Gas Shortages??

[js3901]

we're still payong over $3.00/gallon for regular. the cheapest I've seen around is about $3.13 right now. it's still a bit high, but it's lower than it was 6 months ago. though, I'm happy I don;t need to drive over 600 miles a week (or more) doing outside sales anymore. I now drive about 2 miles to catch a train to work every day.

[Len90]

Here is the latest in NJ. The cheapest I've seen for regular is $2.49 and for premium (93) $2.69. Gas is about $.40 above what it was before this whole price spike happened last spring.

[agingerbugg]

we're still payong over $3.00/gallon for regular. the cheapest I've seen around is about $3.13 right now. it's still a bit high, but it's lower than it was 6 months ago. though, I'm happy I don;t need to drive over 600 miles a week (or more) doing outside sales anymore. I now drive about 2 miles to catch a train to work every day.

That is ridiculous, there is no reason for your gas to be so expensive. Oil prices are the lowest they have been in over a year. I mean even in Alachua County, Florida where we have the highest gas taxes in the state we are paying around $2.70 a gallon. js3901, you should rebel.

[js3901]

we're still payong over $3.00/gallon for regular. the cheapest I've seen around is about $3.13 right now. it's still a bit high, but it's lower than it was 6 months ago. though, I'm happy I don;t need to drive over 600 miles a week (or more) doing outside sales anymore. I now drive about 2 miles to catch a train to work every day.

That is ridiculous, there is no reason for your gas to be so expensive. Oil prices are the lowest they have been in over a year. I mean even in Alachua County, Florida where we have the highest gas taxes in the state we are paying around $2.70 a gallon. js3901, you should rebel.

being in Buffalo on the cusp of winter, part of that price is additives they put in the gas to keep it from freezing as well as to help curb corrosion of the tank (with all the salt on the roads). we also have the highest tax rate (both sales tax and gas tax) outside of NYC in NYS. and there's no point rebelling around here. Since the start of the gas hike 2 years ago, we've had a good 50 stations in the area close their doors permanently. so, we're not going to try and close down any more...

[Jacca5660]

We paid $2.44 Sat. in Chattanooga. My DW has a friend in Penn that got gas for $2.02 on Sat.

[spodie]

I saw it for $2.43 on my way home from work tonight. It's hard to believe that a little less than a month ago, I saw gas for as much as $4.49. That's more than a $2.00 drop - crazy! I just hope it keeps going in that direction.

[pixiesparkles]

Today, I saw $2.39 a gallon (cash only). It has not been this low since...hmm..can't remember when it's been this low. I paid as high as $4.79 just a short time ago. It makes a big difference when I fill up a 28 gallon tank. Hope it keeps heading in this direction.

[boilerbabe]

We're at $2.58 in N.W. IN! I hope it keeps going this way, then I can drive my V8 Mustang more often! She's just been sitting in the garage alot lately.

[js3901]

well, we're finally getting some relief at the pumps. the question as to why it has been so high here in the B-lo remains unanswered (at least a REAL answer). in fact, our local paper had an article on Sunday about the prices:

The Great Gas Mystery

Published on November 2, 2008
Author: Mark Sommer and Matt Glynn - NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
© The Buffalo News Inc.

Gasoline prices in the Buffalo Niagara region continue to be the highest in
the state. Saturday, a gallon of regular cost an average of $3.01, 28 cents more than in Utica, 33 cents higher than the Albany area and 37 cents above what people were paying in Syracuse.

Even worse, consumers paid 55 cents more a gallon than the national average of $2.46, and a whopping 91 cents above the national low of $2.10, posted in Oklahoma.

Why do Western New Yorkers pay even more than others in a state that,
within the continental United States, trails only California in high gasoline
prices? Local industry insiders say they are unable to provide a specific
conclusive reason. But they suggest a combination of factors, including the
cost of transporting gasoline products the longest distance in the state, poor access to refineries, the role of direct marketers in setting prices and the high county sales taxes in the region -- 4 percent in Niagara County and 4 3/4 percent in Erie County, tied with Oneida County at the highest in the state. "It's a market-driven price," said Dale Wittlief, vice president of purchasing and fuel for Delta Sonic.

