With all the talk at the moment that a war in Iraq is, in part, about the control of oil, I was wondering what kind of price Americans think is expensive for petrol (gas).
In Sydney we are currently paying around 1$AUD/litre, which works out to be about $US2.25/gallon. We consider that to be pretty expensive, although the price has fluctuated between $AU0.85 - $AU1 a litre over the past couple of years.
So, the questions are:
What price are you currently paying for your vehicle fuel?
At what price/gallon (or litre) do you think your fuel is becoming expensive?
and
Do fuel prices actually make a difference to the way you would vote or is that a furphy portrayed by the media?
As a side note, we had a lesson dealt to us about fuel prices when we visited Europe - we paid a hefty $AU2.50/litre in France so in the scheme of things, I’m aware that Australia doesn’t do too badly at the petrol pump
Recently, I’ve been paying $1.48 for a gallon of 87 octane. That’s not expensive enough to stop my from driving, but it’s definitely high enough that I’m pretty careful about not driving frivolously.
It’s gone up from $1.59 to $1.72 in Montgomery Co, MD in the last week or so. It went up 3 cents yesterday. I put 18.75 into my car for the first time, the most I have ever put into my car. I’ll be happy when summer comes around so I can take the bike again.
Considering that the only public transportation in this state hovers near college campuses, I’d say that $2 USD a gallon (for 87, of course) would be too much. I’ve been lead to believe that places in where gas is horribly expensive public transportation is generally a good alternative to driving(or going to the store would not involve a 20 mile r/t walk or bike ride). If it were here I’d get rid of my car in a heartbeat, but I’m getting off track, sorry. I think I paid $1.54 the last I got gas. At least it’s not $1.80 like it was a couple of winters ago. At this point it’s not the gas prices that keep me from driving places I’d like to go so much as the weather and road conditions. That may change in the spring.
And no, gas prices have no bearing on how I vote. It’s not as though any campaign promises to lower prices ever amount to anything.
IMHO (in todays dollars)
$1.15 or less - very cheap
$1.16 to $1.26 - cheap
$1.27 to $1.49 - moderate
$1.50 to $1.70 - getting up there
$1.71 to $1.89 - expensive
$1.90 to 1.99999 - very expensive
$2 to $2.50 - major problems, recession, poor people not being able to heat their homes.
$2.51 to $5 - poor people have already frozen to death, Cheaper energy alternitives will be found, oil companies will start to lease all those inventions they have bought up over the years (carberators that get 500 mpg, runs on water, perpetual motion machiens, ect.)
Also price for gas in NJ should be at least $0.10 less per gallon then the price in NY.
I live in a big oil-producing state, but you can find places that sell regular unleaded for $1.39 in the city, and I’ve seen even lower prices in more rural areas. Gas usually costs about five or ten cents less a gallon in Oklahoma, but I haven’t been there in several months.
I have never seen self-service gas go for $1.90, I think I’ve seen it in the $1.80 range once or twice for the super premium, but this is at stores that are not very competitive pricewise (you could find a place selling it for a dime less nearby.
I remember, in the '80s there were a couple of times when gas prices dropped significantly below a dollar a gallon. I remember seeing a major gas station selling it for .49 a gallon. There was another time when you could find it for around .75 a gallon, then it went back up.
I would not feel particularly burdened to have to pay $2 or even $3 a gallon, but I don’t have a long commute anymore and my car gets decent mileage (app. 33 on the highway, 29 or so city). Driving didn’t make me broke when I had a '77 Lincoln Continental that got 8 miles to the gallon and gas was over a dollar a gallon then.
I live in a small town (~7000) in central California, and gas runs from $1.54 thru $1.65. It’s about the same in Visalia, a town of 100,000 15 miles away. About a month ag, I drove to San Francisco, about 3 1/2 hours north. I pulled off I-5 for gas, and there were two stations across the street from each other advertising $1.98 and $1.99, respectively. I saw that I had about 1/8 of a tank and turned right the hell around. At the next populated area, I paid about $1.70, still way too much. At the time, gas in my town was about $1.43. I bet those two stations are now at $2.25…
Unfortunately, we live 30 miles from my the school at which my wife teaches, so we’ll pay just about anything they charge, until it breaks us and we have to move back to a mass-transit city. I’d imagine that if we had to pay much more than $3.00 per gallon, we’d be fscked…
Gas was $1.61/gal yesterday, $1.65 today. How much is too much? Hard to say, since driving the open road is one of the true pleasures of my life. Luckily, since I live in southern California, the gas is cheaper almost anywhere I go. If prices rise to over $2 bucks, I’ll probably just get a car that gets better milage.
OK… here in Ottawa it is CAD75cents/litre or $1.90USD/US Gallon.
Now when it was 65, my car cost about $25 to fill. at 75 it costs $28. $3/tank of gas will not kill me. If you drive a big gas guzzling SUV and drive it inner city 100km+/day and fill your $75 tank 4 times a week to do so then imho you deserve to pay for it through the teeth. If it costs you an extra $50/week to pay for gas then that is your fault for your choice in vehicles.
Gasoline today is relatively cheap. $1.59 for premium last weekend here.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. in 1982 was $1.28. In 2002 dollars, that’s $2.40. In October of 2002 the average price was $1.48 in 2002 dollars. The price of gasoline fluctuates more than most other consumer goods, but the historical trend is undeniably towards cheaper gasoline (require Acrobat).
I live in Hawaii and we generally have the most expensive gas in the nation. Now I don’t have a car but I note these things. Right now I see a lot of $1.71 for the lowest grade on Oahu. If you go to Kauai the lowest grade will probably be 15-20¢ higher.
However since most of our oil comes from Malaysia not S. America or the Middle East and we have no need to worry about heating costs our prices tend not to balloon too greatly although they will rise in sympathy. That might add another 15-20¢ to the price. Also we recently had a lawsuit against the oil industry here who were conspiring to artificially raise prices to our consumers.
I remember living in Clovis, New Mexico a few years ago, where it wasn’t uncommon to see gas in the $0.80-1.00 range. It’s around $1.10-1.40 here, though; apparently cheaper than I thought.
I’m feeling like a total fossil remembering fuel at .269 per gallon. I could fill my beetle with a few dollars and have money left over for a date. Beer was about $2 per six, so a good time could be had by all for less than $10. Then again, I think I was being paid $2.65 per hour as a body shop technician.
I only know the prices for premium (91), as that’s all I put in my car. But in the last two weeks it has gone from $1.74 to $1.98 in Southern California.
Just a small reminder-this poll is in IMHO, not the BBQ Pit or Great Debates. Try to restrict your comments to the OP, not other peoples opinions. Thank you.