 35 gallons of fuel with the discount at one time. Win, win.
Interested you store in metal cans not plastic? All the gasoline storage I have seen these days is in plastic containers.

What are the advantages of metal ones?

("jerrycan" - in the Western Desert during WW2, the German fuel cans were much superior to the British ones, to the point where the British would use captured German ones (I think they leaked less)-- so "Jerry's (ie German) fuel cannister"= "jerrrycan". As all fuel had to laboriously poured from tanker into cans, which were then taken by lorry out to far flung desert outposts, the logistics war was all important)
I used the plastic 'cans' for years, but the expansion and contraction of the gasoline inside caused by variable temperatures (I store them in our garage) eventually started causing the seams to fail. That's not an issue with the metal cans. I've heard that it's possible to find metal cans with welded rather than pressed seams, but it appears that only military issue cans have welded seams.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

neilpilot wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 7:32 am
Valuethinker wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:03 am
Interested you store in metal cans not plastic? All the gasoline storage I have seen these days is in plastic containers.

What are the advantages of metal ones?

("jerrycan" - in the Western Desert during WW2, the German fuel cans were much superior to the British ones, to the point where the British would use captured German ones (I think they leaked less)-- so "Jerry's (ie German) fuel cannister"= "jerrrycan". As all fuel had to laboriously poured from tanker into cans, which were then taken by lorry out to far flung desert outposts, the logistics war was all important)
Metal cans can be electrically bonded. Plastic is more likely to build a static charge while pouring and result in vapor ignition.
Thank you. That is interesting.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

kd2008 wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 5:52 am I have 50 mile each way commute with sparse traffic. I WFH on Fridays. I still fill up my Camry about every 4-5 days. I dislike people who tail you and are driving at 85 mph in their big trucks. I am like, you will reach your destination precisely 1 min earlier than me but burn twice as much gas. Doh!

I am inclined to stay at the speed limit of 70 mph and let others pass me. I don't like having to change my cruise control.

All the way through the gas price increase, my cost went up about $100 a month or so. Noticeable but not crazy. 4-5% Cashback on fuel purchases helps a lot (discover or chase freedom or Costco credit card). If I can get additional discount even better. My employer offers $35c per gallon discount at their branded pumps but you have to use an app, a checking account find a particular pump yada yada, so none of the employees use it.
It seems that, given the sales of large vehicles (to non-commercial users) and the speeds that are driven, that the gas price "crisis" is not a universal thing. Probably the crisis is coming at those at the lower income brackets, where there just isn't the spare budgetary room for a big hike in gasoline spending.

It shows, perhaps, that the US consumer is rational. Real gasoline prices are not as high as they were in 1980, say.

It's hard to disentangle the 2 effects, but sharp rises in gas prices do often bring about a shift towards more economical cars, and towards fewer Vehicle Miles Travelled per household. However this is often also a time of recession -- and separating those 2 factors out is quite difficult.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by willthrill81 »

Valuethinker wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 11:14 am
kd2008 wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 5:52 am I have 50 mile each way commute with sparse traffic. I WFH on Fridays. I still fill up my Camry about every 4-5 days. I dislike people who tail you and are driving at 85 mph in their big trucks. I am like, you will reach your destination precisely 1 min earlier than me but burn twice as much gas. Doh!

I am inclined to stay at the speed limit of 70 mph and let others pass me. I don't like having to change my cruise control.

All the way through the gas price increase, my cost went up about $100 a month or so. Noticeable but not crazy. 4-5% Cashback on fuel purchases helps a lot (discover or chase freedom or Costco credit card). If I can get additional discount even better. My employer offers $35c per gallon discount at their branded pumps but you have to use an app, a checking account find a particular pump yada yada, so none of the employees use it.
It seems that, given the sales of large vehicles (to non-commercial users) and the speeds that are driven, that the gas price "crisis" is not a universal thing. Probably the crisis is coming at those at the lower income brackets, where there just isn't the spare budgetary room for a big hike in gasoline spending.
The silver lining for those in the lowest quartile of earnings is that they've seen the greatest growth in wages since 2021 that they've had in more than 20 years, almost double the wage growth those in the highest quartile, as shown here. The effective minimum wage in most areas of the country now seems to be around $15/hr. and higher in places. I've seen many places offering $20/hr. plus benefits.
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AerialWombat
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by AerialWombat »

