Howdy, Cali-for-nye-eh-ans.
I was in San Francisco earlier this year and I noticed the gasoline prices were at the lowest about 40¢ higher than here in the benighted state of SC.
Just curious–where did they top out.
The lowest I saw when I was there was $1.46 for regular unleaded.
I saw it as high as $1.67 (for regular unleaded).
Try getting gas in Manhattan!
Saw one gas station while there this past weekend… $1.79 for regular unleaded!
This is why I gassed up on the Turnpike…
Yer pal,
Satan
Well I live in SF, and right now I could pay as much as $1.89 for the good stuff (maybe more…I don’t go searching for the most expensive gas, usually)
Northern Californians have, for some reason, been unable to keep their refineries from blowing up this year. California law requires that gasoline sold there be specially formulated for environmental reasons. Therefore, gasoline can’t just be trucked in from Nevada or Oregon. When a refinery goes boom, supply is lowered and prices are raised.
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
Actually, you should consider yourself lucky, because S.C. has some of the cheapest gas in the country. State-wide, Georgia is usually cheapest in the U.S., and S.C. is close behind, along with Oklahoma and Missouri. Generally your cheap gas regions are the South and the “lower Midwest”. The West Coast and heavily urbanized areas (NYC, Chicago) tend to be the most expensive, for a number of reasons.
Gasoline is expensive in Cali because that state’s laws require the use of a specially formulated fuel. It costs a more to refine this stuff to begin with, and on top of that, if supplies are short, oil companies can’t just truck in gas from another state like they can anywhere else. So prices go up. This was a big problem in Cali earlier this year, when a couple of refineries unexpectedly closed due to fires, thereby cutting into supplies.
OTOH, delivery costs are pretty low in the South, because most of the oil comes from nearby (Texas or the Gulf).
Then there’s taxes. I don’t know what they are offhand in each state, but they’re definitely lower in S.C. than in Cali. (Notice that the next time you’re in North Carolina, gas is about 10c more. The difference is all taxes.)
Then throw in differences in the costs of environmental regulations, land, property taxes, labor, insurance… you get my point. There isn’t one thing that acocunts for the 40-cent difference, but six or seven things that each account for a few pennies.
And yes, I am manic about gas prices. FWIW, regular unleaded goes for about $1.549 near downtown Chicago. We have about six different taxes on gas here. Lemme guess… it’s about $1.089 in S.C., no? I paid .689 in Spartanburg about a year ago. Now that was cheap gas!
I guess I never answered the OP’s question. Although I was never out there, I saw a photo in a newspaper that showed a price sign. $1.799 for regular unleaded, $1.899 for plus and $1.999 for super.
I’ve seen Chicago stations offer full serve at $1.979, $1.989 and $1.999 for regular, plus and super, respectively. Must be some sort of stigma about charging $2 for gas.
We in CA are, of course, aware that gas prices are outrageous here, and a local TV station did a story on it and discovered that the farter east one goes, the cheaper gas gets.
Incidentally, CA is basically a very expensive place to live (if you don’t believe me, try to rent a stupid one bedroom apartment in Santa Cruz for under $1300 a month - and it’s much worse in SF), so it stands to reason that gas prices would also be quite expensive.
~Kyla
“You couldn’t fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine.”
Speaking of gas…
Must be the bean burritos…
(veiled reference to the Guy Stuff thread)
I noticed a sticker on a gas pump the other day as I was filling up (SF/Bay Area). It said something to the effect that: “Between October 31 and January 31, the gasoline from this pump is oxygenated.” What’s that about? Does adding oxygen to gasoline make is more environmentally sound? And why just for Nov.-Jan.?
StoryTyler
The fun starts here!
My guess is that oxygenation allows any escaped gasoline (fumes or spills) to evaporate into the atmosphere faster during the colder months. Otherwise they would linger at ground level (where most of us do our breathing) a lot longer.
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
What is that like a 1.07 in SC? DAMN!!!
I take a line from Bloom County
LOUISE DUMP THE MILK!!! THE CAT DRINKS UNLEADED FROM NOW ON!!!
Actually, right now in Columbia the lowest prics is $1.119.
I was in SF in July, and when I left SC, the lowest prices were right at about $1.
Im in California. In the 70’s gas was 69 cents per gallon & then the arabs got whiny and said they don’t have as much oil as they thought, price went to 1.19 gal.
I live near a gas station & full serve was about $2.29 three months back. About the same today. Probably blow their own refineries, but there is some pressure lately that they are keeping prices artifically high.
Like Kodak did when there was a silver shortage, they raised prices but when the silver supply was again plentiful [remember those brothers who tried to take over the silver market?] the prices did not drop.
To all you badly done to Californians!
Gas in the UK is over $5 a gallon!,we’re taxed at 80% by the goverment,pay $230 per year for the priveledge of driving on the road…now are you really badly done to?
Yeah, Purple, but you can easily make $100,000 US in the UK.
Where do you get a tax rate of 80%? I thought it was more like 40% on $76,000 pds uk?
The cheapest we ever paid here was just over a year ago, I remember paying .59 a gallon. That lasted only a day or two, the average for about three months was around .75. Just the other day, in Kansas, I paid $1.34 for 89 octane. Most I’ve ever paid. It’s outrageous!
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
OH! And is it just me, or does Casey’s always have the best prices?
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
I wasn’t too clear on the tax thing,80% is the amount of tax we pay per gallon of fuel.
As for easily making $100,000 in the UK,who the hell told you that??..i’m a techie type and i make about $40000,and that’s well above the average wage here!.
I travel 28 miles a day for work which works out around $230 a month is fuel.I was recently in California and i was just taken aback with the prices there!
Please forgive me i’m English!
BTW, the gas taxes (State and Fed) amount to 34.3¢ per gallon in SC.
Anyone else know their state’s tax bite on petrol?