Wally Smith, a spokesman for the AAA of Western and Central New York, saidhis organization has tried to get a clear explanation from retailers,
wholesalers and trade organizations on why the region's pump prices are
exceptionally high, but has not come up with a satisfactory answer.

"The fact remains: Drivers in this region pay more for fuel than any place
in the state," Smith said.

Still, as prices dip below $3 a gallon, drivers such as Tanya Taliaferro, a
traveling nurse who lives in Cheektowaga, are expressing relief.

"It used to cost me $90 to fill up, and it's only $65 today," Taliaferro
said at a Sunoco station at Delaware Avenue and Amherst Street that charged $2.95 for regular.

Cab driver Rick Forno was glad to pay $2.92 a gallon at a Delta Sonic in
Amherst, but he expects the low prices to be short-lived.

"I'm obviously feeling pretty good about it, but I think it's tied to this
Wall Street problem. Once they figure that out and get it squared away, I'm sure the price of a barrel will go back up," Forno said.

Area residents who travel out of town are often stunned to find drastically
lower prices. In Cleveland, a three-hour drive to the west, drivers paid an
average of $2.21 per gallon Friday; in Cincinnati, the price was down to
$2.07.

But Scott Sterry, who handles fuel marketing for Reid Petroleum in
Lockport, said comparing prices from state to state is difficult because of a
variety of factors, including taxes.

As for why prices are higher here than in other parts of the state, one
reason is that Erie County has a higher sales tax.

Pipeline and refineries

Transportation costs also go up with the distance from a product source,
such as the New York City Harbor, Sterry said.

A pipeline that ends in South Buffalo delivers refined petroleum products
from a Valero refinery in Paulsboro, N.J., and from New York City Harbor,
distances that add to costs passed on to consumers.

Michael Newman, executive vice president of NOCO Energy Corp., which
operates area gas stations and convenience stores, cites refinery locations.

An Ontario refinery once served Western New York closed a few years ago, while another, in northwestern Pennsylvania, has been undergoing maintenance.

"We're in this very difficult supply-constrained market," Newman said.

Newman said the market also has less "flexibility," partly because rapid
price changes make retailers reluctant to store too much inventory.

Smith, of the AAA, noted that in July, Buffalo Niagara set an all-time
record average price of $4.27 a gallon, about the same as many other parts of the state. New York City and Long Island set even higher record prices that same month.

But since then, a gap has opened between Buffalo and the state's other
metro areas.

At Polino's Service Station at Delaware and Delavan avenues, Joanne D'Amico of Depew said she searches for the lowest prices.

"I always watch the gas [at Polino's], especially because they are the
cheapest in the area, even around my area," said D'Amico, who works in
Buffalo. "There's maybe 3 cents difference, but 3 cents is 3 cents.

"I'd like to see it come down even further," she added, "but I'll take what I can get."

Christopher Polino, the owner, said the past year has been his hardest
despite the high gas prices.

'Horrible year for me'

As an independent retailer, he must add 10 cents to 15 cents per gallon to
the price he pays Goetz Energy, a local distributor, just to cover sales tax
and credit card fees.

His profit margin, he said, typically amounts to pennies per gallon.
"A lot of my customers appreciate that I'm pretty low and try to keep it
low," Polino said. "There are times you have a chance to make 10 cents a
gallon. If I don't do this, I'm not going to survive," he said.

"This year was a horrible year for me -- there was times I didn't make a
penny for months," Polino said. "To even cover my [costs], I would have to be a nickel higher than the guy across the street and price my self out.

"I had to hope what I was doing in [my garage] would cover my losses at the pumps."