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Last edited by AerialWombat on Thu Aug 25, 2022 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This post is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real financial advice is purely coincidental.
stoptothink
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by stoptothink »

AerialWombat wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 12:07 pm
stoptothink wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:45 pm
wabbott wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:04 pm This is off topic, but related. For the past two months, I've been very carefully watching my driving habits. No jackrabbit starts, trying to time red lights, watching the vehicles tachometer more than the speedometer (try to stay under 1800 rpm or so). It appears to make a big difference.
It makes a HUGE difference. I've always averaged way above EPA mpg estimates for every car I've owned. New truck (Maverick hybrid) is rated at 42 city/33 highway/37 combined, we are averaging 48.0 mpg after 1400 miles.
If you’re driving like that anyway, consider one of the driving habit spying gadgets from insurance companies. You might be able to save substantial money on car insurance by letting them track your safe driving habits.
Have definitely considered it, in fact I have that email from Progressive (about their tracking program) saved for the last year or so. Now at just under 2k miles, currently sitting at 48.4mpg average.

We have a long road trip coming up, but will be taking our old car ('17 VW jetta) which we expect to be more efficient for 2k+ miles of highway driving. I'm sure the efficiency of the Maverick is really poor at 80mph.
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willthrill81
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by willthrill81 »

stoptothink wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:45 pm
wabbott wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:04 pm This is off topic, but related. For the past two months, I've been very carefully watching my driving habits. No jackrabbit starts, trying to time red lights, watching the vehicles tachometer more than the speedometer (try to stay under 1800 rpm or so). It appears to make a big difference.
It makes a HUGE difference. I've always averaged way above EPA mpg estimates for every car I've owned. New truck (Maverick hybrid) is rated at 42 city/33 highway/37 combined, we are averaging 48.0 mpg after 1400 miles.
During our recent 4k+ mile road trip to Colorado in our 24' Winnebago Trend motorhome on a Ram Promaster 1500 chassis, which weighs over 9k lbs. loaded, we averaged nearly 17 mpg, including going over a dozen high mountain passes. We used 85 octane for over half the trip, though I'm not sure if that impacts fuel economy much. I almost never drove above 60 mph and was usually traveling at at more like 40-50 mph, I slowed down even more when climbing big inclines, and when traveling on relatively flat terrain, I kept it in top gear (6th) as much as possible. I virtually never use the cruise control as I've found that speeding up when going down hills and slowing down when traveling up them is significantly more fuel efficient.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

During the recent Stop & Shop gift card point bonus, I racked up a ton of points. Went 3 times for 20 gallons (twice gas, once diesel that went into the home heating system) and had enough for 2 more. Son has 2 cars that take premium and were both near empty, so we went and filled them up. I'm back down to about 900 points (90 cents off next time) and still have about 15 gallons in cans in the garage. So these points do have expiration dates and in the old days, people would go nuts and have too many gas points to use. Stop & Shop now calls them "Go" points and they can instead be used for $1 off for every 100 points. It's still a better deal on gas but if anything is near expiring now, I can just convert to grocery points and get the grocery discount. And yes, I've done the math, so if I have 1000 points, it can be $10 off groceries but $1 off each gallon of gas, max 20 gallons, so $20 saved.
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by VanGar+Goyle »

stoptothink wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:45 pm
wabbott wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 1:04 pm This is off topic, but related. For the past two months, I've been very carefully watching my driving habits. No jackrabbit starts, trying to time red lights, watching the vehicles tachometer more than the speedometer (try to stay under 1800 rpm or so). It appears to make a big difference.
It makes a HUGE difference. I've always averaged way above EPA mpg estimates for every car I've owned. New truck (Maverick hybrid) is rated at 42 city/33 highway/37 combined, we are averaging 48.0 mpg after 1400 miles.
It can make a HUGE difference. You can really piss off people who want to go fast, stop quickly at red lights, and wait at red lights.
Sometimes it seems like I am doing partial differential equations, and they are binary thinkers :)
harrychan
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by harrychan »

