[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by subego 

Mobil in the city next to the Costco was $4.19⁹.

That the one at the corner of Roosevelt and Ashland? When I was up there last, that station was always crazy higher than anywhere else. As in “we don’t want your business, so we’re pricing this shit way too high.”

[subego]

This is a different one, 4½ miles almost due north at Clybourn, Diversey, and Damen.

It’s the opposite. It’s generally lower than others in the area, sometimes by like 10 or 20¢. This was a total mystery to me until I realized it’s competing with the Costco.

[subego]

Google Maps says the one you’re talking about is $5 right now.

[ghporter]

I filled up at my grocery gas station this morning. This one was the “farther out” one, which once had notably higher gas prices than the one I usually use. I filled up at $2.52⁹ this morning, after dropping my wife off to work at her (not grocery) store. When I picked her up, the price for regular was $2.49⁹. I guess if I’d waited, I might have saved 30¢ or so.

[subego]

Blue collar neighborhood in the city down to $3.79⁹.


Edit: 3.49⁹ once you get to an adjoining suburb. $4.39⁹ in the city near the interstate.

[reader50]

$4.69⁹ at the off-brand station
$4.89⁹ at ARCO
$5.29⁹ at the Stickup
$5.39⁹ at another Stickup

They're finally getting close to pre-invasion prices here. If memory serves, regular was around $4.50 at ARCO right before. Maybe a little less.

[Thorzdad]

$3.35 at my corner station.

[subego]

Originally Posted by reader50 

They're finally getting close to pre-invasion prices here. If memory serves, regular was around $4.50 at ARCO right before. Maybe a little less.

It’s officially cheaper here. Price at my baseline suburban Speedway was $3.64⁹ right before the invasion.

[Laminar]

Kind of wild that gas prices are within $0.20 of what they were a year ago, but diesel prices are still $1.00+ more (and nearly $2 more in New England!).

I wonder what's keeping diesel prices so high while gas prices are dropping.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I wonder what's keeping diesel prices so high while gas prices are dropping.

When in doubt, assume a conspiracy. Bonus: if you call the right news service, you can tell your story right away. Include aliens to spice things up.

Or car miles may be down, while shipping/delivery miles remain high going into the holidays? People can decide to drive less when prices are high, but shipping and delivery demand is inelastic. They'll drive the same miles regardless of the fuel price.

EV delivery vans and Semis cannot come fast enough.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by reader50 

When in doubt, assume a conspiracy. Bonus: if you call the right news service, you can tell your story right away. Include aliens to spice things up.

Or car miles may be down, while shipping/delivery miles remain high going into the holidays? People can decide to drive less when prices are high, but shipping and delivery demand is inelastic. They'll drive the same miles regardless of the fuel price.

EV delivery vans and Semis cannot come fast enough.

My conspiracy theory is that they dropped gas prices so the average joe wouldn't revolt against all of the reports of record oil company profits, but they kept diesel prices high because they want to keep their core base mad at Biden.

[ghporter]

Both diesel and gasoline come from some form of crude oil. You apparently can't "refine everything until the processes need to diverge." In other words, you need to devote a chunk of crude to one product, and another chunk to the other.

So ramping up gasoline production (probably substantially, at least at first) would mean diverting more crude to gasoline, and reducing the crude available to make diesel. Which means less diesel is made. Which means they can charge more for it.

[Laminar]

Filled up on the 12th for $1.63/gal of E85. Prices have levelled a bit, we'll see where the next fillup lands.

[reader50]

$3.79⁹ at the off-brand station
$4.09⁹ at ARCO
$4.89⁹ at the Stickup

They're definitely below the pre-invasion prices here. However, if you happen to drive the I-5 in California for the holidays, beware the ripoff stations taking advantage of travelers. You can easily pay $6.79⁹ a gallon. The Robbing Hood method to build wealth - steal from the poor, and keep it all.

[subego]

Filled up at $3.09⁹ at not my regular suburban Speedway.
$3.89⁹ at the Mobil in the city next to the Costco.