Polino, meanwhile, has reduced his hours, cut staffing in half and shut off
the heat in the shop to save costs.

"I cut corners in every possible way. You see some profit, but it's not what people think," he said.

Polino said he is at a loss on why prices are so high in Western New York,
but said the gasoline chains "set the tone for the neighborhoods."

Until a year ago, that was Exxon Mobil with its network of company-owned
stores and lessee dealers on many of the busiest corners. But ExxonMobil has divested itself of its retail operations by selling off its stations to other
operators, leaving Sunoco as the local market leader most able to affect
price.

Sunoco corporate officials in Philadelphia were not immediately available
to comment. Kathy Herrscher, who leases a Sunoco gas station at Maple and Sweet Home in Amherst, said she was unable to explain why gas prices are so high in Western New York.

"I would love to find out the answers myself. I've always felt the dealers
have gotten hurt in this business. I know the oil companies have never been fair to distributors, the dealers or the public," Herrscher said.

She said Sunoco "definitely has a role" in how much gas costs in the area,
but she doesn't know how much of a role that is.

"We're just holding on by a string over here," she said, citing $9,000 a
month rent and electric bills that average $2,200.

"The whole thing is such a racket, and why Buffalo is like this I don't know."

Return to old habits

The upside to high gas prices has been the willingness of some people to
change their buying habits.

At the Sunoco station at Delaware and Amherst, Danielle Blasz of Lancaster said she exchanged her truck for a car and now gets 10 miles more a gallon. At the Delta Sonic in Amherst, Jawan Hayes of the Town of Tonawanda said he has stayed closer to home to cut down on mileage.

Katalin Horvath McClure of Kenmore said she fears people will revert to old tendencies "out of laziness" if gas prices remain low. That, she says, would not be good for the environment or for pushing the country toward greener energy alternatives.

"I saw a lot of people on bicycles, and people were thinking twice about
what kind of cars to buy. So there has been a good side to having high gas prices," McClure said while getting gas.

Having grown up in Hungary, McClure said Americans don't realize how
well-off they are.

"Compared [with] the rest of the world, U.S. gas prices are always
ridiculously low," she said.

[url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Arc ... m=2article[/url]

it was over $3.00 last time I posted. Now, it's in the $2.90 area. Since I filled up last, I've only had to drive a little (again, I take a train to work, just have to drive to the station) so the fall hasn't really hit me, personally, yet. We'll see once I have to fill up again...

[Jacca5660]

Wow, that just not right. We're only paying $2.09 in Chattanooga. Sorry to hear that.

[spodie]

The cheapest I've seen it so far is $2.07. Still going in the right direction!!

[broncoflyer8912]

Just paid $2.01 tonight in Atlanta, can't wait for it to go under the $2 mark. It was awesome to be able to put $20 in my car and that be more than half a tank. I have been use to $20 getting me like just barely over a quarter of a tank!

[agingerbugg]

Just paid $2.01 tonight in Atlanta, can't wait for it to go under the $2 mark. It was awesome to be able to put $20 in my car and that be more than half a tank. I have been use to $20 getting me like just barely over a quarter of a tank!

That's amazing, that just a few weeks ago you were over twice that when the rest of us were dropping like stones. Now you are 35 cents cheaper than us in N.C. Florida. It's just nice to pull into the gas station and leave without spending $50+ again. I filled up for $38 last week and I thought that was a steal. Although, it is isn't as good as it was eight years ago here when I could fill my tank for $13.

[Jacca5660]

Just paid $2.01 tonight in Atlanta, can't wait for it to go under the $2 mark. It was awesome to be able to put $20 in my car and that be more than half a tank. I have been use to $20 getting me like just barely over a quarter of a tank!

filled up for $1.98 a gallon in N Georgia!

[Future Guy]

Georgia has some of the lowest gas prices in the country. When we drove from FL to NC in July, Georgia's prices were a dollar a gallon lower than FL.

Of course, we Floridians don't have a state income tax