My energy and time is valuable to me. When I do need to fill up, which is rare maybe every 1.5 - 2 months, I go to the ones I know who are generally lower. I'm not gonna fret to drive extra or wait in line to get a discount of a few cents per gallon.
This is not legal or certified financial advice but you know that already.
Valuethinker
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by Valuethinker »

harrychan wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:43 pm My energy and time is valuable to me. When I do need to fill up, which is rare maybe every 1.5 - 2 months, I go to the ones I know who are generally lower. I'm not gonna fret to drive extra or wait in line to get a discount of a few cents per gallon.
I would guess the average American fills up once a week? That would be something like 15k miles pa?

Perhaps you have a hybrid vehicle, but your fillup rate implies sort of 2500 miles pa?

(My father in his later years owned frugal Honda Accords. Was doing maybe 3000 miles pa. Worked out that it would have been cheaper to take a cab every time they went out, than to own a car. However my mother put her foot down on that. That said, he was replacing his Accords once every 12 years or so).

The number I remember was that, in a "normal" period, the average American household spends about 4% of its income on gasoline (don't remember whether that's net or gross). Say recent price spikes were 2x, that will hit, hard. Like food prices, gasoline is something just about everyone buys.
7eight9
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by 7eight9 »

I always buy at the same station. They may not be the lowest in Las Vegas but the price is always competitive for credit cards. Today the price is $5.399. The local television station is saying the lowest price in the valley is $5.35. I'm not sure if that is completely accurate as I know Sam's and Costco are lower but it probably isn't far off for other stations.

I've tracked every gallon over the past eight years (Toyota Camry 2.5l) using the fuelly.com app:

2015 - $2.81/g - 8,633 miles - 29.9 mpg
2016 - $2.39/g - 10,220 miles - 29.3 mpg
2017 - $2.60/g - 10,191 miles - 28.6 mpg
2018 - $3.08/g - 8,496 miles - 29.1 mpg
2019 - $3.01/g - 7,377 miles - 26.7 mpg
2020 - $2.54/g - 7,388 miles - 26.9 mpg
2021 - $3.51/g - 12,531 miles - 31.2 mpg
2022 - $4.67/g - 4,755 miles - 32.8 mpg (half year thus far)

I'm going to fill up this morning. I believe it will be the first time I've ever put in over $50 to fill my tank.
I guess it all could be much worse. | They could be warming up my hearse.
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OpenMinded1
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by OpenMinded1 »

Someone could get into a routine where they buy gas at regular intervals; e.g. the same day each week, and spend the same amount on gas each time. That way they would buy more gallons of gas when the price was relatively lower - dollar cost averaging. :D
harrychan
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Re: Finding the Lowest Gasoline Prices

Post by harrychan »

Valuethinker wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 3:47 am
harrychan wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:43 pm My energy and time is valuable to me. When I do need to fill up, which is rare maybe every 1.5 - 2 months, I go to the ones I know who are generally lower. I'm not gonna fret to drive extra or wait in line to get a discount of a few cents per gallon.
I would guess the average American fills up once a week? That would be something like 15k miles pa?

Perhaps you have a hybrid vehicle, but your fillup rate implies sort of 2500 miles pa?

(My father in his later years owned frugal Honda Accords. Was doing maybe 3000 miles pa. Worked out that it would have been cheaper to take a cab every time they went out, than to own a car. However my mother put her foot down on that. That said, he was replacing his Accords once every 12 years or so).

The number I remember was that, in a "normal" period, the average American household spends about 4% of its income on gasoline (don't remember whether that's net or gross). Say recent price spikes were 2x, that will hit, hard. Like food prices, gasoline is something just about everyone buys.
My main mode of transportation is an EV. I use my gas car only when both my DW and I need to be somewhere and not in the same direction which could be once a week for a 4-5 mile trip.
This is not legal or certified financial advice but you know that already.
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