[ghporter]

The price of regular in my area went from the low $2.30s to a max of $2.79⁹ late last week. It’s started to slide now; my grocery/gas station has it for $2.75⁹ today.

[Laminar]

Lows are around $3.00 here. FIL borrowed my truck to move a snowblower and topped it off for me, so I haven't filled up a while, though I'm due today. The one place that advertises E85 prices just jumped them from $1.80 to $2.10 yesterday, we'll see what the other places want.

[subego]

$3.89⁹ at the city Mobil next to the Costco.
$3.09⁹ at my usual suburban Speedway.

[ghporter]

Locally, regular is down to the $2.65 - $2.69 range.

I hope it stays on this downward trend for a while. We’re driving to the Big Bend area of Texas in just over a week, and gas prices out there (ironically, where there are a lot of oil wells) tend to be quite a bit higher than here. My car is quite efficient, but that much distance will use quite a bit of fuel.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

$3.89⁹ at the city Mobil next to the Costco.
$3.09⁹ at my usual suburban Speedway.

Since December 5th, your prices have come down 50 cents and mine have gone up 50 cents.

[subego]

I’m in a ritzier suburb right now and it’s $4.19⁹. Still $3.89⁹ at the cheap Mobil in the city.

But, yeah… strange that my normal Speedway is only 30¢ off from friggin Texas.

[subego]

Filled up with a pastrami sandwich for $16.33⁹

This included a microbag of plain Lay’s, tiny cup of slaw, and a pickle spear, all of which I told them to hold.

[subego]

Was out and about on Monday. The cheap Mobil was $3.99⁹. Everywhere else I saw in the city was +50-80¢.

[Laminar]

Filled up for $2.09⁹ today at the station that forgets to up E85 prices. It's wild seeing prices jump 20 cents day to day.

[subego]

Corn lag.

[Brien]

Eggs. Not anymore.

[Laminar]

Speaking of eggs, got a fun surprise making lunch yesterday.



And as long as we're talking gas prices and conspiracy theories, Exxon and Chevron both reported all-time record profits.

https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...it-2023-01-31/

What are the odds that there's some collusion going on to reduce competition and keep prices high knowing who the general public will blame for high gas prices?

[ghporter]

We went to West Texas (Big Bend, McDonald Observatory, etc.) for a week, (Jan 18-25) and gas prices did weird stuff while we were vacationing.

We expected that it would be more expensive “way out there”, despite “out there” being where much of Texas’ crude oil comes from, but that was only part of it. We filled up at a station in a place called Study Butte the day after we got to the area for $3.12⁹, and four days later it was $3.64⁹.

By the time we headed home, regular had settled into the $3.40 range out there. But when we got back to San Antonio, it was ALSO in the $3.40 range. It’s down to $3.05⁹ today.

[Waragainstsleep]

Feels like there is a pattern of the media telling everyone theres a reason a price will increase, the price increases, the reason goes away again, the seller decides that because people were willing or able to pay the inflated price, they'd quite like to keep it now. Its happening across the board over here.

[ghporter]

I agree, but the pattern is wonky. Sometimes the sellers keep the prices higher for a while “because”, and sometimes they drop them pretty quickly.

Case in point: yesterday, I noticed that locally the price for regular was down to $2.99⁹ or even $2.98⁹. All of a sudden, POOF! Like the 15¢ to 20¢ price increases last week never happened…

[Laminar]

I wonder if instability is the entire plan.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

... the seller decides that because people were willing or able to pay the inflated price, they'd quite like to keep it now. Its happening across the board over here.

If you've ever bought swimming pool supplies, the normal price for chlorine tablets is about $100 for 100 pounds (45 Kg). $1 per pound.

During the pandemic, the biggest chlorine plant in North America burned down, and had to be rebuilt from scratch. Price soared to $280 for a 50-pound bucket ($5.60 per pound).

The plant has since been rebuilt, and 20% bigger than before. It's winter now - low demand. Every store and warehouse has built up mountains of chlorine.

The price today? $250 for a 50-pound bucket. Both at the local supply store, and at Wal-Mart. Everyone is waiting for someone else to blink, before the sales start.

[ghporter]

The chlorine thing certainly isn’t (now) about supply. It may be impacted by infrastructure issues, like how there are fewer long-haul truckers, thus fewer semi loads, etc. to get stuff from factory to store.

But the biggest thing about gasoline prices is that we (in the US, anyway) have been conditioned to see even pretty large swings in price as “normal”, or at least “typical,” when sometimes it looks like somebody’s futures trading software just got a wild hair and did a weird trade…

[subego]

Usual suburban Speedway: $3.68⁹
Cheap city Mobil: $3.99⁹

[subego]

That Mobil station next to the Costco I keep on talking about got an article. Not for its prices, but that it used to have a place selling Venetian blinds on the same lot, which after decades of a confusing existence has now become a Pizzeria Uno takeaway.

‘Cool it’s Chicago food’: Pizzeria Uno opens next to North Side gas station

As an aside, Pizzeria Uno is not very good. It pains me we’ve exported it to other states, and that’s what people around the country think Chicago pizza is.

[ghporter]

Off topic, but I was introduced to “Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza” by a little place called “Conans” just off the UT campus in Austin. The restaurant was themed with Frank Frazetta Conan the Barbarian artwork, and used a real brick oven to bake the pies. They were wonderful.

On topic: our local prices have sunk down to the sub-$2.90 range. For now. I filled up the other day at the “not close” grocery gas station for $2.89⁹, and some places are selling regular for as little as $2.85⁹.

My CR-V gets around 27-30 MPG, so I don’t have to fill up very often. I’m really glad of that.

[Brien]

I’m still paying nearly $4.50 a gallon.

[andi*pandi]

For eggs? what a steal.

[Laminar]

Saw E15 finally creep down to $2.78 and then overnight it jumped back up to $3.05. Filled up with E85 for $2.34 today.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

For eggs? what a steal.

I've been watching for sales on baking mixes. On the theory that eggs are high, so baking mixes (requiring eggs) won't be selling. So stock up during the markdowns, and use them whenever eggs return to normal prices.

The theory isn't working so far. No sales worth writing home about.

[Laminar]

Maybe baking mixes are inelastic? Recession proof cupcakes.

[andi*pandi]

Blame it on vegans and their egg substitutes. They can use mixes anytime, egg prices be damned.

Vegans!

I kid

[ghporter]

Well aside from the stupid bird flu devastating egg production, we have our usual “supply chain” issues that make getting eggs from nest to store slower and more expensive. Stupid viruses…

Anyway, the best price for regular in my area is $2.82⁹, but my usual grocery/gas place has it for $2.85⁹. Some stations have weird “cash price” “credit price”, and “easy pay price” on their signs; I avoid these places because I just don’t know what their “easy pay” scam is.

[subego]

The one we get out here is “with car wash” in tiny print.

Cheap city Mobil was $3.97⁹ yesterday. So it’s stable, or I missed some dips/jumps.

[reader50]

To me, "easy pay price" suggests a charge card with the station. And they get your name / address / email for spamming. In exchange for a few pennies off the cash price.

I avoid all those "membership card" scams, even at the grocery. Better to pay the normal price, and get less spam.

[subego]

One of the reasons I’m loyal to Speedway is they have a discount, but don’t pull that shit of putting the discount price on the big sign. Likewise, you don’t have to give them an email for the discount, just a phone, so no spam.

[subego]

Didn’t go past the cheap Mobil in an effort to dodge some expressway traffic. Close to, but not my normal suburban Speedway was $3.49⁹.

[Laminar]

E15 at 2.81⁹, filled up with E85 for 2.04⁹.

[ghporter]

Yesterday’s fill up at my favorite grocery/gas place: $2.79⁹. It’s probably a little cheaper at some other places, but I like to stick to a couple of “known quantity” gasoline brands, so I’ll stick with my grocery/gas place.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

E15 at 2.81⁹, filled up with E85 for 2.04⁹.

For the first time I can recall in recent history, I came across corn, which was 90¢ off the dino. I want to say it was E88, if that’s a thing.